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The Regions This Week
September 14, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 6
Eurasia
Turkmenistan launched its largest gas and steam-based power plant to date following the completion of an upgrade. The launch will allow the remote Central Asian nation, desperate for revenues in its fight against economic turmoil, to boost electricity supplies to Pakistan following the construction of a new transmission line.
The campaign for the municipal elections in the Armenian capital Yerevan was formally launched. The contest is seen as the first electoral test for the new government under Prime Minister Nikol Pashninian that took power in the spring.
Singapore’s CG Corp Global agreed to acquire an instant noodles production plant in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan's newfound focus on food production forms part of its efforts to diversify the country’s economy away from dependence on oil exports.
Iran’s Tehran Stock Exchange hit a high as ordi- nary investors struggled to find investment op- tions amid the country’s economic difficulties. The exchange’s main index, the Tedpix, registered a high of 559bn shares worth IRR8.433 trillion ($200mn) traded on September 10.
Azerbaijan wants to boost its wine exports and open up new markets, anticipating a 50% increase in wine produced this year. This is in line with broader efforts to diversify its economy away from over-dependence on the hydrocarbons sector.
Gennady Gagulia, prime minister of the Georgian separatist republic of Abkhazia, was killed in a car accident. Gagulia’s vehicle was involved in a crash with a car whose driver was "in a state of intoxication”, and terrorism has been ruled out.
Bishkek-based Highland Capital has received
backing from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation for establishing the first institutional private equity fund with a focus on Kyrgyzstan. The new fund hopes to expand ac- cess to finance for SMEs in the country by provid- ing equity and equity-like financing in a number of sectors including services, healthcare, education and media.
An Uzbek imam was sacked after urging the president to allow hijabs and Islamic beards. Since taking office in 2016, President Shavkat Mir- ziyoyev has pledged to liberalise Uzbekistan, but the dismissal of the imam for seemingly exercis- ing his free speech and the recent arrests of blog- gers on Islamic matters appear to demonstrate an unwillingness to follow through with certain promises.
Four Tajik opposition groups officially set up a coalition in Warsaw. The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), Movement for Reforms and Progress, Forum of Freethinkers of Tajikistan and Association of Migrants of Central Asia had been in talks for a year before announcing the coalition.
Iranian women adorned with more than 150 grams of gold were banned from exiting the country. The move might be seen as one of the more extreme measures introduced since Iran’s economy was destabilised by the reintroduction of heavy sanctions against Tehran by the US.
The Armenian government will increase the guaranteed minimum pension by around 60% to AMD25,500 (€44), an advisor to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian revealed. There will be no more extreme poverty among pensioners, said Mesrop Arakelyan, a lecturer at Yerevan State University.