Moscow - Russia's state-owned monopoly Gazprom rushed to sell extra gas to European nations when their supplies from Libya ran dry during the escalating violence there. It will also gain from selling energy to Japan, where an earthquake and tsunami have shut down 12 gigawatts of nuclear capacity. Experts say Russia could also take advantage of the greater levels of uncertainty in world energy markets — which have pushed crude prices to 2 1/2 year highs above $100 a barrel — to extract long-term concessions from Europe.
Russia has resumed selling duty-free gasoline and diesel fuel to Kyrgyzstan. The decision came after Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev's trip to Moscow for negotiations with Russian colleague Vladimir Putin. Atambayev said on Kyrgyz TV Kyrgyzstan has eliminated Russian rent payments for the Kant military base. Meanwhile, Russia has decided to ramp up export duties on crude oil and related products sold to Tajikistan. Former Tajik trade and economic development minister Davlat Usmon suggested to RFE/RL Russia may be seeking Tajik concessions in exchange for a rollback of the duty hike, such as permission to install a Russian base in Tajikistan.
Russia and the United States are planning joint operations to crack down on drug trafficking in Central Asia that generates as much as $20 billion per year, Russian anti-drugs chief Viktor Ivanov said in Moscow on Thursday. Fighting the flow of heroin from Central Asia will continue to be one of the priorities in the joint efforts of Russia and the United States, said Viktor Ivanov.
Astana - Recent high global oil prices had not put pressure on Kazakhstan's economy, Minister of Finance Bolat Zhamishev said Friday. The minister said that all revenues from the mineral sector went to the National Fund. "Any increment in the oil price is accumulated in the National Fund. In accordance with the existing law, the transfers from the Fund amount to 8 billion dollars a year, irrespective of the oil price. However, growing oil prices indirectly affect the budget, which has to be revised to reflect the growth of the whole economy and the increase in revenues from its sectors. In my opinion, if the prices do not collapse and remain within today's range, they will produce a positive effect on our economy," Zhamishev said.
Ashgabat - Twenty-five delegates representing the gas, oil and financial sectors in Turkmenistan gathered in Ashgabat on Thursday to learn how to better communicate with international energy companies. The OSCE Ashgabat office along with the Turkmen Foreign Ministry and the OSCE’s Vienna-based Economic and Environmental Activities bureau organized the two-day seminar.
Tashkent - Uzbek President Islam Karimov last week hosted for the first time since Uzbekistan’s independence a Defense Minister from China. Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie visited the country on Friday to discuss bilateral relations with top Uzbek officials. Karimov told Guanglie that Uzbekistan staunchly supports China’s efforts to tackle the “three evil forces” of terrorism, extremism and separatism. He said military cooperation will expand as agreed by the two countries’ presidents during a meeting in Uzbekistan in June. He also praised the rapid development of economic and political ties between the two countries.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) announced during a meeting in Tashkent on Friday that it will hold anti-terrorism drills in China in May. The exercises, dubbed the Tian Shan 2-2011 exercises, will be held May 6. Friday’s meeting included SCO officials from member states Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, China and Kyrgyzstan. Meeting participants also heard the report of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) Director Dzhenisbek Dzhumanbekov on the implementation of the security organization’s 2010-2012 plan to combat separatism, terrorism and extremism.
Articles referred to in this post:
"Russia set to profit from Libya, Japan crises"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110322/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_russia_energy_1
"Россия-США: борьба с афганским наркотрафиком" (Russia-USA: the fight against the Afghan drug traffic)
"Россия отменила пошлины на топливо для Кыргызстана, подняла для Таджикистана" (Russia ends fuel duties for Kyrgyz, raises them for Tajiks)
"Рост цен на нефть в мире не оказывает существенного давления на экономику Казахстана" (high global oil prices had not put pressure on Kazakhstan's economy)
"Turkmen energy leaders learn international business diplomacy"
"Делегация Китая посетила Миноборону Узбекистана" (Chinese delegation visited the Ministry of Defence of Uzbekistan)
"Страны ШОС проведут антитеррористическое учение на территории Китая в мае" (SCO to hold anti-terror drills in China in May)
"В Ташкенте прошло очередное заседание Совета РАТС ШОС" (SCO-RATS held regular meeting in Tashkent)
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