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The World Bank has approved a $100 million concessional loan to Uzbekistan to help integrate renewable energy into power grids and enhance electricity reliability in key regions. The national grid operator will contribute an additional $50 million to the five-year program.
The Executive Board of the World Bank has approved a concessional loan of $100 million to support Uzbekistan in implementing a major program focused on integrating renewable energy into the country’s distribution networks and improving power reliability in priority regions.
Uzbekistan’s national power distributor, Regional Electric Power Networks, will contribute an additional $50 million from its own funds, bringing the total investment to $150 million over the next five years.
The program aims to modernize and expand critical distribution infrastructure to facilitate the incorporation of renewable energy sources and ensure consistent electricity supply, particularly in Karakalpakstan and Surkhandarya region.
Key components of the program include:
- Construction and modernization of 6,000 kilometers of low-voltage power lines
- Replacement and installation of 1,200 distribution transformers with a total capacity of 250 MVA
- Installation of 150,000 smart meters to reduce commercial losses in RES networks
- Deployment of 4,000 data concentrators to automate and digitize the distribution system, transforming it into a modern and efficient network
By 2029, the program is expected to deliver significant results:
- Raise customer satisfaction with RES services to 90%
- Expand the network’s capacity to accept up to 50 MW of renewable energy generated by households and small to medium enterprises
- Cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 450,000 tons of CO₂ annually
- Increase the proportion of women in technical and managerial roles at JSC RES from 9% in 2025 to 14%.
Germany’s foreign intelligence service secretly monitored the telephone communications of former U.S. President Barack Obama for several years, including calls made aboard Air Force One, according to an investigation by the German newspaper Die Zeit.
Diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing escalated as Japan slams China's export ban on dual-use goods. Markets have wobbled as fears grow over a potential rare earth embargo affecting global supply chains.
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) sources reported a significant movement of U.S. military aircraft towards the Middle East in recent hours. Dozens of U.S. Air Force aerial refuelling tankers and heavy transport aircraft were observed heading eastwards, presumably to staging points in the region.
Iran’s chief justice has warned protesters there will be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic”, as rights groups reported a rising death toll during what observers describe as the country’s biggest wave of unrest in three years.
Two people have been killed after a private helicopter crashed at a recreation centre in Russia’s Perm region, Russian authorities and local media have said.
The leader of Yemen’s southern separatists failed to travel to Riyadh for crisis talks on Wednesday, leaving his fate unclear and complicating efforts to contain a military escalation that has widened a rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Azerbaijan is set to deliver a new consignment of oil products to Armenia on 8 January, with shipments departing from the Guzdak railway station and the Baku cargo terminal.
Azerbaijan and Syria have reached an agreement to establish a joint business council aimed at enhancing trade and economic cooperation between the two nations, according to the Syrian embassy in Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijan National NGO Forum has sent an open letter to Russia’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mikhail Yevdokimov.
Russia has said bad weather was the cause of the AZAL plane crash in Kazakhstan in December 2024. A leaked document in the form of a letter, reportedly from Russia’s Investigative Committee was sent to Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General, making the claim, prompting the criminal case to be closed.
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