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Diesel in Dushanbe falls 6% as Russian deliveries triple, while petrol rises 7.4% and liquefied gas 18% in 3 weeks
AI-92 petrol in Dushanbe costs about 14.50 somoni a litre against 13.50 at the end of August, liquefied gas 6.70 against 5.70 and diesel 15.50 against 16.50, Asia-Plus reported on Wednesday: petrol up about 7.4% in under a month, gas up about 18%, diesel down about 6%. The diesel fall follows Russia’s August deliveries of more than 56,000 tonnes against about 16,000 in July, a 3.5-fold rise; the reasons the authorities have given for the petrol rise are the world market, export restrictions in producing countries and transport costs.
Georgia and China discuss a joint transport working group with Anaklia as the cornerstone and $7 billion of Georgian infrastructure money to 2032
Economy minister Mariam Kvrivishvili met China’s transport minister Liu Wei to discuss a joint working group across rail, sea, road and civil aviation, with the Anaklia deep-sea port placed “as a cornerstone infrastructure project for the Middle Corridor”, the ministry said in an account bm.ge carried on Wednesday at 13:15. Kvrivishvili put about $7 billion on Georgia’s infrastructure through 2032, and the ministry names the targets: to double the capacity of the maritime and rail networks and to triple airport throughput. The sides discussed direct routes from Tbilisi to Beijing and Guangzhou and cited the initiative adopted at the Global Sustainable Transport Forum in Beijing to raise the capacity, reliability and competitiveness of the Trans-Caspian route.
Mongolia’s committees clear the 2026 budget rewrite’s third reading with a 2 trillion tugrik deficit and back $450 million from the ADB and the ¥158.3 billion airport loan on one day
The State Great Khural’s security and foreign policy committee took the third reading of the 2026 budget amendment on Wednesday with 15 of its 29 members present and sent its conclusions to the budget committee, the parliament’s site reported: balanced revenue of 31.9 trillion tugrik, expenditure of 34.0 trillion and a deficit of 2.0 trillion, with 107.3 billion for tariff-loss subsidies, 92.7 billion for power stations, 150.0 billion for food reserves, 170.1 billion for wage rises and 1,440.9 billion in savings. On the same day a joint sitting of the budget and security committees, 29 of 56 members present, backed the government’s 2 loan drafts, the Asian Development Bank’s $450 million “financing general programme” by 56.3% of those present and Japan’s ¥158.3 billion loan for the Chinggis Khaan airport by 66.7%, and sent its minutes and conclusions to the government.
Kazakhstan’s People’s Council elects Yerlan Koshanov its chairman by 120 votes to 1, and the week’s seating of the second republic is complete
The Qazaqstan Halyq Kenesi elected Yerlan Koshanov, the last chairman of the abolished Mazhilis, as its chairman at its first session in Astana on Wednesday: 121 ballots came out of the urn, none of them spoiled, 120 for him and 1 abstention, Kazinform reported at 15:02. President Tokayev had proposed him at the session’s opening as “a responsible, qualified and experienced statesman” for a post that “should be held by a person known in the country, able to become the link between the people and the power”, and told the members that “a special responsibility rests on each member of the Halyq Kenesi”. In 5 days the second republic has re-seated the heads of its court, election commission and audit chamber, named a full constitutional bench with the Kurultai’s consent, and given its consultative chamber a chairman who ran the presidential administration from September 2019 to February 2022.
Mongolia’s new justice minister declares 3 apartments worth 2.2 billion tugrik and shares in at least 6 companies, the anti-corruption agency’s register shows
G. Temuulen, sworn in as justice and home affairs minister on Tuesday, holds 3 apartments with a combined declared value of 2.2 billion tugrik and shares in at least 6 companies, gogo.mn reported from the Anti-Corruption Agency’s declaration register in the first hour of Wednesday, naming TTEM, Euroconstruction, Harte Gold Corp, Khanburgedei, Yarlag and Taobao Mongol among them. Dorgio.mn’s reading of the same register when the ruling party nominated him on 17 September lists the first 5 with Chemostemics as the sixth, and adds vehicles at 1.2 billion tugrik, livestock at 523 million, deposits of 94 million, loans of 303 million, his own annual income of 75 million and his family’s of 134 million.
Kyrgyzstan signs 3 export protocols with China’s customs chief and gets Torugart opened to its grain as it thanks Beijing for fuel
Deputy cabinet chairman Erlist Akunbekov and the head of China’s General Administration of Customs, Sun Meijun, signed 3 protocols on quarantine, sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for Kyrgyz exports at a working meeting during Akunbekov’s visit to China, and agreed that Kyrgyz grain will go to China through the Torugart crossing, open.kg reported on Tuesday night in the account 24.kg carried on Wednesday morning. Akunbekov also thanked the Chinese side for its support in keeping fuel supplies from China to Kyrgyzstan stable, and raised longer working hours at Torugart.
