Author Archives: admin

Uzbek PM warns Tajikistan on dangers of Rogun

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev complained to his Tajik counterpart over the signing of a $3.9b contract with Italy’s Salini Impregilo to build the Rogun dam and hydropower station on the Vakhsh river.

Uzbekistan has always opposed the project, which it has said will reduce essential water flow from the Pamir mountains to the Amu Darya river which irrigates Uzbek cotton fields.

For Tajikistan, Rogun carries symbolic value, it will be the world’s tallest dam, and is also economically important.

Mr Mirziyoyev said Tajikistan’s stance will trigger a reaction.

“The persistence with which the Government of Tajikistan seeks at all costs to continue construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power station, cannot but cause anxiety for the possible dangerous and irreparable consequences of such risky steps taken by the Tajik side,” he wrote.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

China to invest in Uzbekistan’s food processing

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China’s Xinjiang Silu Changlong Investment said it will partner with Uzbekistan’s ministry of economy to establish a $28.7m food processing, packaging and logistics centre in Bukhara, in the south of the country.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Kazakh officials arrest head of construction department

JULY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh anti-corruption agency ordered the arrest of Yerkin Bukharbayev, head of the construction department in the city of Shymkent, southern Kazakhstan. Mr Bukharbayev is accused of having embezzled public funds during a tender in 2013 to improve the flow of the Badam river which runs through the city. Bukharbayev and his associates allegedly stole 170m tenge ($1.1m at the time).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

DESFA deal with Azerbaijan’s energy company in danger

JULY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A deal for Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR to lead a takeover of Greece’s gas pipeline network DESFA could collapse after the Greek government agreed a lower-than-expected gas price rise. SOCAR has been working on putting together the deal to buy up Greece’s pipeline network since 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Armenia to ban Turkish products

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia plans to ban the import of 50 Turkish products into Armenia, officially because they fail to meet new safety standards, a move that could reduce its overall imports from Turkey by up to 20%, Vazgen Safaryan, head of the lobby group Union of Domestic Producers, told local media.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Tajikistan’s Central Bank increases interest rate

JULY 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s Central Bank raised its key interest rate by two percentage points to 11%, its highest since 2009. It had kept the interest rate constant at 8% for over one year until March, when it was raised to 9%. The Central Bank said the move is in line with a policy to combat inflation and restore confidence in the country’s ailing banking sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Electricity prices increase in Azerbaijan

JULY 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government said that it is considering an increase in electricity prices for households of 16.7%, local media reported. The price will increase from 0.06 manat to 0.07 manat/kWh. This is the first price increase since 2007. Domestic electricity prices in the South Caucasus are sensitive. People in Armenia and Georgia have demonstrated against tariff increases over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

IS threat worsens in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan

JULY 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian defence minister Sergei Shiogu said that if countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus ever sink into Syria-like civil war scenarios, Russia will use its military to intervene. Russia has carried out airstrikes in Syria against the IS extremist group. According to official sources, the number of South Caucasus and Central Asian citizens fighting for IS in Syria is rising.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Tajik court sentences Salafist activist

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Tajik court jailed Mukhammadi Rakhmatullo, alleged leader of Salafi, a banned conservative Islamic movement in Tajikistan, for seven years in prison. Rakhmatullo had allegedly returned to Tajikistan after a period working abroad and had continued to run the banned Salafi opposition movement. He was arrested in February during a mass security operation that jailed dozens of Salafists.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Azerbaijan’s energy company says Greek gas network deal may collapse

JULY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A deal for Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR to lead a €400m takeover of Greece’s gas pipeline network DESFA could collapse after the Greek government agreed a lower-than-expected domestic gas price rise.

Anar Mammadov, CEO of SOCAR’s Greek subsidiary, said after a meeting with Panos Skourletis, Greece’s energy minister that the gas price increase undermined DESFA’s profitability.

“If implemented, those changes would reduce the value of the company and its future profitability

dramatically,” he told media. “The only thing I can say right now is that I can’t see how the tender could be salvaged if those changes are implemented as planned.”

The Greek parliament still has to approve the price rise for it to be implemented.

In 2013, SOCAR won a bid to buy 66% of DESFA, Greece’s gas distributor. The deal was later frozen by the European Commission, citing the so-called Third Energy Package, a 2009 regulation designed to counter vertical integration between gas suppliers and distributors.

In recent months, though, Italy’s Snam has come forward as a potential partner for SOCAR. Snam would buy 17% and SOCAR would take 49%, which mean the takeover complies with the EU’s requirements.

Buying DESFA is important to Azerbaijan because Greece will play a major role hosting part of a pipeline network that will pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

The EU has called this new pipeline network a vital strategic goal to reduce its reliance on gas supplies from Russia with which it has had increasingly strained relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)