Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appeared to make some progress in two remarkably productive face-to-face meetings in quick succession late last year, though periodic outbreaks of violence hang over prospects for further discussions.

The World Bank forecasts that economic growth in Europe and Central Asia will slow to 3 percent in 2022, as domestic demand stabilises, and 2.9 percent in 2023, as external demand plateaus and commodity prices soften.

As hydrocarbons make up over 20 percent of Kazakhstan’s GDP, it became a priority to restore oil production to normal levels.

The rise in the oil sector was 1.8 percent, while the non-oil sector grew by 7.2 percent.

The total cost of the project is more than 147 million euros, of which the remaining 29.9 million euros will come from project beneficiaries and 17 million from the government.

The investments will help Uzbekistan to launch 282 large and more than 9,000 regional projects.