According to Daily Times (Pakistan), a consortium of three financial institutions will provide Pakistan $1 billion to import electricity from Central Asian Republics (CARs), and a power import agreement on the matter is being signed here today (Monday), sources said on Sunday.

A senior official in the Water and Power Ministry of Pakistan told Daily Times that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB) are providing financial assistance to Pakistan to import 1,000 megawatts (MW) from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The source said that an agreement for electricity import is being signed today at the conclusion of two days of meetings in Islamabad of the Inter-Governmental Council, which includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

A senior official in the ministry said the tariff on imported electricity would stand at 6 cents to 8 cents per kWh, as compared to the Independent Power Producers’ (IPPs) tariff of 12 cents to 14 cents/kWh.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf told reporters at the end of talks that the IGC would deal with project implementation, contract administration and system operations. He said that an assessment of the feasibility of the power import project had been completed and that the second phase of feasibility evaluation would provide broad design specifications for the transmission line and sustainability of the project.

Ashraf ruled out security concerns about Afghanistan. Afghanistan would also benefit from the project, and the Afghan government will take its responsibility seriously, he added. The minister said that Tajikistan had surplus electricity and that Pakistan’s import from the former Soviet state was an option to enhance Pakistan’s national power grid.

Four Kyrgyz sportsmen have arrived in China to participate in the Beijing Olympics: 3 swimmers — Vitaly Vasilyev, Vasily Danilov, and Yury Zaharov and one marksman with two trainers. The rest of the Kyrgyz sport delegation will leave for Beijing on August 6.

The National TV/Radio Broadcasting Corporation received exclusive rights to broadcast the summer Olympic Games in Beijing. On August 8 Kyrgyzstanis can watch the opening ceremony in Beijing.

The official Kyrgyz delegation, appointed by President Kurmanbek Bakiev, will visit Beijing at the invitation of Chinese leader Hu Jintao to take part in opening ceremony of the 29th Summer Olympic Games, the presidential press service reports.

The official delegation includes presidential administration representative Medet Sadyrkulov, the director of the Republican Special School on Weightlifting and Field and Tracks, Olympic champion Kanybek Osmonaliev and Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan in China Kadyrbek Sarbev.

A large cache of weapons has been found at an apartment rented by a U.S. citizen today, a press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.

There were: 6 machine guns with optic sights and night-vision devices, 26 5.56 mm assault rifles, 2 12 cal Mossberg shotguns, 4 replacement barrels for machine gun, 2 underbarrel grenade launchers, 4 sniper rifles with optic sights, 6 Beretta 9 mm pistols, 1 rifle, 2 knives, 2920 5.56 ammo rounds, 10556 9 mm ammo rounds, 2 boxes of 0.50 cal ammo (350 rounds in each), 478 12 cal cartridges, 1 thousand trace rounds, 66 empty magazines for automatic firearms, 57 empty Beretta clips.

The U.S. Embassy said the weapons were brought into the country by invitation of local authorities to provide counter-terrorism training, “The Associated Press” news agency reported.

“The equipment and the house it was in was protected by Kyrgyz authorities,” U.S. Embassy spokesman Mark Cameron said. “This is an unfortunate situation that we hope will be rectified soon.”

While studying in Osh and traveling in Uzbekistan, I came to wonder about the “Luli,” or Central Asian gypsies (“gypsy” being a derogatory label not used by the Luli themselves). My only contact with them had previously consisted of trying to evade children-beggars rubbing my arm persistently for Som; my only knowledge of them was based on random and sometimes crass rumors about bizarre rituals practiced in the privacy of their community. And so I decided to visit the Luli Mahalla (neighborhood / community) and see for myself, along with the invaluable company of fellow researchers Alisher Khamidov and Bahrom Manonov.

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I should warn readers that the following article represents just a single afternoon spent among the Luli – hardly an in-depth study. For more rigorous reporting, see Nafisa’s study (ENG) of the Luli in Samarkand or an anonymous contribution (RUS) to a cross-blog survey on minorities.
Read the full story »

Residents in Bishkek are lucky: They have electricity 24 hours. In all other places in the country, the power goes off for at least a few hours every day. In Osh, it goes dark at midnight, in many villages even earlier. Power supplies only resume in the morning hours. The reason? Kyrgyzstan is just living through one of its worst-ever energy crises.

[inspic=126,left,fullscreen,200]Its main electricity generation facility, the Toktogul Reservoir, is having dangerously low water levels. Because the mountainous country faced a record winter last year, too much reservoir water had to be used for electricity generation – all to an extent that made replenishment over the spring impossible. Apart from being a nuisance for night owls, this power shortage has huge implications for the coming months. Read the full story »

Over the past 15 years Kyrgyzstan’s Chinese population has swelled from zero to around 100,000 in a total population of a little more than 5 million, says Daniel Allen, a freelance writer and photographer from London who has lived in China for the past three years.

