Zone 1- Asia Summary- Week # 93

Week # 93, Dated 7th -13th Nov. 09’

CENTRAL ASIA
Political Front: Preparations for Municipal elections are in full swing in Azerbaijan with almost 1000 nominations from the ruling party. Meanwhile, Majlis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh parliament, has endorsed the amendments to the draft law designating administrative accountability for increasing Kazakhstan's content in state procurement of goods and services. All the while the plight of detained Kazakh activist in an alleged political case continues. The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan has elected Roza Otunbaeva as its new leader.
Two women in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Province have been detained for alleged membership in the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Meanwhile Famous political prisoner and key opposition leader Sanjar Umarov has been freed in Uzbekistan.
Geo-strategic Front: International mediators have expressed satisfaction over upcoming meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Meanwhile Iran has unilaterally announced to lift visa requirements with Azerbaijan. Defense ministers from the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have gathered in Dushanbe, Tajikistan for the 57th session. Meanwhile the US ambassador has expressed keenness to boost ties with Uzbekistan.
Social Front: Azeri TV channels and Radio have expressed serious concerns regarding protection of Azeri language. While more than 2000 Kazakhs have applied to go for Hajj despite wide spread fear of swine flu. Many cases of swine flu have been reported in Kyrgyzstan, and two cases have been reported in Azerbaijan. In Turkmenistan pilgrimage for Muslims to 38 sacred places within the country was organized.
At least 3,500 children live in orphanages in Kyrgyzstan. All the while many people in the southern Kyrgyz region have started changing their family names back to Soviet-era, Russified surnames claiming it is easier thus to get registered with the Russian police and even get better jobs.
Economic Front: Parliament of Azerbaijan has started discussion over state budget 2010. Meanwhile Azerbaijan and Iran have signed MoU on supply of natural gas. The gross domestic product (GDP) of Kazakhstan has declined 3.2% in January-September 09’ as compared to last year. While in Kyrgyzstan the consumer costs have reduced by 0.2 % in the same period. Deflation has also been traced in Azerbaijan and Moldova, with 1.7 and 2.9 % respectively. At the same time Kyrgyz (GDP) has grown by 3.2 % and has hit 157 billion soms, in 2009.
The lower house of the Tajik parliament has approved the national budget for 2010. Meanwhile gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Iran has been completed and it is ready for official launch of gas pipeline to China.

GCC- Gulf Cooperation Council
Political Front: Kuwaiti opposition party has asked PM to step down for handing a 700,000-dollar cheque to a former MP. Meanwhile in Bahrain a campaign called '19@2010' has been launched to push for lowering the voting age from 20 to 19 years in the upcoming parliamentary and municipal elections.
Geo-strategic Front: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has welcomed the UN General Assembly's (UNGA) approval of the Goldstone report about the Israeli army’s grave human rights violations during its assault on Gaza Strip early this year. GCC Secretary General also welcomed the formation of a new Lebanese government, headed by Saad Al-Hariri. While honoring its commitments Saudi Arabia has announced to provide economic assistance to Pakistan. Meanwhile Saudi air attacks against Yemeni rebels at its border area have raised the chances of intensification of the conflict that the US has expressed serious concern over. At the same time all Arab countries have extended full support to Kingdom for its action. Kuwait has reiterated its stance and support for Palestinians right of self determination. Meanwhile Qatari Emir has recently paid visit to Bahrain in order to boost their bilateral ties.
Oman has sent various relief packages to the earthquake victims in Indonesian islands.
Social Front: The Saudi health Ministry has assured that it would not ban any one from performing Hajj, being considered as at high risk of swine flu.
Economic Front: Saudi private sector investments in the US reached SR1.58 trillion last year. Meanwhile Saudi Senior Executives seem more confident over their economic prospects and satisfied with their government’s response to economic turmoil as compared to their counterparts in UAE.

