By Kirgizbek Kanunov (09/02/2015 issue of the CACI Analyst)
This summer, the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) faced the brunt of a natural disaster which neither regional authorities, nor the central government in Dushanbe were prepared to handle. The months of July and August were particularly difficult for this part of eastern Tajikistan, which already struggles with a number of socio-economic issues such as unemployment, job-related emigration, endemic corruption and drug addiction.
By Eka Janashia (09/02/2015 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On August 27, the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center (JTEC) was opened at the Krtsanisi military facility outside Tbilisi as a part of “substantial package” granted to Georgia by NATO at the Wales summit in September 2014.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who was the major guest at the inauguration ceremony, said that JTEC will cement NATO-Georgia cooperation and ensure the alliance’s enlarged presence in the country.
By Tavus Rejepova (09/02/2015 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On August 6, the participants of the 22nd Steering Committee meeting of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project unanimously agreed in Ashgabat that Turkmenistan’s State Company TurkmenGas will lead the TAPI Ltd. consortium, a pipeline company that will design, build, own and operate the TAPI Pipeline. After the much awaited selection of a possible consortium leader among interested international oil and gas companies, this move paves the way to begin work on the project.
By Erik Davtyan (19/08/2015 issue of the CACI Analyst)
July was a productive month for bilateral cooperation between Armenia and Georgia. Firstly, the two states expanded their dialogue in the military sphere. On July 16, a delegation headed by Armenia’s first Deputy Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan visited Tbilisi. A subsequent meeting between representatives of the two defense ministries took place on June 24-25 within the framework of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels, during which Armenia’s and Georgia’s Defense Ministers Seyran Ohanyan and Tinatin Khidasheli discussed bilateral military ties. Khidasheli later explained that the parties agreed “to find new areas of cooperation.”
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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