Author Archives: admin

Armenia-EU finalise deal

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia could finalise a deal with the EU before the end of the year, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian was quoted as saying. For the EU a framework deal with Armenia, a member of the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union, would be an important victory, especially after the rejection of the Association Agreement in 2013. For Armenia, close links with the EU are important to maintain.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan looks to Islamic finance

NOV. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to boost finances, Kazakhstan said that it would launch its first sovereign Islamic bond, a sukuk, next year. Last week a source at the Central Bank said that Kazakhstan would probably aim to raise $1b through the sukuk. In 2012, the state-owned Kazakhstan Development Bank issued a $73m sukuk.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Blair flies to Georgia for ‘working dinner’ with PM

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Has Tony Blair, the former British PM, found himself a new client? Speculation that he was now advising the Georgian Dream coalition government spiked after he flew to Tbilisi for dinner with Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili.

Mr Blair’s business outfit, Tony Blair Associates, declined to comment but the Georgians were more keen to show off their much-feted visitor.

The PM’s website hosted a 1.58 minute long video showing Mr Blair and Mr Garibashvili enjoying the view, and a glass of wine, from a restaurant above Tbilisi before taking a funicular ride back down to the city.

The Georgian PM’s office described the meeting as a “working dinner”.

“Georgia’s democratic reforms, the situation in the world and the region, were the main topics of the meeting,” the PM’s office said without giving any more information. Perhaps the emphasis should be on “working dinner”. It’s likely that Mr Garibashvili would have paid for Mr Blair’s advice. Plenty of other leaders, including Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, have.

And Mr Blair’s wife, a lawyer, is also involved in Georgia. Her company, Omnia Strategy, has been advising the Georgian justice system. It’s unclear exactly what advice, Mr Blair imparted. Although influential, his reputation is generally accepted to have been stained by the 2003 war in Iraq that he pursued with US President George W. Bush. Still, Georgia is an avowed fan of Mr Bush. It has named a street after him, and was one of his biggest allies during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Turkcell moves to buy mobile companies from TeliaSonera in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest mobile service provider, is planning on buying TeliaSonera’s assets in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Bloomberg News reported by quoting a source close to the company.

The source said that Turkcell had appointed HSBC and Citigroup to advise it on its potential bid to buy the stake in Fintur from TeliaSonera that it doesn’t already own.

Turkcell owns 41.45% of Rotterdam-based Fintur; TeliaSonera owns the rest. Fintur runs brands in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Moldova with 18m users.

Turkcell CEO, Kaan Terzioglu, appeared to confirm the company’s intention to buy TeliaSonera’s stake in Fintur. Answering journalists’ questions in Istanbul on when a deal would be finished, he said: “in 2016 if all the negotiations go well.”

The deal is important because it moves TeliaSonera towards its stated aim of selling its companies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. It also owns businesses in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan which it wants to find a buyer for.

Earlier this year, it said that it wanted to sell up after investigations began into a corruption scandal at its Uzbek company. It is alleged to have paid Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, millions of dollars in bribes to gain access to the Uzbek mobile market in 2007/8.

Telenor, its Norwegian rival, is also investigating alleged corruption at its Uzbek subsidiary. It owns a 33% stake in Russia-based Vimpelcom which owns a company in Uzbekistan that also, allegedly paid a bribe to enter the market.

Turkcell is Turkey’s main mobile operator. Its shareholder structure has been argued over since 2011. It has shares listed on the New York and Istanbul stock exchanges but its institutional shareholders include Turkey’s Cukurova Holding, Russia’s AlfaGroup and TeliaSonera.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Uzbekistan detains rights activist

NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek opposition media reported that police detained Uktam Paradayev, a well-respected human rights activist. It is unclear if Mr Paradayev has been charged with anything. Earlier this month Mr Paradayev was denied an exit visa to leave Uzbekistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Pakistan PM meets Uzbek President

NOV. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif met with Uzbek president Islam Karimov in Tashkent where the leaders signed deals that should deepen bilateral relations .

The trip was significant for Pakistan because it is looking to boost ties with Central Asia and important for Uzbekistan which needs allies to sell cotton to.

Cold-shouldered by the West, which avoids buying Uzbek cotton because of allegations it is picked using child labour, Uzbekistan has boosted relations with Pakistan as it buys Uzbek cotton for its garments industry.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Iran-Armenia sign deal

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officials from Iran and Armenia have signed deals which will improve cross-border trade insurance claims and investigations, media reported. The deal underlines the advanced relations between Armenia and Iran. The neighbours need each other to boost trade.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

TeliaSonera’s appoints Tajik Tcell’s head as Eurasia VP

NOV. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish mobile provider TeliaSonera appointed the former head ofTcell, Tajikistan’s biggest mobile network provider, Mansur Khamidov to be a vice-president in charge of the Eurasia region. TeliaSonera is currently restructuring its operations and has said that it wants to sell its Eurasia companies, partly because of corruption allegations alleged against its Uzbek subsidiary. As well as Tajikistan, TeliaSonera owns mobile operations in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Demand for crop monitoring kit rises in Kazakhstan

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Cyprus-registered New Science Technologies, which sells satellite crop monitoring equipment, said that demand for its products is growing in Kazakhstan and that it has had to build new capacity. Kazakhstan has increased its grain harvest considerably over the past few years. Kazakhstan’s wheat fields are vast and need satellite technology to monitor.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank files Q3 results

NOV. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Halyk Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest retail banks, reported increased net income in the third quarter of 2015 of 36b tenge, roughly a third larger than the third quarter of 2014. In US dollar terms, taking into account the devaluation of the tenge, Q3 2015 and Q3 2014 are roughly the same. Operating expenses grew by 12.7% in the first 9 months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014 because of wage inflation linked to the devaluation of the tenge.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)