Author Archives: admin

Armenia’s power production rises

MARCH 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s electricity production grew by almost 9% in February compared to the same period last year, pushed up again by the proliferation of small hydropower stations. For the first two months of 2016, electricity generation grew by 7% to 1.3b kWh. The Metsamor nuclear power plant accounted for 42% of the total power generation in the country. Power generation has become big business in the South Caucasus, with countries trying to meet a jump in demand.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Kazakh ministries ban smart phones

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Government ministries in Kazakhstan have banned smart phones from buildings to try and stop official documents being leaked. The ban, apparently, was to try and stop officials from photographing documents with their smart phone and then sending them on to people using WhatsApp. Kazakhstan has launched a number of drives over the past few years to try and professionalise its civil service.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Les Copains opens shop in Kazakhstan

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Italian retailer Les Copains, luxury handbags, opened its first shop in Kazakhstan. The new boutique will be located in the Esentai Mall, Almaty’s luxury shopping centre. Earlier, the company had opened shops in Moscow. Les Copains said it is looking to expand further in Asia and in the former Soviet Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Armenia receives Russian PM

MARCH 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan hinted that a final decision on the long-running negotiations with Russia over gas prices would be made when Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev visits Yerevan next month. Armenia imports all its gas from Russia, one of its most important allies, and has asked for a cut in price to help it cope with an economic downturn. Russia has agreed a cut but not as drastic as Armenia had wanted.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to sign TASIM

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are close to signing a deal on the so called Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) that aims to lay a superfast broadband cable linking Europe and Asia, media reported. The Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan deal aims to span the Caspian Sea.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Azerbaijan cancels daylight saving time

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan cancelled daylight saving time, first introduced in 1997. It’s unclear, specifically, why Azerbaijan decided to abandon its daylight saving time. News reports said that Azerbaijan’s time would remain at GMT +4.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Editorial: Azerbaijan’s pardon

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the past weeks, European Union representatives had said soothing, nice words to Azerbaijan’s leadership, especially in light of its key participation in the Southern Gas Corridor infrastructure complex, which will bring Caspian Sea gas to Europe by 2019.

Human rights advocates in the West had lobbied loudly for a hardline position regarding the government’s crackdown on political freedoms.

But the EU chose to avoid the critical topic and went on talking business.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev’s decision to free some political prisoners must be read as a payment in kind to the EU’s soft hand on human rights.

While welcoming the gesture, people in Azerbaijan are still waiting for the release of Ilgar Mammadov, Khadija Ismayilova and Intigam Aliyev, three political prisoners that were not pardoned.

By pardoning political prisoners, the government is holding out an olive branch towards the West, more than towards domestic actors. The struggle for them, for independent media and for opposition parties, is not over just yet.

ENDS

Editorial from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Georgia picks CBanker

MARCH 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank picked Koba Gvenetadze, a former IMF banker, to be its chief, replacing Giorgi Kadagidze whose term finished in February. The following day, President Giorgi Margvelashvili approved Mr Gvenetadze’s 7-year term at the Bank. Georgia’s economy has been under increased pressure from the falling value of the lari and rising inflation linked to a fall in oil prices and recession in Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Kazakh CBank keeps rate steady

MARCH 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank left interest rates unchanged at 17% to give the tenge currency extra support. At its monthly policy-setting meeting, the Central Bank said that supporting the currency was a higher priority than reducing the cost of borrowing. Analysts had argued that the interest rate was set too high.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Kazakh Court cuts ex-PM jail sentence

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Appeal Court cut a jail sentence handed down to former PM Serik Akhmetov, jailed last year for corruption, to eight years from10 years. Akhmetov was jailed last year in a high-profile case. He was PM for 18 months until April 2014 and was then defence minister. The case drew attention to Kazakhstan’s reputation for corruption.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)