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The Regions This Week
April 19, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eurasia
Russia resumed importing natural gas from Turkmenistan following a three-year break, Gazprom confirmed. Should the imports prove to be of a sizable volume, they could turn out to be something of a breakthrough for the remote country’s long-embattled economy.
A US probe into Kazakh and Russian uranium imports was submitted to the White House.
The probe was initiated by a petition filed by two US uranium mining companies, Ur-Energy and Energy Fuels, as they complained that subsidised foreign competitors, such as Russia and Kazakhstan, have caused them to cut capacity and lay off workers.
China Machinery Engineering signed a $545mn contract with Tajikistan’s state-run aluminium producer Talco on an electrolytic aluminium production line rehabilitation project with a full capacity of 300 kilotonnes per annum.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers agreed to push on with efforts to end the conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, but no major progress appeared to be made after they met in Moscow on April 15. Both foreign ministers "reaffirmed the intention of the parties to continue their efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through political and diplomatic means," a statement posted on the OSCE website said.
The Instagram accounts of several Islamic Revo- lutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders were blocked with the photo-sharing website saying it was complying with US sanctions, Tabnak news website reported. The US recently added the IRGC to its list of foreign terrorist organisations.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Tashkent to remove centrally mandated production quotas on cotton, which continue to fuel forced labour within Uzbekistan at least on certain local levels. The Uzbek government has taken multiple steps to end forced labour in its cotton sector, yet elements per-
sist as local governments rely on it to meet quotas demanded by central government officials.
Armenia launched the development of a pilot project for the export of spent nuclear fuel to Russia through Georgia, Vardan Martirosyan, a top official at the Ministry of Energy Infrastruc- tures and Natural Resources in charge of credit and grant programmes, told Armenian media, Arka News Agency reported.
Kazakhstan’s central bank cut its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 9%. The regulator said the decision was made thanks to slowing infla- tion and a positive external environment. How- ever, the decision may have been at least partially influenced by Kazakh Interim President Kassym- Jomart Tokayev’s ordering the central bank to find ways to make credit more affordable.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s elder daugh- ter Saida Mirziyoyeva was appointed deputy head of a newly established state agency for communica- tions and media regulation. The appointment places Mirzyioyeva among other offspring of Central Asian leaders who have been granted senior posts.
The Russia-led Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) forecast Kyrgyzstan’s “medium-term economic growth” at 3.5-3.9%. For 2019, the bank expects growth of 4%.
Mongolia’s coal exports rose 15% y/y to 7.8mn tonnes in the first quarter, according to official data. The country benefitted from Chinese cus- toms delays impeding imports from Australia during the first quarter.
Russia President Vladimir Putin and Tajik Presi- dent Emomali Rahmon held talks. Both presidents vowed to continue joint efforts to "fight against ter- rorism, extremism, drug trafficking, and the illegal trade in weapons," the Kremlin said. Russia’s secu- rity concerns in Tajikistan stem from the ex-Soviet nation sharing a border with war-torn Afghanistan.