Page 8 - bne_newspaper_December_08_2017

The Regions This Week
December 8, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eurasia
Uzbekistan made evidence obtained under
torture inadmissible. Since coming to power
in late 2016, reform-minded President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has released a number of imprisoned dissidents and human rights activists. Moreover, 191 defendants were acquitted in Uzbek courts in the past 10 months, compared to seven acquittals over the previous five years.
Mongolia was named on the EU’s first ever tax haven blacklist. Blacklisted countries failed to meet international standards and did not give suf- ficient commitments that they would change their ways, Brussels said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev dismissed the country's tax minister of 19 years Fazil Mam- madov without explanation. Instances of veteran politicians being dismissed have become more frequent in the opaque oil-rich country.
Efforts to strengthen Iran’s debilitated banking system with a major schedule of mergers and acquisitions will be made over the next year, the Central Bank of Iran said. Several banks are said to be on the edge due to new liquidity ratios.
Uzbekistan and Afghanistan signed a deal to extend a railroad connecting the two countries. The link might eventually open up a direct route to Iran for landlocked Uzbekistan and, vitally, to ex- port terminals at Iranian seaports.
Iran welcomed Turkmenistan’s decision to take to international arbitration a dispute over $1.8bn Tehran supposedly owes for Turkmen natural gas. The Iranians dispute the figure as somewhat less.
The world's top uranium miner, Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom, announced plans to cut output
by 20% over three years. The cut in 2018 will be equivalent to 7.5% of total global supply. The move addresses nuclear fuel market oversupply.
Residents of two villages in Armenia are
protesting against plans of little-known company Miram to pursue open-pit gold mining. The villagers, who blocked a meeting between Miram and the environment ministry, allege the company has not held public hearings with them, as mandated by law.
Kyrgyzstan is withdrawing a WTO complaint over Kazakhstan’s tightening of border controls after the two countries signed a "road map" to solve the row. While the dispute has been largely politi- cal — triggered by claims Astana meddled in the Kyrgyz presidential election — Kazakhstan says Kyrgyzstan has been avoiding EEU import levies by smuggling in Chinese imports.
The Georgian Constitutional Court struck down
a law requiring a doctor's prescription for the use of marijuana. Drug advocates said the move amounted to a victory in the fight to decriminalise the substance in the conservative Christian Ortho- dox country.
Mongolia’s president vetoed the 2018 budget passed by parliament, saying the planned deficit would violate the terms of the $5.5bn bailout agreed with the IMF and other lenders. Mongolia agreed to introduce austerity measures and end expansionary monetary policies in return for the rescue.
Tajikistan projects it will spend TJS1.1bn (€105.9mn) on servicing its external debt next year. Central Asia's poorest nation in September raised $500mn from its inaugural international bond priced at 7.125% for a 10-year term.
Russia's Gazprom by end-2017 will increase its annual gas purchases from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to 20bn cubic metres and intends to keep up the same import volume next year.