TAJIKISTAN

• However, current regional trade among these markets has not yet reached its full potential.
• This will be achieved by boosting export and investment capacities, enhancing competitiveness, and promoting trade initiatives and regional value chains, thus unlocking intra-regional trade and investment potential.
• Additionally, the Program seeks to promote increased trade among the OIC member countries in the region and with the rest of the world.
• This initiative is designed to unlock the vast economic potential of the region by facilitating increased regional trade and investment.

• Taking place at the Tashkent City Congress Hall, The Forum will be opened by President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
• The two-day event includes a series of round tables and panel sessions, as a platform to exchange ideas and plans to support Uzbekistan's foreign direct investment success.
• Topics for discussion include the investment opportunities available in specific sectors such as energy, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, mining and the digital economy.
• We are looking to build on the success and momentum generated by the 2023 Forum, securing further deals and foreign investment, and propelling 'New Uzbekistan' forward."

• LONDON, April 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- BE OPEN Art , an online art gallery set up by BE OPEN think tank, a humanitarian initiative founded by Austria-based international businessperson and philanthropist Elena Baturina, is running a new competition for emerging artists, aimed to support those whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities – BE OPEN Regional Art.
• Based on the amount of votes by the public and BE OPEN's art community members, the February winner Zhyldyz Bekova , painter and digital artist based in Kyrgyzstan, has become the Artist of the Region for Central Asia.
• She started painting in oil in 2020, and draws inspiration from the myths, customs and traditions of Turkic ethnic peoples of Central Asia.
• The regional competition runs alongside the regular ongoing work of BE OPEN Art, whose experts every month select 20 new artists for the gallery, and the public names the Artist of the Month and Year.

• The Kremlin has opened up discussions with the Taliban before, and Russia was one of the few nations to accredit a diplomat when the organisation took control of Afghanistan.
• But Afghanistan’s political and economic crisis and western sanctions on Russia due to the Ukraine war mean both sides have something to gain from a stronger relationship.
• A few months later, Vladimir Putin signed a decree implementing the UN resolution and imposing sanctions against the Taliban.

Interests and goals

• The Taliban wants international sanctions to be withdrawn, to take Afghanistan’s UN seat and for frozen assets to be released, which will help the country’s economic development.
• Russia taking the Taliban off their terrorism list would be a first step toward international recognition for the current Afghan government.
• Russia’s 2023 foreign policy plan mentions prospects for Afghanistan’s integration into “the Eurasian space for cooperation”.

Russia’s relationship building

• The increasing cooperation between the Taliban and Russia has implications in terms of the ongoing rivalry between Russia and the west.
• Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Moscow has tried to get other nations to support its strategic view of why the war is happening.
• This version of history and policy positions Russia as a protector of traditional religions and values and places it among major world civilisations, contrasting it with the “godless” west.

Intigam Mamedov does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.