From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Aug 03 2004 - 09:14:17 EDT
European bank threatens to freeze funds for Turkmenistan over lack of
progress
Excerpt from report by Russia-based Turkmen web site Gundogar on 2
August
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD] has warned
that it could suspend investments in the Turkmen economy. The bank's
statement says that this is down to "lack of progress in Turkmenistan's
transition towards multiparty democracy, pluralist society and a market
economy".
The EBRD says that in order to continue cooperation Turkmenistan should
abolish censorship and improve its human rights record.
[Passage omitted: background on the bank]
It is not the first time that such complaints have been made against
Turkmenistan's leadership. However, this time the talk is about serious
economic sanctions. The EBRD's obligation to Asgabat totals about 130m
euros [sentence as received; an earlier report by Interfax said that the
EBRD's overall investments in Turkmenistan are estimated at more than
130m euros]. But experts think that such a warning is unlikely to
influence the policy led by the Turkmen leadership.
Source: Gundogar web site, Moscow, in Russian 2 Aug 04
BBC Mon CAU 020804 jl/ta
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