Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received the Russian military delegation headed by Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov. The delegation is in Dushanbe on a three-day working visit, military and diplomatic sources told ITAR-TASS. The sources noted that the main theme of the meeting was the question of the terms and conditions of 201st Russian military base stay in Tajikistan.

• August 8, 2012

Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov will visit Tajikistan on Aug.9, CA-News reported on Tuesday. Antonov will hold a number of meetings with Tajik defence officials.

• August 7, 2012

Tajikistan has invited Azerbaijani investors to participate in investment projects, the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) said on Tuesday.

• August 7, 2012

Trade turnover between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan decreased by 30 percent from the beginning of the year, CA-News reported on Tuesday.

• August 7, 2012

Temporary visa, which is introduced by Iran for citizens of Azerbaijan, will be free, the spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Baku, Abbas Iskenderi, told Trend on Monday.

• August 6, 2012

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the borders regions between Iran and Pakistan should be the most active ones in terms of trade and commercial transactions, IRNA reported.

• August 6, 2012

A program of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov's visit to Turkey, scheduled for Aug. 9-10 was discussed at a government meeting in Ashgabat, the Turkmen government said on Monday.

• August 6, 2012

A Snapshot of Key Developments in the External Relations of the Russian Gas Sector
By Jack Sharples, EGF Associate Researcher on the external dimensions of Russian gas

Key points:

• Gazprom suffers a setback as the Lithuanian parliament approves construction of an LNG plant at Klaipeda as part of efforts to reduce dependence on Russian gas, but agrees a gas price discount for E.On and extends contract with Moldovgaz, potentially halting Moldova’s implementation of the Third Energy Package
• Mixed fortunes for Gazprom in Turkey as the company wins the right to sell gas to private Turkish energy companies, but suffers a setback with the announcement of a Turkish-Azerbaijani agreement on the construction of the TANAP pipeline
• The Nord Stream project is on schedule for the second string launch in Q4 2012. CEO Alexei Miller suggests that Nord Stream could be extended to the UK
• Macedonia and Respublika Srpska reiterate their enthusiasm for South Stream, but the date of final investment decision and the application of the EU Third Energy Package remain unclear
• Putin meets Yanukovych in Yalta but refuses demands for gas price discount
• More negotiations between Gazprom and CNPC, but with no breakthrough
• Shtokman talks delayed with a result not being expected until autumn 2012
• Gazprom is ranked as the world’s most profitable company by Forbes, but only comes 98th of 105 in transparency rankings according to report by Transparency International
• Novatek begins construction of Sabetta LNG terminal in Yamal region, but claims no threat to Gazprom’s export monopoly
• Rosneft expands its presence in the Russian gas market with an acquisition of a 6 percent stake in independent gas company Itera

• August 6, 2012