In order to reduce foreign borrowing, Kyrgyzstan plans to collect more than USD 1.1 billion from the population. While its budget is periodically refinanced with huge sums, raised as a result of anti-corruption campaigns.
The fallout of the Trump presidency on the region's balances, the return of opportunities for Gazprom and Rosatom in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the stalemate in negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the political clash in Georgia: analysts' predictions on the most important issues of 2025 in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
For the past few years, the Christmas symbol has been installed in the central part of the capital of Turkmenistan on New Year's Eve, drawing more and more street kids, a sign of the contradictions of a country that fails to take care of some of its children.
To allay Putin's ill-will, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Moscow has published an article in an authoritative Russian daily in which he defends the transformations taking place in the country. He hoped that ‘the de-globalisation underway’ would not lead to ‘new opposing blocs’.
The former president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, despite having handed over the office to his son Serdar, still glories in the title of ‘father of the fatherland’ and in his honour, a brand new smart-city is being built under the name Arkadag. And he has called for the construction time to be shortened so as to settle a greater share of new inhabitants and attract more investment
After lengthy debates, the Žogorku Keneš has approved at first reading a measure that, in the name of the fight against extremism, has aroused not a few perplexities within the religious communities. Among the new provisions is a ban on missionaries of any denomination going around preaching in homes according to their own inspiration. And in religious training institutes, students who have not completed 11 classes of compulsory schooling may not be accepted.
