DRULAP

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday that North Korea appears to have sent additional troops to Russia after its soldiers deployed on the Russian-Ukraine fronts suffered heavy casualties.

The National Intelligence Service said in a brief statement it was trying to determine how many more troops North Korea has deployed to Russia.

The NIS also assessed that North Korean troops were redeployed at fronts in Russia’s Kursk region in the first week of February, following a reported temporary withdrawal from the area. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an address on Feb. 7, confirmed a new Ukrainian offensive in Kursk and said North Korean troops were fighting alongside Russian forces there.

North Korea has been supplying a vast number of conventional weapons to Russia, and last fall it sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials.

North Korean soldiers are highly disciplined and well trained, but observers say they’ve become easy targets for drone and artillery attacks on Russian-Ukraine battlefields because of their lack of combat experience and unfamiliarity with the terrain.

In January, the NIS said about 300 North Korean soldiers had died and 2,700 had been injured. Zelenskyy earlier put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, although U.S. estimates were lower at around 1,200.

Earlier Thursday, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that an additional 1,000 to 3,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to Kursk between January and February.

South Korea, the United States and their partners worry that Russia could reward North Korea by transferring high-tech weapons technologies that can sharply enhance its nuclear weapons program. North Korea is expected to receive economic and other assistance from Russia, as well.

During talks in Saudi Arabia last week, Russia and the U.S. agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. Ukrainian officials weren’t present at the talks. That marked an extraordinary shift in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump and a clear departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.
…

JOHANNESBURG — The Group of 20 major economies has been instrumental in coordinating the response to crises like the COVID pandemic. But top officials from the U.S. and several other member states skipped the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in South Africa this week, raising questions about the group’s continued relevance in a splintered global environment.

The two-day meeting in Cape Town ended without a communique, with current G20 leader South Africa saying there was not sufficient consensus to issue one.

In his opening remarks at the event, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to the fractured geopolitical climate and stressed the importance of international cooperation.

“At this time of global uncertainty and escalating tension, it is now more important than ever that the members of the G20 should work together,” Ramaphosa said. “The erosion of multilateralism presents a threat to global growth and stability.”

He said the G20 finance ministers meeting had to address major issues like climate change financing, ensuring debt sustainability for developing countries, and Africa’s need to process its own critical minerals for inclusive growth.

But it appeared the world’s largest economies were not able to find common ground on a number of issues. South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted this wasn’t the first time.

“The issue of the communique and the absence of it is not something new,” Godongwana said. “To my knowledge, I mean, since the Russia-Ukraine war, it has been difficult to find a joint communique. Now, new differences have emerged on a number of other topics.”

Climate adaptation funding was one of the areas where there was a “difference of opinion,” he said.

The finance ministers meeting was beset with similar problems faced by last week’s G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg, which laid bare the discord in current geopolitics.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent skipped the event amid a spat with host country South Africa, and after the U.S. criticized the themes around climate change and “solidarity, equality and sustainability.”

The finance chiefs of other large economies, including Japan, India and China also sat it out. However, all of them, including the U.S., sent representation at various levels.

Still, the absence of some top officials underscores global divisions sparked by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the “America First” administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Professor Alex van den Heever of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“I think that this has caused a sort of a general review of how people see global issues,” van den Heever said, “with people becoming a lot more insular and not really looking at sort of global social solidarity in any way, shape or form – largely looking to look after their own situation.”

However, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, who was in Cape Town for the meeting, added to Ramaphosa’s call for unity, posting on social media platform X, “Productive and successful collaboration with our international partners is front of mind, now more than ever.”

Asked about the issue of tariffs, Godongwana said there had been, “general agreement against protectionism” at the G20 meeting.
…

Washington — For Sweden-based independent Uyghur researcher Nyrola Elima, Feb. 27, 2025, stands as a day of deep sorrow.