These immigrants marry locals, obtain Kyrgyz citizenship, ramp up their business interests, and buy apartments. Current plans to make the yuan fully convertible in Kyrgyzstan will only serve to accelerate the flow of both Chinese currency and people.

He also comments about the growing influence of China through the SCO: “One of the principal mechanisms by which China is expanding its influence in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The grouping was initially formed as the Shanghai Five in 1996, bringing together Russia, China and the three Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, being renamed when Uzbekistan joined in 2001″.

I wish to give the cue – 100 000 Chinese in Kyrgyzstan means that every fiftieth person in Kyrgyzstan is from China.

First Kyrgyzstan delegation arrived in Beijing (China) last night, press service of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.

The Kyrgyz swimming champions Yury Zakharov and Vasily Danilov are among the first delegates. The swimmers are going to try luck in the 200/400m complex style and 50m freestyle.

Members of the Beijing Olympics Organizational Committee met Kyrgyz athletes at the airport.

The Kyrgyz National Olympic Committee entitled Talant Janagulov a member of Sambo and Judo sport federations to hold a national flag of Kyrgyzstan during the opening Olympic ceremony in Beijing, China.

Janagulov is a 2007 champion of the XX International Sambo tournament (+100kg weight category). He has also won the third place at the Kazakh President’s Cup Sambo Championship, the second at the Asian sport and combat sambo in Tashkent.

On the eve of opening the Olympic Games in Beijing and the SCO Summit in Dushanbe, President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev received mass media representatives of the People’s Republic of China, the presidential press service reported.

K.Bakiev answered journalists’ questions regarding the XXIX Summer Olympic Games, which will take place in Beijing, and the participation of sportsmen from Kyrgyzstan. Bakiev also shared his vision on further developing and strengthening Kyrgyz-Chinese relations within the framework of bilateral cooperation and within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Talking about the Olympic Games and his participation in its opening ceremony, President Bakiev said:

“The Olympic Games – it is, undoubtedly, an important event on a global scale for all peaceful and leading humanity. It pleases us the XXIX Olympic Games will be hosted by China. I think it is a sign of recognition of China’s merits in the world. I am sure the Olympic Games will be held at the very high organized level. We are thankful to our Chinese friends for invitation to participate in important Olympic events. It would be keen pleasure for me to attend opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing”.

As for cooperation within the framework of SCO, the head of state emphasized:

“The Organization has great future. SCO activities are expanding and covers now not only issues of security but also trade-economic and cultural fields”.

Russian Railways OJSC will invest 112 billion roubles (more than 4 billion USD) in the development of infrastructure to increase the volume of transportation with Central Asian countries. According to the news agency “Kabar”, Russian Railways OJSC President Vladimir Yakunin told this at a meeting of heads of railways of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Cholpon-Ata.

The meeting was devoted to development of strategy of rail ways of Central Asian region in the sphere of international transportation.

President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, Director General of National company “Kyrgyzstan rail ways” Asan Rysmendiev, Bishkek Mayor Nariman Tuleyev, President of National company “Kazakhstan rail ways” Askar Mamin, first deputy chairman of Tajik rail ways Vladimir Sobkalov, first deputy chairman of Uzbek rail ways Fazlitdin Sagdullaev took part in the work of the meeting.

AUCA’s Social Research Center (SRC) presented the results of the two-month research project entitled “Modernization of Islamic Education Institutions in Kyrgyzstan”. According to the press-release of AUCA, this research project that was initiated and financed by the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia in Bishkekfocused on exploring attitudes among Bishkek residents toward Islamic education institutions. It also sought the opinions of Islamic education institutions on the possible introduction of secular courses into their curricula.

The study was conducted by AUCA faculty members Mucaram Toktogulova (Associate Professor of the Department of Cultural Anthropology), Mehrigul Ablezova and Gulzat Botoeva (Acting Associate Professors of the Department of Sociology) and managed by the SRC.

The research attempted to identify the general public attitude towards existing Islamic educational institutions in the country. In addition, the research project explored the potential of including political science, philosophy, and other secural subjects at Islamic schools.

The results of this two-month research project will be used to develop a follow-up action-oriented project by the Eurasia Foundation. In particular, it will focus on curriculum development of the Islamic educational institutions in compliance with the contemporary academic requirements.

You can read this report in Russian. Download it here.