Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Khadija Ismayilova: Investigative journalist

MAY 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Beaming from ear to ear, Khadija Ismayilova blinked and smiled. It was Wednesday and Ms Ismayilova’s first taste of freedom after 537 days in prison for charges that she and her supporters have said were politically motivated.

In those 537 days, Ms Ismayilova has been transformed from a journalist known locally for her hard-hitting investigative reports that exposed corrupt schemes linked to President Ilham Aliyev to the international face of the fight for freedom of speech in Azerbaijan.

Her resilience and determination not to back down under intense pressure from the government and other dark forces, including a series of blackmail threats in 2012 linked to sex tapes made of her, won her many admirers in the West.

John McCain, a former US presidential candidate, was among the high- profile list of politicians from around the world who have been campaigning for Ms Ismayilova’s release.

After she was freed he said: “Khadija has played a critical role in uncovering government corruption and holding authorities accountable, and her commitment to freedom of the press and human rights serves as an inspiration for journalists everywhere.”

And this work has been recognised by a string of institutions who have given Ms Ismayilova various awards including the prestigious PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the Anna Politkovskaya Award. Both these awards are for reporters who focus on anti-corruption issues and human rights.

And Ms Ismayilova, who turns 40 on May 27, has already said that she plans to continue her work, despite the dangers.

“Regarding my plans for journalism, I am going to continue my investigations,” she said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio

Liberty. “There is always a lot of work to do in a country like Azerbaijan where corruption is on such a massive scale.”

In Ms Ismayilova, President Aliyev and his cohort of supporters have found a dogged and determined anti-corruption opponent.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

EBRD to issue bond to Azerbaijan’s economy

MAY 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EBRD is ready to issue a manat- denominated bond to help de-dollarise Azerbaijan’s economy, the Bank’s President, Sir Suma Chakra- barti, said. While the amount of the issue was not disclosed, Sir Suma said the bond will be sold within Azerbaijan to boost the local currency’s credibility.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Armenian exports grow

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Trade turnover grew in Armenia during the first four months of 2016, compared to the previous year. Exports grew by 21.7% to $513m and imports grew by 18.4% to $1.2b. Importantly, exports to Russia doubled in the first two months of the year.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Kazakh bank’s profits fell by 33%

MAY 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second- largest bank, said profits fell by 33% in Q1 2016, compared to 2015 due to a slowdown in lending. The bank said high interest rates at the beginning of the year had scared away consumers. Importantly, Halyk also said the proportion of bad loans in its portfolio increased to 11.7% from 9.1% in Q4 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Mega Uzbek gas processing complex starts work

MAY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex in Uzbekistan, bigger than any other petrochemical complex in Europe and Asia, officially started operating, marking a coming-of-age for the Uzbek-Korean joint venture that has built and will operate the plant.

The plant cost around $4b and took five years to build. Ustyurt will process around 4.5b cubic metres of gas per year. Uz-Kor Gas Chemical, a joint venture between state-owned

Uzbekneftegaz and South Korea’s largest petrochemical company Lotte Chemical, said that it has already received gas for processing.

At a ceremony to celebrate the event, Lotte Chemical, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Lotte Group, said this was a first step in their campaign to expand westwards.

“The completion of the complex will significantly help Lotte Chemical expand its business territories to Russia and North Africa as well Europe and Central Asia,” Lotte said in a statement.

Uzbek and South Korean PMs Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Hwang Kyoahn also attended the ceremony.

Uzbekistan is among the top 15 gas producing countries and considers the Ustyurt gas complex to be vital to its economic plans. It is also planning parallel investments to increase gas production at its ageing fields in Karakalpakstan, west Uzbekistan, where the Ustyurt complex is located.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Editorial: SOCAR’s moves

MAY 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s not yet clear whether SOCAR is now more downbeat or down-to-earth. The Azerbaijani state oil company has closed representative offices in three countries this week and is selling a stake in a petrochemical complex in Turkey. Cost-cutting, it seems, is high on the agenda as sustained low oil prices have hit revenues and hindered production growth.

But this week SOCAR has shown its bullish side as well. As we report in the Business News BP and SOCAR signed an agreement to jointly develop an offshore oil field. SOCAR also committed to building a new refinery in Georgia, a hub for Azerbaijani oil destined for customers in the West.

On the markets there is no sign that global oil prices, which nudged above $50/barrel for the first time this year on May 26, will shoot up again anytime soon.

SOCAR’s conservative approach to lavish spending on shiny offices around the world and its bullish plans for exploration and refining show that the company believes that the worst times are over, or nearly over, and it’s now time to look forward.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Kazakh minister comment triggers diplomatic row

BISHKEK, MAY 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A comment about Kyrgyz women cleaning lavatories in Moscow by Kazakhstan’s minister of culture, Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, hit a raw nerve with Kyrgyzstan and triggered a diplomatic row.

In comments to media, Mr Mukhamediuly said Kyrgyz women cleaning lavatories in Moscow reflected poorly on Kyrgyzstan.

“Every time I fly to Moscow and other cities I see that young Kyrgyz ladies, our neighbours, are cleaning toilets,” he said. “It hurts me, as I see these young creatures who had to leave Kyrgyzstan because of unemployment and the absence of opportunities.”

Thousands of people leave Kyrgyzstan each year to find work in Russia and send back remittances. It is a system that spans Central Asia.

And both the Kyrgyz government, which sent an official note of protest to the Kazakh embassy, and ordinary Kyrgyz took umbrage at Mr Mukhamediuly’s comments.

In Bishkek Ulukbek, 20, said the comments had been disrespectful. “As a high-rank official, he should not have talked about our migrants,” he said.

Some others, though, felt that the Kazakh minister had made a good point. “I do not think that he was wrong about us, thousands of my fellow citizens have to work in Russia to earn some money,” said Bolot, 42. “We should blame our government and our president as it is their fault.”

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Uzbekistan receives loan from World Bank

MAY 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Bank sent a $20m loan to Uzbekistan to fund the update of the cadastre system, through which the government registers properties. Outdated registers and complicated bureaucratic procedures, as well as rampant corruption and a lack of legal protection for companies, have kept Uzbekistan among the worst countries to do business in.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Georgia to receive pipeline fees

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said that he hopes to receive 1b cubic metres of gas annually as payment in-kind for the transit of Azerbaijani gas through Georgia via the Southern Gas Corridor. Azerbaijan will pump 16b cubic metres of gas through a network of pipelines, called the Southern Gas Corridor, to Europe. The project will be completed in 2019.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Work starts in Georgia on world’s sixth largest hotel

BATUMI/Georgia, MAY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian real estate developer Orbi Group said it has started construction work on a $120m hotel in Batumi called the Twin Tower, a sign that tourism and business on Georgia’s Black Sea coast is possibly rebounding.

The two 45-storey towers will hold 4,500 hotel rooms, making it the sixth largest hotel complex in the world when it is completed by the end of next year.

Batumi is Georgia’s main tourist destination and had been the site of mass redevelopment. The previous government of Mikheil Saakashvili had spent heavily improving Batumi but its fortunes had dived after the election of the Georgian Dream coalition government in 2012.

This lack of favour coupled with an economic downturn triggered by low oil prices stalled many of Batumi’s planned projects.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)