ASTANA — The office of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, known as the office of the First President of Kazakhstan, will cease to exist within the next 45 days, the Central Asian nation's Finance Minister Erulan Zhamaubaev said on June 7, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported.

TASHKENT — Negotiations were held at the Congress Center of Samarkand, Uzbekistan on June 6 between the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the Amir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

ASTANA — A Kazakh court has sentenced a woman to three years in prison for saying online that Russia should "take over North Kazakhstan and its capital, Petropavl, like it took Crimea" from Ukraine in 2014, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported.

ASTANA — The expansion of the French engineering company Alstom in Kazakhstan was discussed by Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov and President of the company in Africa, Middle East and Central Asia Andrew DeLeone, the prime minister’s press service said on June 6.

BISHKEK — Kyrgyzstan's State Committee of National Security (UKMK) said on June 6 that a group of men and women suspected of plotting to seize power had been apprehended, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported.

TASHKENT — The U.S. Embassy in Tashkent on June 5 hosted a closing ceremony to mark the completion of preservation work for the Tash-Hauli Palace in Khiva, Uzbekistan.

ASTANA — During a meeting between the Akim (Governor) of Kazakhstan’s Aktobe Region, Yeraly Tugzhanov, and the founder and managing director of International Community Schools Muhammad Shamma on June 5, issues regarding the implementation of the project for the construction of the Erudit Business School were discussed. The educational institution is designed to accommodate 720 seats. The investor, Erudit-Business LLP is ready to invest 6.6 billion tenge in the project implementation. The project will be implemented with the support of National Company KAZAKH INVEST, said the Akimat (administration) of Aktobe Region.

ASTANA — A ceremony of acceptance of nuclear fuel — fuel assemblies (FAs) manufactured at the joint Kazakh-Chinese enterprise Ulba-FA LLP in Ust-Kamenogorsk (Kazakhstan) — took place last week at the site of the nuclear power plant in Fangchengang, China. The event was attended by representatives of Kazakhstan’s national atomic company NAC Kazatomprom JSC, Ulba Metallurgical Plant JSC (UMP), Ulba-FA LLP, China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and CGNPC Uranium Resources Company Limited (CGNPC-URC).

ASTANA — The President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, will visit Kazakhstan from 7 to 9 June for meetings with senior government officials, multilateral financial institutions and foreign investors.

TASHKENT — During her first official visit to Uzbekistan from June 1 to June 3, Antonella Bassani, the new World Bank Regional Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, held productive talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and other senior government officials. They discussed the government’s reform priorities in various sectors, which are critical to achieving the country’s development goals and completing the transition to an inclusive market economy.

BISHKEK — The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has published its Macroeconomic Outlook for 2023–2025. This analysis summarises economic developments in the Bank’s member states (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan) in early 2023 and provides key macroeconomic projections for the region’s countries until the end of the year and for 2024–2025.

ASTANA — The third annual International ECOJER Congress was held in Astana on June 2. This event, held annually in Kazakhstan's capital on the eve of World Environment Day, is recognized as the key forum for the global environmental community, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kazakhstan reported.

ASTANA — The national company KAZAKH INVEST and the Chinese metallurgical company Zijin Mining have agreed to develop deposits of non-ferrous and noble metals in Kazakhstan. The memorandum of cooperation was signed on the sidelines of the 13th International Mining and Metallurgical Congress "Astana Mining & Metallurgy Congress" on June 2, KAZAKH INVEST reported.

BISHKEK — The President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov and the President of the European Council Charles Michel met in the Kyrgyz resort city of Cholpon-Ata at Lake Issyk-Kul on June 3.

BISHKEK — On June 2, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov (represented by Turkmenistan's Deputy Chair of the Cabinet of Ministers Nurmuhammet Amannepesov) and President of the European Council Charles Michel gathered for the second regional high-level meeting in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan.

DUSHANBE — On June 2 in Dushanbe, the EU and the Republic of Tajikistan held the first full round of negotiations to develop a new comprehensive framework for strengthening their bilateral relations.

ASTANA — The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, on June 1 said it is joining forces with one of Kazakhstan's leading agribusiness groups to support its investment program and working capital needs – helping to diversify the country's economy, create jobs, and boost food security in the region.

SHANGHAI, China — Denis Ilin, Vice Chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Management Board, presented five Central Asian water and energy projects to the investment community at the New Development Bank’s (NDB) 8th Annual Meeting in Shanghai on May 31.

BISHKEK — More individuals and micro-enterprises in the Kyrgyz Republic are expected to have improved access to finance following International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) $15 million loan, denominated in local currency, to Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank. The funds will allow KICB to provide more local currency home microloans to low-income families and financing to women-led microenterprises, strengthening the country's economic resilience post-pandemic, IFC said on May 31.

ASHGABAT — On 1 June 2023, OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid, who was on an official visit to Turkmenistan, and Turkmen Acting Foreign Minister Vepa Hajiyev cut the symbolic ribbon opening the new premises of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat provided by the Government of Turkmenistan free for use.

ASTANA — Lawmakers in Kazakhstan are poised to scrap an article in the Criminal Code that envisions prosecution for insulting former President Nursultan Nazarbayev as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev continues to distance himself from his predecessor, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported.

SHANGHAI, China — Speaking at the New Development Bank’s (NDB) 8th Annual Meeting held these days in Shanghai, Nikolai Podguzov, Chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Management Board invited his colleagues from multilateral financial institutions to combine their efforts, including those related to the joint cross-border public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Central Asia.

ASTANA — Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu on May 31 held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea Park Jin, who arrived to Kazakhstan on an official visit.

BISHKEK — The Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General's Office on May 31 formally asked lawmakers to allow the prosecution of the leader of the opposition Butun (United) Kyrgyzstan party over alleged attempts to seize power, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported.

ASHGABAT — The National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty (People’s Council) of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has undertaken a two-day working visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 30-31.