#UZBEKISTAN: Pakistan Wants Uzbekistan To Join China's "Silk Road" Infrastructure Group

[world politics news]

Pakistan has invited land-locked Central Asian nation Uzbekistan to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor - a plan to create a vast new "Silk Road" infrastructure project - and has urged it to formulate a joint integrated strategy to exploit the potential of trade in the region. The project is already slated to add millions of new jobs to Pakistan over the next 15 years.

[FULL STORY HERE]

Pictured: Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Ulugbek Rozikulv (left) and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

#UZBEKISTAN: Parliament Names PM Interim Pres. After Death Of Long-Term President

[world politics news]

Uzbekistan's parliament has appointed Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev as interim president following the death of strongman leader Islam Karimov, setting him up as the clear front-runner in the election to a full five-year term in December. The constitution actually called for the chair of the upper house of parliament to be appointed interim president, but he deferred to Mirziayaev.