News Digest
AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT PLEDGES TO BATTLE CORRUPTION
By empty (5/14/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In a six-hour meeting on 14 May with 470 foreign businessmen, Heidar Aliev pledged to crack down on bribery and corruption, which international organizations consider are more prevalent in Azerbaijan than in almost any other country, but acknowledged that doing so \"will take time.\" Aliev specifically denied that corruption has penetrated the oil sector. He solicited criticisms of flaws in the economic system and suggestions as to how they could be remedied, and urged businessmen to consider investing in the chemical, metallurgical, engineering, and agricultural sectors.UZBEKISTAN SKIPS MEETING OF SHANGHAI GROUP DEFENSE MINISTERS
By empty (5/15/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking after a 14 May Moscow meeting of defense ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SOC), Defense Minister Ivanov said that the meeting had covered the situation in Afghanistan, security issues in Central Asia, and joint efforts to combat \"international terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism.\" Ivanov added that the meeting was intended to prepare for an SOC summit set for the beginning of June. The SOC, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and China, is also considering a Chinese proposal to expand both military-political and economic cooperation, Ivanov said.KAZAKHSTAN LIFTS TRANSIT RESTRICTIONS ON TAJIKS
By empty (5/15/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Kazakh government has lifted the temporary restrictions it imposed last September on the entry of Tajik citizens to Kazakhstan and the transit across Kazakh territory of vehicles and trains from Tajikistan, Kazakh Ambassador to Dushanbe Amanzhola Zhankuliev told Asia Plus-Blitz. The restrictions were necessitated by the upsurge of fighting in Afghanistan that prompted Kazakh fears of an influx of refugees. The Kazakh move will facilitate the transit of Tajiks seeking to travel to Russia in search of temporary employment.Visit also
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Joint Center Publications
Analysis Niklas Swanström and Leah Oppenheimer, "Invisible Ink: Looking for the Lost Trade between China, Russia, and Central Asia", ISDP Policy Brief, 13 March 2013. 
New Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr with Adib Farhadi, Finish the Job: Jump-Start the Afghan Economy, December 2012.
Conference Report Cheryl Benard, Eli Sugarman, and Holly Rehm, Cultural Heritage vs. Mining on the New Silk Road? Finding Technical Solutions for Mes Aynak and Beyond (in cooperation with the Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage) December 2012.
Article Svante E. Cornell, "The 'Afghanization of the North Caucasus: Causes and Implications of a Changing Conflict", in Stephen Blank, ed., Russia's Homegrown Insurgency: Jihad in the North Caucasus, Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, 2012.