Uzbekistan

China and Uzbekistan are making progress on an Uzbek-based joint venture to produce electric and hybrid vehicles. While all the pieces appear to be in place, a firm production timetable has yet to be established. The venture involves BYD Auto, the Chinese entity that surpassed Tesla in 2022 as the leading seller of electric vehicles, and Uzavtosanoat JSC. The construction of an assembly facility in Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh Region is well underway. BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu traveled to Tashkent for the JV’s signing ceremony: the agreement “provides for foreign direct investment by the Chinese company in the ongoing project,” a local media outlet, repost.uz, reported. No details were disclosed on when vehicles will start rolling off the assembly line. An initial annual production target is 50,000 vehicles per year. Output is expected to reach 300,000 per year at the conclusion of the venture’s start-up phase, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment said in a statement. While in Uzbekistan, Wang met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev; discussions focused on expanding the scope of the JV’s operations, including parts localization and boosting export.  The Uzbek JV appears to be part of an ambitious plan to turn BYD into a global powerhouse. “It’s time for Chinese automakers to upend the order of the global auto industry and chart a course into a new vast territory,” the South China Morning Post quoted Wang as saying in August. 

Transport ministers from all five Central Asian states and China huddled on the sidelines of the Global Forum on Sustainable Transport, held in Beijing in late September. “Issues of developing transport and communications cooperation between China and the states of Central Asia, creating short and convenient transport corridors, and increasing transit traffic were discussed,” according to a statement released by the Uzbek Transport Ministry. The meeting produced a memorandum of understanding, but the details of its contents were not immediately publicized. 

Kazakhstan

In a trade twist, Kazakhstan intends to purchase large volumes of jet fuel from China. Kazakh Transport Minister Marat Karabaev recently announced that Kazakhstan wants to develop its capacity as an air cargo transit hub, but lacks refueling capacity. The Central Asian state currently sources most of its jet fuel from Russia, but with the war in Ukraine dragging on, Moscow’s reliability as a supplier is questionable. Kazakhstan is now looking to obtain up to 1.35 million tons of jet fuel from China. Representatives of three refineries in China’s western Xinjiang Province are expected to visit Kazakhstan soon to conduct a feasibility assessment.

Kazakhstan is strengthening educational contacts with a variety of Chinese institutions. Al-Farabi Kazakhstan National University (KazNU) signed a deal with China’s Fudan University to create a double-degree program and facilitate student and faculty exchanges between the two schools, the Business Kazakhstan website reported. The pact also provides for joint research. KazNU also discussed a research initiative involving the Chinese Center for Technology Transfer of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, the university’s press service reported.  Such a deal would pave the way for Chinese companies’ involvement in research laboratories operated by KazNU. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan’s Academy of Logistics and Transport and the Nanjing Professional Institute of Transport Technologies have signed an agreement providing for the “joint training of specialists for the transport and logistics industry.” The agreement additionally envisages academic exchanges and the facilitation of technology transfers concerning transport and railway engineering,” Forbes.kz reported.

Kyrgyzstan

When it comes to Kyrgyz beer, it seems Latvia is drinking everyone else, including China, under the table. Data released by Kyrgyzstan’s National Statistics Committee shows that during the first seven months of 2023, the Central Asian nation exported 1.18 million liters of beer to Latvia, making the Baltic state the top international destination for Kyrgyz suds. China ranked a distant second, importing 774,000 liters of Kyrgyz beer. Riga, the Latvian capital, has emerged as a party/binge-drinking destination for young EU citizens. The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, describes Latvia as the “boozing capital” of Europe.

Top Kyrgyz government officials have visited China in recent weeks, seeking to drum up more trade and investment. Their efforts have yielded modest results, with various deals worth $150 million being announced. Two cabinet deputy chairmen, Bakyt Torobaev and Edil Baisalov, made separate visits to China, during which both lobbied for fresh Chinese investment in a variety of spheres, including industry, energy, education and culture. A Kyrgyz government statement did not provide specifics on the investment deals outlined in a memorandum of understanding.

Tajikistan

Tajikistan is open to enhancing cooperation with China in the area of traditional medicine. Tajikistan’s Deputy Health Minister, Abduholik Amirzoda, recently met with a Chinese delegation led by representatives of the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, according to the Sputnik Tajikistan media outlet. No specific results from the meeting were reported.

