World Bank Report: Gender gap remains large in Central Asia; Estonian FM moots the idea of mission exchanges with Dushanbe; India to help Tajikistan modernize Varzob hydropower plant; IMF and WB release funds to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan respectively
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    • According to reports, the World Bank recently released its report on “Opportunities for Men and Women: Emerging Europe and Central Asia” pointing that Central Asian region will advance more rapidly if women were given equal rights. The wage gap remains large in the region, with Tajikistan among the widest with 65 % calculated gender gap. 1

    In another development, according to reports, Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet proposed establishing diplomatic missions with Tajikistan during talks with his Tajik counterpart Khamrokhon Zarifi. Talks between the two leaders were held on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council meeting in Vilnius, the Tajik foreign ministry said in a statement. 2

    In the meanwhile, Britain opened its new embassy on December 8, 2011 in Kyrgyzstan, while the new ambassador Judith Farnworth is to take over the office in February 2012. 3 Also, the European Union will formally open its representative office in Tashkent this month wherein Norbert Jousten, a Belgian, was appointed by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, to lead the body’s diplomatic mission to Uzbekistan. 4

    In a related development, the Malaysian premier Najib Razak announced that his country will open its diplomatic mission in Ashgabat during Turkmen President Berdimuhamedov’s visit to Kuala Lumpur. They held talks on range of issues and President Berdimuhamedov agreed to consider possibility of Malaysian state-owned energy firm Petronas to construct new gas platforms in the Caspian Sea. 5

    According to reports, India will help Tajikistan modernize the Varzob hydropower plant throughout 2012, after the Tajik parliament approved an agreement between the states last week. The agreement was originally inked in 2006 by both the sides. 6

    In another develoepmnt, according to reports, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week confirmed that it will release $29.58 million to rebuild economy after the Kyrgyzstan’s first performance review under an Extended Credit Facility arrangement established in June wherein it is slated to receive $106 million to rebuild its economy as part of the arrangement. 7

    In the meanwhile the Kyrgyz experts presented the economic regulation ministry with a strategy plan i. e., Concept of Industrial Development for 2012-2015 on ways to develop the country’s industrial base over the coming four years. 8

    Reports noted that Uzbekistan will get $1.3 billion in World Bank (WB) funding to help raise it into a middle-income status economy wherein a four-year package of low-cost loans and credits will spur reforms aimed at encouraging competition and diversifying the economy, as part of WB’s Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) between 2012 and 2015. 9

    In other develoepmts, according to reports, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev has tasked the Social Democratic Party, his former party not to form a coalition in the parliament. He said that any new government should "first of all take into account the nation's interests…It will never do to organize some intrigues after signing any sort of agreements for just gaining powers, as it used to be before," Atambaev said in a presumed reference to the nepotism and personality-driven jockeying that followed the country's 2005 Tulip Revolution. 10

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