Author: Assel Shermatov

It seemed almost routine: One American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts traveling to the International Space Station in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After all, the Russian-run facility in a remote, barren part of the Central Asian country has been a mainstay of travel to the station for many years. But the three-hour trip on the Soyuz on Wednesday made some space history, increasing the total number of people currently in Earth’s orbit to a record of 19. The previous record of 17 was set last year. The trip brings the number of people currently on the International Space…

The Ministry of Finance of Kyrgyzstan has published a forecast of total revenue for the next five years, indicating that by 2029, the country’s state budget revenue will grow to KGS 655 billion ($7.8 billion). At the end of 2024, Kyrgyzstan’s state budget surplus will amount to KGS 11.2 billion ($131.7 million), while revenue this year amounted to KGS 414 billion ($4.8 billion). As previously reported by TCA, the introduction of cash registers and the fight against crime have impacted on growth. Another contributing factor was mentioned by Head of the Cabinet of Ministers, Akylbek Zhaparov, who stated, “In fiscal policy, we are adopting…

With much pageantry, September 8 saw Astana host the opening ceremony of the 5th World Nomad Games, themed as the “Gathering of the Great Steppe.” A procession of singers and dancers in tall white telpek hats and flowing red and gold robes opened proceedings, marrying modern beats to traditional music. This fusion of the ancient and the present was a key theme running through the entire event. With the melodies building to crescendo, the flag-waving crowd lifted their torches aloft, chanting “Kazakhstan,” before the national anthem peeled out from the stage. With 89 countries participating in this edition, the parade of athletes followed, each…

Kazakh Senate members have ratified an agreement with Kyrgyzstan to establish an industrial trade and logistics complex at the Karasu and Ak Tilek road-transport checkpoints.According to Senator Lyazzat Rysbekova, an intergovernmental agreement on the establishment and regulation of the activities of the industrial trade and logistics complex on the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border was signed in Astana on June 9, 2023, News.Az reports citing Kazinform. The key goals of the complex are to ensure cooperation in warehousing, storage, consolidation, processing, production of new goods and further realization with effective integration into the international commodity-producing systems, and to provide short-term warehousing, logistics, lease services,…

What clothes women are allowed to wear and whether or not men can have bushy beards are being debated again in Muslim-majority Central Asia, this time in Kyrgyzstan. The parliament of the former Soviet republic of some 7 million has unveiled a bill that would ban women from putting on the all-covering niqab and prohibit men from growing long beards to preserve “public security.” The bill, released for public discussion on November 14, says the measures are needed so that people’s faces can be seen and individuals identified. The draft law would institute a $22 fine or 30 hours of…

Kyrgyzstan paid Uzbekistan only 1,200 soms for the transit of electricity, Azernews reports, citing Kun.uz News Agency. Kyrgyzstan imported 145.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity from Uzbekistan. For this, Kyrgyzstan paid Uzbekistan only 1.2 thousand soms. Most likely, it is to compensate for the electricity that Uzbekistan withheld in the winter, instead of transiting it to the Kyrgyz energy system. The payment was made only for the transit of electricity, 24.kg writes with reference to the Kyrgyz National Statistics Committee. It should be reminded that in December last year, Uzbekistan borrowed electricity supplied by Turkmenistan to Kyrgyzstan during the cold…

Kyrgyzstan’s government says it has no plans to sell mobile operator Megacom to private investors. The state-owned operator had been subject to reports that it was up for sale this year, potentially to international investors. However, it has since emerged that this is not the case according to local publication Tazabek, which notes the company’s CEO Nurlan Mamytov has ruled out privatization of the telco. Last year, another local news outlet 24.kg reported that the State Property Management Fund was mulling over the sale of the operator with the fund’s head Mirlan Bakirov notifying deputies of its plans during Parliament. State-owned Megacom is reportedly worth KGS14.015…

Ahead of a parliamentary vote on amendments to law to further restrict freedom of association including the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kyrgyzstan, Heather McGill, Amnesty International’s Central Asia Researcher, said: “These amendments pose a very significant threat to civil society in Kyrgyzstan which until now has been one of the most active in the region. They run counter to Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations to protect and facilitate the right to freedom of association and have been condemned by Kyrgyzstani civil society and international experts.” The proposed amendments include penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for civil…

At the China-Central Asia summit this month in Xi’an, China’s President Xi Jinping and Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Zhaparov agreed to begin the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway “at an early date”. Originally proposed in the 1990s, the CKU railway is expected to be about 523 kilometres long (213 kilometres in China, 260 kilometres in Kyrgyzstan, and 50 kilometres in Uzbekistan). With an estimated cost of US$4.5 billion, the track aims to become part of the southern route for the China-Europe freight rail, which would see trains running from China to Europe via Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey. Doing so would reduce…

TEHRAN – Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Monday that two discrete committees have been formed and are currently studying the wave of unrest that gripped Iran last year. In remarks to IRNA, Vahidi said one committee is working at the Interior Ministry and the other is at the presidential office. Earlier this month, President Ebrahim Raisi ordered the formation of special committee to follow up on the September 2022 protests. The order came after receiving a report from the Minister of Interior on the unrest. Following a report by the Minister of Interior on the performance of the…