By empty (9/26/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Meeting with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze on 24 September, U.S. State Department official Thomas Adams said Washington will reduce aid to Georgia in 2004 from this year\'s level of $100 million, Georgia.

By empty (10/25/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Saidamir Zukhurov said on 25 September that the Tajik government does not share the opinion of State Border Committee First Deputy Chairman Major General Nuralisho Nazarov that Tajik border troops are ready to take over responsibility for guarding the country\'s frontiers. According to Zukhurov, who is responsible for Tajikistan\'s law enforcement agencies, the official position of the Tajik government is that the Russian border guards should stay. A Tajik-Russian commission that oversees implementation of bilateral agreements on the status of Russian border troops in Tajikistan is due to decide on the future protection of Tajikistan\'s borders soon.

By empty (9/23/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The United States granted Turkey a loan of up to 8.5 billion dollars to help Ankara\'s economic reform program and soften the blow struck to its battered economy by the war in neighboring Iraq. Announcing the loan on the sidelines of the IMF meeting in Dubai, US Treasury Secretary John Snow said Turkey must in return cooperate with the United States in Iraq.