Turkey is again pressing for a pipeline under the Caspian Sea to make up for lost supplies from Iran, but Turkmenistan’s government continues to cultivate deep energy ties with Beijing, leaving Ankara’s ambitions uncertain. Speaking at an energy forum on April 24, Turkey’s energy minister renewed a call for immediate international talks on building a subsea link to bring Turkmen gas across the Caspian to Azerbaijan, then onward through Turkey into Europe. The appeal comes ami

Kazakhstan is pressing its diplomatic advantage in the Middle East to draw capital and technology as regional hostilities rise. Over the past week Astana’s top diplomats and visiting leaders have held a string of talks in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and at home with Israel’s president, signaling a concerted push to convert political engagement into projects that could boost jobs, infrastructure and export capacity. Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev carried a messa

Kazakh officials are exploring a new branch through Armenia as part of a bid to broaden the Middle Corridor, seeking alternatives to traditional northbound transit corridors. Astana’s transport and foreign‑trade ministries have begun preliminary talks on routing cargo via Armenian territory, according to officials briefed on the planning. The move aims to give Kazakh exporters more choices for reaching European and Middle Eastern markets and to cut dependence on a single over

Swiss federal prosecutors will open a long-delayed criminal trial on April 27 at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona in a sprawling case tied to Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbekistan’s late president Islam Karimov. The proceedings mark a rare move by Swiss authorities to take disputed, cross-border allegations over alleged payoffs and account handling to court after years of separate probes. Swiss investigators say Karimova organized a clandestine network that ext

When Apricots Blossom, Uzbekistan’s first solo presentation at Milan Design Week, closed April 26 after a week at Palazzo Citterio and left organizers buoyed by strong attendance and critical notice. The show, put on by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation and commissioned by chair Gayane Umerova, drew roughly 25,000 visitors over seven days — about three and a half thousand people a day — and was shortlisted for the Fuorisalone Award, receiving an additional

Beijing is expected to combine its foreign-policy and security channels with economic clout to deepen ties with the five Central Asian states, a move that could reshape regional alignments. China looks set to push a coordinated diplomacy of foreign and defense outreach into Central Asia, pairing ministerial visits with investment pledges and security cooperation. With Moscow occupied by the war in Ukraine and Washington still patching together a post-Afghan strategy, Beijing

DUSHANBE — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon held talks April 28 with Sergio Gor, the U.S. president’s special envoy for South and Central Asia, in a meeting that covered economic ties, investment, border security and the next phase of cooperation under the U.S.-Central Asia partnership. Gor also conferred with Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, and the U.S. embassy said the envoy will remain in Tajikistan for further discussions in the coming days. Officials said the Dushan

Iran told fellow members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization it is prepared to transfer military know-how and hardware during a defense ministers’ gathering in Bishkek, a move that could reshape security ties across Central Asia as governments navigate recent clashes in the Middle East. The declaration came at a meeting on April 28 chaired by Kyrgyzstan’s defense minister and attended by SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, with Iran represented by Deputy Defense Mi

A new World Bank and IMF read on the region warns that households and small businesses from Bishkek to Tbilisi could face a prolonged period of weaker expansion, and that escalating unrest in the Persian Gulf is adding fresh uncertainty to already fragile forecasts. The World Bank’s latest regional review and the IMF’s spring outlook both show broad deceleration across Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The exception is Azerbaijan, which is forecast to register modest posit

A raft of recent steps — from direct flights to streamlined visas and upgraded checkpoints — has turned a long-standing divide into an actionable plan, though politics could still halt the process. Turkish and Armenian officials have taken concrete actions in recent months that make a permanent reopening of their shared frontier increasingly plausible. National carriers resumed scheduled service to Yerevan in March, governments agreed to ease entry rules for some travelers, a

Nur-Sultan Says Technical Faults Will Pause Flows; Analysts Warn Move Could Be Geopolitical Pressure On European Fuel Routes Russian authorities have told Kazakh partners they will stop moving Kazakhstan-produced crude through the Druzhba pipeline to Germany beginning May 1, Kazakh officials said Wednesday, a step that could disrupt deliveries to a refinery that supplies fuel to Berlin. Moscow has attributed the interruption to technical limitations, but it has not publicly c

China is broadening its educational engagement across Central Asia, opening joint research centers and training programs while expanding commercial links that tie universities to industry. A string of recent agreements—from a hydrogen research hub at a major Kazakh university to vocational and academic exchanges in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—illustrates Beijing’s growing use of schools and scholarships to strengthen influence in the region. The most v

Georgian developers with links to former premier’s network join the U.S. firm on a roughly seven-dozen–story project critics say aims to curry favor with Washington amid looming sanctions talk. The Trump Organization says it will lend its name and management to a high-rise development in Tbilisi, a move that has quickly drawn attention in both Georgia and the United States. The project, billed by its backers as the tallest building in the Caucasus, has become a flashpoint: go

Kazakhstan pressed for a redesign of global security institutions while neighbors used the forum to expand trade, transport and diplomatic links. The Antalya Diplomacy Forum, held April 17–19, convened foreign ministers, presidents and senior envoys against a fraught international backdrop: a war in the Middle East, strained supply chains and rising skepticism about the effectiveness of global bodies. Central Asian delegations did not dominate the agenda, but their presence w

New York — Kazakh officials and developers used a New York investor forum on Tuesday to press for foreign capital, outlining plans to shrink state holdings, speed corporate listings and sell a multibillion-dollar urban development to global buyers. At the event, government representatives said moves to loosen ownership limits and tighten disclosure rules were designed to make Kazakh companies more attractive to long-term investors. They presented an initial timetable for publ

A network of monitors will feed live pollution data to regional authorities and laboratories, officials say. Uzbek officials, working with the United Nations Development Programme, have installed 37 automated air-quality monitors across Karakalpakstan to track pollution linked to the Aral Sea disaster, regional environmental authorities announced. The devices are intended to give local health and emergency teams faster access to air measurements so they can respond more preci

Many travelers say little has changed after a ministerial shake-up; ticket shortages, steep reseller fees and packed carriages persist. Residents across Turkmenistan report that everyday travel remains chaotic weeks after the government replaced its transport minister. Commuters say trains and buses regularly run beyond their seating limits, leaving passengers to wait for days, pay inflated prices or ride in aisles and vestibules. Officials who promised rapid fixes have yet t

Astana’s Regional Ecological Summit begins Wednesday with leaders promoting a joint declaration and a four-year action plan, but delegates face immediate, concrete stresses on water, shipping and cross-border cooperation that could determine whether pledges turn into practice. Organizers say the meeting aims to bind countries to a 2026–2030 Program of Action, yet officials and frontline communities are worrying about this year’s irrigation cycle. The Toktogul reservoir in Kyr

Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan pledged deeper emissions cuts, unveiled Yerevan as the host for COP17 on biodiversity and called for regional water cooperation at the Regional Ecological Summit held in Astana over Earth Day. Astana, Kazakhstan — Speaking at the Regional Ecological Summit, Khachaturyan framed climate change and diminishing biodiversity as immediate threats to Armenia’s people and landscapes, and he urged partners to move from talk to coordinated measure

Kazakhstan will hold elections to a newly created single-chamber parliament, the Kurultai, in August 2026, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced April 10. The move ends the country’s long-standing bicameral system and establishes a timeline meant to give political parties months to organize campaigns and voter outreach under the revised rules. The change follows a series of reforms that began in 2023, when the country shifted to a mixed voting system for the lower house.