<p>Just over six months since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, civic freedoms remain under threat across the world. A new brief released by the CIVICUS Monitor
The much-talked about Indo-Iran JL gas pipeline project has been on the backburner for sometime now. However, there are alternative projects that are being explored, one such being the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (tapi) pipeline.
The United Progressive Alliance government has done well to join the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline sponsored by the Asian Development Bank. But it should guard against the temptation of viewing the project as a substitute for the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline. Given high global oil prices and its growing energy needs, India needs all the gas it can get.
The Petroleum Ministers of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India signed an agreement on Thursday for the $7.6 million-TAPI gas pipeline project, describing it as "financially and economically viable' despite the escalation in costs since the time it was first proposed. Two-day deliberations
Pakistan, India, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on Thursday agreed to start construction of a gas pipeline project involving the four nations in the year 2010. Ministers from all four countries had earlier held a two-day discussion starting on Wednesday to finalise the modalities. The second meeting of the technical working group of the four countries was held on Thursday before a joint press conference by the four ministers. The discussions were facilitated by a team of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) led by country director Peter Fedon.
Seeking to work aggressively to secure its aim of energy security, India has decided to formally join the strategic U.S.-backed $3.5 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project this week. Before leaving for Pakistan on Tuesday afternoon, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Murli Deora told journalists here that the Indian delegation was going to Pakistan to sign the agreement for the TAPI pipeline at the invitation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
When the order came down from the top brass of Bangladesh's armed forces it sounded like a joke. Some of the soldiers and sailors who were told that from now on their daily rations would include increased servings of potatoes almost certainly did not take it seriously either.
A landmark deal reached between Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom and three energy-rich Central Asian nations is likely to affect European consumers. On March 11, Gazprom agreed
New Delhi and Ashgabat will on Saturday sign a historic pact that would give India a footing equal to the Chinese in Turkmenistan. The MoU would open avenues for bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the upstream and downstream hydro-carbon activities. Though Turkmenistan has offered off-shore exploration blocks to India, only China has been given a discovered field for development which would supply 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas to China over 30 years.
A deadly new and virulent fungus capable of affecting wheat crop has been detected in Iran, a major cereal growing area in West Asia. The fungus was previously found in East Africa and Yemen and has now moved to Iran, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The fungus is capable of destroying entire fields of wheat crop. The report could further push up global wheat prices by at least 10-15 per cent. In the spot retail market, wheat prices have surged by 40 per cent in last one year on global shortage. Countries such as Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, all major wheat producers, are most threatened by the fungus and should be on high alert as the fungus can travel to these areas thus affecting the entire output, FAO said. It is estimated that as much as 80 per cent of all wheat varieties planted in Asia and Africa are susceptible to the wheat stem rust (Puccinia graminis). The spores of wheat rust are mostly carried by wind over long distances and across continents. "The detection of the fungus in Iran is very worrisome,' said Shivaji Pandey, director of FAO's plant production and protection division. According to the Iran government, the fungus has been detected in some localities in Broujerd and Hamedan in western Iran. Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the fungus. The fungus first emerged in Uganda in 1999 and is therefore called Ug99. The wind-borne transboundary pest subsequently spread to Kenya and Ethiopia. In 2007, an FAO mission confirmed for the first time that Ug99 has affected wheat fields in Yemen. The Ug99 strain found in Yemen was more virulent than the one found in East Africa. Ethiopia and Kenya had serious wheat rust epidemics in 2007 with considerable yield losses. Global wheat production is estimated at 603 million tonnes in 2007, up 1.2 per cent from 2006. In Asia, the output is estimated to rise by 1.7 per cent to 928 million tonnes in 2007 compared with 912.6 million tonnes last year. Global wheat prices have strengthened since December. Tight export supplies amid strong demand continued to provide support to cereal markets. International grain prices benefited from the weak US dollar, which increases the demand for the US wheat, and a sharp decline in freight rates, which helped accelerating purchasing activities by several countries in recent weeks. Export restrictions by China and the Russian Federation coupled with the closure of the export registry in Argentina also provided support.
<font face=arial size=3 color=#CE181E><b>•</b></font> Ukraine and Turkmenistan are going to propose the establishment of a consortium with Russia and Kazakhstan for transporting gas to Europe.
