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The Regions This Week
January 18, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
Eurasia
Nikol Pashinian was appointed to a second term
as prime minister of Armenia. His post-velvet- revolution My Step political alliance scored a crushing victory in snap parliamentary elections held in December.
The Turkmen authorities launched a campaign to register nearly all men under 50 as army re- servists amid mounting concerns about militants in neighbouring Afghanistan, RFE/RL reported citing a defence ministry source and accounts by citizens. Parts of the Turkmen-Afghan border are controlled by militants such as the Taliban, which stands as a constant source of worry for the Cen- tral Asian nation.
Iran went ahead with a rocket launch to put a satellite in orbit in defiance of US calls to desist, but the rocket failed to reach the required velocity, Iranian officials said. Telecommunications Min- ister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi told state TV that the rocket carrying the Payam (Message) satellite did not gain the "necessary speed" in the third stage of the launch.
Kazakhstan’s economy expanded by 4.1% y/y in 2018, slightly up from the 4% recorded in 2017, according to preliminary figures published by the Statistics Committee of the National Economy Ministry. The growth rate stood largely unchanged in comparison to the figures reported in the first nine months, first half and first quarter of 2018
— growth was uniformly recorded at 4%-4.1% throughout those periods.
Azerbaijan reported 2.3% consumer price infla- tion in 2018. This included a 1.7% increase in food product, beverage and tobacco product prices, while prices of non-food products rose faster, by 2.6%, and paid services provided to the population were up by 2.7%.
The number of tourists visiting Uzbekistan nearly doubled in 2018, rising to 5.3mn, up from the 2.7mn recorded in 2017, UzDaily news agency reported. The rise was in part thanks to the Uzbek government’s efforts to introduce visa-free re- gimes for the citizens of dozens of countries –
it presently plans to introduce 30 visa-free regimes for 45 countries in February.
Georgia’s trade gap widened 10.8% y/y in 2018.
Last year saw the value of Georgia’s exports in- crease by 22.9% y/y to $3.36bn, while the value of the country’s imports grew by 14.9% y/y to $9.12bn, resulting in a trade deficit of $5.76bn.
New corruption charges were filed against ex- Kyrgyz PM Sapar Isakov. Kyrgyzstan’s State Com- mittee for National Security said that Isakov has been charged with corruption that led to major financial losses in connection with reconstruction works at the Kyrgyz State Museum of History in Bishkek.
The Uzbek embassy in the Netherlands held talks with Erika den Daas, CEO of Meijer B.V., a Dutch supplier of seed potatoes, Jahon news agency reported. The two sides discussed the possibil- ity of launching Uzbekistan’s first potato chips production plant based on Dutch technologies in the near future.
Consumer prices in Tajikistan rose by 5.5% y/y in November, slightly accelerating from the 5.3% y/y growth seen in the previous month, according to the latest figures put out by the National Bank of Tajikistan. Tajik prices are potentially inter- twined with the weakening of the ruble in Rus- sia, which stands as the country’s main source of remittances and as one of its main trade partners along with China.