Profits of China's major industrial firms fell 2.1 percent year on year in the first eight months of 2022, official data showed on Tuesday.

Industrial firms each with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.83 million U.S. dollars) saw their combined profits reach 5.53 trillion yuan in the period, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The combined revenues of these firms sustained a quicker growth pace during the period, rising 8.4 percent year on year to 87.89 trillion yuan, NBS data showed.

Senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong pointed out the improvement in business profit structure, noting that curbed rising momentum in the prices of some commodities eased pressure on downstream producers.

A total of 16 out of 41 major industries saw growth in profits in the January-August period. The electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing sector saw profits jump 20.9 percent year on year and the profits of the manufacturing of chemical raw materials and chemical products rose 5 percent.

The profits of consumer goods manufacturing have continued to improve thanks to an array of pro-consumption measures by the government to boost market demand, Zhu noted.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service

A meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia with the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Jordan was held within the framework of the UN General Assembly.
Ilia Darchiashvili and Ayman Safadi highly appreciated the friendly ties established between Georgia and Jordan and once again noted the importance of the historic visit of the Prime Minister of Georgia to the Kingdom of Jordan and the meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II.
The Ministers expressed their readiness to work actively for maintaining and further developing the existing relations. They emphasized the need to intensify tourism and people-to-people contacts between Jordan and Georgia.  According to them, this process will be given an additional impetus by the decision of Jordan's royal family to formally present a plot of land near Jordan River to Georgia.
Focusing on the relations between the two countries in international formats, the sides once again emphasized Georgia's successful cooperation with the Arab League organization and the Arab states, in general.

MFA of Georgia

Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, has received prestigious Skytrax awards for “Best Airline in Central Asia and CIS” for the tenth time and “Best Service in Central Asia and CIS” for the first time. Awards were presented to all winners at a Skytrax Awards ceremony in London today.

“Since it was launched 20 years ago, Air Astana steadily built a reputation for safety, efficiency and outstanding customer service. We are once again honoured to receive  awards from Skytrax today, which perfectly reflect our commitment to the very highest standards  of excellence and recognition from our devoted passengers. I would like to thank every one of our almost six thousand staff for their professionalism and dedication on this proud occasion,” said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana.

"Air Astana is celebrating its tenth win this year. The airline's management and employees should be proud of this success and of winning the award for Best Airline and Best Service in Central Asia and CIS. The past two years have been very challenging for the aviation industry; therefore, this award confirms the high quality service that Air Astana continues to provide to its customers,” said Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax Awards.

Winners of Skytrax Awards are determined through an annual passenger survey. More than 300 airlines were evaluated between September 2021 and August 2022. More than 14 million people from 100 nationalities participated in this survey in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. Survey participants rated the airline's website, check-in and boarding procedures, cabin cleanliness, IFE, crew appearance and service, food quality, comfort of seats and more.

Air Astana received the Skytrax "Best Airline in Central Asia and India" award for the first time in 2011 and this was followed a year later by being the first airline in the CIS and Eastern Europe to receive a four-star Skytrax award. From 2013 to 2015, Air Astana was awarded the Skytrax Award for “Best Service in Central Asia and India” and in 2021, it was certified by Skytrax for COVID-19.