The agency said that the rating was support-driven, but was one notch below Uzbekistan’s ‘BB-’ long-term local-currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR).

KazTransOil JSC said it had carried out work to connect the newly built sections of the Russia-bound Uzen-Atyrau-Samara main oil pipeline after reconstruction.

Baikonur is not only Russia’s main space port but, for now, the only launchpad in the world sending manned flights into space. Since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, Russia’s Soyuz rockets -- launched from Baikonur -- are the only option for astronauts headed to the International Space Station.

Azerbaijan is ready to provide its oil and gas pipelines for the transit of hydrocarbons from Turkmenistan, Rovnag Abdullayev, the state energy firm SOCAR's president, said.

Uzbekistan plans to reform the country’s service sector by investing $300 million and allowing private businesses to lend offices to public organisations and provide 24-hour services.