Author: Inaaya Kalyal

China and the five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — share a broad space for industrial and investment cooperation, which will inject strong impetus into high-quality development in the region, officials and experts said on Friday. Given the gloomy global outlook and international geopolitical tensions, as well as mounting uncertainties both at home and abroad, they said promoting industrial and investment cooperation marks a key move to keep up with the general trend around the globe, promote economic transformation and pursue win-win development. More efforts should be made to ensure safe and smooth industrial and…

As many as 73,823 tourists from Central Asian countries visited Azerbaijan in 2022, which is 4.75 times more than in 2021 (15,516), News.Az reports citing Azerbaijan’s State Tourism Agency. According to the agency, the number of visitors from Kazakhstan amounted to 30,350 people (an increase of 4.3 times per year), Turkmenistan – 11,188 (an increase of 4.08 times per year), Uzbekistan – 26,309 (an increase of 6.2 times per year), Kyrgyzstan – 3,240 (an increase of 3.87 times per year), and Tajikistan – 2,736 (an increase of 3.33 times over the year). For the last five years, a total of 411,141 foreigners from…

Western weapons of the Ukrainian armed forces are to be repaired in the Slovak maintenance center in Michalovce. However, the government in Bratislava is of the opinion that customs duties must be paid for imports from Ukraine. However, there is hope for a resolution to the dispute. According to a media report, a customs dispute with Slovakia has been leading to considerable delays in the repair of rocket launchers and self-propelled howitzers that were delivered to Ukraine and used in the war against Russia. As the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reports, several MARS rocket launchers stood for weeks on the Ukrainian-Slovakian border and finally had…

HERAT, Afghanistan, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) — Afghan authorities began distribution of China-donated humanitarian aid to 500 needy families in the western Herat province on Thursday, provincial director for Natural Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs Mawlawi Enayatullah Saber said. “The aid package including foodstuff would be distributed to needy families, widows and disabled people,” Saber told Xinhua. The distribution of assistance started from provincial capital the Herat city, the official said. Expressing gratitude to China over sending the assistance, an aid recipient Abdul Momin said, “Receiving China’s assistance at this stage would solve major part of our problems.” Afghan authorities earlier…

Nearly 60 women and children have been repatriated from Syrian conflict zones to Kyrgyzstan, the authorities in the Central Asian country said on Thursday. Thousands of people from predominantly Muslim countries in Central Asia have travelled to Iraq and Syria since 2011 to join the ISIS terrorist group and other extremist organizations. “The 41 children and 18 women coming from Syrian conflict areas have arrived in Kyrgyzstan,” state-run news agency Kabar said, citing the labor ministry. The group was accompanied by security services and foreign ministry staff, Kabar said. The government estimates that at least 800 Kyrgyz citizens have left…

Pakistan held a full-strength training session on Saturday at the National Bank Cricket Arena before the first Test of the two-match series against New Zealand, starting on Monday. All the players of Pakistan’s Test squad participated in the first training session held in Karachi with the exception of their skipper Babar Azam, who is currently in his hometown Lahore. The captain, however, will reach here in the evening. Meanwhile, a full-strength New Zealand squad was present on the field and carried out robust training sessions that included batting, fielding and bowling drills. Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq and Kiwi spinner…