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The Regions This Week
July 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eurasia
Heavy flooding claimed 48 lives in Mongolia.
Heavy flooding and downpours in the western Bayan-Ulgii Province affected more than 2,500 people, forcing 600 people from 185 households to stay in emergency shelters, officials said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) noted a “broadly positive” outlook for Central Asia and the South Caucasus as the economies of the re- gion have performed ”unexpectedly” well, accord- ing to its July update of the Asian Development Outlook. In Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy, growth picked up to 4.1% in Q1 of 2018 from 3.6% a year earlier.
Kazakhstan’s interior ministry detained one sus- pect in the murder of 25-year-old Olympic figure skater Denis Ten, who was stabbed to death in Almaty on July 19. The authorities have identified two suspects as behind the murder. They alleg- edly killed Ten after he confronted them while they were attempting to steal his car’s side-mirrors.
Up to 20mn litres of petroleum are to be ex- ported daily from Iran when the Persian Gulf Star Refinery starts operating at full capacity in the next few months, official energy news agency SHANA reported Mohammad-Taqi Sadatipour, managing director of Petro Gohar Farasahel Kish (PGFK), as saying. Although the US blockade on nearly all Iranian crude and oil product exports is looming, Iran continues to work on plans to be- come a petrol exporter.
Armenia received weapons purchased under a $200mn loan agreement with Russia, the South Caucasus country’s Defence Minister David Tonoy- an said. The agreement included Smerch heavy multiple rocket launchers and ammunition, Igla-S man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air mis- sile systems and missiles and Avtobaza-M ground- based signals intelligence (SIGINT) systems de- signed to detect airborne and other radars.
Uzbekistan is to provide $100mn to support three Tajik banks, Amanotbank, Eskhata and Orienbank. The funds will be on-lent to Tajik en- trepreneurs who will use the funds for importing Uzbek goods.
The Georgian government is poised to release its new green economy development strategy within the coming days, Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said. Bakhtadze described the green economy as “the most significant direction” for his government, which took office earlier this month.
Interior Minister Minister Kashkar Junushaliyev took over an investigation into the drowning
of award-winning Kyrgyzstani investigative journalist, Ulanbek Egizbayev, who had worked for RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service. Egizbayev died on July 22 while on holiday with his family at Lake Issyk-Kul.
Azerbaijani national oil company Socar signed
a deal with Scotland-based oil and gas services company KCA Deutag to establish a joint venture for drilling. The Baku-based JV, named Turan Drilling & Engineering Company LLC, is to con- centrate on “existing and future opportunities in the offshore and onshore Caspian drilling and engineering market,” according to a statement on KCA’s website.
Turkmenistan finished this year’s annual grain harvest but failed to specify its size, according to reports by Alternative Turkmenistan News (ATN). Turkmenistan collected 1mn tonnes of grain in 2017, according to official government figures. The government had aimed to collect 1.6mn tonnes of grain.
Uzbekistan will reopen Urgench Airport on Au- gust 10, Khorezm region acting governor Farkhod Ermanov said in a Facebook post. The airport was closed on July 16 for renovation works.