Day: April 19, 2022

In recent weeks, Russia’s military campaign has refocused on the eastern region of Donbas, which pro-Moscow separatists have partly controlled since 2014. Donbas is also home to much of Ukraine’s industrial wealth, including coal and steel.

Experts polled by TASS yesterday say Russia is interested in the quickest completion of its special operation in Ukraine but only after the whole of Donbass is liberated and Moscow and Kiev will step up their talks after that.

“Russia is interested in implementing the tasks that have been set and that is why the military operation will continue in the coming weeks. Russia will seek to inflict maximum military defeat on Ukraine in Donbass, following which the sides, I believe, will return to the negotiating process," Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies of the Higher School of Economics National Research University, expert of the Valdai International Discussion Club Dmitry Suslov told TASS.

The United States and some European countries want to make the conflict in Ukraine drag on as long as possible and do not even conceal that, Suslov said. As the expert pointed out, the West "will try to maximally obstruct and slow Russia’s military victory in Donbass."

According to TASS, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrey Kortunov believes that this is just one of possible scenarios and the sides can still achieve a breakthrough at the talks.

Meanwhile Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram late Monday, “We can now confirm that Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, which they have been preparing for a long time.”

The Donbas is Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for the past eight years and have declared two independent republics that have been recognized by Russia.

In the south of Donbas, Russia continued its push to capture the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities say Russian missiles have destroyed major consignments of weapons arriving in Ukraine from the United States and the European Union.

"The logistics center and large consignments of foreign weapons that arrived in Ukraine over the past six days from the US and European countries were destroyed," Igor Konashenkov, a chief spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, reported on Monday.

Source: Asia-Plus

This issue was reportedly discussed at a meeting of Sherali Kabir, Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan and Bandar Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia. The meeting was held via video conferencing.

It was noted that establishment of the logistics hub will contribute to the growth of trade between the two countries by accelerating the delivery of goods.

Tajik industry minister, in particular, noted that Tajikistan has a high potential for the production of mining, textile, food, and pharmaceutical products.

Logistics hubs are generally defined as linking points – infrastructure facilities and nodal points – in logistics networks. They serve primarily as transhipment points for flows of goods. Accordingly, there is not only storage activity but also processes of ordering, bundling and unbundling.

The main condition for the creation of such a park, of course, is the availability of goods for circulation.

Meanwhile, the bilateral trade between Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia last year valued at only 350,000 U.> dollars, which is 0.01 percent of Tajikistan’s external trade turnover.

A significant increase in trade between the two countries is difficult to imagine for the following simple reasons: Saud exports consist almost entirely of oil and petroleum products, while Tajikistan receive petroleum products from Russia on concessional terms – at zero Russian export duty; deliveries of Tajik products to Saudi Arabia, which is one of the richest countries in the world, is complicated by the fact that Tajik products are unlikely to compete with the products of the developed countries of the world.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on June 30, 2021 launched Kingdom’s National Transport and Logistics Strategy. The comprehensive program aims to position the Kingdom as the Middle East’s hub at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe.

Source: Asia-Plus

This year, the Hajj will take place in July, Tajik authorities have not yet discussed the issue of sending pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia as they have not yet received an official invitation from Saudi Arabia, Afshin Muqim, a spokesman for the Committee on Religious Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan (CRA), told Asia-Plus in an interview.

Asked about the cost of the Hajj for Tajik Muslims, he said it has not changed over the past decade and amounted to US$3,700 – US$3,720.

Muqim noted that there will be no new list of pilgrims this year. “5,000 persons who were put on the list made in 2019 could not perform Hajj due to pandemic restrictions that forced two years of drastically pared-down pilgrimages. “They were supposed to perform the pilgrimage back in 2020, therefore, they will be sent first,” Muqim added.

As far as age restrictions are concerned, the CRA for the first time introduced age restrictions on those who want to perform the Hajj in 2010. Only citizens aged 18 to 80 were able to perform the Hajj.

In April 2015, Tajik authorities introduced new age restrictions. Citizens under the age of 35 were no longer allowed to perform the Hajj.

In 2016, the new age restriction were instituted raising the age limit for 39 to 40.

The aim of the decision to introduce new age restrictions is reportedly to give older people an opportunity to achieve their dream to perform the Hajj.

In 2011, the CRA designed a new Hajj uniform; men don two-piece suits, while women wear long-sleeved dresses complete with headscarves. The Tajik Hajj uniform is embroidered with the country’s symbols.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said on April 10 it will permit 1 million Muslims from inside and outside the country to participate in this year's Hajj, a sharp uptick after pandemic restrictions. Usually, about 2.5 million people took part in this world's largest religious gathering.

The pilgrimage, which will take place in July, will be limited to vaccinated Muslims under age 65, the statement said.

Those coming from outside Saudi Arabia, who must apply for hajj visas, will this year also be required to submit a negative Covid-19 PCR result from a test taken within 72 hours of travel.

Each year, Saudi Arabia welcomes millions of Muslims from abroad traveling on Umrah and Hajj. Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is a pilgrimage to Mecca which adult Muslims must make at least one in their lifetime, provided they are physically and financially able. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God. The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year.

Source: Asia-Plus

It reportedly employs around 1,200 staff, 99 percent of whom are Afghans, including AKF Afghanistan’s CEO, Dr. Najmuddin Najm.

Dr. Najmuddin has worked with AKF since 2004, starting as an office manager and working his way up to CEO in 2019. His leadership and local roots have reportedly been integral to AKF’s response to the current situation in Afghanistan.

Dr. Najmuddin notes in an interview that Afghanistan is in a very difficult and complex situation. According to him, it’s not the result of one phenomenon – there are historical reasons. Over the last few years, the overall socio-economic situation in Afghanistan has reportedly been worsening, compounded by several factors. After August 15, 2021, things drastically changed in Afghanistan, AKF Afghanistan’s CEO said.

Asked how AKF has adapted to the situation, Dr. Najmuddin said AKF has been operating in Afghanistan since 2003, and the wider Aga Khan Development Network since 1996. According to him, that means their engagements, operations and program design and implementation have always been informed by Afghanistan’s fragile environment and its challenges.

He says that during the aftermath of August 15, they restarted their operations and reorganized their existing programs. “Of course, there are limitations, but we’ve endeavored to remain active in all the areas that we were already working in. That includes major programs such as health, education and early childhood development, agriculture and food security, climate change adaptation, economic recovery and infrastructure development,” Dr. Najmuddin noted.

On top of this, they have reportedly added an entire humanitarian response, through which they are aiming to reach more than 500,000 households, approximately 3.5 million people.

Asked what are the key challenged faced by NGOs, such as AKF, to support Afghanistan at this time, AKF Afghanistan’s CEO said, “Firstly, cash flow into Afghanistan has been a major challenge – ensuring funds are coming through safe and legal routes. Secondly,…with so many educated Afghans fleeing the country, international organizations are having to reinvest in growing their technical and professional capacity. Thirdly, and what has been a particularly difficult challenge, is harnessing the support of the international community to support Afghanistan, many want to focus on the humanitarian aspect of the issue. Though very important, this in isolation disregards the chronic factors behind the current situation. The international community needs to address the root causes of the current issues and make sure that interventions are meaningful and have long-term goals. Investments need to be directed towards enabling societies and building resilience. I am sure that if people were supported properly, they would find ways to deal with the current issues. We need to look at people in Afghanistan as much more than beneficiaries; they are true stakeholders and are an important part of the solution.”

Source: Asia-Plus