JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology, a Chinese company, won a tender at the end of 2016 to build a solar panel field in southern Uzbekistan, state-run Uzbekenergo told the Trend news agency. Uzbekistan has been looking to boost its renewable energy capacity and has been increasingly turning to solar power.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 15/16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev led a high-level delegation to Dubai to meet with various UAE leaders. Mr Nazarbayev and the Kazakh government have increasingly said that they want to extend ties with the Gulf States. Various memorandums proclaiming strong bilateral relations were signed.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The trial for extortion of Bigeldy Gabdullin, editor of the Central Asia Monitor newspaper, began in Astana. Mr Gabdullin has admitted to charges that he blackmailed officials into paying him bribes not to publish negative stories. His supporters have said that the confession was extracted under duress and that the 61-year-old was hoping that by agreeing to the confession he will be given a light sentence.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
TBILISI, JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — China underlined its ambitions to boost its presence in the South Caucasus by signing a deal with the Georgian government that could lead it to buying up 75% of the Poti Special Industrial Zone on the Black Sea coast.
Poti is the main entry and exit points into and out of Georgia for goods. It is majority owned by APM, a unit of Maersk Group.
Owning a majority stake in the Poti Special Industrial Zone would be a massive boost for China and would give it a major presence on the Black Sea for the first time.
A memorandum of understanding was signed by the Georgian government and CEFC China Energy Company Limited at a ceremony in Tbilisi attended by Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili.
Georgian media spun the deal as part of China’s One Belt, One Road project which aims to revive the Silk Road across Central Asia between China and Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s GDP shrank by 3.8% in 2016, the country’s statistics committee said, confirming predictions of a heavy recession in the oil-dependent economy. The data means that, under pressure from low oil prices and a recession in Russia, Azerbaijan’s economy was one of the worst performing economies in the world last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan said it wanted to build an electricity transmission line alongside the so-called TAPI gas pipeline that, if it all goes to plan, will pump Turkmen gas to Pakistan and India, across Afghanistan, potentially challenging the World Bank-backed CASA-1000 project which will supply Pakistan with electricity generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Turkmenistan has been building gas-fuelled power stations and wants to become known for its electricity, and gas, exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
ALMATY, JAN. 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — At least 400 oil workers in western Kazakhstan have started a hunger strike against the forced closure of the country’s trade union umbrella body, media reported.
The hunger strikers are, mainly, workers at the Kalamkas and Zhetybai oil fields in Mangistau region owned by the state-run Mangistau- munaigas. This is near to Zhanaozen where, in 2011, police shot dead at least 15 striking oil workers.
The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website reported that demonstrators were demanding that the government overturns a decision by a court in Shymkent to disband the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan because it hadn’t been
properly registered at its inception. This is the largest workers’ union in the country and analysts suspected that the Kazakh authorities were increasingly wary and worried about the power that it had accumulated.
Since 2011, the authorities in Kazakhstan have generally bent to accommodate the unions, preferring to dodge confrontation.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government wants to force people who leave comments on the internet to registered first using their real names, phone numbers and email address, a move that free speech activists said is just another way of cracking down on dissenters. The Eurasianet website quoted Mikhail Komissarov, deputy head of the communications and information technology committee, as saying that the new law was designed to improve transparency online.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian Healthcare, part-owned by Bank of Georgia, has been drawing plaudits. Since its debut on the London Stock exchange in November 2015, the group’s share price has more than doubled to 350p from 170p.
But now analysts are predicting further growth. Stock market analysts throughout 2016 stuck a buy rating on Georgia Healthcare, a valuation that they have stuck with this year. This rating is helped by positive moves from the company itself, including buying the ABC pharmacy at the start of the year. This is the fourth largest pharmacy group in Georgia.
And this, clearly, means well for the company in 2017, according to Georgian Healthcare CEO Nikoloz Gamkrelidze.
“This further consolidates GHG’s position as the leading integrated player in the Georgian healthcare ecosystem, and we look forward to delivering on the expected synergies and targeted growth strategy for the enhanced pharma business,” he was quoted as saying after the deal.
Other pharma and healthcare groups in the region have failed to gain much traction but Georgian Healthcare appears set for another decent 2017.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company, Socar, said that it was going to raise the price it charges consumers for high octane Super Euro 98 petrol to 1.05 manat per litre from 0.95 manat per litre. Azerbaijan imports Super Euro 98 petrol. The sliding value of the manat versus the US dollar means that the cost of imports has increased.
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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)
