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The western workaround acquires statistics at Batumi
Batumi port moved more than 4 million tonnes in the first half of 2026, up 8%, its press service said on 30 July. The port and its oil terminal are run by KazTransOil’s Georgian subsidiary, which makes the figure a Kazakh number as much as a Georgian one.
The ADB puts $250 million into the road around Tbilisi
The Asian Development Bank approved a $250 million loan on 30 July for an 18.9-kilometre four-lane bypass of the Georgian capital, framing it as freight relief on the corridor that links Central Asia to Europe.
Kazakhstan’s oil export duty falls 23% for August
Kazakhstan will levy $76 on each tonne of exported crude and light products in August, down from $99 in July, as its price-linked duty formula tracks a weaker oil price. The cut lands on volumes already thinned by the closure of the CPC route, so the state’s oil take shrinks on rate and quantity at once.
A tungsten mine for a million tonnes of ore a year
Patokh Shodiev and Mukadaskhan Ibragimova, with a Chinese partner, will develop the Bayan tungsten deposit in North Kazakhstan region. Peak output is put at 1 million tonnes of ore a year, and the first year at 2,820 tonnes.
Kabul turns to its northern door
The Taliban economic commission approved expanding trade through Sher Khan Port with Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China, and told the public works ministry to build the Afghan section of an ECO rail corridor.
Bishkek finds 40 companies at sanctions risk, and closes three
About 40 companies carrying heightened sanctions risk have been identified in Kyrgyzstan since the start of July. Three have been shut and a cryptocurrency licence revoked, and the three match names on the European Union’s new list.
Pashinyan asks Putin to lift the export bans
Armenia’s prime minister raised the Russian restrictions with Putin by telephone on Monday, the day the dairy ban took effect, and told him they contradict both the bilateral treaty framework and the rules of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Armenia’s dairy ban takes effect
Russia’s restriction on Armenian dairy came into force on Monday. Yerevan’s food safety inspectorate says the joint inspection behind it found nothing of the kind.
Kabul and Tashkent sign 22 documents worth $200 million
This morning CAW asked which goods would appear when the paperwork did. Cotton appeared first, at 10,000 tonnes on trial with an offer for 100,000 more.
Tashkent sends a 300-strong business delegation to Kabul
Uzbekistan’s deputy prime minister spent the weekend in Kabul with a delegation and a tariff offer. The stated target is $5 billion of trade.
EcoIslamicBank goes on the EU list from 13 August
The 21st package names a Kyrgyz bank, three Bishkek companies and two Kazakh ones. Within a day, transfers from Russia to four countries stopped going through.
Kazakhstan moves from a fine to a seizure at Kashagan
Property and vehicles belonging to the Kashagan operator went under restriction on 21 July. The justice ministry has told the operator’s managing director he could face criminal liability.
Mongolia enters the EAEU tariff system
The interim trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Mongolia entered into force on 22 July. Duties are cut or removed on 367 tariff subheadings for each side, covering about 90% of the trade between them, for three years with automatic renewal. By the commission’s account, Mongolia has no comparable agreement with anyone else in the region.
Uzbekistan signs its own commercial court into law
President Mirziyoyev has signed the constitutional law on the Tashkent International Financial Centre, which takes effect on 25 July. It creates a special jurisdiction with its own regulation and its own court: the Tashkent International Commercial Court, with a first instance and an appeal chamber, for commercial, corporate and financial disputes inside the centre.
Moscow starts Uzbekistan up the produce ladder
Rosselkhoznadzor will restrict imports from five Uzbek exporters from 23 July, citing phytosanitary violations: cabbage, onions, herbs, beetroot, tomatoes and grapes. In May the same regulator suspended ten Uzbek exporters. Armenia climbed this ladder rung by rung this spring, to a full ban in June.
The first e-TIR truck heads for Turkmenistan
The first pilot shipment under the electronic TIR customs system between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan began this week, the head of Azerbaijan’s road carriers association said: the cargo has already crossed from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan over the Caspian and moves on to Turkmenistan next.
The marked tenge is money now
The digital tenge became legal tender on 18 July, with the National Bank’s operating rules following a day later: every unit can carry an identifier, every movement runs on the central bank’s platform, and use stays voluntary for citizens.
Rusal exploring $20 million cable and wire plant in Mongolia
A proposed plant near Ulaanbaatar would produce 4,500 tonnes of cables and conductors a year using Russian aluminium wire rod for Mongolia’s domestic market, Central Asia Wire has learned.
One day of $84 oil moves the tenge and cannot move the som
Kazakhstan’s official dollar rate dropped from 477.11 to 468.88 tenge on Wednesday, a 1.7% strengthening in a single daily fixing, the day after Brent settled at $84.73. Kyrgyzstan’s som stood at 87.45, where it has stood for a month, nine interventions and a billion dollars deep. The same oil price flows into both economies; only one exchange rate is allowed to say so.
EU sanctions reach the Russian cloud under Kazakh business
The European Union’s cyber-sanctions list of 13 July names the VK holding directly for the first time, along with the developer of the Max state messenger and VK’s chief executive. In Kazakhstan, VK Cloud told clients everything works as usual. That is true, and beside the point for every Kazakh company built on the platform.