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“Silkroad Visas”
Among countries in Central Asia trying to build up their tourism revenues is Uzbekistan. It is planning to issue new multi-visas, dubbed “Silkroad Visas”, allowing foreigners to visit both Uzbeki- stan and neighbouring countries. The project has been jointly developed with Kazakhstan. Tajikistan and neighbour- ing Kyrgyzstan are expected to be included in the initiative.
As part of its economic diversification efforts, Kazakhstan has devised plans to push up its tourism industry's share in GDP from 1% in 2016 to 8% by 2025. The government also hopes to raise employ- ment in the tourism sector to 660,000 by 2025 up from 390,000 people in 2017.
In February, the Fund for the Reconstruc- tion and Development of Uzbekistan (FRDU) pledged a credit line for $200mn
to support the “co-financing of investment projects for the construction of hotels and facilities, and adjacent road, engineering and communications infrastructure”.
Some specific plans include the develop- ment of a “free tourist zone” in Tashkent Region in Uzbekistan and of the “Altai cluster” in Kazakhstan. Both countries are attempting to attract foreign invest- ments via tourism.
Europe: Ignore Trump’s call not to do business with Iran
Will Conroy in Prague
If any doubt existed as to whether Europe and the US are on a collision course over Donald Trump’s plan to decimate Iran’s economy none existed by the close of August 7.
“Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States. I am asking for WORLD PEACE, nothing less!” tweeted the US president.
“We are encouraging small and medium enterprises in particular to increase busi- ness with and in Iran as part of some- thing [that] for us is a security priority,” countered EU foreign policy chief Fed- erica Mogherini, insisting the member states of the 28-nation European bloc would not let the Iran nuclear deal die.
The showdown between the EU and US has been in store since Trump in early May unilaterally pulled Washington
out of the multilateral accord which relieved Tehran of crippling sanctions
in return for compliance with measures designed to block its road to the possible development of a nuclear weapon. Instead of sticking with the nuclear deal, Trump opted for a new campaign of heavy sanctions with the objective
of strangling the Iranian economy to the point where Tehran would have no
choice but to renegotiate its role in the conflict-torn Middle East.
On August 6 – again failing to explain what specific threat Shi’ite Muslim Iran poses to world peace as things stand or why it is that he singles out the Iranians for claimed terrorist activities when analysts typically trace the origins of most terrorism perpetrated against the West in recent decades to US ally Saudi Arabia or other Sunni Muslim nations – Trump triggered the first phase of those sanctions.
Trump described the first-phase sanc- tions – which hit Iran’s access to dollars, gold and precious metals and Iranian industries including carmaking –com- bined with second-phase sanctions
that from November 4 will target Iran’s lifeline crude oil exports, as “the most biting ever imposed”.
As well as Iran, the EU’s big three – the UK, France and Germany – and Russia and China remained signed up to the nuclear deal, saying it works and Tehran remains in full compliance with it.
‘In our and the world’s security interests’
During a trip to Wellington, New Zealand, on August 7, Mogherini told
reporters: “We are doing our best to keep Iran in the deal, to keep Iran benefit-
ing from the economic benefits that the agreement brings to the people of Iran, because we believe this is in the security interests of not only our region but also of the world.
“If there is one piece of international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation that is delivering, it has to be maintained.”
Mogherini said it was crucial that Iran feels economic benefits secured by the nuclear deal. She described the late 2015 agreement struck after painstaking negotiations as a “fundamental aspect of the Iranian right to have an economic advantage in exchange for what they have done so far, which is being compli- ant with all their nuclear-related com- mitments”.
The Russian foreign ministry also put out a statement objecting to the US sanc- tions targeted at Tehran, reading: “We are deeply disappointed by US steps to reimpose its national sanctions against Iran. This is a clear example of Wash- ington violating UN resolution 2231
[on the Iran deal] and international law.” The multi-party nuclear agree- ment had “shown its effectiveness” and
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