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Divisions grow in Eurasian Economic Union

MARCH 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union’s (EEU) first year is shaping up to be one to forget.

A sharp devaluation in the value of the rouble, triggered by Western sanctions and falling oil prices, and meddling in Ukraine’s civil war have hit Russia’s credibility among its former Soviet partners. After a meeting in Astana, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appeared to distance himself from the Kremlin.

Mr Nazarbayev hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko at the meeting. Armenia, the fourth member of the EEU, didn’t attend.

Mr Nazarbayev appeared to suggest that Mr Putin’s alleged support for rebels in eastern Ukraine had gone too far.

“It is important for any decisions that get made to rely on fundamental principles of international law. We are interested in Ukraine staying a stable, independent, territorially integral country,” he said.

Apparent tension at the meeting in Astana between the leaders wasn’t contained to Ukraine.

Mr Putin once again brought up the prospect of a single currency throughout the Eurasian Economic Union, something that Mr Nazarbayev has already ruled out.

“The time has come to start thinking about forming a currency union,” news reports quoted Mr Putin as saying. Mr Putin also suggested a Central Bank for the single currency could be based in Almaty.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

HRW wants improved human rights in Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) challenged European leaders to use a trip to Europe by Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atamabayev to call for improved human rights in Kyrgyzstan. In particular, HRW said European leaders should protest against a bill passing through the Kyrgyz parliament that would limit gay rights.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Atambyaev asks Europe for help stopping IS

MARCH 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to European capitals, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev asked the European Union to provide military assistance to help stop the rise of the extremist group IS in Central Asia. IS has targeted Central Asia as a fertile recruitment ground.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

SOCAR issues $750m Eurobond

MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, said that it had issued $750m worth of 15-year Eurobonds. It had earlier said that it would issue debt but didn’t specify how much. SOCAR said the debt issue was linked to the fall in oil prices.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Georgia’s economy grew in 2014, says stat office

MARCH 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officially, Georgia’s economy grew by 4.8% in 2014, up from 3.3% in 2013, the Georgian national statistics office said. Georgia has been enjoying growth for a few years. Economists have predicted a slowdown, though, because of a regional economic trough.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Cheap Russian oil products hits Kazakh producer

MARCH 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Canada-based Condor Petroleum halted oil production at its Shoba oil field in west Kazakhstan because the oversupply of cheaper Russian oil products has dented domestic production.

A fall in oil prices and the imbalanced between the Russian rouble and the Kazakh tenge are hurting foreign energy companies in Kazakhstan. “Kazakhstan is experiencing an oversupply of refined oil products, including diesel, which is causing downward pricings pressures on domestically produced diesel and on crude oil,” Condor Petroleum said in a statement.

“Currently, Kazakhstan refineries are either not operating or the offering prices are below the Company’s cost of operations.”

This is, in effect, a criticism of the Kazakh government’s determination to defend the tenge despite the imbalance with the rouble.

Earlier this month a Kazakh official said important upgrade work to Kazakh refineries would have to be postponed because Russian oil products had destroyed their profitability.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Armenia issues $500m bond

MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia issued a 10-year $500m bond with a yield of 7.5%. Governments in Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been borrowing to offset a drop in their economies.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Anti child labour group says activist detained in Uzbekistan

MARCH 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cotton Campaign, a lobby group set up to stop Uzbekistan using child labour to pick its cotton, said the Uzbek authorities had detained and arrested one of its in-country reporters. Uzbekistan has not commented.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Anti-devaluation protest in Baku

MARCH 15 2015 (The Bulletin) – Hundreds of people demonstrated in Baku against the devaluation by 33% of the manat currency last month. The size of the march was contested with its organisers saying 10,000 people attended and police saying there were a few hundred.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Sargsyan skips EEU meeting

MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Unnerving its three partners, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan said he would skip a meeting of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in Astana on March 20, media reported.

His absence from the meeting has triggered questions about Armenia’s commitment to the project which it has only just joined.

The meeting between President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus is billed as an important one to navigate out of the financial crisis.

It had been postponed from March 13 to March 20. Kazakh officials initially said Mr Putin was too unwell to attend.

But Armenia — the fourth member of the economic group — has chosen not to attend. Armenia only joined the EEU, which morphed out of the Customs Union, on Jan. 1.

It has always been considered a supporter of Russia which it relies upon for economic and military support.

Armenia’s government didn’t explain why Mr Sargsyan would not fly to Astana for the meeting. Instead a senior official said the meeting had been organised to sort out problems which did not concern Armenia.

Perhaps, but it has created noise around Armenia’s potential unhappiness around the state of the region’s finances so much so that the Kremlin was bounced into releasing a press statement which said that Mr Putin and Mr Sargsyan had shared a telephone conversation during which the Russian leader had been reassured of Armenia’s good intentions.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)