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The Regions This Week
August 31, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
Eurasia
The presidents of the five Central Asian repub- lics met to address the issue of saving the dy- ing Aral Sea, a source of major environmental hazards in the region. The Aral Sea, once among the four largest seas on Earth, has been drying up since the former USSR implemented a number
of intensive irrigation projects in the 1960s. It has lost around 90% of its size since then.
Singapore’s Indorama Corporation will invest $335mn in the development of “modern cotton and textile production” in Uzbekistan, according to an Uzbek government resolution. Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest exporters of cotton.
Mystery surrounds an aircraft bombing along the Tajik-Afghan border that killed eight militants and wounded six. Afghan officials claimed a Tajik or Russian aircraft bombed a Taliban-controlled border area in Afghanistan’s northeastern Takhar province, but both Tajik and Russian officials de- nied any involvement.
The ADB urged Kazakhstan to enact reforms that provide a level playing field for the private sector and support economic diversification. In its new Country Diagnostic Study, the development bank argued that consistent and successful reform ef- forts could on average add 1.2 percentage points per annum to Kazakhstan’s GDP.
Iran is hiking tariffs on imported cosmetics from 10% to 26%. The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) has come under increasing heat in recent weeks for failing to process and re- lease thousands of tonnes of imports to the market.
Armenian prosecutors launched a criminal case against mining company Lydian Armenia on sus- picion of illegal activity at the giant Amulsar mine. The mine has been the subject of a campaign lasting several years by environmental groups and local residents, who claim exploiting the deposit will jeopardise water resources in the area and threaten the population’s health.
Georgian resorts are unprepared for the grow- ing numbers of tourists visiting the country, Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze warned. Georgia reported 6.9mn international visitor ar- rivals in 2017, up 20.2% from the previous year, and a further increase is expected this year, but investments in infrastructure have not kept pace with rising tourist numbers.
Kyrgyzstan's Social Democratic Party denied rumours that it is planning a coup to seize power for its leader, ex-president Almazbek Atambayev, but criticised the government’s policies as "short- sighted", Radio Azattyk reported. In an apparent feud against his predecessor, President Sooranbai Jeenbekov appears to be set on completely dis- mantling any influence Atambayev may have left in the country.
Israel’s justice ministry accused an Israeli drone maker of bombing ethnic Armenian soldiers in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region at the request of Azerbaijani clients during a sales demonstration. The ministry said it plans to in- dict the chief executive, deputy CEO, and other officials and employees of Aeronautics Defense Systems for the 2017 incident.
A Tajik man was detained after threatening to blow up a Russian plane mid-flight. The Russian airliner bound for the Tajik capital of Dushanbe was forced to return to Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport after the man, identified as Davlatkadam Davlatkadamov, started a brawl then claimed to have a bomb on board.
Uzbekistan and Italy are to set up a silk products industrial park. The Uzbek authorities have been developing silkworm cultivation following a presi- dential decree adopted back in 2006, and around 70% of the annually produced silk crop is thought to be exported, while the rest is processed by the local textile industry.