A Microsoft analysis finds the region lags despite ambitious national AI plans. A new study from Microsoft finds people across most Central Asian countries are far less likely than global peers to use content‑generating AI in routine tasks, even as several governments push to build tech-driven economies. Kazakhstan scored highest in the group, placing 70th among 147 nations evaluated, while Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan clustered near the bo

Tajikistan’s main security agency has for the first time confirmed that a group of Afghan nationals was expelled from the country, saying the action followed investigations into alleged criminal behavior that officials say alarmed local communities. The announcement came after an Afghan man publicly questioned the whereabouts of his fellow countrymen; authorities said the migrants had been afforded opportunities to live, work and study but that some broke the law. In a detail

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy’s planned public offering, now slated for late 2026, is increasingly being cast as a tool to ease the state carrier’s mounting liabilities rather than a conventional expansion opportunity. Company filings and government figures show KTZ’s reported debt climbing from roughly $5.7 billion in early 2024 to about $8 billion by 2025, and reaching 4.7 trillion tenge — near $10.4 billion — by April 2026. Executives told parliament the share sale is intended in

Uzbek officials met with U.S. schools, employers and legal advisers in New York this week as the government pursues formal channels for its citizens to work in America, according to Uzbekistan’s migration agency. A Tashkent delegation, which included representatives from the Migration Agency, the Foreign Ministry and the Uzbek Embassy in Washington, held a string of meetings on the sidelines of the U.N. International Migration Review Forum. Delegates discussed training partne

Kazakhstan’s headcount topped about 20.5 million in spring 2026, yet officials and analysts say the apparent growth hides mounting pressures on the labor market and social spending. Births have fallen sharply since their recent high, the population is aging, and a mismatch between graduates’ skills and employers’ needs is beginning to blunt industrial and technological expansion. Births hit a high of roughly 446,500 in 2021 before sliding to about 335,000 in 2025, according t

Parliament last week approved changes to animal control rules that allow local authorities to authorize the killing of unowned dogs and cats under conditions set by municipalities and veterinary services, reigniting a fierce public debate across the country. Supporters say the move is meant to tackle public-safety and health concerns, while animal-welfare groups and some elected officials warn it could lead to unchecked culling and calls for legal challenges are already circu

Public smoking bans and taxes have trimmed use, but gaps in clinicians’ education leave patients without effective cessation support A new survey of practicing physicians across Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine suggests that clinic-level care is a weak link in regional efforts to reduce tobacco harm. Healthy Initiatives collected responses from 433 clinicians and found widespread gaps in formal training on how to help people stop using tobacco and nicotine. While governments h

The Asian Development Bank announced a roughly $12.5 billion assistance package for Uzbekistan and unveiled a new fund aimed at helping Asian economies move up the value chain for strategic minerals. The twin moves were unveiled May 3 as ADB governors met in Samarkand, where officials said the aid will accelerate private-sector growth in Uzbekistan and support processing and manufacturing capacities for minerals used in clean energy and electronics. The Uzbek-ADB Partnership

Turkmen state media say Chinese companies have agreed to projects worth several billion dollars in Ashgabat, but documents and officials have so far not identified who will bankroll the work. The largest headline deal — an arrangement valued at about $4.6 billion — was announced this month with a Chinese engineering unit, yet the announcement offered no clear financing plan, leaving investors and market-watchers asking how the contracts will be implemented. Local outlets repo

Central Asian countries have become a major pathway for goods and money rerouted into Russia to blunt the impact of Western restrictions, according to a new study by a Washington, D.C.-based policy group. The Center for Global Civic and Political Strategies says logistical networks and financial corridors in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan helped divert items and payments that could be used in Moscow’s military program, and that these flows intensified in recent years b

A three-day meeting in Astana brought presidents, aid agencies and activists together and produced a regional declaration while reopening debate over the future of the Aral Sea fund. Astana hosted the Regional Ecological Summit from April 22 to 24, drawing ministers, lenders, U.N. officials and civic groups to some 58 sessions and high-level panels. Leaders of the five Central Asian republics attended the opening ceremony and endorsed the Astana Declaration on Ecological Soli

Kazakhstan has broadened a campaign to retrieve assets held beyond its borders, officials and legal advisers say, launching fresh legal and diplomatic initiatives aimed at money traced to corruption and other crimes. A newly strengthened government task force has been dispatched to coordinate requests with foreign law enforcement and to pursue civil claims where criminal proceedings stall, authorities say. The move reflects growing frustration inside Nur-Sultan with the lengt

Subheadline: By hosting European leaders while keeping formal ties to Moscow-led blocs, Armenia’s summit sends a cautionary and hopeful message to Central Asian capitals weighing how far to diversify their foreign policies. Armenia’s capital drew the region’s attention when it convened a high-level European gathering on May 4, even as Yerevan retained membership in several organizations led by Moscow. The meeting—attended in person by senior officials from France, the Europea

Kazakhstan used this year’s SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor as a stage to broaden commercial ties with the United States, hosting the first Central Asian roundtable at the federal event and bringing a 30-company delegation to seek partnerships and market access. SelectUSA, run by the Commerce Department, estimates it has helped spur more than one-quarter trillion dollars in U.S. investment projects and roughly 125,000 jobs — a backdrop that underscored why Asta

Two people died and nine others were hurt after an explosion early Tuesday at a metallurgy facility in Ust-Kamenogorsk, regional emergency officials said. The blast occurred at about 8 a.m. on May 5 in a workshop, where a malfunction in a dust-collection system was followed by a fire and the partial collapse of parts of the building. Rescue teams from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations scrambled to the site and sent 10 fire units to battle flames and search through

China’s trade with Central Asian countries shifted unevenly in the first quarter of 2026: overall commerce with the region rose, but several governments saw surprising downturns in bilateral activity, led by a sharp fall in Kyrgyz trade, official customs data show. Total trade between China and the five Central Asian states climbed from $21.3 billion in the same quarter last year to $24.6 billion this year — roughly an increase of one-sixth — even as Kyrgyzstan’s reported tur

A three-day environmental summit in Astana ended Friday with the five Central Asian nations endorsing Kazakhstan’s proposal to create an International Water Organization within the United Nations system and committing to stepped-up collaboration on climate-driven problems. The Regional Ecological Summit 2026 closed April 24 with a joint declaration addressing a suite of threats from shrinking glaciers to falling sea and reservoir levels. The statement circulated at the meetin

Central Asian governments should reduce reliance on large hydropower projects and accelerate deployment of wind, solar and small modular nuclear reactors to meet rising electricity demand, a Washington think tank warned in a report released April 23. The New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy says Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are pursuing electricity-hungry economic plans — from data centers to AI facilities — but lack the generating capacity now and

The recent standoff in the Strait of Hormuz between Washington and Tehran has pushed governments and businesses to rethink how oil and goods move across the region. Afghanistan is emerging as a possible transit corridor that could bypass the narrow Persian Gulf chokepoint, yet the reality of Taliban rule raises serious doubts about Kabul’s ability to serve as a reliable conduit to ports on the Arabian Sea. Policymakers and analysts hashed out these questions at a full-day for

The European Union on April 24 moved to restrict what it calls a conduit for Western technology reaching Russia’s war machine, announcing country-level “anti-circumvention” measures against Kyrgyzstan. Brussels outlawed exports of computer numerical control (CNC) machines to Bishkek—equipment used to make precision parts for weapons and communications systems—and added two Kyrgyz banks and a digital coin platform to its blacklist. EU officials say the step is intended to chok