According to the Tajik MFA information department, the parties discussed the prospects for the expansion of cooperation between the countries of Central Asia and Italy in the political, economic, trade, water and energy, environmental protection, transport, tourism and educational sectors.

They reportedly also exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues being of mutual interest, including current threats and challenges, the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy says Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister also Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani welcomed the Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to Villa Madama in Rome on March 29 for the 3rd Italy-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting.

“Italy views with great interest the opportunities presented to Italian companies in Central Asia: establishing a strategic partnership with Central Asian countries and strengthening economic and industrial cooperation in the fields of water resources, the environment, and higher education is a priority. For this reason, over 30 of the most important Italian companies and trade associations will attend today’s meeting,” commented Mr. Antonio Tajani

The Italian Government has reportedly promoted the intensification of relations with countries in the region, as demonstrated by the business forums organized with Uzbekistan (in June 2023), Kazakhstan (in January this year) and Tajikistan (last April).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy says these initiatives are in line with the growth diplomacy action carried out by the Ministry and its diplomatic network on the initiative of Minister Tajani.  Business activities with other states in the region are currently being planned. Particular attention is being paid to regional projects in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, machinery and energy involving all the countries of Central Asia.

Meanwhile, the Tajik MFA information department says that day prior to this meeting, Tajik representatives participated in separate thematic sessions were held on issues of water and energy, transport and education.

Source: Asia Plus

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According to the Kyrgyzstan Cabinet of Ministers, Japarov visited the site to inspect the progress of recovery efforts and chaired a meeting, where he provided directives to relevant state entities.

Specifically, the Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Bishkek, has been tasked with leading the operational headquarters and presenting comprehensive information on the reasons for the incident and a plan for further actions to ensure the full operation of the capital’s thermal power plant by 5:00 PM (GMT+6).

The Ministry of Emergency Situations and the State Agency for Architecture, Construction, and Housing and Communal Services have been instructed to commence work on the restoration of the affected facilities at the thermal power plant.

The Ministry of Health is tasked with closely monitoring and providing necessary assistance to the affected employees of the thermal power plant.

The Ministry of Finance has been directed to promptly allocate the necessary financial resources for the restoration works.

Japarov emphasized that the primary task at present is to restore heat supply to the citizens’ residences and prevent the recurrence of similar situations.

On February 2, 2024, at 03:00 AM (GMT+6), the Bishkek TPP, a major electricity-generating facility in Kyrgyzstan, experienced an accident, resulting in equipment failure. The Ministry of Energy of Kyrgyzstan established an operational headquarters to restore damaged equipment and address the incident’s consequences. Five employees were injured and are currently receiving treatment.

Source: Trend

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Fast forward to December and not only is 2023 likely to pass without major incidents on the border, but both sides are talking with increased optimism about seemingly concrete progress made in delimitation, with Japarov saying recently that the border might be fully agreed upon by the spring.

That is a significant change in tone.

Tokon Mamytov, a former deputy prime minister and security council secretary in Kyrgyzstan, told RFE/RL that the two governments deserve credit for “overhauling the template” in border talks.

If talks had traditionally become stuck on fixations with different Soviet-era maps — Tajikistan’s preferred boundaries date back to the 1920s while Kyrgyzstan’s are from the 1950s — now there is a “new approach” from the bilateral commission working on delimitation, Mamytov argued.

“They go to the place and look at the border. They ask people who live there about facts on the ground. In this way, the intergovernmental commission is turning agreements between the two heads of states into a reality. Communities living near the border will be able to feel safe again,” Mamytov said.

Is ’90 Percent’ Of The Border Agreed Upon?

It is impossible to discount another Tajik-Kyrgyz flare up along the border.

Nearly 17 months separated the “wars” of May 2021 and September 2022 and, in both cases, the escalation was remarkably rapid.

But few would have expected peace to last so long in the fall of last year.

In the immediate aftermath of the second, deadlier conflict, Kyrgyzstan canceled military training exercises on its territory for the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — a Russian-led regional military bloc — that were scheduled for October 2022 by explaining that Kyrgyz citizens would not accept the presence of Tajik troops on Kyrgyz soil so soon after a conflict that claimed at least 80 Kyrgyz lives and displaced more than 100,000 people.

At talks involving Japarov, Rahmon, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, that same month, Rahmon conspicuously failed to greet Japarov.

But a year later and just two weeks after Tashiev aired his frustrations over the direction the talks were taking, both he and his Tajik colleague, Saimumin Yatimov, hailed the signing of Protocol 42. Tashiev said the document “provides a basis for resolving all border issues.”

