Kazakhstan

Asian Development Bank helps finance "new Silk Road" in Kazakhstan

Asian Development BankManila - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Thursday it was providing a 700-million-dollar multi-tranche financing facility to Kazakhstan to help create a "new Silk Road" that would boost its economy and link Europe and Asia.

The Manila-based bank said the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation Transport Corridor I project will run 2,715 kilometres from the city of Khorgos on Kazakhstan's border with China, through Almaty and Shymkent, to the country's western border with the Russian Federation.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arrives in Kazakhstan

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao arrives in Kazakhstan Moscow/Astana, Kazakhstan - Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to the Kazakh capital of Astana from Moscow on Wednesday for the last leg of a tour focused on China's energy ties and the global financial crisis.

The official purpose of Wen's visit is a summit meeting on Thursday and Friday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security grouping of central Asian states, including Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will also attend. The two leaders will hold talks on the sidelines.

India preparing for uranium supply from overseas

Kazakhstan decides to pull troops out of Iraq

KazakhstanAstana  - Kazakhstan has decided to pull its troops out of Iraq after five years of fighting alongside the US army, the Central Asian state's Defence Ministry said Tuesday.

Kazakhstan had deployed about 30 mine-clearing troops in Iraq a few months after the US-led invasion in the spring of 2003.

"At the request of the Iraqi government and in connection with the considerable stabilisation of conditions there, Kazakhstan's troops will come home," the ministry said in a statement.

Terrorism, defence shields unacceptable to Kazakhstan, says strategic expert

Almaty, Aug. 27: Interactions with several experts, including some from Kazakhstan, reveals a sense and a feeling of dismay among them about the traditional and non-traditional security challenges and threats facing the international community, and particularly the Asia region in the 21st century.

Incidents like 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the conflict between Russia and Georgia, the resurgence of the Taliban in certain pockets of Afghanistan, the United States and Poland''s decision to go ahead with plans to set up a defence shield in East Europe and geopolitical concerns in South Asia, has left a majority of them non-plussed, they say.

CICA chief sees India as playing a monumental role in achieving goals

Almaty, Aug. 27 (ANI): Although India only has an "Observer" status at the Almaty-based 20-member Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia 
(CICA) forum for the past three-and-a-half years, the Executive Director of the CICA Secretariat believes that New Delhi''s representation and presence is significant for the Asian region, both in the short and long term.

Speaking exclusively to ANI, D. Bakishev said: "India is making a very important contribution for the development of our forum. It is one of the biggest and the most influential countries of the world, and having it onboard is very important.

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