By empty (8/15/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

For lack of a quorum, the Georgian parliament failed on 15 August to endorse the budget sequester proposed by the government in response to demands made in early July by a visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation. The fund had made disbursement of the third and final installment of a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility loan contingent on sweeping budget cuts, passage of a new Tax Code, and the abolition of cuts in electricity tariffs. Minister of State Avtandil Djorbenadze, who came to parliament to brief deputies on the planned budget cuts, blamed speaker Nino Burdjanadze for the legislature\'s failure to ensure the government met the IMF deadline of mid-August.

By empty (8/16/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Between 8,000 and 20,000 people participated in a march and rally in Baku on 16 August to protest the appointment of President Heidar Aliev\'s son, Ilham, as prime minister and to demand his dismissal from that post. They further demanded that equal conditions be created for all candidates in the 15 October presidential election. On 15 August, the Constitutional Court ruled that in the event that President Aliev dies or resigns before 15 October, there would be no need to cancel the planned elections and schedule a new ballot.

By empty (8/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev, at the head of a delegation of Kyrgyz government officials, met with his Uzbek counterpart Otkir Sultonov on 15 August in Tashkent to discuss the delimitation of the two countries\' common border. The Uzbek side said that the shooting of a Kyrgyz citizen by an Uzbek border guard in July is under investigation and the guilty parties will be punished. However, the Uzbeks insisted that the Kyrgyz side bore some responsibility for the incident.