Armenians Give Incumbent A Strong Parliamentary Mandate, Raising Tensions With Moscow Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s party appears headed for a clear parliamentary majority after ballots were counted in the June 7 vote, a result that could accelerate Yerevan’s drift toward closer ties with the United States and the European Union. Preliminary tallies from the Central Election Commission show Pashinyan’s Civil Contract picked up nearly half of the ballots, far above its pre-

Kazakh Offerings And U.S. Backing Aim To Lure Capital For Critical-Mineral Projects U.S. and Central Asian officials are meeting in Astana on June 11-12 to press for concrete investments in the region’s mining and processing sectors, shifting talks from broad agreements to deal-making. The conference, held under the C5+1 cooperation process, brings senior figures from Washington — including leaders of the Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corpo

Kazakhstan’s recent legal changes have coincided with a sharp rise in successful challenges to government decisions, senior officials told an Astana forum. Judges and court administrators reported that the share of administrative disputes decided in favor of citizens and businesses climbed from roughly one in seven cases five years ago to nearly three-fifths today. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Supreme Court Chairman Aslambek Mergaliyev framed the shift as evidence that

The Uzbekistan National Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale is presenting a sensory installation that reimagines the Aral Sea as a site of ongoing change and memory. The show, titled The Aural Sea, fills Quarta Tesa in the Arsenale with moving mechanisms and large-scale translucent prints, and runs through Nov. 22, 2026 as part of the international exhibition. Inside the space, visitors encounter motor-driven structures that swell and subside on repeated cycles, their moveme

Armenia’s ruling party secured a parliamentary win that could widen routes across the South Caucasus, offering Kazakhstan and other Central Asian states an alternative corridor to Turkey and Europe. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly congratulated Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on June 8 after Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission released preliminary totals from all 2,005 polling places, assigning Civil Contract 727,160 votes — roughly one-half of ballots cast — with

A UN envoy drawn from one of Afghanistan’s northern neighbors could strengthen coordination on security, migration and humanitarian access at a moment when regional ties matter more than ever. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan serves as the system-wide coordinator for diplomacy, aid and human-rights monitoring across the country. With Afghan governance now dominated by the de facto authorities in Kabul and cross-border pressures rising, the next head of UNA

Subheadline: Governments are betting on dams, power links and foreign investment to manage river flows, but farmers and downstream communities face new risks and uncertainties. For decades, the five nations that share Central Asia’s great rivers relied on a system of predefined water exchanges. Today, officials are turning away from that model and toward large engineering projects and cross-border energy deals to secure supplies. The shift is reshaping negotiations: instead o

The European Commission has taken Kyrgyzstan-certified airlines off the EU Air Safety List, ending a ban that had been in place since 2006. The delisting — part of the Commission’s 48th revision of the roster — removes the principal regulatory obstacle preventing Kyrgyz carriers from scheduling flights into EU airspace. That said, carriers will still need suitable aircraft, formal approval under EU operating rules and practical safety verifications before regular services can

A cluster of party congresses, candidate filings and behind-the-scenes negotiations this week will test the strength of the ruling party and force smaller groups to define their role for ordinary voters. Party leaders in Kazakhstan entered a week of intense activity Monday, as the dominant party prepares to finalize its candidate lists and opposition and pro-business parties hold meetings to decide whether to press for alliances or go it alone. Officials and activists say dec

Georgia’s recent agreements with Azerbaijan, signed after a May 18 meeting in Baku between Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and President Ilham Aliyev, have sparked debate over whether the country is exchanging energy autonomy for a larger role as a transit corridor. Tbilisi announced a two-decade framework for electricity transit and supply alongside a 20-year extension of a gas purchase arrangement dating back to 2003. The government also said daily passenger trains between

Kazakhstan has sharply increased its borrowing from Chinese lenders, tapping new channels and drawing scrutiny over how the loans will be used and repaid. The government’s obligations to Beijing climbed notably after 2025, when it took on more than $3.5 billion in new credit, pushing the total owed to Chinese institutions to about $12.9 billion. Until then, the figure had hovered near $9 billion — roughly $9.0 billion at the end of 2022, about $9.25 billion in 2023 and $9.29

Kazakh officials and the Kremlin signed a framework deal on May 28 for a reactor on Lake Balkhash, but the credit lines that would finance construction remain unspecified. Russian and Kazakh leaders formally agreed on the “basic principles” for cooperation on Kazakhstan’s planned inaugural nuclear generating station during President Vladimir Putin’s state visit, yet the central issue — who will fund the project — was left unresolved. Astana announced last year that Russia’s s

The British government announced a fresh package of restrictions Wednesday aimed at entities and people in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia accused of helping Moscow dodge international financial controls tied to its war in Ukraine. London designated 18 targets linked to digital-asset and other shadow-finance operations based in Kyrgyzstan, and added three Georgian firms to a list it says facilitate procurement for Russia’s military effort. Officials say the moves are intended to choke

Kazakhstan has opened talks with a U.S. federal agency to bring advanced water-monitoring tools and training to its irrigation networks, officials said Friday. Representatives from Kazvodhoz, the national water-management body, met recently with staff from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in discussions arranged by the U.S. Embassy in Astana, according to local reporting and statements from Kazakh authorities. The talks emphasized rolling out electronic flow meters and remote-m

Kazakhstan’s president met the International Atomic Energy Agency chief in Astana on May 26 and raised the prospect of his country serving as a technical partner should an IAEA-led solution to Iran’s nuclear dispute be agreed politically. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Director General Rafael Grossi signed a roadmap to guide agency cooperation through 2036 and added pacts on nuclear medicine and scientific research. Officials emphasized that any Kazakh role would follow

Trade arteries crisscrossing the continent are changing how states think about security and growth. Planners and diplomats should start treating corridors as living networks—where shared standards and joint management matter as much as who controls territory. Rail, road and sea links that reconnect Europe and Asia are multiplying. Some routes run north-south, others cut through the southern flank to the Caucasus and beyond. These pathways are not merely commercial projects; t

Georgia’s government and the private issuer Tether announced a large-scale investment and the launch of GEL₮, a digital token set to track the Georgian lari at a 1:1 rate, officials said last week. The move marks one of the few instances where a major stablecoin operator has partnered visibly with a national administration, and it has prompted both excitement about new financial infrastructure and unease over how the arrangement will be governed in a country of roughly 3.7 mi

As ties between Yerevan and Moscow fray, leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union pressed Armenia this week to make a clear choice between closer links with the European Union and continued membership in the bloc, raising the prospect that the organization’s membership and direction could shift in the months ahead. At an expanded meeting in Astana, officials from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia and Kyrgyzstan asked Armenian authorities to state whether they intend to pursue EU inte

Tashkent’s municipal leaders say the agreements, signed at a China forum in Xi’an, will fund transport upgrades, housing renewal and industrial growth without tapping the national budget. TASHKENT — Tashkent’s city government announced Monday that it has concluded contracts worth roughly $3.35 billion in planned investments and about $156 million in export arrangements with Chinese partners at the third Uzbekistan‑China Interregional Forum in Xi’an. City officials described t

A major environmental trade fair opened this week in Samarkand, aiming to link Uzbek officials and regional investors with projects in renewable power, water management and sustainable farming. Delegates gathered at the Silk Road Samarkand congress center for the multi-day Eco Expo, where government representatives announced efforts to scale up clean-energy projects and lure outside financing. Officials said the drive is meant to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and create new