MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – One of Tajikistan’s most senior police chiefs has gone missing, Radio Free Europe/Radio liberty reported. Gulmurod Halimov, commander of the interior ministry’s special forces unit OMON, has not been seen since leaving home in Dushanbe on April 23.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cigarette production in Armenia is booming, media reported quoting official statistics. In Q1 of 2015, cigarette production in Armenia increased by 28.4% compared to the same period in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan will increase oil and gas production by 9% in the next five years, Uzbekneftegaz the state oil and gas company, said. Media quoted Uzbekneftegaz representatives at a conference in Tashkent aimed at foreign investors.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – En route to Moscow for the 70th anniversary celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Astana. Official media said the two presidents affirmed their close ties.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Baku arrested Nizami Piriyev, a high-profile Azerbaijani businessman closely associated with President Ilham Aliyev.
Mr Piriyev, media reported, was charged with various financial crimes. He is in prison ahead of a trial in what appears to be a spectacular public fall.
One of Azerbaijan’s richest men, Mr Piriyev was the official owner of the Azerbaijan Methanol Company, a large and high-profile operation on the outskirts of Baku.
He paid for former British PM Tony Blair to fly to Baku in 2009 to open the plant. Mr Blair, criticised for taking cash from dubious governments since he left office in 2007, was photographed at a press conference in Baku sitting between Mr Piriyev and his son, Nasib.
Mr Piriyev’s holding company PNN Group also owned franchise rights to a number of Western brands in Azerbaijan and across the former Soviet Union. This included the British high street news agent WHSmith and US fast food chain KFC.
Mr Piriyev used to work in Russia for Gazprom and had businesses stretching across Central Asia.
It’s unclear what triggered his arrest and whether he has been associated with Azerbaijan’s increasingly marginalised opposition or if he had fallen out with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The United States and Europe have been increasingly critical of Mr Aliyev for cracking down on opposition.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s GDP in the first four months of 2015 was about 7% higher than for the same period in 2014, Chinara Turdu- bayeva, head of the state’s statistics committee, told media.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – As expected, parliament approved a law that will extend the time that citizens of most Western countries can stay in Georgia without a visa to 360 days from 90 days. Visa-free regulations were tightened in the summer.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Shokir Fayzullayev, head of Uzbekneftegaz, the Uzbek oil and gas company, said Uzbekistan intends to start an $18.65b investment project that will re-orientate its strategy for gas towards refining it rather than exporting it. Mr Fayzullayev said Uzbekistan wanted to add more value to its gas production.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Vienna, Austrian president Heinz Fischer told Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that Austria wanted to buy Turkmen gas. Europe is trying to persuade Turkmenistan to send its gas west to Europe. Turkmenistan is looking for more clients for its gas.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s government scrubbed the Armenian flag from a photo posted on its website of a parade in Moscow to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union, media reported. Azerbaijan and Armenia are still officially at war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