After years of relentless work to help resettle more than 40 Uyghurs held in Thailand’s immigration facilities since 2014, her efforts came to a devastating close Thursday when all of them were loaded onto buses and put on a flight to the city of Kashgar in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, home to 12 million Uyghurs.

“I don’t want to speak right now,” Elima said in a trembling voice message to VOA. “I’ve talked to them so much over the past two-and-a-half years. Now, I feel like someone who’s lost loved ones and somehow survived. This pain – it’s more than I can bear.”

Just two weeks ago, Elima testified before a judge in Thailand on behalf of the 43 Uyghur men detained in a Thai prison. A glimmer of hope emerged for them when the court set a March 27 date to hear from the Thai Immigration Bureau on why the Uyghurs were detained for nearly 11 years. The Thai government’s decision to deport the Uyghurs before that hearing has sent shockwaves through communities of Uyghurs overseas and rights advocates.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the deportation and said in a statement, “we are alarmed by this action,” and added, “We call on Chinese authorities to provide full access to verify the well-being of the returned Uyghurs on a regular basis. The Thai government must insist and fully verify continuously that Chinese authorities protect the Uyghurs’ human rights.”

‘Complex factors’

“On February 27th, 40 Chinese nationals who had illegally entered Thailand were repatriated to Xinjiang, China on a chartered flight of China Civil Aviation Company [Southern Airlines],” posted the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok on Facebook.

The embassy’s post continued, “a concrete measure between China and Thailand in collaboratively tackling immigration crimes and protecting the rights and interest of Chinese nationals in accordance with the two countries’ laws and international protocols,” blaming the group’s decade-long detention on “complex factors in international relations.”

Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai defended the move Thursday, telling reporters that successive Thai governments had sought third-country resettlement, informing the U.S. and EU of stalled efforts.

“This is a beautiful, nice ending for them, for their families. And Thailand is no longer burdened,” he declared. “Thailand should even get praises for handling this issue decisively for the best interest of humanity and them [the Uyghurs]. It is a cause for happiness as they are free from detention and reunite with their parents, brothers and sisters and children and wives.”

At a Thursday press conference, Thai officials showcased photos and videos of a few Uyghurs reuniting with their families when they arrived in China.

Elima, responded to the images with a post on X, saying, “So far, only these 3 men and their families have been used as propaganda material. I don’t believe all 40 men’s families were summoned to Kashgar – some have relatives who are deceased or imprisoned,” the post said. “The whereabouts of the remaining 37 individuals and their families remain unknown,” casting doubt on the legitimacy of the reunion.

Julie Millsap, a U.S.-based activist who has urged Washington to intervene, posted on X, “…can’t explain how painful it is to watch them be used for propaganda, knowing how terrified they must be. Our brave men. Brave enough to seek a new life. How we’ve let you down.”

Until this week, 48 Uyghurs were detained in Thailand and languished in legal limbo despite their pleas for asylum. They were among more than 350 men, women, and children intercepted by Thai police in 2014 after being smuggled from China’s Yunnan province by human traffickers.

A year later, Bangkok and Ankara agreed to resettle more than 170 Uyghurs – mostly women and children – in Turkey. Yet weeks later, Thailand deported 109 mostly male asylum seekers to China.

In interviews with VOA, one resettled Uyghur who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions to his family in China, described the escape from Xinjiang’s tightening repression.

“We had to put our lives in harm’s way,” citing China’s refusal to issue passports as a reason of their flight without documents in 2013 and 2014.

Their stories echo findings from the U.N. Human Rights Office and groups like Amnesty International, which estimates that since 2017, more than one million people – mostly Uyghurs – have been confined in Xinjiang’s internment camps. China has described these facilities as “Vocational and Skills Training Centers” to counter extremism, but a 2022 U.N. report cited “credible” evidence of torture, forced labor, and inhumane conditions, based on survivor accounts – allegations Beijing has repeatedly rejected as fabrications.

