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Central Asia China Current Events International Relations

Mongolia Mulls Casino Proposal for Border Town

Mongolia continues its transition to a free-market economy by making a legal framework for launching casino in one of the country’s Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in the Mongolia-China border town of Zamyn Uud. Members of the Ikh Khural (Parliament) D.Zagdjav and D.Batbayar proposed a draft law for a Limited Casino to speaker D.Demberel.

This is the third try to pass the law on Casino through Ikh Khural. Two other drafts were rejected by the previous Parliament.

“Neighboring regions of neighboring countries don’t have any casinos or gambling centers, which allows such businesses to flourish in Mongolia,” deputies said to Business Mongolia. Law initiators believe that it will contribute to the Mongolian economy and revenue.

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Central Asia Finance & Taxes

Kazakhstan to Reconsider Foreign Mining Tax Privileges

Earlier this year Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev declared that contracts signed with foreign mining companies that guarantee privileges protecting them from changes in taxation conditions should be reconsidered.

Last week Minister of Gas and Oil Sauat Mynbaev confirmed government plan to reconsider contracts with foreign mining companies with the exception of the Kashagar deposit which is being developed by joint efforts of Italy’s Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, U.S. Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Japanese Inpex and Kazakhstan’s Kazmunaigaz (KMG). KMG is the state-owned oil and gas company responsible for operating state oil and gas interests and pipelines.

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Central Asia Current Events Politics

Minsk Yet to Receive Extradition Notice for Ousted Kyrgyz President

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belarus at the moment has not received any notice from Kyrgyzstan about the extradition of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev who is currently in Minsk. This was stated by Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrei Savinykh, at a press briefing on April 22.

Answering journalists’ questions about the situation in Kyrgyzstan, a spokesman of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry underlined: “We’re faced with a serious international problem. Our President, Alexander Lukashenko is working on directions for a resolution. There is no doubt that this problem can be solved only within the framework of international law.”

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Central Asia Current Events

Kyrgyzstan’s Post Coup Chaos Flares On

The third day of another Kyrgyz revolution has passed but things are far from over. According to multiple reports, people have been killed and injured while aggressive drunks have control of the streets of various cities while private houses and shops are being looted. The latest news reports bloody clashes between police and anti-government protesters in Bishkek resulted in 68 people shot dead. There are also victims in other cities. Over 500 people were injured and Bishkek hospitals were filled with patients in dire need of blood.

Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongantiyev and First Deputy Prime Minister Akylbek Zhaparov were severely beaten by protesters in the town of Talas, where the unrest began on Tuesday, the Ferghana.ru news service reported. The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry denied reports that Kongantiyev had died of his injuries.

The protesters set fire to the prosecutor’s office and looted state television headquarters. Kyrgyz state television and state-controlled Channel Five have suspended broadcasting, reports Interfax.

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Eastern Europe Economy & Foreign Trade Politics

Belarus Looking Outside Russian and Europe for Partners

Venezuela and China may become new strategic partners of Belarus. Lukashenko’s delegation visited Caracas while the vice-chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, Xi Jinping paid an official visit to Minsk.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has asked the government to look for new commodity markets. “There are other fish in the sea besides Russia and Europe — it is necessary to reach out to the new regions”, he told Interfax. According to Lukashenko, Belarus is being pushed to embrace new partners because of unfair trade conditions with Russia and evasion of arrangements.

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Cambodia & Laos Economy & Foreign Trade International Relations

Mongolia Looks to Boost Trade with Laos

Mongolia and Laos signed an agreement to boost cooperation in agriculture, especially in food production, livestock, veterinary care, forestry and light industry, the Laotian newspaper Vientiane Times reported last week..

The agreement was signed in Vientiane on March 22 by the Laotian Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sitaheng Rasphone and T. Badamjunai, the Mongolian Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry.

“We are interested in trading agricultural and forestry products with Laos”, said Mongolian Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Mr. Badamjunia during his official visit to the country. He told local media, “this cooperation would increase relations between the two countries in the future.”

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Central Asia Legal & Regulatory

Kazakhstani Authorities Promise to Reduce Number of Checks on Business

The Kazakhstani State Office of Public Prosecutors (SOPP) and The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) declared, that by 2011 the business community of the country will be divided into two types: those who are counted by the state as law-abiding, and those who are not. The second type of businesses need to be ever ready to be inspected any time, while the first kind has been promised to be left in relative peace.

Addressing the issue at a public event titled “Legality and Transparency of the State Control as a Basis of Consumer Rights Protection,” the authorities didn’t point out what criteria they are going to use to judge businesses and “to die-cast them as wolves or innocent sheep.”

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Eastern Europe Economy & Foreign Trade Russia

Russia’s Gazprom seeks takeover of Belarus’s Beltransgaz

Russian energy giant Gazprom has confirmed intentions on acquiring control over Belarusian gas pipeline operator, Beltransgaz.

Andrei Kruglov, Gazprom’s deputy CEO, discussed his company’s interest in boosting its stake in the company. This comes a few years after the company purchased 50 percent of Beltrangaz’s shares in 2007 indicating Gazproms’s intention to increase their control over the Belarusian pipeline.

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Culture & History Legal & Regulatory Russia

Russia Altering 70-Year-Old Penal Colony System

Beginning this year, Russia is altering a prison system that dates back of 70 years to the time of Stalin, separating for the first time career criminals from the general prison population.

As the New York Times reports, currently, “the inmates are divided into barracks housing a hundred or so men without regard to the severity of their crimes. At night, a guard locks the door and walks away, leaving first-time offenders and people convicted of nonviolent crimes to fend for themselves in a crowd of gang members, hit men and other career criminals.”

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Current Events Eastern Europe Issue

Bogus TV Report Incites Panic in Georgia

The country of Georgia was set in about in a frenzy on Saturday after a television news program announced that the Russian army had invaded and killed President Mikhail Saakashvili.

The private television station Imedi showed the report at 8 p.m. Saturday evening, complete with voiceover commentary on ‘live’ video showing Russian tanks and fighter jets operating inside the country.

Georgians rushed to gas stations and ATMs, and the country’s wireless network crashed under the weight of fearful calls.

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