By empty (4/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Tajikistan\'s President Imomali Rakhmonov held talks in Dushanbe on 30 April with his visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami. Both positively assessed the level of political and cultural ties between their two countries, but Rakhmonov expressed regret that trade and economic cooperation has not attained a comparable level. Discussing the situation in Afghanistan, the two presidents agreed that the UN ought to play a greater role in preparations for the election of a Loya Djirga and the creation of a new Afghan government in which all the country\'s ethnic groups will be represented.

By empty (4/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Heidar Aliev, Eduard Shevardnadze, and Ahmet Necdet Sezer met in Trabzon on 29-30 April to discuss exports of Caspian oil and gas via Georgia and regional security and unresolved conflicts in the South Caucasus. Sezer in his opening address stressed the strategic and economic importance of the South Caucasus, noting the need for increased cooperation, including in the military sphere, between the three countries to avert possible terrorist attacks on oil and gas pipelines. On 30 April, the three countries\' interior ministers inked an agreement on cooperating in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.

By empty (5/1/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Tests have begun to determine how to clean up an infamous stockpile of Soviet biological weapons, including anthrax, on a former island in the Aral Sea, an Uzbek expert said Wednesday.The project is part of U.S.