Since 2014, of the 53 remaining Uyghur detainees in Thailand, five received prison sentences for attempting to escape. Five others, including two minors, died in custody. Chinese state media reported Thursday that forty Uyghurs were just deported to China, leaving the whereabouts of eight Uyghurs detained in Thailand unknown.

“Even when other countries offered resettlement, Thailand refused to release them,” Elima told VOA.

“They applied for UNHCR [U.N. refugee agency] protection, but UNHCR has no access to them. They are barred from seeing their families, lawyers, [and] UNHCR. They are not even allowed to be bailed,” which VOA confirmed with UNHCR.

“This is a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement and the Royal Thai Government’s obligations under international law,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Ruvendrini Menikdiwela.

Non-refoulement, a cornerstone of international law, bars returning people to persecution—a duty Thailand holds under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, despite not signing the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Sophie Richardson, former China director at Human Rights Watch, blasted the U.N.’s response on X as “inexcusably weak or non-existent,” arguing it enabled “China and Thailand govts’ blatant violations of human rights law.”

Rattaphol Onsanit, Yiamyut Sutthichaya and Nike Ching contributed to this report.
…

BANGKOK — The United Nations led criticism Thursday of Thailand’s government over its deportation to China of 40 Uyghurs held for more than a decade in detention in Bangkok. The deportation came despite warnings that the Uyghurs face persecution and the risk of torture if handed over to Chinese authorities.

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk has called the deportation “a clear violation of international human rights laws and standards.”

The deportation “violates the principle of non-refoulement for which there is a complete prohibition in cases where there is a real risk of torture, ill-treatment, or other irreparable harm upon their return,” Türk said in a statement.

Campaigners say the fate of the group, which had been held at an immigration detention center in the Thai capital and unable to apply for asylum in Thailand, highlights a failure of Thai authorities to meet their own human rights commitments — as well as the reach of China to get its allies to act on its behalf.

Thailand’s police chief late Thursday confirmed 40 Uyghurs had been sent on a chartered jet to China after images emerged before dawn of several police trucks with blacked-out windows rushing from the detention center to the airport.

“The Chinese government sent a letter to the Thai government stating their intention to look after the safety of this group of Uyghur people,” Police General Kitrat Phanphet told reporters.

“They reiterated that they will sincerely take care of their safety, their accommodation, as well as allow their family members of these Uyghurs to welcome them home,” he said.

Uyghurs in China

Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority from China’s remote western region of Xinjiang, have faced oppression by Beijing that governments, including the United States and U.K., have described as genocide.

Since 2017, China has put more than a million Uyghurs into internment camps, according to Amnesty International. In 2022, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang may constitute “crimes against humanity.”

Uyghurs fleeing China to Thailand have long been a delicate issue for the Southeast Asian kingdom.

Successive governments have faced intense pressure from Beijing to return them. In July 2015 more than 100 detainees were deported to China against their will. A few weeks later, a bomb blast killed 20 people at a downtown shrine in Bangkok — an attack some security experts have linked to Uyghur diaspora groups.

The Thai government has never publicly confirmed that connection.

Until Thursday, 53 remaining Uyghurs were languishing in a legal limbo in detention since that bomb attack, despite pleas for asylum. Five died in that time. It was not immediately clear what has happened to the eight who were not confirmed among the 40 sent to China on Thursday.

The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok said that “40 Chinese nationals” were deported after a decade detained in Thailand “due to complex international considerations.”

“This is a formal measure between China and Thailand in combating smuggling and protecting the rights and interests of Chinese citizens in accordance with the laws of both countries,” it said in a statement, promising to return them “back to their normal lives.”

Criticism at home and abroad

After years of lobbying, Thailand in January joined the U.N. Human Rights Council for a three-year term. The deportation has raised concerns over Thailand’s priorities.

Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, assistant high commissioner for protection at the UNHCR — the UN’s refugee arm — said the deportation of the 40 was a “clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement” and admonished the Thai government for breaching its “obligations under international law.”

While Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra refused to be drawn into the issue, opposition lawmakers led condemnation.

