FB Post of 26-31st July 2020
نخل اسلام نمونہ ھے بر و مندی کا
پھل ھے یہ سیکڑوں صد یوں کی چمن بندی کا
A symbol of luxuriance,
The tree of Islam reigns,
Its fruits achieved with centuries
Of garden-tending paints
(Poet Muhammad Iqbal Jawab-e-Shikwa XXVII)
CENTRAL ASIA consists of five of the former Soviet republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which have a total population of about 72 million.
#KAZAKHSTAN is rich in oil & gas and has the largest and strongest performing economy in Central Asia. It became independent in 1991 after being under 150 years of the rule of Russian Empire and the USSR.
Its capital Nur-Sultan is a beautiful world’s futuristic smart city built from scratch in 1997, designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. The city has an artificial river and beach with sand specially imported from the Maldives.
Kazakhstan has become a financial hub for Central Asia due to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China is among the biggest investors in Kazakhstan worth $28 billion in different projects.
Kazakhstan is a leading Uranium producer in the world after Mali in Africa. It has the world’s first and largest space launch facility in its desert city Baikonur built by USSR (1954). Sputnik, first artificial satellite and Vostok, first human spacecraft were launched from Baikonur. This spaceport is leased to Russia until 2050. Russia is building a new one near Moscow.
#UZBEKISTAN is rich in mines and minerals. It has the fourth-largest gold deposits in the world. The copper deposits rank tenth (10th) in the world and its uranium deposits twelfth (12th). It has also significant untapped oil & gas reserves.
Islam was born in Saudi Arabia but flourished in Uzbekistan & Iraq. It has two famous Islamic cities Samarkand and Bokhara. Imam Bukhari Mausoleum is in Samarkand and Bahauddin Naqshbandi in Bukhara. In the last twenty years all the places have been renovated whilst preserving its old architectural beauty, which is unimaginable. Pictures below are Imam Bukhari Mausoleum and three Madarsas called Registan in Samarkand
#TURKEMISTAN, Galkynysh Gas Field has the second-largest volume of gas in the world, after the South Pars field in the Persian Gulf between Iran and Qatar.
CONCLUSION: Covid-19, a health crisis will result in economic paralysis for most of the countries. Rich nations have spent billions of Dollar to grab first anti- Covid doses while poor countries are left behind. The post-pandemic winners will be mostly in Asia and north Africa like Egypt, Algeria, Libya and countries situated on Red Sea like Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan etc.
(My Post on Facebook 31st July 2020 and in Hindi in August 2020)
