Author: Jaime Corey Floyd

Sanjiva Weerawarana is a Sri Lankan success story. He founded enterprise software firm WSO2 in 2005, got it close to $100 million in ARR as its CEO, then sold it to private equity firm EQT for $600 million in May. He sometimes drives for Uber, too. Sri Lanka isn’t renowned for its startup ecosystem, but one company has been something of an outlier in the South Asian island nation these past two decades. WSO2, an open source enterprise software provider with customers such as Samsung, Axa, and AT&T, recently agreed to be acquired by private equity giant EQT, at a valuation TechCrunch reported at the time…

The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Djibouti K.K. Theshantha Kumarasiri presented credentials to President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti on 26 February 2024. Ambassador Kumarasiri is concurrently accredited to the Republic of Djibouti with residence in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During the discussion that followed the presentation of credentials, President Guelleh expressed his full commitment to enhance existing bilateral relations, particularly in potential areas which are mutually beneficial for both countries. He also stressed the need to capitalize the strategic locations of Sri Lanka and Djibouti, which connect the Indian Ocean shipping route between the East and the West. The Djiboutian…

Most part of the country, with the exception of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region, or GBAO, were left without electricity on Friday, March 1 amid what appears to be a major technical malfunction. Recall, the GBAO is provided with electricity by local hydroelectric generators, which are operated by the Pamir Energy Company. Increasingly cold weather in recent days has led to a spike in demand for power as many turned to their electrical heaters. Households in the capital, Dushanbe, reported power outages at around 11 a.m. local time. Many homes have also been left without heating and hot water,…

Giant portraits of President Emomali Rahmon adorn even the most nondescript buildings in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe. Throughout the country, his sayings are featured on posters and billboards. Their ubiquitous presence underscores the consolidation of power by Rahmon – officially described as “Founder of Peace and Unity, Leader of the Nation” – since he emerged victorious from the 1992-1997 Tajikistan civil war that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. After three decades in power, he has established himself as an absolute ruler with no tolerance for dissent. Rahmon’s bid to centralize control includes efforts to silence political opponents, human rights activists, and independent…

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group on Monday approved a $2.12 billion financing for new projects that support socio-economic development and promote sustainability of member countries. Some 16 projects in sectors such as transport, energy, health, and education, besides youth development/entrepreneurship-employment, were approved during the board meeting, an IsDB Group statement said. Top among the approvals is IsDB’s €803.3 million ($845.6 million) financing to help Indonesia enhance the physical and service capacity of the health referral system, ensuring that everyone has equal access to quality health care services in all districts, cities, and provinces. The board will provide €187.84 million…

Kyrgyzstan has shown keen interest in utilizing the potential of Pakistani seaports of Karachi and Gwadar, which would provide the shortest access to Central Asian states and the Eurasian Economic Union to the open sea. This interest was expressed by Deputy Chairman of the Kyrgyzstan Cabinet of Ministers Baisalov Edil Zholdubaevich at the 4th Session of Kyrgyz-Pakistan Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade- Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, held in Bishkek on Friday last. The Pakistani delegation was led by Energy Minister Muhammad Ali. The Energy Minister expressed Pakistan’s readiness for an active dialogue and practical actions to further deepen bilateral cooperation. Source…

A memorandum of understanding was signed regarding the establishment and development of the Russia – Caspian Sea – Turkmenistan – Uzbekistan – Kyrgyzstan international multimodal transport corridor, Trend reports. This memorandum was signed by Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Transport, Tilek Tekebaev, Uzbekistan’s Ilkhom Makhkamov, and Russia’s Deputy Minister of Transport, Dmitry Zverev. The signing of this memorandum took place on the sidelines of the first Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) International Transport Forum in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Additionally, on the sidelines of the forum, a memorandum of understanding was also signed for the creation and development of the Belarus – Russia – Kazakhstan – Uzbekistan…

Among the Central Asian nations, Kyrgyzstan held the second place in cellular web pace, surpassed solely by Kazakhstan, as of the top of September 2023, Trend studies. Data from the Speedtest Global Index score signifies that Kyrgyzstan ranked 88th on the earth by way of cellular web pace (26.09 Mbit/s) as of the top of September 2023. Kyrgyzstan dropped in its rankings inside a month. At the top of August, the nation ranked 79th with an entry pace of 28.45 Mbit/s. Source : Business

Kyrgyzstan and Belarus discussed the resumption of air transportation between the two countries, along with issues regarding connecting flights at the airports of Bishkek and Minsk with the possibility of passengers exiting into the city, Trend reports. In August 2021, the Kyrgyz airline “Avia Traffic Company” launched a flight from Bishkek to Minsk. The flights were operated once a week using Airbus A320 aircraft. However, flight operations on this route were later suspended. The discussion took the form of a video roundtable conference, attended by Irina Voronovich, the Director of the Tourism Department at the Ministry of Sports and Tourism…

Brussels (25/10 – 42.86) An independent investigation revealed the secretive daughter of Tajikistan’s president has quietly built a health-care empire that benefits from government largesse, state promotion, and lobbying from her husband, an ambassador for the Central Asian nation. Parvina Rahmonova is among the many children and other relatives of authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon who have amassed significant wealth or been appointed to senior government positions since he came to power more than three decades ago. Unlike several of Rahmon’s other children, however, Rahmonova maintains a nearly invisible public profile. She rarely appears in publicly available family photographs and she…