“Today I feel utterly upset and sad,” Kannavee Suebsang, a member of parliament for the Fair Party who was also a field officer with UNHCR, told parliament. “But I will not cry for the Uyghur brothers and sisters. … Instead, I will cry for the inhumane handling of this government for pushing these people back to face calamity.”

Shinawatra traveled to China earlier this month promising tighter cooperation to crack down on cross-border crimes, principally a massive scam crisis.

But concerns have been raised about what other deals may have been struck.

Rangsiman Rome, a prominent opposition lawmaker, said, “Deporting these Uyghurs to China violates the kingdom’s anti-torture law — which is our own domestic law, as well as international law” due to the risks they face in China.

Rights campaigners who have urged Thailand to provide sanctuary to the Uyghurs said Thailand has done the “unthinkable” in sending them back to China, where they can face torture.

“This massive human rights violation blows apart any pretense the Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her Thai government has made to be a rights-respecting member of the U.N. Human Rights Council,” said Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates.

“The Thai government should resign its seat on the Council to show responsibility for its outrageous and unacceptable action,” he said.
…

washington — As more countries enact cybercrime legislation, analysts warn that efforts to combat legitimate concerns could also allow for easier targeting of critics.

Analysts have warned that amendments in Pakistan and Myanmar in recent months could add to already repressive environments. 

Some point to Nigeria as a test case. Since passing its cybercrime law in 2015, watchdogs have documented 29 cases of journalists being charged, including four who were charged in a Lagos court in September.

“What we are seeing is a steady criminalization of journalists around the world, and it’s a huge threat to press freedom,” said Jonathan Rozen, a senior researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ.

In Pakistan, the government in January amended the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act of 2016 (PECA). Authorities said the changes would curb cybercrime, online harassment and the spread of hateful content that could instigate violence.

Pakistan’s federal information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the law was needed “to regulate social media.”

“Countries across the world have some codes or standards under which social media operate, but there was none in our country,” he told reporters last month.

The amendment led to protests by journalists and civil society, who said the changes would make it easy for authorities to prosecute people whose opinions are not in line with those of the government.

Analysts pointed to broad terms, including definitions of “unlawful” content and “person,” with the latter now including state institutions and corporations. 

Another amendment proposed the creation of a Digital Rights Protection Authority that can remove content from social media platforms.

Critics and media rights groups worry this could expose journalists and social media users to increased restrictions and legal action, restrict dissent and open doors for the powerful military establishment to target and harass civilians.

Before the reforms, watchdogs recorded more than 200 cases of journalists being investigated since PECA was passed.  

Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the changes in Pakistan’s cybercrime law would make an “already repressive online atmosphere even worse and restrictive.”

Pakistan’s military has imposed a “much tougher crackdown” in the past year, said Kurlantzick.

“They have gone well out of their way to target individuals, civil rights activists, journalists, and use anti-freedom laws to target those people, and often put them in jail,” he said.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

Similar concerns are shared in Myanmar, where the junta last July passed an expansive cybercrime law. The law targeted virtual private networks, or VPNs, that allow internet users to circumvent blocked websites and censorship.

The junta said the new law was needed to protect against cyberattacks and cybercrimes that could threaten the country’s stability.

Since seizing power in a coup in February 2021, Myanmar’s military has revoked broadcast licenses, blocked access to websites and jailed journalists. The country is the third worst jailer of journalists, with 35 detained, according to the latest CPJ data.

An expert with the Myanmar Internet Project, a digital rights group, told VOA at the time that the law was more focused on suppressing rights than protecting the public.  

“All the provisions of the law are designed to suppress rather than protect the public,” the expert, who asked to be identified only as U Han, said. “We believe that the junta will use this bill as a weapon prepared for this purpose.”

Kurlantzick, however, believes the military would struggle to restrict the online space.

“Myanmar’s military has no power to restrict online dissent anymore, as 70% of the country is in control of the opposition groups,” he said. “The government, which can’t provide power, water or other services even in the biggest cities, doesn’t have the ability to crack down on the internet now.”

