JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold, the Toronto-based mining company, said it will produce around 10% less gold from its Kumtor gold mine in eastern Kyrgyzstan this year. The company didn’t specify why gold production at Kumtor would drop this year. This is significant, though, as Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest industrial asset.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan will modernise and increase the size of its military in 2015, media reported quoting the official newspaper. Turkmenistan and other countries bordering Afghanistan have said that they are increasingly worried about the threat from the Taliban.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
JAN. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s
nuclear agency, has agreed a $450m debt deal with Western banks.
The deal, and its size, show that despite an economic downturn some
Kazakh companies are still considered a relatively good bet.
Kazakhstan owns 15% of the world’s uranium supplies.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
>>Ferry service highlights increased trade between Turkmenistan and the rest of the world>>
JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Trade between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, the South Caucasus and Europe is increasing, a trend underlined by the docking in Baku of a new ferry.
The ferry, operated by a Turkmen company, can carry up to 200 passengers and 53 trucks across the Caspian Sea. Its main role is to cut the journey time down and to aid trade between Turkmenistan and the Europe.
This is a trend which, under current Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has been accelerating. Mr Berdymukhamedov opened up Turkmenistan in a way that his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, dodged.
Turkmenistan has now not only become a major gas exporter to China and elsewhere but is also a bigger player in global trade.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)
JAN. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran is planning on holding its tenth industrial and trade fair in Ashgabat at the end of February, media reported. This is important because it shows how close relations are between the two countries. US-imposed sanctions have been hitting Iran’s economy.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan may increase its gas production by 9% this year, media reported quoting the state information service. Already one of the biggest regional gas producers, Turkmenistan boosted gas exports by 11% last year, mainly to China. The drop in global energy prices will impact the Turkmen government budget.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Former Georgian president Mikheil Saaksvhili accused the current Georgian government of turning a blind eye to the hundreds of Georgians who had crossed into Syria and were allegedly fighting for the extremist group IS. The comments by Mr Saakashvili, who is now based in New York, were widely broadcast in Georgia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank said it spent $1.13b in December supporting its national currency — the manat — counter a falling Russian rouble and a drop in global oil prices. This represents about 8% of its total currency reserves.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
>>Murders trigger anger at Russian base>>
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Russian soldier serving at Russia’s vast military base at Gyumri in Armenia murdered six members of a family and went on the run before being captured, media reported.
The killings have raised tension around the base with dozens of demonstrators reportedly calling for an apology from the base commander.
Gyumri is one of Russia’s largest overseas bases with about 3,000 soldiers stationed there. Armenia’s government views it as an important counterbalance to increasing Azerbaijani military dominance in the region.
Russian officials said that the soldier, named as Private Valery Permyakov, had been captured trying to cross into Turkey a few hours after the murders. No reason for the murders has been given.
According to officials, Permyakov shot dead six members of a local family. The only survivor was a six-month-old boy who was stabbed.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Tajikistan sentenced one of the country’s most prominent lawyers to nine years in jail for bribery and fraud.
Supporters of Sukhrat Kudratov, the jailed lawyer, said that his real crime was to defend opposition activist and former government official Zaid Saidov in 2013. Saidov was jailed for corruption as well as polygamy.
Certainly the case against Kudratov seems weak and the punishment meted out excessive.
On twitter, Steve Swerdlow of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said: “Jailing of Shurat Kudratov is a serious setback for the freedom of expression and the independent legal profession in Tajikistan.”
As well as being a high profile lawyer prepared to take on human rights cases that others would ignore, Kudratov was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan, an opposition party. His name was on their list of candidates for a parliamentary election in March.
Human rights and democracy groups have long criticised Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon for his authoritarian policies. He has been Tajik president since the end of a civil war in the mid-1990s.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
