Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Tajik government proposes special forces’ rights

OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government proposed new amendments to the law on national security forces that will allow them to break into homes without a warrant. The amendments, said to be aimed at strengthening security in the country, need approval from parliament before entering into force. Critics have said that these checks will be used against the opposition.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Kazakh oil service company loses money

OCT. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Oil service companies owned by Kazakhstan’s Kazmunaigas posted a 12% drop in revenues over the past two years, mostly due to sustained low oil prices, Kazmunaigas chairman Sauat Mynbayev said. Mr Mynbayev said that this trend should have triggered layoffs, but under government mandate the companies will not cut jobs. Loss- making Ozenmunaigas will maintain 9,500 workers on its payroll.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Kazakh President establishes peace prize

OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Unable to win the Nobel Peace Prize that he has always reportedly considered himself worthy of for voluntarily surrendering the nuclear weapons that he inherited after the fall of the Soviet Union, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has instead set up his own $1m prize for world peace and nuclear disarmament. He gave the inaugural award to King Abdullah of Jordan for taking in 1.5m Syrian refugees and for his work in making the Middle East a nuclear-free area.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Kazakhstan to extend visa-free travel

OCT. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will expand its visa-free regime next year, in an effort to boost tourism, the ministry of investment and development said. The new regulations will expand visa-free travel beyond the current 20 developed economies, to include all OECD countries from January 2017.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Trade between Georgia and S. Arabia rises

OCT. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Trade turnover between Georgia and Saudi Arabia has increased, the two countries’ diplomatic corps said at a meeting in London. Saudi investment into Georgia reached $100m in the first nine months of the year and total trade turnover has doubled. Tourism is also on the rise, with visits from Saudi Arabia to Georgia likely to triple.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Kyrgyz President supports Georgians

OCT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – During an official trip to Tbilisi, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said that he supported Georgia’s territorial integrity. By voicing support for Georgian rule over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which claimed independence after a brief war in 2008, Mr Atambayev was effectively condemning Russia’s support for the rebels.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

EBRD gives business loan to Turkmenistan

OCT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EBRD gave a $560,000 loan to Taze Ay, a Turkmen meatpacker aiming to expand its production line by 25%. Located in the southern city of Mary, Taze Ay was founded in 2003 by a local family. Taiwan’s International Development and Cooperation fund will also contribute to the expansion of the factory with a $240,000 loan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Radisson Blue to build in Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel Group said that its first Radisson Blu hotel in Kyrgyzstan will open in 2019. Rezidor has teamed up with local LLC Stability to build the hotel in central Bishkek. The Radisson Blu is Rezidor’s high-end hotel brand. In Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Radisson Blu hotels already operate in Astana, Tashkent, Yerevan and Tbilisi.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Emir’s falcon dies in Kazakhstan

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A prized hunting falcon belonging to Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar died in a Kazakh customs warehouse. The precise reasons for the falcon’s death have not been released to the public. The Emir was a regular visitor to Kazakhstan, where he liked to hunt with falcons near Lake Balkhash. Kazakhstan is a popular destination for Middle Eastern rich with a penchant for falconry.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan mend relations

BISHKEK, OCT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan reopened previously closed border crossings and pledged to improve relations after a friendly meeting in the Uzbek city of Andijan in the Ferghana Valley.

The sudden improvement in Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan relations comes just a month after the death of Islam Karimov, Uzbek president since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. He was regarded as a belligerent leader who preferred to keep relations with his neighbours cool.

By contrast acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev has appeared eager to improve Uzbekistan’s relations and one of his first acts, at least according to many analysts, was to mend relations with Kyrgyzstan.

This year, both countries have strengthened their forces in a stand- off that has threatened to escalate into conflict. In August, Uzbekistan suspended rail links with Kyrgyzstan.

Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have been tense for years due to border disputes, rows over gas

prices and interethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan after a revolution in 2010. The Uzbek-Kyrgyz meeting on Oct. 1 culminated in a photo-op at the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border where Uzbek deputy PM, Adkham Ikramov, and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Mukhammetkalyi Abulgaziyev, exchanged kind words.

“Today, we understand just how much Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan need such meetings,” Mr Ikramov said.

The unprompted thawing of relations caught many by surprise.

Ruziali, an Uzbek student living in Bishkek, said that economic gains were behind the move.

“If acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev wins the election, relations with Russia could improve and it is quite possible that we will enter the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Kyrgyzstan is already a member,” he said.

Uzbekistan holds a presidential election in December which is expected to confirm Mr Mirziyoyev as president.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)