Ashgabat sets the CIS summit and a Caspian ecological summit for Avaza on 9 October with Putin confirmed, as the Halk Maslahaty gathers 4 days before the 35th anniversary
Turkmenistan will host the CIS Council of Heads of State and a Caspian Ecological Summit in the Avaza national tourist zone on 9 October, and President Putin “again confirmed his participation” in both, the state news agency’s account of the 2 presidents’ telephone call on Tuesday says. The call came on Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s birthday; the same account has him congratulating Putin on the conduct of Russia’s State Duma election and wishing “the new composition of the Russian parliament fruitful work”. On Wednesday the Halk Maslahaty, the country’s supreme representative body, holds its regular session in Ashgabat’s Maslahat köşgi palace, with the velayat delegations in the capital since Monday, 4 days before the 35th anniversary of independence on Sunday.
Tashkent plans 57.2 GW by 2035 with 26 storage projects and nearly 5,000 km of new lines behind a grid it says will now be built from demand
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed a plan on Tuesday that takes Uzbekistan’s generating capacity to 46.1 GW by 2030, for about 129 billion kWh a year, and to 57.2 GW by 2035, for 154.7 billion, the presidential press service reported. The plan counts 6.3 GW of solar and wind already built, more than 100 hydro plants at close to 2.5 GW, 26 storage projects of 4.2 GW with 17 under way, and, by 2030, 9 new 220 kV substations, 7 at 500 kV and almost 5,000 km of new transmission lines. Its stated method is new: demand is set first, then the plants and the wires.
Mongolia’s parliament committee backs a 158 billion yen Japanese loan at 1.1% to expand the Chinggis Khaan airport by 2034
The State Great Khural’s economic standing committee voted on Wednesday to support the government’s request to negotiate an exchange of notes with Japan and a loan agreement of up to 158,284,000,000 yen at 1.1% a year, with the principal free of repayment for the first 10 years, for the expansion of the Chinggis Khaan International Airport, the parliament’s site reported. It adds 81,900 square metres to the airport and is timed for operation in 2034; finance minister Z. Mendsaikhan presented it, and 59.4% of the members present supported it. From the committee its opinion goes to the budget committee and to the security and foreign policy committee.
Tokayev names all 10 judges of the Constitutional Court in one morning, and the People’s Council he appointed on Tuesday sits for the first time
President Tokayev appointed 10 judges of the Constitutional Court by decrees published on Wednesday morning, 5 days after he reappointed Elvira Azimova as its chairwoman, Akorda’s list shows: Saken Abdolla, Leila Zhakayeva, Kairat Zhakipbayev, Aizhan Zhatkanbayeva, Aigul Kydyrbayeva, Kanat Musin, Bakyt Nurmukhanov, Sergey Skryabin, Aslan Tukiyev and Sergey Udartsev. The Kurultai gave its consent to the 10 at its sitting the same morning, on the presentation of Roman Sklyar, the head of the presidential administration, and in the same sitting cleared 8 members of the audit chamber, whom the president then appointed, and 6 of the election commission, Kazinform reported between 10:24 and 10:33. The same day the Qazaqstan Halyq Kenesi, the 126-member People’s Council whose composition he approved on Tuesday, opens its first session in Astana. In 5 days the second republic has re-seated the heads of the court, the election commission and the audit chamber, named a full bench and convened a consultative chamber, every one of them by the president’s signature, and the bench with a consent the Kurultai gave in a morning.
Uzbekistan’s statement to the UN General Assembly goes to Saida Mirziyoyeva, the head of the presidential administration, a year after the president gave it himself
Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of the Presidential Administration, will speak for Uzbekistan in the general debate of the 81st General Assembly, which runs from Tuesday to Saturday and on Monday 28 September, Gazeta.uz reported on Tuesday, citing its sources. She met the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, on the session’s sidelines on Monday, the state daily Yangi O’zbekiston reported at 08:15 on Tuesday; a year ago the 80th session’s debate heard President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
Tokayev names the 126 members of the People’s Council that replaces the Assembly of the People, and it meets on Wednesday
President Tokayev signed 2 documents on Tuesday: decree 1474, approving the composition of the Qazaqstan Halyq Kenesi, the People’s Council, with a list of 126 names, and order 331, convening its first session for 23 and 24 September in Astana, Akorda published. The constitutional law of 5 June, 298-VIII, calls the Council “the supreme constitutional consultative body representing the interests of the people of the Republic of Kazakhstan”, lets it submit draft laws to the Kurultai and initiate a national referendum, seats its members for 4 years in 3 groups of 42, from ethnocultural associations, from public associations and other non-profit organisations, and from maslikhats and public councils, and repeals the 2008 law on the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan.
