Turkmenistan
Ashgabat tells a UN committee that drought is its greatest risk, and lists more cotton as its first short-term task
In its reply to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Turkmenistan's government writes that drought carries the greatest threat to the country's socio-economic welfare, that low-water years on the Amu Darya and the Murghab are becoming more frequent, and that faster glacier melt may raise the demand for irrigation water and leave the Amu Darya basin with a substantial deficit by 2050, with a serious effect on the yield of key crops such as cotton. In the next paragraph, under the heading of the short-term outlook, the same section of the document lists an increase in cotton output as the first task, on the president's instruction of 2025. CAW has read the document, which turkmen.news reported on Wednesday.
Ashgabat sets 9 September for the cotton harvest and hears five governors give the same report
President Serdar Berdimuhamedov held a working meeting on Monday with vice-premier T. Atahallyev and the five provincial governors on the harvest and the wheat sowing, the state site reported; the vice-premier said the cotton picking is scheduled to begin on 9 September, and the president ordered the wheat sown to agrotechnical deadlines and the construction timed to the independence anniversary later this month finished on time. No readout of a Cabinet sitting has appeared on the state sites for Friday 4 September, the second Friday running.
On the map in your pocket, Russia is 10 Central Asias. On the ground it is 4.3
The UN General Assembly voted on Friday to push the world's maps away from Mercator, for Africa's sake. CAW ran the same arithmetic across Eurasia: the standard web map hands Russia a latitude premium that doubles its visual weight against Central Asia, and hands Central Asia a premium of its own against every neighbour to its south and east. Correcting the map takes the northern half of that bargain away.
Turkmenbashi's refinery burned 2 days after the president approved its repair
On the evening of Sunday 30 August, as the grid failed across 4 provinces, a unit at the Turkmenbashi refinery complex caught fire, Chronicles of Turkmenistan and turkmen.news report; Chronicles says it burned until 06:00. On Friday 28 August the cabinet readout on the state site had recorded the president approving capital repairs at the complex and 'everything necessary' being done for its power supply. By Wednesday the state site had said nothing about the fire or the blackout.
A 4-hour blackout crosses four Turkmen provinces without an official word
Power failed across Ashgabat and the Ahal, Mary, Lebap and Balkan provinces at about 17:30 on Sunday, 30 August, and came back district by district over the next 7 hours. Three independent channels have described it since; the government has described nothing.
Turkmenistan's exchange bulletin returns with a $7.3 million week
The state commodity exchange published a weekly trade report for the last week of August: 8 transactions, just over $7.27 million in foreign-currency sales and 8.2 million manat in domestic deals. Buyers came from the UAE, Turkey and Afghanistan.
The rule leaves, the money stays
COP17 closed with $1.3 billion in restoration and drought finance and no drought framework. The instrument fight moves to Egypt in 2028, and Central Asia spends the pause competing for discretionary money it helped argue into existence.
Ashgabat takes a new Turkish ambassador's letters
Serdar Berdymukhamedov received Sener Cebeci's credentials on Friday; the readout speaks of fraternal relations of a long-term, strategic nature.
The ADB puts $400 million behind the region's border queues
The Asian Development Bank approved on Thursday a $400 million regional facility, BUILD, to modernise border crossings across the 11 CAREC countries, with up to $50 million per project over 10 years. The priority projects named so far are Tajik: Fotehobod-Oybek on the Uzbek border, Sarazm and Navbunyod.
The EBRD's president reopens the Ashgabat ledger
Odile Renaud-Basso met Serdar Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat, and the two sides signed a package of memoranda: a central-bank framework running 2027 to 2032 and a program on the banking system, the Ashgabat-based nCa reported Thursday.
Turkmenistan reports $46.4 million of trade and 15 days of silence on Kabul
Turkmenistan's state news service reported on 24 August that the country's commodity exchange registered 19 transactions worth more than $46.412 million in a week, with buyers from the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Afghanistan. The same service has published nothing about the gas memoranda Ashgabat signed with Kabul on 10 August.
Avaza pins three summits to three October days
Turkmenistan's government site lists the dates of the autumn in Avaza: Caspian environment ministers on 7 October, the Consultative Meeting of Central Asian heads of state with Azerbaijan on 8 October, and a session of the CIS Council of Heads of State on 9 October.
Ashgabat opens its hosting season with a Tajik signature
Serdar Berdimuhamedov received Tajik foreign minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin on Thursday, and the two foreign ministries signed a cooperation program for 2027 and 2028. The reception is advance work for an autumn in which Avaza hosts two summits.
Turkmenistan's China trade runs $5 out for every $1 back
Trade between Turkmenistan and China came to $4.82 billion in the first half of 2026, and its structure is the story: $4.04 billion of Turkmen exports against $778 million of imports.
Afghanistan signs up to buy the gas it agreed to carry
Türkmengaz and Afghan Gas have signed a memorandum under which Afghanistan will purchase TAPI gas for its own needs. The transit country is becoming a customer, at a price not yet negotiated.
Petronas finds commercial gas in Caspian Block 1
More than 1.3 million cubic metres a day from a well 80 kilometres off Turkmenbashi.
Turkmenistan halves the fuel a departing car may carry
From today a vehicle leaving the country carries 150 duty-free litres, down from 300, and every litre above that costs half again as much.
Turkmenistan reports growth the IMF cannot find
Ashgabat’s half-year review claims GDP growth of 6.3%. The IMF projects 2.4% for the year and says it builds its own estimates because the official numbers are hard to reconcile with anything else.
A US visa now takes a $15,000 deposit from three Central Asian states
The State Department made its visa-bond rule permanent on 3 August. Applicants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan will generally post $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 to receive a tourist or business visa. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are not on the list.