Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian countries played important roles at last week’s NATO summit in Chicago thanks to the session’s emphasis on Afghanistan and partnerships. Nonetheless, the Central Asian delegations joined others in expressing unease about NATO’s support for Eurasian security after NATO ends... MORE

“It is not important for China as to who will be building this railway line. The most important thing is that it is built,” Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Wang Kaiwen said recently about the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project, which Bishkek and Beijing seek to implement despite... MORE

Meeting on the fringes of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Beijing on May 11, Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrohon Zarifi and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi made the usual affirmations of good bilateral relations (Xinhua, May 11). Part of a raft of... MORE

On May 16-17, members of the Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) met in Dubai to sign the financing agreements for the CASA-1000 energy project (Khovar, May 18). Delegations from the four principal countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as representatives from investor countries, the World... MORE

Kyrgyzstan’s Border Guards Service announced on May 9 that the United States will finance the construction of six facilities in Kyrgyzstan for use by Kyrgyz security forces. They will include a barracks, a command center for the Border Guards’ southern services and new checkpoints. The... MORE

On May 30-31, Kazakhstan will host the 4th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions – for the fourth time since it initiated the practice in 2003 – to discuss the role of religion and inter-faith dialogue in promoting global security and human development.... MORE

In Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, a labor dispute at Kazakhmys – Kazakhstan’s largest copper mining company – was swiftly resolved within three days after the management agreed to satisfy miners’ demands for higher pay and better working conditions. However, the long-term problems of the single-industry town of... MORE

“Why is Russia against the US’s Central Asia Counternarcotics Initiative [CACI]?” was the question the Kommersant newspaper asked Victor Ivanov, Director of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FDCS), in an interview published on the agency’s website on May 3. This $4.2 million scheme to... MORE

On April 19, a Tajikistan court convicted 34 alleged members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan of a variety of crimes including, murder, establishing an unlawful armed group, provoking sectarian conflict and attempting to overthrow the government (BBC Tajiki, April 19). Prosecutors claimed that members... MORE

Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambaev, in an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant on April 10, said that while some may want to drive a wedge between Russia and Kyrgyzstan, “this will be hard to do.” Considering Atambayev’s streak of bewildering statements on Russia, and Kyrgyzstan’s... MORE