Central Asia

During a special meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov instructed Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Meredov to recruit international experts - qualified lawyers to examine the legality of Azerbaijan's claims for disputed offshore fields in the Caspian Sea.

According to the Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan, about 2,872,181 million ballot papers have been issued in the republic, moreover 2,179 million of them are in Kyrgyz and 641 thousand in the Russian language.

The presidential elections started today at 8.00 am in Kyrgyzstan. The polling stations will close at 8.00 pm.

The government of Kazakhstan will accept criteria for carrying out of audits of subjects of business in half a year. Vice Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Serik Ahmetov, said in the interview to the newspaper Kazakhstan Pravda.

Residents of Kyrgyzstan estimate their material situation much higher than other residents of CIS countries, considering it as good, Russian mass media with reference to the last research of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre reported.

The U.S. Department of State updated Travel Warnings, which are issued to describe long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable.

President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has conducted a surgery operation on removing lipoma, a benign tumor, on a patient from the Balkan region, July 21, the Day of Health and Medical Industry Workers of Turkmenistan.

The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Karim Masimov, at the government session today assigned the Ministry of Economy and Budgetary Planning of Kazakhstan to develop two scenarios of economic development and to consider its influence on Kazakhstan.

Switzerland and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development promise Bishkek residents improvement of drinking water supply system in the nearest future, as the relevant agreement was signed between the Kyrgyz government, Swiss Confederation and EBRD.

As part of the joint project of UNDP and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of the Population, "ACCESS" is announcing a contest on "The best publication, movie, radio program, photo essays or TV show on the issue of disabilities in Uzbekistan".