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Kazakhstan’s GDP rises

JULY 23 2017 (The Bulletin) — Spurred on by an increase in mining and metals output, Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 4.1% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2016, economy minister Timur Suleimenov said. The Kazakh government has been desperate to present a rising GDP number after three years of stagnation following a collapse in oil prices in 2014 and a recession in Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Kazakh court convicts labour union leader

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JULY 26 2017 (The Bulletin) — A court in Kazakhstan convicted labour union leader Larisa Kharkova of abuse of office, sentenced her to 400 hours of community service and banned her from holding public office for five years. The authorities in Kazakhstan have been cracking down on what they see as troublesome unions. Human Rights Watch said it was “another nail in the coffin of the independent trade union movement in Kazakhstan”.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Kazakhstan and China sign agriculture deal

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JULY 14 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan and China signed an agriculture deal worth a reported $160m, state-linked media said. The deal, at a China-Kazakhstan investment forum three days earlier, will mean that Kazakhstan will send 200,000 tonnes of grain and 100,000 tonnes of oil crops to China. It will also mean that a grain terminal is set up on the border of Kazakhstan and China.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Kyrgyz President promises smooth power transfer

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JULY 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — In a press conference lasting 3-1/2 hours, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev once again pledged his support in a presidential election set for October for PM Sooronbay Dzheenbekov and said that whoever won, there would be a peaceful transfer or power. Mr Atambayev is banned from standing in the election after the end of his single 7-year term. The elections are considered a test of Kyrgyzstan’s democracy.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Azerbaijan jails opposition member

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JULY 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — A court in Baku sentenced Faiq Amirli, a member of the opposition Popular Front for Azerbaijan and the financial director of the Azadliq newspaper to three years and three months in jail for inciting religious hatred after he was arrested in 2016 and accused of holding books authored by exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey has accused Mr Gulen of trying to organise a coup last year and has pressured its neighbours into arresting and deporting his supporters.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

China-Armenia trade rises

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JULY 22 2017 (The Bulletin) — Trade turnover between Armenia and China in the first five months of the year was 28.4% higher in 2017, at $194.9m, than during the same period in 2016, media reported. The rise shows the impact of China’s “Belt and Road” policy, a drive to spread its influence through trade across Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

24-hour news channel starts in Uzbekistan

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JULY 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — A new state-run 24-hour news channel started broadcasting reports in Uzbek, Russian and English in Uzbekistan. Supporters of the new station have heralded it as yet another move by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to open up the country but his detractors have said that through the 24-hour news channel he is trying to set and control the agenda.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Azerbaijani firm wins construction tender

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JULY 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijani construction company Akkord has won a $70m road building contract in the Astana region run by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), media reported. The IBRD is linked to the World Bank and is funding a series of projects in the region to improve infrastructure.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Kyrgyzstan sentences Akaev’s son-in-law

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JULY 18 2017 (The Bulletin) — A court in Bishkek sentenced Adil Toishanbayev, son-in-law of Askar Akayev — Kyrgyzstan’s first post- Soviet president, to 20 years in prison in absentia for various financial crimes including tax evasion. Mr Akayev was overthrown in a revolution in 2005. He now lives in Moscow. Mr Toishanbayev has been detained in Kazakhstan, Moscow and Dubai but never deported.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Nicolas Cage gets serious at film festival in Kazakhstan

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ALMATY, JULY 23 2017 (The Bulletin) — A photo of Hollywood actor and Oscar winner Nicolas Cage dressed in traditional Kazakh nomadic costume, but looking more like a lost Cossack, set twitter alight.

He was photographed next to the wife of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sara Nazarbayeva, at the 13th Eurasian Film Festival in Astana.

It was not entirely clear why Mr Cage was wearing the Kazakh outfit or why he was even in Astana. He does not have any Kazakhstan-linked films coming out, but he was later videoed giving a short speech and saying that he was having a “great time” in the Kazakh capital.

The state-linked Astana Times also said that John Malkovich and Adrien Brody also attended the film festival this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)