Kyrgyzstan
Japarov says Kambar-Ata-1 may start in 2027 or 2028 and take five to six years to build
Preparatory work on the Kambar-Ata-1 hydropower plant is complete and construction could begin in 2027 or 2028 and take five to six years, President Sadyr Japarov told residents of Tash-Kumyr and Kara-Kul in Jalal-Abad region, 24.kg reported on Saturday. The plant on the Naryn is a project of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with three units totalling 1,860 megawatts and an estimated cost of $4.2 billion.
Kyrgyzstan shuts 52 firms and 240 accounts over sanctions risk, envoy tells diplomats
Bakyt Sydykov, the president’s special representative on sanctions policy, briefed foreign heads of mission on 21 October: 52 legal entities have ceased activity, forced liquidation has begun against 57, 25 companies are under inspection and state banks have closed more than 240 accounts, the economy ministry said in a 24.kg report at 16:32 Bishkek. Kroll is being hired to assess sanctions compliance.
Kyrgyz ministry puts smart meters at 5 kilowatts after complaints of a 3 kilowatt cap
Inspections of addresses after complaints about a 3 kilowatt ceiling found smart meters set at 5 kilowatts, Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov told a plenary session of the Jogorku Kenesh, AKIpress reported at 08:44 Bishkek on 23 October. On 21 October the same minister had described a temporary peak-hour cut from 5 to 3 kilowatts, which CAW reported on 22 October.
Aliyev approves the alliance treaty with Kyrgyzstan and takes Erdogan’s call about Ankara
Ilham Aliyev signed on 21 October the law approving the Treaty on Allied Relations between Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, signed at Cholpon-Ata on 31 July 2026, Report said at 17:13 Baku. The same evening Recep Tayyip Erdogan telephoned to repeat his congratulations on 35 years of independence and to invite Aliyev to the 13th Organisation of Turkic States summit in Ankara on 29 and 30 October.
Kyrgyzstan keeps its 3 kilowatt peak-hour limit until the Kara-Keche plant runs in 2029
Energy Minister Altynbek Rysbekov told the Jogorku Kenesh on 21 October that limits on household electricity at peak hours will be lifted in 2028 to 2029, once the Kara-Keche thermal power plant is finished at the end of 2028 and commissioned in 2029. Smart meters now cut the ceiling from 5 to 3 kilowatts at morning and evening peaks, and the country imports about 4 billion kilowatt-hours a year.
TurkPA closes its 15th plenary in Bishkek with a declaration and the next session in Türkiye
The Bishkek Declaration ended the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States’ 15th plenary on Tuesday, the assembly’s site reported, after the speakers of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Türkiye, the Turkish Cypriot speaker as an observer and Uzbekistan’s Senate chair Tanzila Narbayeva as a guest had spoken. On the agenda were four model laws, the 2027 budget and the election of two deputy secretaries general.
SCO governments sign four documents in Dushanbe and hand the council’s chair to Uzbekistan
The 25th Council of Heads of Government signed a joint communiqué, a 2026-2030 trade and economic action plan, a digital freight platform concept and a decision on the regulation of a data bank of investment projects in industry on Tuesday, by the Russian government’s list. Russia’s deputy prime minister Alexei Overchuk said the meeting was “to a greater degree” about a new SCO bank, on whose shares it is “still too early to speak”.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan sign an EAEU appeal that prices a suspension of Armenia
The heads of government of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan sent the Eurasian Economic Commission on Tuesday a report on what suspending the union treaty for Armenia would cost: gas assumed at $300 instead of $177.50 a thousand cubic metres, trade with the union cut by 55.6%, remittances from Russia halved. Their appeal goes to four presidents and Armenia’s prime minister, two months before the presidents’ December date.
Kyrgyzstan takes the TurkPA chair from Kazakhstan with a mallet and a list of priorities
Aibek Dadebai, chairman of Kazakhstan’s Kurultai, handed the symbolic mallet of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States to Jogorku Kenesh speaker Marlen Mamataliev in Bishkek on Tuesday. The assembly’s 15th plenary session runs there on 19 and 20 October with the speakers of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the hall.