Russia’s diesel to 4 buyers in Central Asia and Mongolia doubled in August to 370,000 tonnes, with Mongolia taking 215,000 and Kyrgyzstan’s intake rising from 4,400 to 72,000
Russian diesel exports to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia exceeded 370,000 tonnes in August, more than double July’s, traders told Reuters on Monday in figures Neftegaz.ru carried the same evening and Asia-Plus on Tuesday. Mongolia took about 215,000 tonnes against 124,000 in July, Kyrgyzstan more than 72,000 against 4,400, Tajikistan more than 56,000 against 16,000, and Kazakhstan, which imported none in July, about 28,000. Over January to August Russia sent 2.5 million tonnes of diesel to Central Asia and Afghanistan, against 2.6 million a year earlier.
Azerenerji signs a $58.6 million turnkey contract with Turkey’s YEO for 250 MWh of batteries, financed by local banks over 4 years
Azerenerji, the state power company, has signed a contract with YEO Teknoloji Enerji ve Endüstri of Turkey for a battery energy-storage system of 250 MWh, worth $58.6 million on an EPC-F basis under which the contractor designs, procures, builds and arranges the financing, Report carried from Turkish media on Tuesday. YEO’s disclosure to the Istanbul exchange on Monday says local banks finance the project with a 4-year repayment term, construction starts shortly and the system is to be commissioned within a year, with the batteries made by REAP Battery, the group’s own company. It follows 2 systems totalling 500 MWh that YEO commissioned in Azerbaijan in the second quarter under contracts signed in 2025.
Aliyev weighs a 5.3 billion manat mining programme to 2030 that must first re-count reserves last measured 40 years ago
President Ilham Aliyev chaired a meeting on Tuesday on the draft State Programme for the development of the mining and metallurgical industry for 2027 to 2030, AZERTAC reported at 14:35. Economy minister Mikayil Jabbarov put the investment at 5.3 billion manats over the 4 years, 1.1 billion from the state budget, 2.2 billion from state companies and 2 billion from private funds, with the sector’s contribution to GDP to rise from 700 million to 1.8 billion manats and its exports from 1.3 billion to 3.4 billion by 2030. The president’s own condition came before the targets: the reserve figures date from Soviet times, about 40 years ago, and are out of date.
Mongolia’s parliament opens with 75 members on its third attempt as the prime minister dares the Democrats to file for his dismissal
The State Great Khural’s plenary opened at 14:01 on Tuesday with 75 of its 126 members registered, 59.5%, after 2 attempts that stopped at 52 and 58, the parliament’s own account of the sitting says. Prime Minister N. Uchral presented the release of S. Amarsaikhan as justice and home affairs minister and the appointment of G. Temuulen in his place, 24 members put questions, Temuulen took the oath, and under the session rules the house voted on nothing. In the chamber Uchral told the Democratic Party to collect signatures and submit a letter for his dismissal if they disliked his work, ikon.mn reported at 18:30, and D. Amarbayasgalan, the former Speaker who stayed away on Monday and speaks for what he calls “our 30”, said he would meet the prime minister the same day.
Five Years Ahead: Tajikistan graduates from grants with a dam unfinished and a bond falling due
The World Bank has decided Dushanbe is too well off for free money. The decision lands with the state’s debt at 16% of output, its largest project years from finished and its only market bond in its last year of repayment.
Armenia’s parties have until Friday to register for the 25 October local elections, the last scheduled vote before the 2027 parliament is chosen
The Central Electoral Commission closed nominations on Monday for the local elections of 25 October and set 25 September as the registration deadline, Armenpress reported. Party lists will be voted in Artashat, Armavir, Gavar, Hrazdan, Goris, Meghri, Ijevan, Dilijan and other towns; Fioletovo and Shamiram vote by majority. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan used the evening’s independence-day address on Republic Square to name “the durability of the state” the country’s principal task and to ask citizens to strengthen it “with education, work and taxes paid”.
A 56-metre bridge and a $940,000 bill: a Kyrgyz committee clears the agreement that puts the Bedel crossing on the road to China
The Jogorku Kenesh committee on international affairs, defence, security and migration on Tuesday approved a draft agreement with China to build a road bridge over the Uzengi-Kuush river at the Bedel crossing: 56 metres long, 12 wide, 28 metres on each side, each side paying for its own half, 24.kg reported. Kyrgyzstan’s half is put at $940,000 before design review. The bridge is a piece of the 161-kilometre Barskoon to Bedel road, due to finish its main works in 2029 and open in 2030.
Dushanbe and the CNPC venture discuss the China gas pipeline again, 12 years after its Tajik section broke ground
Energy minister Daler Juma met the management of Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company on 18 September to discuss “the progress of the project, related issues, ways to resolve them and further coordination”, Asia-Plus reported on Tuesday. The company, a joint venture of Tajiktransgaz and CNPC’s Trans-Asia Gas Pipeline, was founded in 2014 with $300 million from each side to build the 391-kilometre Tajik section of Line D of the Central Asia to China pipeline; construction began in September 2014.