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The Regions This Week
August 25, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Eurasia
Armenia’s prime minister enjoys the highest approval ratings of any politician in his country (60%), according to a poll conducted by the Aha- ron Adibekyan polling centre. Appointed in Sep- tember 2016 in the aftermath of a political crisis that revealed just how unpopular the government had become, Karen Karapetyan has embarked on a reform program to boost economic growth and fight entrenched corruption and nepotism.
A much-vaunted railway connection between Iran and Azerbaijan is likely to be finished in six months, according to a report by Iran Labour News Agency. The railway, which will connect to several Iranian cities from the Astara-Astara border be- tween the two countries, is part of the wider North- South rail project linking Iran to Russia and beyond.
Moody’s downgraded Azerbaijan’s debt ratings from ‘Ba1’ to ‘Ba2’ with a stable outlook, citing the weakening of Azerbaijan’s fiscal and economic strength as a result of low oil prices, declin-
ing production potential and very weak banking system. This concludes the rating review that Moody’s initiated on May 19.
Two subsidiaries of Russian utility Inter RAO based in Georgia initiated a legal case in dispute with Georgia over energy investments and asked the World Bank to arbitrate. At issue is an unful- filled investment promise by Georgia to the com- panies.
Tehran City Council officially elected reform- ist Mohammad Ali Najafi as the new mayor in
a unanimous vote. Najafi, 66, is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he studied engineering, though left the prestigious American university in 1978 to return to Tehran during the Islamic Revolution.
Turkish and Iranian officials discussed a pos- sible joint military operation against the Kurd- istan Workers’ Party (PKK) during Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Mohammad
Baqeri’s visit to Ankara, Turkish President Re- cep Tayyip Erdogan said. The PKK and its affiliate PJAK in Iran pose serious threats to both coun- try’s security, the president said.
Kazakhstan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 25bp to 10.25%. At the same time, the bank said it is aiming to maintain the rate 4pp above the level of inflation.
Kazakhstan provided the first tranche of $41mn in technical assistance to help Kyrgyzstan “strengthen its borders” as part of its Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) integration programme. The EEU is a Russia-led trade block launched
in 2014 that Kyrgyzstan joined in 2015. Although the EEU is supposedly meant to be beneficial for Kyrgyz agricultural producers, the accession has hit the country’s used car market and its re-export market for goods from China.
A court in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek court ordered the closure of the Sentyabr television station, which is linked to the recently sentenced opposition leader Omurbek Tekebayev. The Pros- ecutor General’s Office accused the broadcaster of disseminating “extremist material”. The sta- tion’s representatives in court were given only two hours’ notice before the beginning of the trial, leaving them with insufficient time to study the materials of the court case.
The EU’s new delegation in Mongolia will open in September, but will not start operating until January 2018. The EU’s decision is to establish a delegation in Mongolia brings its total number of delegations around the world to 140.
Tajikistan’s lawmakers approved a law that obliges Tajik citizens “to stick to traditional
and national clothes and culture”. The move is aimed at discouraging Tajik citizens from follow- ing Islamic practices and wearing Islamic clothing as part of a crackdown aimed at suffocating the rising radicalisation amongst disaffected youth.