TURKEY
Political Front: Kurdish issue dominated the Turkish political front. The Ruling AK Party initiated debate over ‘democratic initiative to resolve Kurdish issue, in Parliament on 10 November; the death anniversary of Kamal Atatürk. The Opposition strongly criticized the choice of date claiming it undermined the reverence of their leader’s anniversary. In the meantime PM has announced to visit 81 cities to propagate his ‘democratic initiative’. Also the Pro Kurdish Democratic Party has asked the government to form a special parliamentary committee to resolve the issue.
Meanwhile the police was asked to complete investigations on a military plot set to topple AKP’s regime. Also the government has been alleged for ordering intelligence agencies to tap telephones of top judges and other members of Turkish judiciary.
Geo-strategic Front: The ICJ convicted Sudanese President’s decision to cancel his upcoming visit to Turkey to attend OIC Conference was suspected to have come about due to Turkish pressure, a claim that both governments deny. Meanwhile the OIC summit was held this week in Turkey where main issues under debate included; peace in Afghanistan and the resolution of Darfur crisis. Besides that Turkey and Iran also discussed IAEA proposal about Turkish role in Iranian Uranium deal; being backed by the US.
Greek Cypriot has assured that it would not block Turkish bid for EU. Meanwhile there are widespread assumptions regarding Turkish-French deal about the formers membership of EU; while the later has voiced high hopes for Turkish role in Mid-East peace process. Hezbollah has also appreciated Turkish role in the peace process. In the meantime Syria has also asked Turkey to mediate the resolution of the Middle Eastern crises.
Social Front: Death toll of swine flu victims has reached 60 in Turkey, while around 250,000 recoveries through vaccination have been reported.
Economic Front: G20 states, including Turkey, have agreed to maintain the availability of financial stimulus measures until the world economy shows more improvement. Meanwhile the Turkish President has asked OIC to take measures to improve trade and economic ties among member states. Turkey’s industrial production has decreased by 8.6 %in September compared to last year. At the same time the stock market closed at 48,864.00 points with the benchmark index up by 1.51%. A standby loan agreement between Turkey and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been delayed by the government for political purposes. Meanwhile total foreign trade volume between Turkey and Egypt is expected to reach $3.5 billion by the end of year.

CHINA
Political Front: China's anti-graft chief He Guoqiang has urged nationwide grass root units to strengthen honest governance. Meanwhile Chinese President has urged to establish and improve the mechanism of democratic self-governance of villages that can both secure the Communist Party's leadership and safeguard villagers' rights.
Geo-strategic Front: A delegation from the Chinese mainland paid a six days visit to Taiwan in an effort to improve ties. Also the former has expressed readiness to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on financial supervision with Taiwan. Close Chinese-African relations remain significant while China and Serbia also seem keen to strengthen their military ties.
China has expressed high hopes about Obama’s recent visit to the country. Chinese relations with Singapore also seem to be in full swing. All the while China has agreed to sell $1.4 billion worth of jets to Pakistan.
Social Front: The study of Chinese has become increasingly popular in France. Meanwhile the growing number of H1N1 flu cases in the mainland has triggered a rush for insurance products as more and more people have been trying to mitigate exposure and health risks.
In order to address environmental issues South China's Guangdong province has ordered a halt to any further expansion of three major polluting industries in the Pearl River Delta area.
Nine men have been executed for taking part in rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in Urumqi in July.
Economic Front: China has decided to raise gasoline and diesel prices both by 480 Yuan (70.28 U.S. dollars) per tonne. Meanwhile China's auto sales rose 72 % year on year to 1.22 million units in October on the back of strong domestic demand boosted by government stimulus measures. Chinese equities closed slightly higher with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 11.55 points, or 0.36%. Also the country’s urban fixed-asset investment rose 33.1 % in the first 10 months to 15.07 trillion yuan (2.21 trillion U.S. dollars), compared with the same period a year earlier. China's imports and exports fell 10.7 %in October year on year, but monthly exports exceeded100 billion U.S. dollars for a fourth straight month. Imports however stood at 86.8 billion U.S. dollars for October, a decrease of 6.4 % compared with the same month last year.
The Chinese President Hu Jintao gave a four-point proposal to boost economic growth and revive world economy during a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit.

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