Kazakhstan faces challenges on its way to economic recovery, although growth may rebound to 3.7 percent in 2021 assuming a recovery in oil prices, expansion of Kazakhstan’s major Tengiz oil project and the recent legislation that allowed citizens to withdraw pension savings, Fitch Ratings said.

The European Union posted bail of 40,000 lari ($11,700) to secure the release of Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia, a condition for implementing a European Union-brokered deal to resolve a long-running crisis that has brought all political activity to a halt.

Japanese company Tokyo Electric Power Services Co., Ltd. (TEPSCO) will prepare a concept and a master plan for creating a "green energy" zone in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Azerbaijan's Energy Ministry said.

Some analysts and a few bureaucrats still cling to what seems to be almost a warped hope that the conflict lives on.