By Karim Sayid (1/28/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The economic and political relations between the neighboring countries sharing a three thousand mile border, despite their constant protestations of friendship, are overstrained by a host of unsettled issues. The announcement of 2004 as the Year of Russia in Kazakhstan, which implies something more than a cultural achievement in both countries, was in this sense ill-timed. The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia is still on the decline, although Russia remains the dominant trade partner of Kazakhstan.

By Fariz Ismailzade (1/28/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

\"Considering the geographic location of Azerbaijan between Asia and Europe, criminal groups attempt to turn our country into a transit corridor with the help of air and land transports. But Azerbaijan will not allow this and will conduct an active fight with illegal drug trafficking,\" said deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov, opening the conference. Hasanov serves as the chairman of the state commission on the fight against drugs and drug trafficking.

By Aisha Aslanbekova (1/14/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Of these four groups, Hizb-ut-Tahrir is the most popular and active in Kyrgyzstan, whose members take actions mainly through oral propaganda and disseminate leaflets among local citizens calling for the overthrow of the constitutional system. It has recently been suspected by Kyrgyz security services of planning an attack on an airbase near Bishkek where American-led coalition forces are located. But Hizb-ut-Tahrir, whose members reject violent methods and act by means of persuasion, disclaimed the Kyrgyz government’s accusation.