Azerbaijan Scraps Tax Benefits for Microentrepreneurs, Sparks Backlash

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on Monday aimed at improving social welfare, increasing the country’s minimum monthly wage to 400 manats ($235) starting January 1, 2025.

Turkish companies YDA and ASFAT plan to build a shipyard near Kazakhstan's port of Kuryk to address the country's domestic fleet shortage, Kazakhstan's Minister of Transport Marat Karabaev announced on Monday during a parliamentary session. The project underscores Kazakhstan's ambitions to strengthen its maritime capabilities and logistics infrastructure.

Kazakhstan's Minister of Transport, Marat Karabayev, unveiled the country’s bold roadmap for transforming itself into a premier transport and logistics hub in Eurasia. Speaking in parliament on Monday, Karabayev detailed strategies to capture a share of the massive $1 trillion annual freight flows between the East-West and North-South corridors.

The ASCO-owned ferry "Shahdag," freshly refurbished, has resumed operations on the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan route, aiming to alleviate severe truck congestion at ports on both sides of the Caspian Sea.