The Special Representative of Uzbekistan’s President, Ismatullah Irgashev, and the Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan, Ilkhom Makhkamov, arrived in Kabul on May 12, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported. During a meeting with the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban administration of Afghanistan), Ilkhom Makhkamov stated that Uzbekistan supports the Islamic Emirate’s
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will host the 13th Central Asia Trade Forum, entitled “Trade Connections: Bridging Globally,” on May 14 and 15 in Almaty, the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan announced. With more than 10,000 government and business leaders from 25 countries in Central and South Asia, Europe, and the United States participating since
Artificial intelligence (AI) was behind deepfakes, originated in China, about the existence of US laboratories allegedly developing biological weapons in Kazakhstan. Reuters reported citing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 2024 homeland threat assessment that last year, a Chinese government-controlled news site using a generative AI platform pushed a previously circulated false claim that
On May 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan gathered in Moscow for a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, the governing body of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). This year marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Russian-led economic integration
Armenia said on May 8 that it has stopped making financial contributions to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) after effectively suspending its membership in the Russian-led military alliance, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reported. “Armenia will refrain from signing up to the November 23, 2023, decision on the CSTO budget for 2024 and, thereby, from participating
All five Central Asian presidents are scheduled to attend a parade on Red Square in Moscow on May 9 to commemorate the victory in the Second World War in 1945, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reported. Yury Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on May 7 said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tajik President
Amid Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and geopolitical confrontation with the West, the Kremlin is taking efforts to strengthen its influence in Kazakhstan, Moldova, other countries of Central Asia, and in the South Caucasus. For this purpose, Russia has launched information campaigns using various news agencies and Internet platforms to disseminate Moscow’s narrative in
Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) has announced that the issues of organizing the launch of an international tourist passenger train from China’s Xi’an to Almaty were discussed during a working meeting of the heads of NC KTZ JSC, Passenger Transportation JSC and a delegation of the government of Xi’an (PRC). The tourist
Azerbaijan and Armenia are expected to hold negotiations in Almaty at the suggestion of the Kazakh side, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced on May 1. “I welcome the agreement between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia to hold talks at the Foreign Ministers’ level on the preparation of a peace treaty between
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on April 30 approved a $84 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Afghanistan Community Resilience and Livelihoods Project, which complements $70 million in additional financing from the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund (ARTF). The project started in 2022 with a grant of $265 million from the
