Amid a cold snap last week, parts of Tajikistan – including the capital, Dushanbe – were without power. Residents of the capital complained of electricity, heating, and water shut-offs during the three-hour blackout. Meanwhile, some telecommunications services were also down. A source at the Nurek hydroelectric power station told Asia-Plus, a Tajik media outlet, that … Read more
China produced almost 60 percent of the world’s electric vehicles (EVs) in 2022. In Central Asia, the market for EVs is small but growing, and Chinese companies are especially dominant. While imports from China accounted for only 3 percent of Europe’s EV sales in 2022, over 90 percent of EVs sold in Uzbekistan that year … Read more
It is a puzzling question: why do the energy-rich Central Asian states experience frequent energy crises? The answer points to a trap, a ticking bomb that every winter threatens to explode into an insurmountable challenge for the region’s people and its governments alike: the region’s old infrastructure needs billions in immediate renovations and the region’s … Read more
Winter focuses the mind on staying warm, particularly in Central Asia where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius for weeks at a time. As the region prepares for winter, people know that their heating supply could be disrupted by unexpected power outages and interruptions in district heating, or by the unavailability of fuel. … Read more
Advertisement On August 12, Turkmenistan’s state news agency (TDH) called upon Turkmengas Deputy Chairman Myrad Archaev to respond to “media reports regarding the idea of creating gas unions and alliances,” inspired by comments made by a Russian Foreign Ministry official, Dmitry Birichevsky, the day before. This is a curious case of the Turkmen side responding … Read more