By Maria Utyaganova, student in the International Relations Department, American University-Kyrgyzstan (10/25/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
From October 10-12 the leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tadjikistan met in Astana, Kazakhstan to negotiate and sign a document establishing the Eurasian Economic Union. This newly formed international organization is intended to solve the problems of external trade and customs policies by establishing common trade laws on goods and services. The new payment system and new single order of currency control and regulation is hoped to be more effective than its Customs Union predecessor which did not lead to the successful and effective economic integration of its members.
By Farangis Said, Tashkent, Uzbekistan (11/8/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The banking system of Uzbekistan experienced significant changes recently when Acting Chairman of the National Bank of Uzbekistan (NBU), Zaynutdin Mirkhodjaev, and his first deputy Georgi An were removed from office at their "own request" according to President Karimovs decree. But soon Georgi An was charged with "financial machinations" and according to rumors is currently a fugitive from justice. The NBU is the countrys largest bank with USD $400 million and four billion Uzbekistan soms in capital.
By Konstantin Parshin, Dushanbe, Tajikistan (11/8/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The University of Central Asia, the worlds first university dedicated exclusively to education and research on mountain regions and societies, has been launched by the Aga Khan Foundation and will be built in Khorog city. Khorog is the administrative centre of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan. On 31 August, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, the Aga Khan, and the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed a treaty to establish the university.
By Jennifer Balfour, educator in Central Asia (11/8/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
"Hamma Paktaga!" The road block said it all. Get out there everyone. Theres cotton to be picked! The first cotton harvest of the new millennium continues as relentless as ever.
The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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