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IDB to fund Uzbek SMEs

MAY 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A unit of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) signed deals to boost financing of small and medium-sized businesses in Uzbekistan with two Tashkent-based banks, Ipak Yuli and Asia Alli- ance. The deals continue the sense of openness and development that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ushered into Uzbekistan since taking over as president in September 2016. Earlier this year, he welcomed the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) back to Tashkent for the first time since 2003. This month the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Uzbekistan for the first time.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Measles outbreak spreads in Tajikistan

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MAY 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Aid agencies warned that a measles outbreak in Tajikistan had spread from the countryside into Dushanbe, the capital, and threatened to escalate. Several hundred, mainly children, have already been taken ill with measles. There have been no reports of any deaths.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Logistics market grow in Azerbaijan

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MAY 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pony Express, a Russian logistics company, said that it had opened up an office in Azerbaijan to take advantage of the opportunities that it expects major transport routes to generate. Media quoted regional development director Sergey Sergushev as saying that the development of a North-South transport corridor linking India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia, as well as the already established trans-Cas- pian Sea route, would boost demand for logistic services in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been trying to position itself as a major link between Europe and Asia and companies such as Pony Express moving in will be a boost to its aspirations.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Azerbaijan fires a missile

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MAY 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan fired a missile at an air defence system operated by Armenia-backed rebels in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, sharply escalating tension between the two enemies. Both sides accused the other of deliberately trying to provoke each other. Tension has been rising this year. In April 2016, the worst fighting since a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1994 killed several dozen people.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Kyrgyz President withdraws libel case against RFE/RL

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MAY 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev asked the country’s Prosecutor-General to withdraw a libel case against the local service of the US- funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website. Earlier this year the Prosecutor-General had said it was pressing libel charges against REF/RL and zanoza.kg for insulting the president, drawing accusations of a free speech clamp- down. The charges against zanoza.kg have not been withdrawn.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

EU comments on South Ossetia angers Georgia

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TBILISI, MAY 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s foreign ministry called in the EU’s special representative in Tbilisi, Herbert Salber, to explain why media had reported him congratulating the leader of the rebel region of South Ossetia on winning an election last month .

Georgia was incensed by the comments which they said went against the EU’s stated position of not recognising the Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They were recognised by Russia as independent in 2008 after a Georgia-Russia war, a move followed by only by a handful of countries trying to curry favour with the Kremlin.

“What we have heard today from the EU Special Representative and the Geneva [Georgia-Russia talks] co-chairman, is to put it mildly unacceptable and incomprehensible,” media quoted Georgia deputy foreign minister Davit Dondua as saying.

Mr Sabler reportedly made the comments during a visit to Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. After meeting with the Georgian foreign ministry, the EU released a statement saying it did not recognise South Ossetia or Abkhazia.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Kyrgyzstan receives $100m for EEU boost

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MAY 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan agreed to give $100m to Kyrgyzstan to help its integration with the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union. The funds have been earmarked for help to improve customs procedures and veterinary checks. The two issues have caused friction between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan over the past few years. Kyrgyz have become increasingly sceptical about the Eurasian Economic Union.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Kazakhstan jails trade union leader

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MAY 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan jailed trade union leader Amin Yeleusinov, the second senior union official to be imprisoned in the past two months. Yeleusinov was imprisoned for two years for stealing property. He is banned from union activities for five years and has to pay a $26,300 fine. New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the prison sentence was political and designed to undermine the trade union movement which has gained prominence over the past few years. A court outlawed a major trade union group at the start of the year.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Kyrgyz court sentences Bakiev associate

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MAY 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Kyrgyzstan handed Valeri Belokon, the Latvian businessman who part-owns Blackpool Football Club, an in-absentia sentence of 20- years for various money laundering and financial crime offences, media reported. Belokon was an associate of Maksim Bakiyev, the son of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Mr Bakiyev was overthrown in 2010 and now lives in exile in Belarus. He and his son were widely perceived to be corrupt. Blackpool FC suspended Belokon from its board of directors this year over money laundering concerns

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)

Ice cream poisons 100s in Uzbekistan

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MAY 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Several hundred people were poisoned after eating ice cream in the Shahrian district of Andijan, in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley, media reported. Hospitals said that they admitted 182 people into intensive care for poisoning. There have been, so far, no reports of any deaths.

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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)