by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Bishkek : The European Union on Thursday transferred a total of 9.3 million euros to Kyrgyzstan’s Finance Ministry as part of an EU grant to support the education sector in the Central Asian country.
According to the ministry’s press office, the payment is the last tranche in 30 million euros of the EU assistance aimed at implementing Kyrgyzstan’s Education Development Strategy until 2020 and its Action Plan for 2016-2017. The previous two tranches, of about 10 million euros each, were received in 2016-2017.
The grant is expected to help reform general and vocational education, improve the quality of education and raise the professional standards of teachers, as well as developing the management of state revenues.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Emerging Businesses, News, Politics, SMEs
Mehbooba Mufti
Jammu : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has advocated reopening of ancient trading routes between the state and Central Asian countries, official sources said on Saturday.
This will help the state, which is the gateway to Central Asia, open up to the outside world and its opportunities, she said at the India Ideas Conclave 2017 at Panaji in Goa on Friday evening.
An official statement issued here on Saturday quoted her as saying that re-opening the traditional/historic routes will enable to script a new history.
Mehbooba Mufti said Jammu and Kashmir shoudl be made a model state with connectivity all across so that it becomes a model for SAARC cooperation in the region.
She also said that the state’s residents ought to be have a sense of belonging because the idea of India is incomplete without the idea of Jammu and Kashmir. “Reconciliation is the way ahead,” she said.
The Chief Minister said that amnesty to Kashmiri youths involved in stone-pelting was aimed at giving them another chance to lead a peaceful life hereafter.
The appointment of an interlocutor by the Centre on Kashmir was a way forward for reconciliation, she said.
“Though both the Peoples Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janata Party had ideological differences on many issues, their alliance is aimed to get Jammu and Kashmir out of uncertainty, and connect state’s people with those in rest of the country.”
On the return of migrant Kashmiri Pandit families to the Valley, the Chief Minister said not only her government, but the whole Kashmiri society wants them back honourably.
She said the government was taking many steps to this end.
The Chief Minister appealed to the media to play a crucial role in bringing people and communities closer.
She said some media houses through irresponsible coverage of incidents ended up creating more discord and acrimony among different people and communities.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
The Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari along with the President of Turkmenistan, Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimohamedov, the President of Afghanistan, Mr. Ashraf Ghani and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif pressing the button to begin the welding process of the TAPI Gas Pipeline, in Mary, Turkmenistan.
Mary (Turkmenistan):(IANS) Assuring his country’s “constructive and cooperative approach” to the project, Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari said on Sunday that the much-awaited TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline will help integrate economies of South and Central Asia.
The Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari addressing at the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the TAPI Gas Pipeline Project, in Mary, Turkmenistan on December 13, 2015. The President of Turkmenistan, Mr. Gurbanguly Berdimohamedov, the President of Afghanistan, Mr. Ashraf Ghani and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif are also seen.
“The idea of an economically-integrated South and Central Asia is an idea whose time has come,” Ansari said at the ground-breaking ceremony of the ambitious project in this Turkmen city.
Among others present at the ground-breaking ceremony of the 1,800-km-long TAPI gas pipeline were Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Describing TAPI as much more than a gas pipeline project for the four countries, Ansari said that it was a reflection of the common desire of the four member countries to re-connect themselves.
“We are seeking to reclaim our shared geography and revitalise an age-old legacy of our mutually enriching interactions. The launch of TAPI also marks the first step towards fulfilling the vision of an economically integrated region stretching from the Bay of Bengal to the Caspian Sea,” he said.
He said the fact that the ground-breaking ceremony was being conducted in the historic Silk Road city of Mary – earlier known as Merv – was entirely appropriate as “it was here, centuries ago, that caravans carrying goods paused to refresh themselves and thereby bestow on generations to come a colourful tapestry of mutually beneficial exchanges”.
Thanking President Berdimuhamedow for his “untiring leadership and the strength of your commitment towards TAPI”, Ansari also lauded Ghani and Sharif for their active involvement in the project.
“Your strong support for TAPI reflects your interest in securing the economic future of the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan respectively. Your personal commitment to the success of our common venture augurs well for the entire region and for the people of all our countries,” he said.
The Indian vice president said India would take a constructive and cooperative approach towards addressing issues related to the TAPI project.
“We are confident that all issues can be addressed through a spirit of mutual accommodation and sharing of costs and benefits,” Ansari said.
Conceived in the 1990s, initially Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed a framework agreement to implement the ambitious project after a meeting in Islamabad in 2002 and the preliminary feasibility studies were done by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Indian government requested the ADB for joining the project as an official member in 2006 and became a permanent member during the 10th steering committee meeting in 2008.
With construction expected to be completed in three years, the TAPI pipeline is expected to last 30 years with a proposed annual capacity of transporting 33 billion cubic metres of gas from Turkmenistan’s mammoth Galkynysh field, the world’s second largest reservoir of natural gas.
