News Digest
AGREEMENT SIGNED ON RUSSIAN AIR BASE IN KYRGYZSTAN
By empty (9/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kyrgyz Defense Minister Colonel General Esen Topoev and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on 22 September signed an agreement in Moscow authorizing the opening of a Russian air base in the Kyrgyz town of Kant. The signing took place in the presence of both countries\' presidents, and the agreement is the result of months of negotiations, particularly over funding issues. The final agreement specifies that the Russian side will be responsible for funding the base, but it will not have to pay rent or other fees.CIS PRESIDENTS SIGN STATEMENT ON ABKHAZ CONFLICT
By empty (9/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The CIS leaders who attended the CIS summit in Yalta on 18-19 September signed a statement on 19 September reaffirming their commitment to earlier statements upholding Georgia\'s sovereignty over the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia. On 22 September, Georgian President Shevardnadze said during his regular Monday radio interview that Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov refused on 18 September to include the Abkhaz issue in the agenda for the CIS foreign ministers\' meeting that day. Shevardnadze persuaded the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Leonid Kuchma, respectively, to include Abkhaz among the issues to be discussed by CIS presidents on 19 September.WORLD BANK OFFICIAL LAUDS ARMENIAN POVERTY-REDUCTION PROGRAM
By empty (9/22/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Donna Dowsett-Coirolo, who is the World Bank\'s director for the South Caucasus, on 19 September praised Armenia\'s economic growth as \"very impressive,\" RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported. She also described as \"very good\" the 12-year poverty-reduction program approved by the government last month. Dowsett-Coirolo predicted that the bank will continue and may even increase its funding for Armenia in a new four-year Country Assistance Strategy to be unveiled next year.LOW VOTER TURNOUT FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS IN KAZAKHSTAN
By empty (9/21/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Elections to local maslikhats (councils) were held throughout Kazakhstan on 20 September, with only 56.4 percent of the eligible electorate having voted by poll-closing time, the Central Election Commission reported. Council members were elected in 2,062 electoral districts; a second round will be held in 433 districts and 59 will have to hold new elections.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.