Environmental issues in Kazakhstan sea’s already grave pollution. International programs to save the Aral and Caspian seas have not received meaningful cooperation from Kazakhstan or other member nations. The Aral Sea covers with Kazakhstan to the north and Uzbekistan to the south. Soviet irrigation projects begun in the 1960s and other environmental challenges have severely depleted this once massive inland sea and by 2007, it had shrunk to 10 percent of its original size. The efforts included Syr Darya Control & Northern Aral Sea (NAS) project. The $86 million NAS project, funded jointly by the World Bank through a loan of $65 million and
Science and technology in Uzbekistan on nurturing new high-tech industries and orienting the economy towards export markets. Whereas Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have been members of the World Trade Organization since 1998, 2013 and 2015 respectively, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have adopted a policy of self-reliance. Symptomatic of this policy is the lesser role played by foreign direct investment in Uzbekistan. It contributed just 1.6% of GDP in 2015, after peaking at 4.2% of GDP in 2010. In Uzbekistan, the state controls virtually all strategic sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing and finance, foreign investors being relegated to less vital sectors like tourism. Funding for