news digest March 10th-16th

Energy is back on the agenda this week. In Kazakhstan news agency Kazinform reports that the government has set itself the ambitious target of raising gas production by 32% in just two years.  Russian-based site turkmenistan.ru reports the opening in Turkmenistan of a refinery owned by Dragon, an Irish oil company with longstanding interests in the country’s Caspian oilfields. The site also carries a report on “the largest discovery in history of hydrocarbon resources of Turkmenistan”. Meanwhile ABC money says that Turkmenistan has extended the hand of friendship to Azerbaijan, its competitor in the Caspian energy stakes, though it’s not clear what, if anything, this really amounts to.

Uzbekistan came in for some strong criticism in the US State Department’s Human Rights Report, published on March 6th. According to ferghana.ru (via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) the Uzbek government has predictably responded by dismissing the report and calling it “counterproductive”. Freedom of religion has hit the headlines again this week. Pastor Dmitry Shestakov has been sentenced to four years in prison by an Uzbek court for “illegal religious practices” according to Christian website Compass.

Ankara based Turkish Weekly reports from Kazakhstan that the pastor of an unregistered Baptist church has been thrown in jail following a court order banning the organisation. Amnesty USA highlights the continued incarceration of Muslim cleric Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah in Turkmenistan.Tajikistan’s leaders continue to show enthusiasm for ties with Iran, which is providing resources and expertise to help develop the country’s transport infrastructure, according to Iranian news agency IRNA. Another regional giant, Russia, is set on extending its influence across Central Asia, says Roger McDermott of the Jamestown Foundation, primarily through better relations with Uzbekistan. McDermott argues that Russia is seeking to “dissuade Tashkent’s neighbors from becoming more involved in Western security assistance packages.” It may be facing an uphill struggle, as ITAR-TASS reports this week that Kyrgyzstan has joined NATO’s Planning and Review Process program, a scheme designed to provide advice in reforming the country’s defence and security sectors.

Environmental concerns over one of the region’s largest bodies of water, Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan, will be addressed at an international conference in Almaty later this month, says Eurasianet. This follows discussions on March 7th with Chinese and Kyrgyz counterparts over the fate of the lake, which supplies 20% of Kazakhs with drinking water. Experts fear that it could soon go the same way as the devastated Aral Sea. Water, it seems is no trivial matter: management of this resource will be a key plank of EU policy towards Central Asia, reports EUobserver.

Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.

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