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The Kurultai sits, and the government's mandate returns
Kazakhstan's new single-chamber parliament convened at 11:00 in Astana on Friday, 145 deputies seated and 110 of them from one party, with three acts on its opening table: a speaker to elect by secret ballot, the Bektenov cabinet's mandate to receive, and a first bill the president has already named.
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.
Dushanbe rewrites its 3-year forecast: more freight, more investment, less aluminiu
Tajikistan's government has revised its macroeconomic forecast for 2027 to 2029. Industrial output is now expected to reach about 132 billion somoni ($14.3 billion) in 2028 against roughly 106 billion in the previous version, freight traffic 211 million tonnes instead of 160 million, and fixed investment 44.5 billion somoni instead of 40.5 billion. The aluminium line moved the other way: the 188,000-tonne target for 2028 has been cut, and the new figure was left out of the summary that reached print.
Astana holds an Uzbek scholar on a spying charge, and neither capital will say why
Ikboljon Qoraboyev, a professor of international relations at Maqsut Narikbayev University in Astana and a citizen of Uzbekistan, has been in custody since 3 July under article 176 of Kazakhstan's criminal code, espionage, his family told the BBC's Uzbek service. Nearly 8 weeks later no institution in either capital has said what he is accused of doing.
Baku's media complaint goes on the record: 96 outlets
The number that reached the wires this week began as an interview. Azerbaijan's ambassador to Russia counted the Russian outlets running theses about his country at 96 or more, and asked Moscow for a political assessment and concrete measures. The count had circulated for days as a stray figure; now it has an author on the record.
Georgia's jailed ex-premier turns into a recruitment target
Irma Inashvili publicly invited Irakli Garibashvili to join her Alliance of Patriots: a political prisoner, in her reading, should answer with politics. The ruling party answers his letters from jail with one word, masquerade.
The Kurultai gets its names, and its first bill is about children
Kazakhstan's five parliamentary parties published their deputy lists ahead of Friday's opening session, and Tokayev has told the new chamber what he wants on its desk first: a ban on social-network registration for anyone under 16.
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.
Mongolia opens an artificial-shortage case against a fuel retailer
The Anti-Monopoly Office is investigating Sod Mongol Group over petrol held in storage while 7 of its stations stood closed. Its citation has a statutory name: an artificial shortage created by misleading consumers.
The biggest container line stops booking Novorossiysk
MSC suspended new bookings to and from Novorossiysk with immediate effect after a strike on one of its ships bound for the port. At the grain quay in the same harbor, repairs are now priced at up to four months.
Two months for Kocharyan, ruled around a hospital bed
Armenia's Anti-Corruption Court granted the investigator's motion in full on Thursday morning: Robert Kocharyan, the country's second president, goes into detention for 2 months. The ruling landed while he lay in a hospital ward.
KazMunayGas starts building a yuan book on its home exchange
The national oil company opened books on Wednesday for two tranches of yuan bonds on the Astana International Exchange, with settlement set for 2 September.
The US draws its red line as Egypt takes the next COP
Two days before the drought conference closes in Ulaanbaatar, Washington says it will accept no drought instrument at all, and the incoming host wants a legally binding one.
Uzbekneftegaz loses 3.5 billion cubic meters in six months
Uzbekistan's state gas company produced 18.3 billion cubic meters in the first half of the year, 16% below last year's pace. June's daily output was the weakest since at least early 2022.
A second travel ban lands while Kocharyan waits for a judge
Day 2 of Armenia's presidential prosecutions brought a travel ban for Serzh Sargsyan, a courthouse transfer for Robert Kocharyan and a first word from Moscow: hope, minus the phone call.
Beijing puts Xi's Bishkek dates in writing
China's foreign ministry confirmed on Wednesday that Xi Jinping will attend the SCO summit in Bishkek and stay for a state visit to Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz side announced him 37 days ago.
Dushanbe plans to 2031 and sends parliament a migration bill
Tajikistan's government approved a domestic tourism programme for 2027-2031 at Tuesday's session chaired by Emomali Rahmon, and sent two draft laws to parliament. One of them is titled "On Migration".
Armenia's programme passes with one party's votes
The National Assembly adopted the government's 2026-2031 programme on Tuesday, 63 votes to 24. Every yes came from Civil Contract.
The Kocharyan case splits between a cell and a ward
Armenia's Anti-Corruption Court ordered 2 months of pre-trial detention for Sedrak Kocharyan on Wednesday morning. His father's custody motion has no hearing date: Robert Kocharyan is in hospital, and the committee is waiting for the doctors to finish.
Kazakhstan's new chamber sits on Friday
President Tokayev signed a decree on Wednesday convening the first session of the 145-seat Kurultai for 11:00 on 28 August in Astana. When the chamber sits, the Bektenov cabinet's resignation falls due.