Author Archives: admin

Kazakhstan attends first UNSC session

JAN. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan attended its first UN Security Council meeting, a moment that Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has been working towards for years. Mr Nazarbayev wants to promote Kazakhstan and he views the 2-year UN Security Council posting as an ideal way of doing this on the international stage. Kazakhstan was represented byBarlybay Sadykov, deputy head of Kazakhstan’s UN mission.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Kazakhstan relaxes visa rules

JAN. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan lifted visa restrictions on dozens of countries from Jan. 1 in a bid to increase tourism. Citizens of all EU states and countries belonging to the OECD can now travel to Kazakhstan without a visa for 30 days. The visa-free regime has also been extended to citizens of Malaysia, Singapore and the UAE. It had dropped visa requirements for 10 countries from July 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Kazakh police arrests ex-security chief

DEC. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kazakhstan arrested Nartay Dutbayev, a former head of the Kazakh National Security Council, for allegedly leaking state secrets, media reported. He was detained four days earlier with two other men. Mr Dutbayev had been head of the Kazakh National Security Council between 2001 and 2006 and was considered to be an associate of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Details of the case have not yet been released.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Azerbaijan extends BP deal

DEC. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has extended a deal made with a BP-led consortium dubbed the ‘Contract of the Century’ to develop its biggest Caspian Sea oil fields. The extension, although expected, had been delayed by arguments between the partners and a row with the Azerbaijani government over a drop in output at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshly fields (ACG). ACG is the lynchpin of Azerbaijan’s economy. The BP-led consortium will now develop the fields until 2050. The original deal had been due to expire in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Kazakh grain harvest increases

DEC. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh farmers harvested 23.7m tonnes of grain in 2016, 20% more than in 2015, deputy agriculture minister Kairat Aituganov said. Grain yields in Kazakhstan have become an increasingly important part of the country’s economy over the past decade. Grain harvest fluctuate wildly. In 2010, Kazakhstan harvested 14m tonnes of grain but the following year recorded a post- Soviet high of 27m tonnes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Inflation falls in Kazakhstan

JAN. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s statistics committee said that inflation had slowed to 8.5% in 2016 from 13.6% in 2015, suggesting, perhaps, that the economy is coming back under control after a turbulent period. Like the rest of the region, Kazakhstan’s economy has been hit by a fall in oil prices and a recession in Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

US Senator McCain flies into Georgia to warn Trump not to go soft on dealing with Putin

TBILISI, JAN. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Landing in Tbilisi on the last leg of a tour of the Baltic States, Ukraine and Georgia, US Republican Senator John McCain said that the US needed to stand up to Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.

Mr McCain, who was accompanied by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, warned incoming US president Donald Trump not to be soft on Mr Putin.

“I believe we must continue to improve our relations and understand that Vladimir Putin, unless we stand up to him, will continue his aggression,” he told media on a trip to boundary with the break away region of South Ossetia. “We must stand up to Vladimir Putin.”

Mr McCain is known for his tough hawkish stance on Russia and, over the years, has been a major supporter of the westward trajectory taken by Georgia and other FSU countries.

And for Georgia, his support is important, especially with Mr Trump making increasingly benign overtones to Mr Putin. In a twitter message last month he praised Mr Putin, calling him “very smart”, for not reacting to the expulsion from the US of 35 Russian diplomats for trying to influence the US presidential election through a series of hacks.

Since 2003, when Mikheil Saakashvili took power during a peaceful revolution, Georgia has pursued a doggedly pro-Western agenda. It has joined in US-led military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and applied for both NATO and EU membership.

These steps have irritated the Kremlin, which still aims to control its near-abroad, and triggered a war in 2008. Relations have improved since the Georgian Dream coalition won power in 2012 although they are still decidedly strained.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Trump cancels Tower project in Georgia

TBILISI, JAN.4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Trump Organisation, the company running the businesses of President-elect Donald Trump, pulled out of a $250m deal to build a 47-storey apartment block in Batumi on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.

Last month, the company also pulled out of projects in Azerbaijan and Brazil to protect Mr Trump’s image. In truth, though, the Batumi project, signed in 2012, lost momentum after former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili lost power in elections in 2012 and 2013.

The project was generally derided as part of the showmanship of Mr Saakashvili, who had a talent for eye- catching initiatives.

In an email, Trump Organisation said: “[We’ve decided] to formally end the development of Trump Tower, Batumi.”

The Silk Road Group, an industrial conglomerate that was partnering Trump in the project , said it would push ahead with the development.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Syria peace talks to be held in Kazakh capital, says Cavusoglu

DEC. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that peace talks between Syria’s government and rebel groups have now been scheduled for Jan. 23 in Astana. Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev wants to promote Kazakhstan as an arena to host talks. This will be the third Syria-focused peace talks held in Kazakhstan. The Syrian government did not send delegations to the two previous talks in 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Kazakh President reshuffles government

DEC. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked economy minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev and foreign minister in a government reshuffle. He promoted 38- year-old Timur Suleimenov to take over the ministry. Previously,Mr Suleimenov had been a board member of the Eurasian Economic Commission, the civil service of the Eurasian Economic Union.Mr Bishimbayev had only been in the post since May. In the reshuffle,Mr Nazarbayev also moved foreign minister Erlan Idrissov, considered to be one of the most experienced Kazakh diplomats, to be the ambassador to Britain, a position he has previously held. His replacement is Kairat Abdrakhmanov, who had been Kazakhstan’s representative to the UN.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)