Kazakhstan’s national railway company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), has announced the launch on September 19 of a new season of its train tour, Jibek Joly (Silk Road) 5.0, connecting major cities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. During the 6-day tour, passengers will travel along the route Almaty – Turkestan – Otrar – Samarkand – Bukhara –
The two largest Central Asian countries have embarked on a higher education spree. In Uzbekistan since 2020 almost 100 new universities have opened, swelling the number of BA candidates in the country by some 400,000. In Kazakhstan, hardly a week goes by without an announcement from the Ministry of Education ballyhooing the opening of another
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in close partnership with the municipality of Ashgabat, and with the participation of the Ministry of Construction and Architecture of Turkmenistan, organized an inception workshop as part of a regional project titled “Enhancing Urban Resilience to Disaster Risks and Climate Change in Central Asia”, funded by the Government of
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Executive Body of the State Authority of the City of Dushanbe have officially launched a new regional project aimed at making Dushanbe safer, greener, and more resilient to climate and disaster risks, UNDP Tajikistan reported. The ‘Enhancing Urban Resilience to Disaster Risk and Climate Change in Central
On July 13–14, Uzbekistan’s Minister of Investments, Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov paid a visit to Bulgaria. He held talks with President Rumen Radev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Grozdan Karadjov, heads of relevant ministries, as well as representatives of leading companies and financial institutions of the country. At the center of the
On July 13, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held a meeting of the State Organizing Committee for the preparations for the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, which will be held in the Avaza National Tourist Zone from August 4 to 8.
The European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are joining hands to protect communities living near uranium legacy sites in Kyrgyzstan. On July 8, UNDP delivered three fully equipped computer workstations to the Department of Tailings under the Ministry of Emergency Situations, contributing to the country’s capacity to detect, prevent, and respond to emergencies in radiation-prone zones. This
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu paid a working visit to Afghanistan. On July 10 in Kabul, the Kazakh Foreign Minister held a meeting with the Acting Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan for Economic Affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar. The parties discussed prospects for cooperation in trade, transit, and agriculture,
On July 11, the EU and the countries of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — held the 12th meeting of the annual High-Level Political and Security Dialogue, in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The Dialogue took place in the context of increased engagement between Central Asia and the European Union, following up
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supports the Kyrgyz Republic in implementing its national priorities for reducing plastic waste, including the introduction of separate waste collection and recycling, a phased ban on single-use plastics, the development of a circular economy, the promotion of biodegradable alternatives, and raising environmental awareness among the population, UNDP in Kyrgyzstan
A closing seminar was held for the comprehensive project titled “Media Education and Fact-Checking: Promoting Critical Thinking and Information Literacy”, implemented by the “Yuksalish” Movement with financial support from the European Union. The event presented key achievements of the project, including proposals to strengthen the professional capacity of media professionals and to improve the legal framework
The Almosi Valley, an integrated mountain agropastoral system in Tajikistan, has become the first Central Asian addition to the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The system was formally designated under FAO’s flagship program during a meeting of the GIAHS Scientific Advisory Group held from
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, the Akimat of Kyzylorda Region, and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) organized the First National Urban Forum of Kazakhstan (NUF2025) in Kyzylorda on July 8. The event brought together representatives of central and local government bodies, international organizations, the expert community, and the private sector. Held
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has spoken for maintaining the official status of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan. In an interview with the Kabar information agency, Japarov shared his opinion on the current status and future of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan amid proposals of some Kyrgyz politicians to revise its status. Russian has the status
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu represented for the first time Kazakhstan as a partner country at the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro on July 6. The opening day of the Summit was attended by heads of state and government, high-level representatives of BRICS member and partner
On July 2, Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), visited the Central Asian University of Environmental and Climate Change Studies (Green University) under the Ministry of Ecology of Uzbekistan. He was accompanied by Aziz Abdukhakimov, Minister of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change and Umid Shadiev, Chairman of the
One of Turkey’s leading logistics companies, S Sistem Lojistik, plans to invest approximately $100 million in the construction of a network of modern logistics and warehouse terminals in Kazakhstan. Priority locations for these facilities include Almaty, Astana, Shymkent, Aktau, and other major cities. The project was discussed in Astana on June 27 by Chairman of
In a major advancement for energy connectivity and resilience in Tajikistan’s Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region (GBAO), the Government of Tajikistan late in June inaugurated and broke ground on critical power infrastructure that will bring the country closer to finalizing the regional electricity grid, the Delegation of the European Union to Tajikistan reported. The high-level ceremony,
U.S. Air Forces Central and the Montana Army and Air National Guard partnered with the Kyrgyz Republic for exercise Ak Shumkar 2025, between June 23-27, focused on expanding partnerships and increasing interoperability among partner forces throughout Central Asia, according to the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek. As a Kyrgyz-led exercise, Ak Shumkar 2025 provided an opportunity for U.S.
The World Bank has approved additional financing of $6.36 million to complement the ongoing Learning for the Future Project in Kyrgyzstan. This initiative, originally launched with $50 million in 2020, seeks to enhance school readiness and teacher productivity from pre-school to secondary education in targeted communities. The additional funding will expand the scope of the project to include full-day
