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Mosque staff in Kazakhstan file lawsuit

SEPT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Staff at the Nur-Gasyr mosque in Aktobe, the largest in the city, filed a lawsuit against their employer to claim salaries which they say have not been paid. The mosque has not commented. The unpaid salaries is a reflection of the tight economic conditions in Kazakhstan and how problems are filtering through Kazakh society. The Nur-Gasyr mosque is one of 13 Islamic worship buildings in Aktobe. It was built in 2008 and cost $16.6m to build.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Turkmen railways to cut 30% work-force

SEPT. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s ministry of railway transport will cut 30% of its work- force by the end of the year, opposition news outlet Alternative News of Turkmenistan (ANT) reported. Sources in Ashgabat reported the sacking of 15 workers in mid-September. ANT has previously reported on government job cuts and unpaid salaries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Uzbeks on post-Karimov diplomatic push

SEPT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rustam Azimov, Uzbekistan’s finance minister, flew to South Korea to boost trade, an extension of the diplomatic push that the new administration in Uzbekistan initiated after the death of President Islam Karimov earlier this month.

In Seoul, Mr Azimov met with South Korea’s Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan and the chairman of Korea Eximbank, Lee Dukhoon, who pledged investments of $250m in the transport and telecoms sectors.

This week, Abdulaziz Kamilov, Uzbekistan’s foreign minister, visited Dushanbe and earlier this month foreign leaders, including Russia’s

Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev, were in Uzbekistan to mourn Karimov and swap notes with acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev who is likely to be given the job full-time.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Azerbaijan to have talks with Bulgaria on exports

SEPT. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bozhidar Lukarski, Bulgaria’s minister of economy, will hold talks with an Azerbaijani delegation to explore the possibility of buying 1b cubic metres of gas. SOCAR and Bulgargaz, the two state-owned companies, signed a supply agreement in 2014. So far, however, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, the pipeline through which Azerbaijan’s gas will be pumped, has not been built. Azerbaijan sees exports to Europe as key to growing its client base.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Kazakh economy looking stronger

ALMATY, SEPT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Higher oil prices, cost cuts and the anticipated start-up of the Kashagan oil project will allow the Kazakh government to reduce transfers from the sovereign wealth fund into the budget for the next three years, the ministry of economy said.

For Kazakhs, who have endured two years of economic woe, a heavy devaluation of the tenge and cost cutting, the assessment by the economy ministry that things are finally looking up will come as a relief.

Kuandyk Bishimbayev, minister of economy, appeared before parliament to propose amendments to the 206-2018 budget.

“We had planned the budget with an average oil price of $30/barrel in mind. Now, given the increase over the past few months and the apparent stability at $40/barrel, we should revise the forecast to $35/barrel,” he told parliament. “Every five additional dollars in oil prices give us additional revenue in the form of export customs duties.”

Mr Bishimbayev also highlighted the restart of the Kashagan oil project in the Caspian Sea. Kashagan, the Great White Hope of the Kazakh energy sector, is due to restart oil production at the end of the year after a three year hiatus while leaks to pipes were repaired.

Kazakhstan’s oil production, and therefore income, is due to ramp up as soon as Kashagan comes on- stream.

The original budget plan called for 2,880b tenge ($8.5b) to be shifted from the sovereign wealth fund into the government’s budget. The amended budget cut the transfers by 401b tenge ($1.2b) or 14%.

Unsurprisingly, parliament approved the amendments.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

China to build guard posts on Tajik-Afghan border

SEPT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China said that it would build a network of 11 guard posts and one border guard training camp on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border, a physical statement of its growing power and influence in Central Asia.

This is the biggest investment yet in Central Asia’s security by China. Earlier in the year it said it would build one guard post on the 1,345km border. Tajik soldiers will man the guard posts.

Raffaello Pantucci, an analyst at the RUSI think tank in London said that China was increasingly worried about Central Asia’s porous borders and especially the threat from Afghanistan were Uyghur separatist fighters have become allied to the Taliban.

“This is interesting because this is not a border with China. They are worried about Afghan security and how security affects China, especially the Uyghurs,” he said.

China has increasingly imposed itself on Central Asia, funding major infrastructure projects, building gas pipelines and buying up metals and energy companies but, other than war games through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which China heads with Russia, it has always avoided a direct military link.

Its soldiers will not patrol the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border once the guard posts are built but it still embeds China deeper into the military psyche of Central Asian states.

When NATO withdrew from Afghanistan, the West pulled out of Central Asia. Russia has, in contrast, invested in its bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Mr Pantucci, the RUSI analyst, said China’s move was not meant as a challenge to Russia in Central Asia.

“I don’t think the Chinese would be doing anything in Central Asia without the tacit support of the Russians,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

China to close border with Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chinese authorities said they would shut border crossings with Kyrgyzstan for three days at the beginning of October because of a national holiday. It is not uncommon for countries to close off their borders in connection with national holidays, but this decision seems to be tied to worsening security between the two countries. China and Kyrgyzstan blamed on Uyghur separatists an attack to the Chinese embassy in Bishkek in late August. China has not said it will close any other international border during this hoilday.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Young Tajiks attack on IRPT

SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A group of young pro-government demonstrators attacked the house of Rakhmatullo Rajab, a member of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) now in jail. The demonstrators threw rotten eggs onto the house, where Rajab’s relatives live. They also burned portraits of Rajab and other IRPT representatives, jailed last year after being accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the government. Human rights activists said this was just one of many violent attacks on the families of IRPT members.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Azerbaijan’s export to Turkey declines

SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan exported to Turkey 2.9% less gas in Jan.-July 2016, compared to the same period last year, the Turkish energy regulator said. Azerbaijan’s exports in the first seven months of the year stood at 3.8b cubic metres, mostly originating from the Shah Deniz gas field. Azerbaijan’s supplies to Turkey make up around 20% of Turkish gas imports through pipelines. Oil and gas exports are vital to Azerbaijan’s economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Uzbekistan bans forced labour

SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has ratified the International Labour Organisation’s convention on the ban on forced and child labour, the ministry of labour said in a statement. Every year, during the cotton harvest, human rights organisations denounce dozens of cases of child and forced labour. Cotton is an important commodity for Uzbekistan’s economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)