The Asian Development Bank (ADB) hopes to overcome by 2020 the challenges of building a $10-billion gas pipeline through Afghanistan's most violent areas, by making sure it benefits Afghan contractors and communities, a bank official told Reuters. Shareholders of the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) project agreed on Thursday to ...

DUSHANBE, April 8, 2016, Asia-Plus – On Thursday April 7, Mr. Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, Chairman of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper house of parliament), received Ms. Elisabeth I. Millard, U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan, at the latter’s request, an official source at the Majlisi Milli told Asia-Plus in an interview.In the course ...

DUSHANBE, April 8, 2016, 2016, Asia-Plus – An air route between the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, and the Pakistani city of Lahore will be launched on May 7.Pakistani Ambassador to Tajikistan Tareeq Iqbal Soomro stated this on April 8 while addressing a ceremony of an official opening of Made in Pakistan Exhibition in Dushanbe.The air route will promote ...

DUSHANBE, April 8, 2016, Asia-Plus – A two-way trade between Tajikistan and Pakistan is planned to reach US$500 million in the coming years.“Interaction between the leaders of our countries paved the way for further expansion of bilateral cooperation and they hope that trade volume between the two countries will reach US$500 million in ...

DUSHANBE, April 8, 2016, Asia-Plus – On Friday April 8, President Emomali Rahmon held a joint meeting of the government and the organizing committee for celebration of the 25th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence, according to the Tajik president’s official website.Heads of relevant ministries and agencies reported on the process ...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint in dealing with the current conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying Tehran wants peace and stability restored to the region.Rouhani called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to do all they can to ensure the implementation of ...

Senior officials from Iran and Turkey called for stronger cooperation in a range of fields, with both urging the expansion of economic relations via facilitated trade and joint investment. Iran's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi, who is in Ankara for a session of Iran-Turkey Economic Cooperation Joint Commission, ...

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev plans to pay an official visit to Iran’s capital of Tehran in coming days in a bid to meet high-ranking Iranian officials. The two-day visit will take place at the invitation of the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.The Kazakh president will be in Tehran on April 11 to discuss ways to improve mutual ...

Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Mehdi Sanaei said the two countries have firm resolve to develop their mutual cooperation, particularly in the field of science, and good news are expected to be released on Tehran-Moscow bilateral ties in coming weeks. Addressing a conference held in a university in St. Petersburg titled as 'Russia and Iran: Dialog of ...

The Republic of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev called for further efforts to boost Tehran-Baku cooperation in the area of tourism. Aliyev paid an official visit to Iran’s pavilion at Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair (AITF) in Baku on Friday and praised the Islamic Republic’s tourism attractions and capacities....

Hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan have reportedly flared up overnight, with reports of gun and mortar fire coming from the border. Both Azeri and Armenian defense ministries accused each other of provoking the escalation. Azerbaijan said on Saturday Armenian troops opened fire 127 times over 24 hours along the border. They were using mortars ...

As announced earlier by Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry press service, President Nursultan Nazarbayev this week will take part in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. The fourth summit of heads of state, prime ministers and heads of nuclear security organisations aims at revitalising the activities of the existing multilateral structures to ...

Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the Opening Plenary Session of the Nuclear Security Summit 2016 in Washington on Friday, the president's press service reports.In his remarks at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center President Nazarbayev emphasized that Kazakhstan is among the world's top 20 countries in terms of high level of security of nuclear ...

Nursultan Nazarbayev held a meeting with Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe on the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit 2016 in Washington.At the meeting the sides discussed the priority areas of bilateral cooperation, including interaction in the commercial and economic, political and cultural spheres.Nursultan Nazarbayev noted that Shinzo Abe's ...

Kazakhstan and Japan adopted the statement on making the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty come into force as soon as possible at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.The sides confirmed their commitments to building the world free of nuclear weapons. Joint statement of Kazakhstan and Japan making the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty come into force ...

On 29 March, a meeting with Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Republic of Uzbekistan Bahman Agharazi Dormani will be held at the Ministry of foreign economic relations, investments and trade of Uzbekistan. During the meeting, the sides discussed the current state and prospects of expansion of mutually ...

Uzbekistan is planning to direct US$595.9m to development of food industry in 2016-2020, the Ministry of Economy of Uzbekistan said. The Government approved a programme on developing the industry, which includes 180 investment projects with the cost of US$595.9 million. The projects are directed at construction of new, reconstruction and modernization ...

Turkmenistan and Russia held a business forum at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan. The forum aimed to bolster trade and economic cooperation between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation, identifying new areas of cooperation, creating favorable conditions to enhance partnership between business structures of the two countries,...

Ten high level-officers from the State Border Service of Turkmenistan took part in a roundtable meeting that took place today. The meeting was organized by the OSCE Center in Ashgabat in cooperation with the State Border Service of Turkmenistan to assess the needs of the national border guards with the aim of enhancing their border patrol capacities....

The Kyrgyz parliament is considering the draft law on strengthening the punishment for participation in illegal armed groups. In particular, it provides for a decrease the age limit of judicial liability from 16 to 14 years. According to local media, the new draft law provides for a punishment for financing of terrorism, harboring of extremists, recruiting ...