COUNTRY REVIEWS

East Asia

Japan

• Japanese Prime Minister insists on promoting regional cooperation among East Asian states; Abe and Putin agree to boost security dialogue between Japan and Russia

South Korea

• South Korea and Indonesia are set to conclude CEPA by the end of this year; NIS claims that North Korea has restarted its nuclear reactor

West Asia

Iran

• Iran’s foreign minister: Successes achieved during the visit of the Iranian team to New York to attend the UN General Assembly meeting were a “great victory” for the Islamic Republic; President Rouhani: The Western-led sanctions against Iran created problem for Iran especially access to medicine

Iraq

• A chain of bombings across Iraq killed 31 people and injured many

CENTRAL ASIA & RUSSIA

Russia

• Russia and Netherlands spat over arrest of a Russian diplomat; Russia says Afghanistan is not ready for the pullout of NATO forces; Russia and USA sign an agreement on national nuclear threat reduction centres; Russia-Japan talks held; Russia offers the East Asian Summit members the proposal to build a network university; President Putin approves plans to set up United Aerospace Corporation; Gazprom’s production in 2013 to be approx. 495 billion cubic meters; Russia says that Syria’s chemical weapons elimination programme is proceeding smoothly; Russia estimates that Iranian nuclear imbroglio can be resolved in 6-9 months; Decommissioned Russian warhead fuel half of US nuclear power; IMF says that Russia’s economic growth model is exhausted; Russia and Lebanon discuss energy cooperation; Aircraft carrier Vikramaditya to set sail for India on November 30, 2013