Kyrgyzstan approves NATO cargo transit deal; Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan sign a 400 kms railroad agreement; China’s exports to Kyrgyzstan increased by 31 per cent in 2012; Gas production in Turkmenistan’s massive field of Galkynysh will comme
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    • According to reports, the Kyrgyz government has approved a deal which will allow NATO’s forces to transport cargo by rail and road to and from Afghanistan. 1

    In another development, reports noted that the Presidents of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a railway line aimed at linking the three countries. The 400-kilometer railroad is to connect the Afghan town of Akina-Andkhoy to Atamurat-Ymamnazar in Turkmenistan and Pyandzh in Tajikistan. Construction is planned to begin in July 2013 in Turkmenistan. Turkmen workers will also build the Afghan section of the railway. A 75-kilometer line from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan is already operational from 2011. 2

    China’s exports to Kyrgyzstan have increased by 31 per cent in 2012. Total trade between the two countries stood at US$ 5 billion in 2012. 3

    Gas production at Turkmenistan’s field of Galkynysh is expected to begin in July 2013. Gas reserves are estimated to be between 13.1 trillion and 21.2 trillion cubic meters (tcm). 4
    Reports noted that the Kazakh government will limit the amount of Russian oil imports into the country in 2013. Russian oil products currently account for 40 percent of the Kazakh domestic market. 5

    According to reports, Uzbekistan has launched a shale extraction project on its Sangrantau deposit located in the central Navoi province and thereby became the first Central Asian Republic to begin the process of shale extraction. The country is estimated to have 47 billion tons of oil shale reserves. 6

    Uzbekistan has declared that a joint Chinese-Uzbek venture, to explore and develop uranium deposits in the country’s central Kyzyl Kum deposit, will expand in 2013. The venture’s authorized capital will be nearly doubled to $8.6 million from its original $4.6 million level and mining may begin by the second half of 2014. 7

    Turkmenistan and Pakistan have agreed to expand their areas of strategic bilateral cooperation in sectors like trade, fuel, energy, construction and agriculture. Both sides reached at this agreement during the meeting between President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov and President Asif Ali Zardari in Ashgabat. 8

    In other developments, Tajikistan has called for greater Russian investment in sectors like hydropower and modernisation of Tajik military in exchange for the military base agreement. 9

    Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry’s officials and the EU’s Special Representative for Central Asia Patricia Flor have discussed the prospects of cooperation between the two entities in the political, trade, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian sectors. 10

    Austria has insisted that its industrial and energy companies will work in Kyrgyzstan only under ‘condition of guarantees from the Government’ and in cooperation with international financial institutions11.

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