By empty (4/16/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Russian Transport Minister Sergei Frank, who is on a three-day visit to Iran, said on 16 April after meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ahmad Khorram that Russia is ready to launch a trilateral transport project next month known as "North-South," which will link the Western states with Central Asian countries via Russia. The agreement on the transport corridor was signed last year by Russia, India, and Iran, and was approved by the Russian parliament and President Putin this month. Frank added that Scandinavian and Baltic states, as well as Ukraine and Kazakhstan, have expressed interest in the project.

By empty (4/17/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Some 300 Turkmen demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Committee for National Security (KNB) in Ashgabat on 15 April, and about 50 turned out the following day to protest how KNB officers treat ordinary citizens. The demonstrators demanded that malefactors in the security services be punished, following widespread revelations of abuse of power, including drug smuggling and the raping of Turkmen citizens by KNB officers. President Saparmurat Niyazov began purging the ranks of the KNB with mass firings on 4 March.

By empty (4/16/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Following talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Imanghali Tasmaghambetov in Astana on 16 April, ChevronTexaco's CEO David O'Reilly announced that his company will increase its production of Kazakh oil from its present amount of 13 million metric tons per year to 20 million tons per year by 2005. To this end, ChevronTexaco will invest some $1.5 billion over the next three years to expand the production capacity of the Tengizchevroil joint venture.