Samarkand gives the C5+1 a vision without figures as Trump says why the Graham act stays waived
The statement the six foreign ministers adopted in Samarkand on Monday 19 October runs to six visions and names no sum, no sanction and no country outside the format. Tashkent supplied the sums, 54 agreements and initiatives worth about $12 billion by Mirziyoyev’s count, and Washington the reason the Graham act’s duties on Russian energy buyers stay waived: Trump is negotiating with Putin and can impose them at any time.
Japarov leaves Yerevan with a roadmap to 2029, a travel agreement and a pension accord
Sadyr Japarov’s official visit to Armenia on 16 and 17 October ended with a joint statement with Nikol Pashinyan and a set of documents exchanged in Yerevan: a cooperation roadmap for 2027 to 2029, an agreement on procedures for citizens’ visits and stays, a memorandum on protecting Lakes Sevan and Issyk-Kul, a sister-city agreement between Yerevan and Bishkek and an agreement on cooperation in pension provision, Armenpress reported on Saturday.
Japarov needs no new language test as a failed hopeful reports a night with the police
Sadyr Japarov will not have to sit the state-language test if he stands on 27 January 2027, because the B2 certificate he earned as a candidate in 2020 does not lapse, Kyrgyztest’s head said on Saturday. One of the two hopefuls who failed its written part, ex-financial police chief Syimyk Japykeev, said on Monday he had spent the night at a police station, the police citing noise and drink.
Trump waives every Graham act duty two days before the deadline as Rubio reaches Samarkand
An executive order signed on Friday 16 October adds a 500% duty to goods from Russia and 100% duties to the five largest buyers of Russian oil and gas and to five facilitators of evasion, then waives all three until the president or the secretary of state decides otherwise. Two days later Marco Rubio landed in Samarkand for Monday’s C5+1, with a business delegation and the duties set aside.
Kyrgyzstan’s presidential race has one filer as two ex-officials fail the language test
One person has applied to the Central Election Commission to stand in the presidential election of 27 January 2027, 24.kg’s mirror reported on 16 October, as former interior minister Omurbek Suvanaliev and Syimyk Zhapykeev failed the written part of the state-language examination and were offered a retake in three working days. The commission says retakes are outside its competence.
Baku keeps the CICA chair to 2028 and an Azerbaijani takes the secretary general’s post
The seventh CICA summit in Baku on 15 October extended Azerbaijan’s chairmanship to 2028, made Azerbaijani ambassador Sultan Hajiyev secretary general to 2030 and admitted Laos as the 29th member, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said. Kazakhstan founded the forum in 1992 and a Kazakh ran its secretariat until this week. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the members had agreed to turn CICA into a full international organisation, a line the ministry omits.
China Nerin’s half-year report prices its Togolok contract with Kumtor at $112.8 million
A Chinese contractor’s filing has put a number on the mine Kumtor is building beside its main pit: China Nerin Engineering Technology signed a $112.8 million engineering, procurement and construction contract with Kumtor Operating Company on 23 April for the Togolok gold plant, tailings facility and infrastructure, Economist.kg reported on 14 October from the company’s first-half report.
Four in five British seasonal farm visas go to Central Asians who buy the visa themselves
Britain granted 41,766 Seasonal Worker visas in the year to June 2026 and 79% went to Central Asians, with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan the countries the Home Office names. Its survey with Defra of 16,787 workers shows who paid: 90.1% said they bought their own visa, 63% spent £500 to £999 before arrival, and 26.8% of Uzbek respondents reported paying labour or migration ministry fees.
Four Central Asian presidents are in Baku for the seventh CICA summit
Tokayev, Mirziyoyev, Rahmon and Japarov are in Baku for the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia on 15 October, their third joint appearance in eight days. Azerbaijan closes two years in the chair with a Baku declaration expected, Laos is to be admitted as the 29th member, and the forum’s depositary and secretary general are Kazakh.
Japarov promises Kadamjai an end to electricity imports within two and a half years
Kyrgyzstan imports about 4 billion kWh of electricity in 2026 to cover demand, and when consumption peaks in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia the extra supply dries up, President Sadyr Japarov told residents of Kadamjai district and Kyzyl-Kiya on 13 October, explaining the one- to two-hour cuts in some districts. He gave two to two and a half years to end the imports.