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The Regions This Week
September 1, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Eurasia
French President Emmanuel Macron said there
is no alternative to the 2015 nuclear deal struck by Iran and six major powers to curb the Iranian atomic programme in exchange for lifting eco- nomic sanctions. France is already spearheading EU investment in post-nuclear sanctions era Iran. It is now also leading European resistance to Don- ald Trump's moves to scrap the nuclear deal.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev warned he will punish anyone who causes "disturbanc- es" in trying to prevent his ally, Social Democratic Party candidate Sooronbai Jeenbekov, from win- ning the presidential election set for October 15.
Around 30 members of the ruling Mongolian People’s Party requested the dismissal of Prime Minister Jargaltulgyn Erdenebat and his government.
Qatar restored full diplomatic relations with Iran. It returned its ambassador to Tehran more than 20 months after he was recalled to protest against the ransacking of Saudi Arabia’s missions in Iran by demonstrators enraged by Riyadh’s ex- ecution of a Shia Muslim cleric. The Iranians are supporting Doha in its dispute with Gulf Coopera- tion Council (GCC) states led by Saudi Arabia who have blockaded the tiny nation.
Kazakhstan hosted and won the inaugural world championship in kokpar, an ancient nomadic game. Kokpar sees players on horseback battling for a headless goat carcass. They score by placing it in a goal. The event used an imitation carcass.
The Armenian defence ministry accused Azer- baijan of opening fire on OSCE border monitor- ing officials by the northern Armenian village
of Chinari. Azerbaijan said the accusation was a "provocation" meant to hamper peace talks over breakaway region Nagorno-Karabakh.
Iran exported more than 150,000 tonnes of pis- tachio nuts in the first third of the current Persian
calendar year. In all of the previous Iranian year,
it only exported 135,000 tonnes. Pistachios are Iran’s most valuable food export item in terms of revenue after cooking spice saffron, meeting more than 50% of world demand.
US-based Papa John’s International pizza chain signed development agreements to enter Ka- zakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The world's third larg- est pizza delivery company follows McDonalds, Hardees, Burger King and KFC in Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan has no international fast food chains.
Management of Armenia’s state-owned electric- ity transmission company is to be taken over by Tashir Group, a business conglomerate owned by Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Kara- petyan. The Armenian government gave the go- ahead for the move. Tashir vowed to clean up the heavily indebted utility.
Kazakhstan revised its 2017 GDP growth fore- cast from 2.5% to 3.4%. The upward revision was mainly due to a faster-than-anticipated recovery in the real sector. Kazakh GDP grew by 4.2% in the first half of 2017.
Israel's defence ministry reportedly halted exports of "suicide" drones made by Aeronaut- ics Defence Systems (ADS) to Azerbaijan. Offi- cials are said to be investigating claims that ADS conducted live targeting in Nagorno-Karabakh to demonstrate the drones’ capabilities earlier this year, injuring two soldiers.
The Uzbek government may allow local banks and exchange bureaus to let citizens buy and sell foreign currency at the market rate within days. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev wants to abolish the black market rate of the som, which has stood in the way of foreign investment and fuelled high inflation.