Page 7 - bne_newspaper_October_19_2018

The Regions This Week
October 19, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Eurasia
Turkmenistan opened a $3.4bn petrochemicals plant. The installation was constructed by Japan’s TOYO Engineering and South Korea’s LG International and Hyundai Engineering. The new plant forms part of the remote Central Asian nation’s efforts to diversify its economy away from reliance on natural gas exports.
Kazakhstan's state-run gas transit company KazTransGaz and PetroChina International Com- pany signed a five-year contract to double Ka- zakhstan’s natural gas exports to China to 10bn cubic metres per year in 2019. KazTransGaz hopes to earn revenues of $2bn a year from the exports.
Militants abducted 14 Iranian security force personnel on the Pakistani border. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) requested
that Pakistan tackle the suspected militants and ensure the kidnapped Iranian forces are released immediately.
French cable lift systems manufacturer Pomagalski — commonly known as Poma — expressed an interest in building a new ski zone in Armenia, Deputy Economic Development and Investments Minister Mané Adamian
said. Armenia has been seeking to develop its tourism industry, and the mountainous country has plenty of potential for winter sports.
Longtime Kyrgyz foreign minister Erlan Abdyldayev left his post following a standoff with Kyrgyzstan's ambassador to South Korea, Kylychbek Sultan, who was dismissed after alleging corruption within the foreign ministry. Sultan is said to be seeking asylum in an unspecified country.
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto said first production from its upgraded Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia will be delayed. Oyu Tolgoi comprises a giant Mongolian copper and gold mine currently undergoing a $5.3bn underground expansion.
Georgian prosecutors claimed ex-president Mikhei Saakashvili “approved” the killing of his rival in 2008. The Prosecutor's Office of Georgia announced it has completed investigations into the alleged case of the alleged preparation of the killing of wealthy businessman and politician Badri Patarkatsishvili.
Tajikistan started putting up new government and parliament buildings funded by China. The new developments will consist of one 15-storey and two 13-storey buildings taking in an area
of 10.27 hectares. China will provide CNY1.5bn ($140mn) for the project.
The EBRD will provide six loans worth €333mn to Uzbekistan for the development of sustainable solutions for the municipal and power infrastruc- ture sectors. Uzbekistan, a nation of 33mn people, has been suffering for decades from underinvest- ment in public utilities, including in district heating along with water and wastewater infrastructure.
A subsidiary of Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Dragon Oil, plans to invest $500mn in oil and gas assets in Turkmenistan, North Africa and Iraq next year, the company’s chief executive, Ali Rashid al-Jarwan, told Reu- ters. The plants will form part of its international expansion strategy amid goals to boost the com- pany’s output to 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by 2025.
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