In Nigeria, the 2015 Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act has been used to file cases against journalists who investigate corruption. But the government has made some reforms based on civil society and press freedom group recommendations.

Two sections of the cybercrime law had been of particular concern because of the “very broad and vague wording” that allowed the arrest of journalists for sending what were deemed  “annoying” or “defamatory” messages, said CPJ’s Rozen.

Changes made in 2024 narrowed the language. 

“It constrained the opportunity for authorities to arrest journalists only if the messages were knowingly false, or if it was causing a breakdown of law or causing a threat to life,” said Rozen, who added that other areas remain “overly broad and could be abused.”

One section he cited allows for law enforcement to access information from service providers without a court order.

Nigeria’s police have used this to access data of journalists, said Rozen, noting that four journalists are currently facing prosecution under the cybercrime act. 

Rozen agrees that “misinformation and disinformation are challenges for society, but what is being observed,” he said, “is a criminalization of journalists on accusations that they are sharing false information, and in many cases, this is used as a shorthand to smother or crush” dissenting voices.

With more reporting and publishing taking place online, the tools some governments use to suppress journalists are adapting to the modernization of the industry, Rozen said. 
…

SYDNEY — Australia pledged to remain the South Pacific’s largest aid donor on Thursday during security and economic talks with Vanuatu, as Canberra reviews the potential Pacific impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign aid cuts.

“Australia will always be there for you,” Australia’s Minister for International Development Pat Conroy told a news conference in the Vanuatu capital Port Vila.

Conroy, who held talks with Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat, pledged another $3.2 million in direct budget support for Vanuatu after an earthquake in December flattened commercial buildings and killed 16 people.

“There is geostrategic competition occurring in the Pacific as great powers get interested in our region, but we are proud to be the biggest development partner,” Conroy said.

Australia was there “well before any other countries, be it the United States or China, became interested in the Pacific,” he added.

China is the second-biggest bilateral donor to the Pacific Islands after Australia, a Lowy Institute report on aid to the region found in November 2024.

Australia and its main security ally the United States have been concerned at China’s growing influence in the South Pacific and Trump’s order to cut foreign aid has worried the region’s small island nations.

Australian officials said Canberra was reviewing any potential impact from the Trump administration’s funding cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

In recent years Vanuatu has moved closer to China, which is its largest external creditor after a decade of infrastructure loans for construction including a new president’s office last year.

China’s navy, which upset Canberra by holding live fire drills in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in recent days, has made repeated port visits to Vanuatu, where Beijing funded the expansion of a wharf.

A security treaty signed by Australia and Vanuatu in 2022 has not yet been ratified by Vanuatu’s parliament, which has experienced a period of high political instability. Napat is the fourth prime minister since 2022.

Napat told reporters he had discussed economic cooperation and security with Australia. 
…

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — Sri Lanka vowed Thursday to urgently tackle costly clashes between villagers and wild elephants after reporting the deaths of nearly 1,200 people and more than 3,500 animals in a decade.

Environment minister Dammika Patabendi told parliament that they will build more electrified fences and deploy additional staff to help reduce elephant raids on villages near wildlife sanctuaries.

“We are allocating more money to reduce the human-elephant conflict, and are hopeful that within a short period of time we will be able to mitigate the situation,” Patabendi said.

Between 2015 and 2024, 1,195 people and 3,484 wild elephants were killed, he said.

In January this year, three more people and 43 elephants were killed.

Opposition legislator Nalin Bandara said the toll was “shocking” and urged authorities to protect people, while also ensuring that the wild animals were not harmed.

He noted that disposing of the carcasses of wild elephants had cost the state about $11.6 million over a decade, while compensation to victims of elephant attacks was about $4 million over the same period.

Killing or harming elephants is a criminal offense in Sri Lanka, which has an estimated 7,000 wild elephants, which are considered a national treasure, partly due to their significance in Buddhist culture.

