Central Asia

New Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the United Nations Murad Askarov signed Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on behalf of Uzbekistan on February 27 2009.

“The decision to shut down the Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan is a sovereign decision of the Kyrgyz leadership,” the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the Spanish TV channel TVE and newspaper El Pais.

President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized the need to build up Turkmenistan's participation in the activities of ECO "whose tasks and goals are consonant with the guidelines of the national program for social and economic development."

Kazakhstan has decided to quit a Central Asian power grid, leaving two cash-strapped countries in the region, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, short of electricity.

The EBRD expects 5 to 7 % growth in Uzbekistan in 2009. This is far higher than the latest forecast for the Bank's region.

“Corruption remained endemic at all levels of society,” the 2008 Country Human Rights Report by the U.S. Department of State said.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Uzbek President Islam Karimov held talks at the Durmen presidential residence on 25 February. The presidents noted that "negotiations were held in the atmosphere of trust, openness and mutual understanding."

Kazakhstan will export 2.5 million tons of gain by September 1, said the President of the Grain Union of Kazakhstan Nurlan Tleubaev at International Grain Conference in Almaty.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov participated in the opening ceremony of the National Exhibition of Uzbekistan.

The second in a series of OSCE workshops focusing on tools for an effective reform of the legislative process was launched today in Ashgabad.