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Kyrgyzstan and the Eurasian Union

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Alongside Armenia, Kyrgyzstan will finally join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in 2015 despite few analysts deeming it ready or suited to full membership.

Bishkek will sign accession documents on Dec. 23, although it could be May before it adopts the protectionist taxes slapped on goods from outside the union, Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev told journalists.

Eurasian Economic Union officials have even said they will allow Chinese goods “for domestic consumption” to enter Kyrgyzstan according to pre-existing Kyrgyz tariffs for an unspecified period of time, a concession that suggests other members view Kyrgyzstan’s membership as symbolic.

Kyrgyzstan first agreed in 2010 to enter a trade bloc with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan — the current members of the Customs Union which will morph into the Eurasian Economic Union next year — so it has been a long wait.

But Kyrgyzstan has an economy a tenth the size of Belarus’, an unresolved row over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine, its single largest industrial unit, and worries about rising inflation. This makes it a potential weak link.

Arkady Gladilov, editor of local analytical website polit.kg noted that Kyrgyzstan has had three prime ministers in the time it has been committed to joining the bloc. He said the government may have been dragging its feet over Eurasian Economic Union accession.

“Russia is facing a difficult time with sanctions, and Kyrgyzstan’s own picture is far from rosy. If I were them, I would probably do the same in their position,” he told the Conway Bulletin.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Putin flies to Uzbekistan for talks

DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an effort to shore up support in the former Soviet Union, Russian president Vladimir Putin flew to Uzbekistan, where he will offer the carrot of improved economic ties and debt cancellation.

Russian media said that Mr Putin will write off Uzbekistan’s $890m debt and also look to increase both energy imports from Uzbekistan and the import of agriculture machinery.

Uzbekistan and Russia have a lukewarm relationship. Uzbek president Islam Karimov is famously coy about his dealings with other former Soviet states. He has kept Uzbekistan away from the Kremlin-led Customs Union, which will morph into the Eurasian Economic Union next year, but is a keen member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security-economy group that is led by Beijing and Moscow.

With NATO and the West withdrawing from Afghanistan and Central Asia, perhaps Mr Karimov has decided to ally himself closer to Russia. Russia, under pressure in the West, needs all the friends it can currently muster.

Another area that Russia and Uzbekistan have been working on is labour migrants.

In November, the two countries agreed to draft a bilateral agreement to regulate Uzbek labour migrants’ economic activities in Russia.

The Uzbek authorities have previously preferred to play down labour migration but the reality is that remittances and labour migration have become a major part of Uzbekistan’s economy. In 2013, estimates said that 3m Uzbeks worked in Russia, sending home a total of $6.5b.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Turkmenistan to export flour

DEC. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan plans to sell 200,000 tonnes of flour on the international market, media reported, part of its strategy to diversify its exports away from just oil and gas. Importantly, the sale may also help other Central Asian and South Caucasus countries suppress rising bread prices

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Citroen-Peugeot to build cars in Kazakhstan

DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a reminder of the Kazakh car-making boom over the past few years, French manufacturer Citroen- Peugeot said it had entered into a joint-venture to produce its models at the SaryarkaAvtoProm plant in Kostanay in north Kazakhstan. Many Western car-makers are already producing cars in Kostanay.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Uzbekistan attacks media

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Forum 18, a news agency based in Oslo focused on promoting religious freedom, reported that Uzbekistan has been using state media to publish articles against people who practise beliefs that it doesn’t agree with. Human rights organisations regularly criticise Uzbekistan for its poor human rights record.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Kazakhs paying mostly with plastic cards

DEC. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhs are becoming more comfortable paying for products on their credit and debit cards, the research website ranking.kz said. It said that for the year to the end of October transactions using either credit or debit cards had risen by 22%. This increase should aid consumer spending.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Russia boosts its airbase in Kyrgyzstan

DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia increased the number of military planes at its base outside Bishkek, the eurasianet.org website reported. Quoting Russian media, eurasianet.org said Russia had moved five SU-25SM ground attack jets to Kant, the airbase. The US quit its airbase outside Bishkek earlier this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Tajik remittances decline by 6%

DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances from Russia have declined by around 6%, the head of the Tajik Central Bank, Abdujabbor Shirinov, told the IMF. Western media groups and analysts have said that the decline in income from Tajiks working in Russia and sending cash back home — a vital funding flow — had been greater.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Georgia moves to stop IS recruits

DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia announced new rules to try and prevent people moving through its territory en route to fight for the radical Islamic State group in Syria, media reported. On the same day, media reported another Georgian citizen from the Pankisi Gorge that borders Chechnya had been killed in Syria.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

US Peace Corps leave Azerbaijan

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US Peace Corps programme, which sends young Americans to teach English around the world, left Azerbaijan. Depending on who you believe, the US either withdrew the programme because it decided it was no longer needed, or the Azerbaijani authorities threw Peace Corps out as Washington-Baku relations deteriorated.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)