However, the massacre continues as desperate farmers struggle with elephants raiding their crops and destroying livelihoods.

Many elephants have been electrocuted, shot and poisoned. Sometimes fruits packed with explosives are used to injure the animals, often ending in painful deaths.

Elephants are also killed by trains running through their habitats.

Seven elephants, including four calves, were killed when they were run over by an express train in the island’s eastern Habarana region a week ago. It was the worst such accident recorded in the country.

Asian elephants are recognized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. 

An estimated 26,000 of them live in the wild, mostly in India, surviving for an average of 60-70 years outside captivity.                 
…

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — A small group of foreign tourists has visited North Korea in the past week, making them the first international travelers to enter the country in five years except for a group of Russian tourists who went to the North last year.

The latest trip indicates North Korea may be gearing up for a full resumption of its international tourism to bring in much-needed foreign currency to revive its struggling economy, experts say.

The Beijing-based travel company Koryo Tours said it arranged a five-day trip from Feb. 20 to Feb. 24 for 13 international tourists to the northeastern North Korean border city of Rason, where the country’s special economic zone is located.

Koryo Tours General Manager Simon Cockerell said the travelers from the U.K., Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy crossed by land from China. He said that in Rason, they visited factories, shops, schools and the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the late grandfather and father of current leader Kim Jong Un.

“Since January of 2020, the country has been closed to all international tourists, and we are glad to have finally found an opening in the Rason area, in the far north of North Korea,” Cockerell said.

“Our first tour has been and gone, and now more tourists on both group and private visits are going in, arranging trips,” he added.

After the pandemic began, North Korea quickly banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world’s most draconian COVID-19 restrictions. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders.

In February 2024, North Korea accepted about 100 Russian tourists, the first foreign nationals to visit the country for sightseeing. That surprised many observers, who thought the first post-pandemic tourists would come from China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and major ally.

A total of about 880 Russian tourists visited North Korea throughout 2024, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said, citing official Russian data. Chinese group tours to North Korea remain stalled.

This signals how much North Korea and Russia have moved closer to each other as the North has supplied weapons and troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Ties between North Korea and China cooled as China showed its reluctance to join a three-way, anti-U.S. alliance with North Korea and Russia, experts say.

Before the pandemic, tourism was an easy, legitimate source for foreign currency for North Korea, one of the world’s most sanctioned countries because of its nuclear program.

North Korea is expected to open a massive tourism site on the east coast in June. In January when President Donald Trump boasted about his ties with Kim Jong Un, he said that “I think he has tremendous condo capabilities. He’s got a lot of shoreline.” That likely refers to the eastern coast site.

A return of Chinese tourists would be key to making North Korea’s tourism industry lucrative because they represented more than 90% of total international tourists before the pandemic, said Lee Sangkeun, an expert at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s intelligence agency. He said that in the past, up to 300,000 Chinese tourists visited North Korea annually.

“North Korea has been heavily investing on tourism sites, but there have been not much domestic demand,” Lee said. “We can assess that North Korea now wants to resume international tourism to bring in many tourists from abroad.”

The restrictions that North Korea has typically imposed on foreign travelers — such as requirements that they move with local guides and the banning of photography at sensitive places — will likely hurt its efforts to develop tourism. Lee said that Rason, the eastern coast site and Pyongyang would be the places where North Korea feels it can easily monitor and control foreign tourists. 
…

ISLAMABAD — Uzbekistan and Pakistan agreed to establish a tripartite committee with Afghanistan to address issues that are hindering the implementation of a proposed railway project connecting the three countries. 

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reported the development after delegation-level talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Tashkent, emphasizing the need to coordinate joint efforts to advance the trans-Afghan railway link. 

The three neighboring countries signed an agreement in February 2021 to construct a 573-kilometer (356-mile) railway line through Afghanistan, connecting landlocked Central Asia to Pakistani seaports, with an estimated cost of $4.8 billion to enhance regional economic connectivity. 

