News Agency HARAKAT - 12 January 2010

• 19:54Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan to negotiate at inter-governmental level soon

  The next meeting of a joint Turkmen-Uzbek commission on trade, economic, technical and cultural cooperation will be held soon, a Turkmen official source said. Cabinet of Ministers Deputy Chairman Hojamuhammet Muhammedov said the event is being prepared at a recent governmental meeting. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow said he will paid attention to developing mutually beneficial economic ties with neighboring countries, including Uzbekistan. From the Turkmen side, Berdimuham...

• 19:03Uzbekistan to apply biometric passport in 2011

  Uzbekistan postponed introduction of passports of the Uzbek citizens with biometric data of the owner for a year to 2011. Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed a decree on introduction of terms of stage-by-stage exchange of existing passports of population to biometric passports on 29 December 2009. Under the decree, biometric passports will be introduced in Uzbekistan from Jan.1, 2011. Earlier, the government planned to start first stage of biometric passports introduction from 1 Janua...

• 19:02Life in Kyrgyzstan better than in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, say experts

  The life quality in Kyrgyzstan is higher than in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the index published by a popular U.S. monthly magazine - International Living said. The index considered living costs, economy, infrastructure, environment, health care, culture and leisure, freedom, risk and security, climate conditions with a maximum of 100 points by each criterion. Lithuania (73), Estonia (71), Latvia (70) are obvious leaders among the post-Soviet states, which are followed by Mold...

• 14:14Kyrgyz Hydropower Station To Be Operational By May «Radio Free Europe»

  Kyrgyzstan says the first unit of the Kambarata-2 hydropower station will be operational by May, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. Albert Abazbekov, the chairman of the state company Naryngidrostroi, told RFE/RL that establishing the first unit will simplify the commissioning of the station's second and third units. Kambarata-2 is designed to produce 360 megawatts per year. Kyrgyz authorities plan to solve the country's chronic electricity problems by completing the Kambarata-1 and Kamba...

• 13:13Israeli nabbed in Tashkent with M16 bullets in her bag

  Tamar Yagudayev, the Israeli who has been detained since Thursday in Tashkent Airport after security officials found an M16 magazine with 12 bullets in her backpack, told Haaretz yesterday that the cartridge belongs to a friend who lent her the bag, and that she has "never been to the army" and "doesn't even know what a magazine looks like." According to Yagudayev, she and her boyfriend Yaniv Niazov, 25, decided to celebrate the end of his army service by taking "a trip to remember" to Thaila...

• 08:32Tajikistan jails power station 'spy'

  A Tajikistan court on Thursday sentenced a man to 20 years in jail for spying for the neighbouring Central Asian country of Uzbekistan. The man, identified as Boimurod Anarov, "was detained with secret and strategic information on two hydroelectric power stations", court sources told AFP. The man, who had lived in Uzbekistan for 13 years, was arrested near the Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station in southern Tajikistan, which was built with financing from Russia, the sources said. The...

• 08:31Oxus Gold secures US$185 mln financing from Chinese consortium for gold project in Uzbekistan

  Oxus Gold (AIM: OXS) has entered into conditional agreements with a consortium of Chinese investors to invest and arrange financing of a total aggregate amount of US$185 million to help develop the company's gold project in Uzbekistan and increase production to 0.3 Moz (million ounces) of gold annually after 2011. Under the terms of the financing, members of the concert party will make an investment in Oxus of US$85 million through an issue of new ordinary shares and convertible loan notes an...

• 15:10UZBEKISTAN: TASHKENT AGREES TO GAS EXPORT DEAL WITH TAJIKISTAN

  Tajikistan is getting a slight price cut for Uzbek natural gas during the first quarter of 2010. Tajik officials have committed to buying 90 million cubic meters of gas from Uzbekistan in the first three months of the year at a cost of $220 per thousand cubic meters (tcm). The overwhelming share of the imported energy will be used to power industrial enterprises, a source at state-owned Tajiktransgaz told the Avesta news agency on January 5. The purchase price represents a $20/tcm reductio...

• 15:04Kyrgyz, Uzbek Officials Restart Border Delimitation

  A Kyrgyz official says the stalled work delimiting the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border will restart in the coming months, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. Salamat Alamanov, the head of the Kyrgyz government's regional issues department, told RFE/RL on January 4 that the two countries plan to continue working on border documents until April, and after that restart border-delimitation meetings. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan agreed during the December visit to Tashkent by Kyrgyz Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov...

• 02:55Uzbekistan sets minimum retail price for vodka

  Uzbekistan set the minimum wholesale and retail prices for alcoholic beverages, except beer, the republic information agencies published government's relevant regulation on this. Formerly Uzbekistan did not set minimal prices for alcoholic beverages. According to the document, minimal wholesale price for wine hit 1,800 sums per liter, retail price is 2,400 per liter, According to the document, retail prices for vodka, brandy and other alcoholic beverages hit 3,800 sum per liter and 5,00...