Yatimov was almost as evocative, noting that the two countries were “aiming to reach a comprehensive and fundamental agreement” as quickly as possible.

There were few details then, but Yatimov was more specific when speaking after further talks on December 2, declaring that the question of a troublesome road linking Vorukh — an enclave of Tajik territory in Kyrgyzstan — and the Tajik border settlement of Khoja Alo was “practically solved.”

Then came the news that the countries had agreed on another 24 kilometers of the border after talks held in the Tajik town of Buston, near the Kyrgyz border.

But it was after talks in Kyrgyzstan’s southern region of Batken on December 12 that the two men claimed their countries had preliminarily agreed on more than 90 percent of their shared border.

That would be a significant achievement.

Only last year, around one-third of the approximately 975-kilometer frontier (Kyrgyz officials claim it is slightly shorter) was still not demarcated.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Dushanbe-based political analyst Sherali Rizoyon said incentives for an agreement were raised by a growing impulse in Central Asia toward regional integration and an uptick in diplomatic activity involving several outside powers.

“Whether on the bilateral or regional level, the problem of state borders prevents the countries of Central Asia benefiting from the new opportunities that are appearing today,” Rizoyon told RFE/RL. “Countries cannot afford to remain hostage to border issues for long — they need to restore mutually beneficial cooperation.”

The ‘Deterrent Component’ And Unclear Russian Role

The word “historic” is overused in Central Asian diplomacy, but it would definitely apply to any agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on their state border.

Although the dispute did not turn violent until independence, analysts note that Tajik and Kyrgyz opinions on where the border begins and ends have been at odds since 1924, when Tajikistan was still an autonomous territory inside the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic and the territory of modern-day Kyrgyzstan had a similar status inside the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.

That makes next year the 100th anniversary of the dispute — and as good a time as any to end it.

But if 2023 has proven a year of genuine progress on border talks, it comes on the back of the tremendous human and material price paid by the two poorest countries in Central Asia.

And a big part of that is the increasingly deadly weapons deployed in the last two conflicts, amid a mini-arms race that has seen Kyrgyzstan secure Turkish Bayraktar drones and Tajikistan receiving equivalent weapons from Iran.

Francisco Olmos, a senior researcher in Central Asian affairs at Spain’s GEOPOL 21 Center, noted the “deterrent component” in the Kyrgyz leadership’s boasts about their recently acquired Bayraktar drones while speaking on RFE/RL’s Majlis podcast in November.

The destructive power of the Bayraktar was also in evidence in last year’s clashes, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), whose investigation published in May 2023 found that forces on both sides had “likely” committed war crimes against civilians.

In an interview with RFE/RL after the release of that report, HRW Senior Crisis and Conflict Researcher Jean-Baptiste Gallopin said the watchdog’s interviews with people on both sides of the border showed that local populations “are tired of these terrifying conflicts and are really yearning for peace.”

At the same time, local communities in Tajikistan’s Sughd Province and Kyrgyzstan’s Batken Province — the scene of most of the violence in recent years — will have their own opinions about what constitutes a good settlement.

Additionally, unrest in Kyrgyzstan over a landmark border agreement reached with Uzbekistan early this year suggests that selling a border agreement to the population is not always easy.

Yet another unknown is Russia, whose failure to prevent large-scale conflict between two of its military allies drew criticism of a Kremlin bogged down in its invasion of Ukraine. Also criticized was the CSTO — a security bloc sometimes framed as Moscow’s answer to NATO.

That trilateral meeting in October 2022 in Astana was more welcomed by Japarov — who unsuccessfully requested Putin’s intervention — than Rahmon, who later launched a tirade focused on Moscow’s shortcomings as a strategic partner.

Putin said after the talks that Russia had offered to retrieve some of its own archival Soviet-era maps to help resolve the dispute.

Since then, Russia has done almost nothing to suggest it is playing a mediatory role.

But on September 20, the Russian Foreign Ministry waded into the diplomatic fallout over Tashiev’s comments, warning against “harsh declarations” that it said could reverse the progress made on the border by the two countries.

“It should be remembered that armed conflicts in the post-Soviet space are beneficial primarily to the collective West, which has its own tendentious goals that have nothing to do with the real interests of Central Asian countries,” the ministry said.

Source: RFERL

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AKIPRESS.COM – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland held consultations on December 4.