“For the first time, we conducted comprehensive discussions [on the project],” Mirziyoyev said in remarks through his official interpreter broadcast live Wednesday on Pakistani state television.  

He noted that both sides agreed to form a tripartite committee to evaluate opportunities and address project challenges. The Uzbek leader stated that it was also central to discussions his government recently hosted with officials from Afghanistan.

“Now, we will have the tripartite [committee] meeting on resolving the problems,” said Mirziyoyev without elaborating. “We know that this [project] is our future,” he added, calling it crucial for regional trade and travel.  

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and subsequent Western financial sanctions on the country briefly deterred Uzbekistan and Pakistan from advancing discussions on the railway connectivity project.  

Lately, Pakistan has accused the Taliban government, which is not recognized by any country, of harboring and facilitating militants responsible for terrorist attacks in the country. The ongoing violence has strained bilateral relations and prevented Islamabad from pursuing any meaningful economic partnership with Kabul, according to Pakistani officials. 

The Taliban reject allegations that foreign militant groups operate on their territory, saying that no one is allowed to use Afghan soil to threaten other countries.  

Sharif, speaking alongside Mirziyoyev, reiterated concerns about cross-border terrorism, emphasizing that militant groups should not use Afghan soil to launch attacks against other nations, including Pakistan. 

The Uzbek and Pakistani leaders announced Wednesday that they had also agreed to increase annual trade from more than $400 million to $2 billion and signed several agreements to deepen bilateral economic and trade ties. 

The two sides stated that they had discussed enhancing collaboration in agricultural, pharmaceuticals, machinery, geology, mineral resources, textiles, leather and other industries by exporting finished products to third-country markets. 

Islamabad and Tashkent also agreed to enhance air links with new flights planned between the largest Pakistani city of Karachi and the historic Uzbek cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. 
…

NEW DELHI — The European Union plans to urge India to lower its high tariffs on cars and wine to boost trade, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on China, a senior official from the bloc said, ahead of a visit by the European Commission president to New Delhi.

Echoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs, the official said the EU would press India to cut tariffs on some goods and broaden market access for its products, while offering flexibility on agriculture issues to expedite free trade agreement talks.

“The Indian market is relatively closed, especially to key products of commercial interest to the European Union and our member states’ industries, including cars, wines and spirits,” said the official, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen’s two-day visit from Thursday, accompanied by leaders of EU member nations, coincides with escalating geopolitical tensions, with Brussels and New Delhi set to outline key areas for deeper cooperation under their strategic partnership.

Leyen will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, followed by discussions with trade minister Piyush Goyal.

The next trade negotiations round is scheduled for March 10-14 in Brussels.

The EU’s call for lower tariffs comes amid Trump’s threats to impose reciprocal tariffs from early April, which has caused anxiety for India’s exporters. Analysts from Citi Research estimate potential losses of about $7 billion annually.

The EU is India’s largest trading partner in goods, with trade nearing $126 billion in 2024, marking an increase of about 90% over the past decade.

Reducing reliance on China

As part of its “de-risking” strategy, the EU aims to strengthen economic and security ties with India, diversify supply chains, and reduce reliance on key products from China.

The EU also views India as a vital ally in addressing security challenges, the official said, including cyber threats and tensions in the South China Sea and Indo-Pacific.

Leyen is also expected to seek India’s support for a “peaceful and just deal” for Ukraine’s security, the official said.

The EU and India could sign an agreement to share classified security information to tackle common threats such as cyber attacks and terrorism, while exploring defense equipment trade.

Despite these potential benefits, trade analysts said the visit may not yield tangible results.

For substantial cooperation, the EU should acknowledge India as a data-secure country, said Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Delhi-based think-tank Global Trade Initiative, and India’s former negotiator on trade talks with the EU.

“While both parties have concerns about China, neither sees it as a top priority,” Srivastava said, adding India is focused on border tensions with China, while the EU is more concerned with the Ukraine-Russia conflict and NATO matters.
…