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Kazakhstan delivers wheat to Vietnam

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan delivered its first batch of wheat to Vietnam via train to a Chinese port and then by cargo ship to Ho Chi Minh city on Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, media reported quoting a Kazakh railway executive. The importance of the opening up of this route is the successful use of the Kazakhstan- China railway which can effectively link Kazakhstan to East Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Georgians feel upbeat about future

JAN. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> There is a new public opinion poll out in Georgia, produced by the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Is this important?

>> In a word – yes. This is one of the rare and generally reliable snapshots of public opinion that is produced in Georgia. Most other polls are biased towards whoever has commissioned it and their political allies.

>> So what did this one tell us?

>> The data is a result of surveys done in November, shortly after a parliamentary election that the Georgian Dream won easily. These results are reflected in the poll data which showed that for the first time since August 2014, more people felt that Georgia was going in the right direction. It was a close run thing, though, with 36% of respondents saying that Georgia wasn’t changing one way or the other, 32% saying it was moving in a positive direction and 27% saying that things were getting worse. This compares well to March 2016 when 40% of the respondents said that Georgia was heading in the wrong direction and only 20% said it was heading in the right direction.

>> And how did this compare to previous poll results?

>> When the Georgian Dream, the coalition funded, by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, first won power in 2012, the poll results for Georgia moving in a positive option were sky-high at around 60% or the high 50s. Things had slipped though.

>> What else does the poll tell us about Georgia?

>> By far the two most important issues for people polled were jobs and rising inflation – 58% of respondents said that jobs were a major concern and 38% said inflation was a major concern. Territorial integrity (27%) was ranked fairly highly but joining NATO (3%) and joining EU (3%), the things that occupy most of the politicians most of the time were towards the bottom of the list.

>> Have people’s priorities changed? Were they different when Georgia’s economy was doing better?

>> Much like the rest of the region, Georgia’s economy has been under immense pressure recently with a recession in Russia and an overly strong US dollar. Over the past few months, Georgia’s lari has plummeted in value and the government has warned of tough times. But, and this is the point, in good times or bad, NDI says that Georgians top five priorities are the same. These are, in order of preference – jobs, inflation, poverty, territorial integrity and pensions. Clearly other than issues over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it’s all about the economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakhstan’s trade with EEU falls by 21%

JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s trade with the rest of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) fell by 21% last year, the Kazakh Security Committee said, highlighting a general contraction in the Kremlin-led block’s economy. Most of the decrease was linked to Russia. Last week, Kyrgyzstan also reported a drop in trade with EEU members.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

One soldier killed, says Azerbaijan’s minister

JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s defence minister said that one of its soldiers had been killed in a skirmish with Armenia- backed forces around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Tension has been rising around Nagorno-Karabakh. Last year several dozen soldiers were killed on both sides in the worst fighting since a 1994-brokered ceasefire ended a war in which an estimated 30,000 people died.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakhstan signs deal with DP World

JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The UAE’s DP World signed a deal to develop a special economic zone in Aktau, western Kazakhstan. The deal was signed during a trip to Dubai by Kazakh businessmen and government officials lead by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. DP World is one of the largest port operators in the world. Aktau is Kazakhstan’s main Caspian Sea port.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Aeroplane crashes into village near Kyrgyz capital, kills 38

BISHKEK, JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Turkish cargo aeroplane flying from Hong Kong to Istanbul overshot the runway at Manas International Airport outside Bishkek on a refuelling stop, ploughed into a village and killed at least 38 people.

Crash investigators said fog had shrouded the airport but there had been no problems reported from the flight deck.

Airports in Central Asia are competing for lucrative stop-over trade for flights, both passenger and cargo, between East Asia and Europe. Depending on the investigators’ findings, the crash may damage Manas’ credibility.

At the crash site, the village of Dacha-Suu, which took the main impact, had been destroyed. The aeroplane’s torn wing stuck up through a smashed roof. The cockpit lay smashed and broken in a front garden. Part of the undercarriage had ripped through a living room, bringing death and destruction to Kyrgyz domestic tranquility.

Residents of the village who escaped described a loud bang.

“I thought there was an earthquake, but looking out of the window, we saw the fire,” one man told television news.

A Conway Bulletin correspondent said that the military and the police had cordoned off the site.

There has also been criticism of the government’s response with many Kyrgyz saying that President Almazbek Atambayev was too slow to show his grief over what is being treated as a national disaster.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Georgian region sets election

JAN. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The rebel Georgian region of South Ossetia has set its upcoming presidential election for April 9. The incumbent leader of South Ossetia, which declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s and was recognised by Russia and a handful of other countries as a separate nation in 2008 after a Russia- Georgia war, is Leonid Tibilov. He has said he will compete in the election to try to win another, and final, five year term. The election is likely to raise tension with Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

China to build solar plant in Uzbekistan

JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology, a Chinese company, won a tender at the end of 2016 to build a solar panel field in southern Uzbekistan, state-run Uzbekenergo told the Trend news agency. Uzbekistan has been looking to boost its renewable energy capacity and has been increasingly turning to solar power.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakh delegation heads to UAE

JAN. 15/16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev led a high-level delegation to Dubai to meet with various UAE leaders. Mr Nazarbayev and the Kazakh government have increasingly said that they want to extend ties with the Gulf States. Various memorandums proclaiming strong bilateral relations were signed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Trial for editor begins in Kazakhstan

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The trial for extortion of Bigeldy Gabdullin, editor of the Central Asia Monitor newspaper, began in Astana. Mr Gabdullin has admitted to charges that he blackmailed officials into paying him bribes not to publish negative stories. His supporters have said that the confession was extracted under duress and that the 61-year-old was hoping that by agreeing to the confession he will be given a light sentence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)