Source: Eurasianet

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CCTV News Client On October 6, local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with visiting Uzbek President Mirziyoyev. After the meeting, the two attended the signing ceremony of cooperation documents between the two countries and met with reporters together.

Putin said that he and Mirziyoyev exchanged views on a wide range of bilateral cooperation issues that day. The two countries signed a joint statement on deepening the strategic partnership between Russia and Uzbekistan. In addition, the two countries also signed an agreement on expanding oil supply cooperation and transporting petroleum products by rail.

On October 7, Putin, Mirziyoyev and Kazakhstan President Tokayev will jointly attend the launch ceremony of Russia’s natural gas supply to Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan. Putin said that this is the first time in history that Russia has supplied natural gas to Central Asia.

Source: Hangzhou News

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Turkmen Ambassador to Pakistan, Atajan Movlamov, and acting Pakistani Foreign Minister, Jalil Abbas Jilani, has met to discuss the implementation of joint energy projects.

During their meeting in Islamabad, they touched upon the current state of bilateral relations and the progress of significant joint energy initiatives. Both sides expressed their readiness to enhance ties across various areas of mutual interest, as reported by the Turkmen news website Orient.tm on September 5.

The Pakistani minister lauded Turkmenistan’s foreign policy and emphasized the significance of gas pipeline projects connecting the two nations with neighboring countries like Afghanistan and India for Pakistan’s energy needs. He also underscored the importance of collaborative ventures such as TAPI (Turkmenistan – Afghanistan – Pakistan – India) and TAP (Turkmenistan – Afghanistan – Pakistan) for Pakistan.

Earlier, on June 8, Turkmenistan and Pakistan inked a joint plan in Islamabad to expedite the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

During a meeting with a Turkmen delegation, led by Minister of State and Chairman of the state gas company Turkmengaz, Maksat Babayev, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed the Pakistani government’s commitment to hastening the completion of the TAPI gas pipeline and TAP power transmission line projects, which are pivotal in meeting the country’s energy requirements.

At the ceremony, the prime minister described TAPI as a “highly significant project” for regional prosperity and envisioned it ushering in a new era of regional cooperation. Sharif also pledged that every effort would be made to accelerate the implementation of TAPI.

In late April, Turkmenistan initiated the export of liquefied gas to Pakistan through Afghanistan’s Kandahar for the first time. Initially, 50 gas tankers were transported from Turkmenistan.

Mohammad Yunus Mohmand, the head of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment, noted that gas had previously been transported to Pakistan through Iran. According to him, “with the resumption of power by the Islamic Emirate,” the country has emerged as a safe transit route, facilitating substantial exports in this direction.

Yasser Basir, an international firm, commenced the export of natural gas, involving 50 gas tankers, each carrying 30 tons of gas, from Turkmenistan to Kandahar. Subsequently, the gas was sent to Pakistan through the Spin Boldak land port. While the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project remains stalled, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce has confirmed the successful export of Turkmen gas from Afghanistan to Pakistan via trucks.

Once completed, the TAPI pipeline aims to connect Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and India via Afghanistan. Spanning 1,830 kilometers, the project is expected to annually deliver 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Galkynysh, the world’s second-largest gas field, to the Indian city of Fazilka, near the Pakistan border.

The Afghan segment of the pipeline will traverse from the northwest border with Turkmenistan southward through the western city of Herat and on to Kandahar, near the Pakistan border. Despite its inception in Afghanistan in 2018 while the Taliban was in conflict with the Western-backed government in Kabul, the Taliban administration has pledged its support for the project, considering it a vital component of the nation’s future economic infrastructure.

Source: Caspian News

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A Belarusian delegation led by Sport and Tourism Minister Sergei Kovalchuk took part in a meeting with Minister of Youth Policy and Sports Adham Ikramov and adviser to the president on the development of science, youth politics, education, healthcare and sports Odil Abdurakhmanov during a visit to Tashkent. The meeting was also attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Uzbekistan Leonid Marinich, BelTA learned from the Belarusian foreign mission.

The parties discussed cooperation in sport, outlined promising areas for further cooperation and signed a plan of joint sports events in the two countries in 2023.

The Belarusian delegation held meetings and negotiations at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan, toured the Humo Arena multifunctional sports and entertainment complex, the Republican Center for Olympic and Paralympic Sports Training, and a number of other sports and tourist facilities in Tashkent.

Source : ENG

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