News Agency HARAKAT - 06 January 2010

• 02:53Gazprom: Turkmenistan to resume gas supply to Russia on Jan 9

  Russia will start to receive gas from Turkmenistan again on Jan. 9, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station. "Gas supply from Turkmenistan will start at 10:00 a.m. on Jan. 9. All controversial issues regarding the supplies have been resolved," Kupriyanov said. He did not name the terms for the supplies. The supplies will, though, "help balance our portfolio very well," he said. Gazprom has the gas it produces itself, then there are independent producers...

• 12:48Uzbekistan - Meat ban on meat from Kyrgyzsta

  Kyrgyz meat is currently banned by Uzbekistan, however, this could all change according to Daniyar Usenov, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.The Prime Minister made this announcement on Monday, summarizing the session of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation in Tashkent, said a report by 24.Kg News Agency. Foot and Mouthh Disease to blame The report stated that the import ban has been put in place two years ago due to the discovery of Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak...

• 08:40Central Asia Defence And Security Report Q1 201

  New report provides detailed analysis of the Defence market Published on January 04, 2010 by Press Office (Companiesandmarkets.com and OfficialWire) LONDON, ENGLAND As part of the Soviet Union, Central Asia was primarily valuable for its natural resources and not for its manufacturing or industrial base. As a result, the economies of the region were left with few industrialised assets when they found independence thrust upon them in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Alth...

• 21:44Land Mine Kills Two Tajiks On Uzbek Border

  Two Tajik citizens died near the Uzbek-Tajik border after stepping on a land mine last week, RFE/RL's Uzbek and Tajik services report. Oybek Ibrahimov and his wife, Zarifa Karimova, were collecting firewood in the border area of Tajikistan's northwestern Isfara district on December 25 when the land mine exploded. Orom Yorov, a Tajik border guard official, told RFE/RL on December 29 that the couple died on the spot. Jonmahmad Rajabov, the head of Tajikistan's demining center, told RFE/RL...

• 08:35Uzbek leader’s loyalists share parliament seats

  Most parliamentary seats have been allocated after Uzbekistan’s stage-managed election held on Sunday, in which only pro-government parties were allowed to stand, local media reported on Tuesday. Central Asia’s most populous nation, Uzbekistan has never held a vote judged free and fair by Western observers but the West has kept quiet during the latest poll, seeking to engage Tashkent more closely in US efforts in Afghanistan. All four parties whose candidates have been awarded seats in the...

• 08:05Gazprom signs gas deal with Uzbekistan

  Russian energy giant Gazprom signed a contract to increase the volume of gas it purchases from Uzbekistan starting in 2010, the company said. Alexander Medvedev during an Asian tour stopped off in Uzbekistan to sign a deal to increase gas purchases by 150 billion cubic feet to 547 billion cubic feet by 2010. Gazprom will purchase the gas on a priced pegged to the European gas market. Gazprom signed preliminary deals with its Uzbek counterpart Uztransgas in 2005. The agreement secured a gas...

• 07:35Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan resume border demarcation

  Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan resumed work of the intergovernmental commission on delimitation and demarcation of the state border after a 5-year break on December 28. “The commission did not meet for some objective and subjective reasons that provoked nervousness and stress of people, especially residents of border regions,” Daniyar Usenov the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan told the press in Tashkent. The countries have already demarked about 900 km of borders while other 600 km have to be deli...

• 07:27Democracy Working Well In Uzbekistan, Says Malaysian Election Commission Deputy Chairman

  Uzbekistan's electoral process for its parliamentary elections held Sunday was in accordance with international standard, Malaysia's Election Commission deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said. "Democracy is working very well in Uzbekistan and I am glad to say that the electoral process followed international standard," he told Bernama Monday night after the full results of the elections were announced. Wan Ahmad and three other Malaysians, together with some 270 foreign observers fr...

• 05:20UZBEKISTAN: INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS SKEPTICAL ON UZBEK ECONOMY

  Uzbekistan has weathered the global financial crisis and is projecting a robust 2010 -- or so says Uzbek President Islam Karimov in his new book, The World Economic Crisis. But a December 17 report published by the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s paints a much darker picture of the Uzbek economy. Karimov’s 53-page book, published recently by the American Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce, lauds his government for keeping banks and inflation rates stable in 2008 and 2009 and sets out a fi...

• 05:17Uzbekistan: Pressure Grows on Opposition, Rights Activists

  The Uzbek government is intensifying its crackdown on political opposition and human rights activists in advance of December 27, 2009, elections, Human Rights Watch said today. In recent weeks, authorities in Uzbekistan have harassed, detained, and beaten political opposition and human rights activists. Authorities have placed dozens of activists throughout the country under de facto house arrest in an apparent effort to thwart any civic activism, warning them not to leave their homes until aft...