The delegation of Kyrgyzstan was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Aibek Moldogaziev.

The delegation of Switzerland was led by Deputy Secretary of State, Head of the Eurasia Section of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Muriel Peneveyre.

The countries discussed bilateral relations, interaction in the framework of international organizations and exchanged views about international agenda.

The current state of bilateral relations and planned bilateral events were reviewed.

A special attention was paid to cooperation in trade, economic, investment, water and environmental spheres.

The parties expressed readiness to continue an active cooperation in the framework of international organizations, including UN and OSCE.

The sides also confirmed readiness for joint efforts in development of bilateral relations via attraction of investments, strengthening of political dialogue, establishment of B2B contacts and expansion of the regulatory framework.

The heads of delegations noted a successful implementation of the Program Cooperation for 2022-2025.

Source: Akipress

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AKIPRESS.COM – Regions of Kyrgyzstan lack 1,700 medical workers, Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliev said at the meeting of the Parliament Committee for Budhet, Economic and Fiscal Policy.

Young specialists are sent to the regions under Doctor Deposit Project, when they are paid around 30,000 soms.

Narrow specialists are sent to the regions for a month or two, mobile clinic is dispatched also. This way medical assistance is provided and shortage of medical workers is compensated, the Health Minister said.

Source: Akipress

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Coal imports to Kyrgyzstan have almost halved. The National Statistical Committee provided such data, Azernews reports, citing 24.kg News Agency.

According to statistics, from January to September 2023, about 469,500 tons of coal was imported into the country. Of this amount, the supply of solid fuel is 459,400 (821,500 tons were imported into the Kyrgyz Republic for the same period last year). The supply of brown coal reached 10,100 tons.

Almost all imported coal comes to the country from Kazakhstan.

Earlier, the Ministry of Energy reported that in preparation for the autumn-winter period of 2023-2024 it was planned to supply 1.2 million tons of solid fuel for the Bishkek Heating and Power Plant. Of this, 550,000 tons are imported D grade coal.

Source: Azer News

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AKIPRESS.COM – Influenza A H3N2 has been detected in Osh city, reports the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance Department.

Cases of influenza A H3N2 were reported based on laboratory test results from patients.

The Department notes that the epidemiological situation in Bishkek is stable. Acute respiratory viral infections, including parainfluenza I-IV, bocavirus, MS virus, seasonal coronavirus, adenovirus and metapneumovirus, are recorded throughout the republic.

Source: Akipress

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AKIPRESS.COM – Now every citizen of Kyrgyzstan can register the birth of their child online on the government portal for electronic services portal.tunduk.kg, the Ministry of Digital Development announced the launch of this project in a pilot mode.

The option has been operating in a test mode in Bishkek and Alamudun district since November 2022, with a total of 240 applications processed.

The new service is available in the Family section and allows authorized users of the portal – parents of newborns – to submit applications for birth registration and to apply for the social benefit. Additionally, a cloud electronic signature is mandatory, and it can be obtained online for free through the Tunduk mobile application and cellular operators.

Source: Akipress

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AKIPRESS.COM – 41 Single Window service centers are operational nationwide, the Ministry of Internal Affairs press service reports.

These centers facilitate the issuance of various documents. 

From January 9 to October 31, 2023, the following documents were issued: apostilled certificates (13,482), certificates of the presence/absence of a criminal record (323,862), documents for obtaining licenses issued by the law enforcement agencies of the Kyrgyz Republic (1,755), and documents for the permission of hazardous and explosive goods (431).

Source: Akipress

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AKIPRESS.COM – President Sadyr Japarov today received Ambassador of Qatar to Kyrgyzstan Ali Jaber Mohammed Al-Ghufran Al-Marri.

An exchange of views took place on issues of bilateral cooperation in various areas of mutual interest.

The head of state congratulated the Ambassador on the start of his diplomatic mission in Kyrgyzstan and expressed confidence that thanks to rich diplomatic experience and personal efforts, Kyrgyz-Qatari relations will rise to a new level of mutual relations.

Sadyr Japarov especially noted that Kyrgyzstan attaches great importance to development of bilateral relations with Qatar and is always ready for close cooperation with investors, and the Cabinet of Ministers will provide comprehensive support.

Ambassador Ali Jaber Mohammed Al-Ghufran Al-Marri conveyed warm words of greetings from the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and expressed his readiness to make every effort to strengthen bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.

In conclusion, the parties expressed mutual readiness to strengthen bilateral multifaceted cooperation.

Source: Akipress

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