Kyrgyzstan:  Closed borders continue to hamper trade and in particular the regional shuttle trade that supplies local bazaars and small businesses.  Currently Kazakhstan is allowing trains to pass through its territory towards “third party destinations.”  Continued unrest in the South of Kyrgyzstan may prolong this economic isolation.

Kazakhstan:  According to Kazakhstan Today, Kazakhstan has a defecit of raw materials in certain growing sectors. This includes the manufacturing

In a posting last month on the Center for International and Private Enterprises (CIPE) development blog, Elena Suhir analyzed several recent privatization deals in Kyrgyzstan.  Below is her analysis and conclusions on the current process for privatizing state assets.

 Since 2008, President Bakiev has embarked on a privatization mission. Lessons from around the world and most recently other former Soviet countries, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and others, clearly illustrate that privatization is not an end to itself. Rather the process of privatization is the key to successful transition from a centralized to a market economy. With this goal in mind, Kyrgyz civil society, with the business community at its helm, continues to sound alarms over speedy privatization that ensues in Kyrgyzstan with little transparency and much public skepticism.

In November 2009, a new mobile service provider officially launched its services in Armenia.  That new provider, France-Telecom’s Orange, had, just a year prior, won the bid to become Armenia’s third wireless service provider.  At the time of the bid tender, many analysts held two views: First, the Armenian telecommunications market was saturated.  Second, an overhaul of the market’s dynamics and competitiveness was long overdue.  The addition of Orange is proving both of those views to be technically accurate, although a deeper analysis is necessary to understand what the introduction of Orange really means for Armenia and what it says about opportunities for investors in the telecommunications market.