Read Uzbekistan Dances to a Russian Tune, by Alisher Khamidov, Central Asia Now’s latest piece of analysis.

Free trade received a boost in Tajikistan this week as the government decided to allow foreign banks to operate in the country. At the same time efforts were being made to get a better deal for Tajik cotton exports, by adopting a new quality standard. Meanwhile Kazakh and Uzbek leaders are meeting in Tashkent to discuss ways of enhancing economic cooperation between the countries.

Turkmenistan created its first ‘free economic zone’ last weekend in a bid to increase tourist revenues and encourage investment. It is one of several signs that President Berdymukhammedov is beginning to loosen some of the restrictions that kept Turkmenistan isolated under his predecessor.

In Kyrgyzstan the saga of Bermet Akayeva, daughter of former President Akayev continues, with the authorities pressing charges against her for contempt of court. She was the first member of the ruling family to return to the country after the 2005 Tulip Revolution that ousted her father. EurasiaNet carries a fascinating commentary on US-Central Asian relations which predicts a gradual draw-down of US assistance to the region, focussing in particular on the troubled US-Kyrgyz alliance. The United States certainly won’t be pleased by the Iranian President’s decision to attend the next meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Bishkek, scheduled for August 16th.

In a week when Kazakhstan was criticised for imposing too many restrictions on internet use, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty takes a look at internet use across the region which, despite official censorship, is growing.

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

The Tajik government granted an exploration license to Swiss company Manas Petroleum on Tuesday. The license covers an area of the Ferghana Basin, Central Asia, where the United States Geological Survey estimates recoverable reserves total about 3 billion barrels of oil. In Turkmenistan a joint Russian-Turkmen statement foresaw a 50% increase in gas exports to Russia once pipeline modernisations have been carried out. Meanwhile China announced that 4 million tons of oil had been imported from Kazakhstan since a pipeline connecting the two countries began commercial operations in July 2006.

On the economic scene this week Kazakh national news agency, Kazinform, carries an analysis of the World Bank’s recently released governance report, which contained mixed news for the country. At the same time, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have created a joint investment fund, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty reports. Turkmenistan’s efforts to boost its economy include the creation of a ‘free economic zone’ along the Caspian shore, to be showcased at the port city of Turkmenbashi later this month. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports on Tajikistan’s success in securing foreign investment while the Turkish Weekly gives a summary of Japan’s own investment in Uzbekistan, said to be worth $2 billion.

Crime and punishment was a preoccupation in the week following Kyrgyzstan’s decision to repeal the death penalty. On Ferghana.ru Ulugbek Babakulov asks whether the change really signals an improvement in the way prisoners are treated. In Uzbekistan, which also plans to abolish capital punishment, two new prisons are being built - one for high-profile political prisoners, another for lifers.

Kyrgyzstan is to tighten the laws governing religious groups, amid official concern over extremism, according to Associated Press. On EurasiaNet, former human rights commissioner Tursunbek Akun suggests that Bakiyev’s regime is more repressive than that of his predecessor.

In other news, just six months to go until the end of the Uzbek president’s final term, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty reports on the strange absence of campaigning or official announcements. In Tajikistan, a female student who campaigned for the right to wear traditional muslim headscarf in class has lost her case. And in Turkmenistan, which has announced that it will field a team for the 2014 winter olympics, the cult of personality fostered by Niyazov is proving hard to dislodge.

Central Asia Now is taking a summer break. The next news digest, together with another piece of totally original writing on Central Asia, will arrive on 27th July.

Central Asia Now is looking for contributors to write articles, send in photos or even compose the occasional news digest. We’re particularly interested in hearing from people in the region, or those who’ve recently returned. If you’re interested in helping us out, please email the editor: david at centralasianow dot org.

Good news for Turkmenistan’s pensioners this week, as the law restoring pensions suspended by the late President Niyazov came into effect. On Wednesday, President Berdymukhammedov published another new law setting out his powers and duties as president: a step towards greater transparency, but one which enshrines the president’s command over all branches of government.

On Thursday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai travelled to Turkmenistan for two days of trade talks. He and President Berdymukhammedov discussed the prospects for a pipeline to carry natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan. Berdymukhammedov pledged to provide Afghanistan with electrical power worth $300,000 at no cost. It was also announced this week that Turkmenistan would join Kazakhstan and China’s natural gas pipeline project. 

Continuing the rounds of diplomacy, Croatia’s President, Stjepan Mesic, began a three-day trip to Kazakhstan this week, negotiating new deals for Croat-financed construction in the country as well as discussing energy transportation. Further new deals were signed by Russia and Uzbekistan, who established four new agreements on labour and migration, and likewise discussed new possibilities for the transport of natural gas, with Gazprom keen to consolidate its investment in Uzbekistan. 

Kyrgyzstan’s opposition leader again mooted the idea of a union with Russia similar to that between Russia and Belarus, but the idea remains only a distant possibility.
The Afghan government claimed to have arrested seven members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, classified by the US and members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as a terrorist group; the Uzbek government warned of an increasing terrorist threat.  RFE/RL notes in the same report that some observers argue Central Asian governments exaggerate the risk from terrorism, using it to justify repression of their own citizens. Highlighting human rights violations in Uzbekistan, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting this week analyses the country’s ranking as a ‘failed state’. 

The Tajik government announced the release of over 650 Islamic militants as part of its new prisoner amnesty. At the same time, campaigning website Forum 18 expressed concern at proposed new legislation in Tajikistan that would restrict non-Islamic religious activities.

This week sees a UNESCO conference in Tajikistan on the development of free and open source software in the region.

In the run-up to Kazakstan’s August parliamentary elections, the Moscow Times reports that the president’s daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva was removed from her party’s list of candidates, though her divorce from exiled husband Rakhat Aliyev had been seen as clearing her path to succeeding her father. London’s New Statesman offers an analysis of the country’s ruling family. 

The European Union welcomed last week’s abolition of the death penalty in Kyrgyzstan, whilst Uzbekistan took steps in the same direction. 

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