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Uzbek president grows taller

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A photo released by Uzbek officials of President Islam Karimov’s trip to Russia earlier this month for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) appears to have been doctored to shrink Chinese president Xi Jinping, a tall man, to the same height as Mr Karimov and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Opposition groups have previously accused official Uzbek media of doctoring images of Mr Karimov, 77, to make him look younger and fitter.

The Uzbek government has not commented.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani activists go on trial

JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Husband and wife Arif and Leyla Yunis will go on trial, accused of financial crimes, on July 27, a year after they were arrested, media reported. Both Arif and Leyla Yunis are high profile human rights defenders and their trial is almost certain to act as a flash-point.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Protesters challenge Kyrgyz labour law changes

JULY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BISHKEK — Dozens of people protested in central Bishkek against proposed changes to labour laws which they say will reduce the rights of temporary workers.

The main proposed changes focus on making it easier for foreign companies to hire and fire workers.

The government has argued that it needs to update labour laws to crackdown on the “shadow economy” where employers hire people for short periods but do not pay tax.

Protesters said the amendments would help foreign companies dodge paying social security and over-time.

The mood at the protest, which wound its way through central Bishkek under a cloudless blue sky, was angry but calm.

“We are against slavery,” one of the protesters’ banners said.

Many of the protesters were representatives of workers’ unions attached to mines, including the Kumtor mine in the east of the country owned by Toronto-based Centerra Gold. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest industrial asset.

After the protest, the government said they would set up a working group to look at the demonstrators’ concerns.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Tajik inflation falls

JULY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Central Bank said inflation in Tajikistan for the first half of 2015 stood at 2.6%. In the same period in 2014, inflation measured 4.5%. Tajikistan’s economy is faltering under a drop in remittances from Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Mine blasts in Uzbekistan

JULY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A blast at a gold mine around 90km southeast of Tashkent has killed 25 people, local media reported. The blast occurred on July 13 at the village of Kochbulak. Reports said the blast was linked to a ownership dispute.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Armenians continue to protest against electricity price rise

JULY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hundreds of people continued to protest in central Yerevan against a potential price rise for electricity, although a Bulletin correspondent at the demonstration said that the numbers and the intensity have dropped off.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Money transfers to Georgia drop

JULY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Overall money transfers to Georgia in the first half of 2015 declined by 22.7% to $538m, media reported quoting the sta- tistics agency, a heavy dent in Georgia’s overall income.

Remittances from Russia, which is suffering from a downturn in its economy, dropped by over 40% to $204m and from Greece, which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, by 19% to $83m.

Last year, the data showed, remittances accounted for nearly 9% of Georgia’s overall GDP, a figure which highlights their importance to the country.

Georgia’s lari currency has also lost around 25% of its value since November 2014, putting more pressure on the economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Salaries raise in Turkmenistan

JULY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ever the populist, Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berydmukhamedov increased salaries and pensions for people working in government funded companies by 10%, official media reported. In May, Mr Berdymukhamedov increased salaries of state officials by 9.5%. The Central Bank devalued the Turkmen manat by 30% on Jan. 1

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Norwegian company buys Georgian hydropower plant

JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Enguri hydropower plant in Georgia sold 400,000 carbon credits to Statkraft, a Norwegian electricity company, media reported. The deal highlights the progress Enguri has made in becoming more professional. It is the largest power plant in Georgia, generating 40% of its electricity.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Uzbek president warms to Putin

JULY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Ufa, Russia, Uzbek leader Islam Karimov spoke unusually warmly about relations with Russia.

Mr Karimov veers from near- hostility towards Russia to extreme warmth.

Russian television showed Russian President Vladimir Putin greeting Mr Karimov.

“You haven’t been here on a state visit for a long time,” he said.

Mr Karimov shook his hand and replied: “Whatever disputes we may have, nobody can make Russia and Uzbekistan quarrel as we have common interests.”

Mr Karimov’s last state visit to Russia was in April 2013. Most Central Asia and South Caucasus leaders, other than those from Georgia and Turkmenistan, are semi-regular visitors to Moscow.

The Uzbek head of state’s manoeuvres are understandable.

Uzbekistan may be improving its relations with the West, especially with regards to allowing NATO countries to ship their military kit out of Afghanistan, but Russia is still the regional superpower and Mr Karimov needs its help economically as well as to bolster security along its porous southern border where he says the Taliban are massing.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)