Despite the increasingly obvious political mismatch, the region had no intention to jeopardize relations this week.

In the first 3 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, 5,500 metric tons of face masks were produced. At the rate of about 130 billion masks per month, used and potentially contaminated masks were piling up that could not be burned, because doing so would produce toxic gases.

Glasgow: 10/11/2021: 13:00 GMT: Yesterday at COP26, the state development bank VEB.RF announced the official adoption of the Russian Green Taxonomy. The Taxonomy was developed with the ambition of compatibility with international best practice and VEB.RF designed it to be broadly in line with the Climate Bonds Taxonomy and with the 'substantial contribution' components of the EU Taxonomy.

After announcing their anniversary Resolutions, the Central Asian Stans start switching to actions this week.

As stakes grow in the region, foreign actors cooperate and set aside their differences to unite for the support of economic stability and human security.

Global update for the travel industry (12/04/2021)

Half-sitting at the confetti-covered table, we scavenge over the remains of Olivier salad, while trying to sober up and recover the memory of what just happened, and prepare for what’s going to come next? In this two-part issue, we share our 20 notes from 2020, and try to extrapolate what is in store in 2021.

While the ping pong match of who will raise more before the year is out continues, the onlookers adopt a precautious approach.

The week ends with two people in Kazakhstan testing positive for coronavirus, the first official instance for the Stans. The Central Asian states are closing off borders for travellers from certain countries.

As the week draws to a close, not everyone is feeling romantic, and some relationships are experiencing considerable pressure.