Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Kazakh court imprisons 7 men for terrorism

JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Aktobe, north-west Kazakhstan, sentenced seven men to prison for terrorism related offences. The state prosecutors said that the group had been planning a series of attacks against Russia and Russians. Central Asian governments have become increasingly wary of attacks on their territory and of Islamic radicals using the region as a prime recruiting ground.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Kazakh Central Bank to stress test the sector

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Clearly worried about the solvency of its commercial banks, the Kazakh Central Bank said it intends to stress test the sector in H1 2017. Oleg Smagulov, the deputy chairman of the Kazakh Central Bank, told the kapital.kz website that it wanted to limit banks’ expose to bad debt. Last month it cancelled KazInvestBank’s licence to operate and unnamed sources also told Bloomberg that Kazkomertsbank, the biggest Kazakh bank, may be looking for a government loan.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

EBRD to support power station construction in Georgia

JAN. 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will part-finance a new $14.3m hydropower station on the Lukhuni river in Georgia, media reported. Georgia produces much of its power from hydropower stations. Like its neighbours, Georgia is trying to boost its power generation capacity to keep pace with demand. The new power station will have a capacity of 17MW.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Georgia agrees for gas transit fee with Russia

JAN. 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a major success for Georgian energy minister Kakha Kaladze, Russia will start paying for the right to pump gas across Georgia, scrapping a barter arrangement that had allowed Georgia to keep a 10% share of the gas. Russian officials had resisted the shift to monetary payments but appear to have relented at talks in Geneva. Mr Kaladze did not name the transit price agreed with Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Uzbekistan cancels move to scrap visas

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan cancelled plans to drop visa requirements for tourists only a few weeks after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev surprised people by promising to open up the notoriously hard-to-enter country.

The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website reported that Uzbekistan’s official legislation website had published a document delaying by four years the introduction of the visa-free regime for tourists. The document had been signed Mr Mirziyoyev.

In December he had said that tourists from Western countries would be allowed to enter the country for up to 30 days without a visa.

Kate Mallinson, a London-based Central Asia analyst, said that the change of plan on the tourists’ visa- free regime hinted at a power struggle within the Uzbek system.

“The Uzbek government’s volte face on allowing visa free entry highlights the continuing leverage of the hidden state and all-powerful security services, the SNB,” she said.

“The SNB fiercely scrutinises entry of foreigners into the country and will have challenged this move which would have significantly undermined its control.”

Uzbekistan has one of the most tightly controlled visa regimes in the world.

Mr Mirziyoyev’s move to relax it appeared linked to the increased openness after the death in September of Pres. Islam Karimov. Karimov had ruled since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and was regarded by many as a harsh autocrat.

Since taking over as president, Mr Mirziyoyev has improved ties with Uzbekistan’s neighbours and promised to improve the country’s business environment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Georgia sends first wool exports to Britain

TBILISI, JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia has started shipping wool to Britain, media reported, an important first step towards integrating its exports into the EU.

The Georgian Wool Company said it had exported 22 tonnes of wool to Britain in December and that it was preparing a second batch of 45 tonnes for export in January.

“Our British partners were satisfied with the first test shipment and placed an additional order,” Zaur Yuliev, a director at the Georgian Wool Company told Agenda.ge.

The deal is important to Georgia because it is the first animal product export to the EU. Georgia received permission to export wool to the EU a year ago and sees it as an important new market.

In July 2016 it signed an Association Agreement with the EU that was primarily aimed at helping it to export fruit, vegetable and other animal products to the EU. Georgian honey has been touted as a potentially major export.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Wine exports grow in Georgia

JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia exported 50m bottles of wine last year, media reported quoting the National Wine Agency, a 38% increase on 2015 exports. Russia bought more than half of Georgia’s wine exports, highlighting just how important it is as a market. The next biggest importers of Georgian wine were Ukraine and China. China doubled its imports of Georgian wine to 5m bottles.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Suspected arsonists torch Muslim cultural centre in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge

TBILISI, JAN. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian investigators travelled to Duisi, the largest village in Georgia’s predominantly Muslim Pankisi Gorge, to inspect a suspected arson that damaged a Culture House run by the Kakheti Regional Development Fund (KRDF) earlier this month.

KRDF members said that jerry cans with fuel and oil were found inside the building and that the fire was an arson attempt.

The fire, sources said, highlights increased tension in the Pankisi Gorge between reactionary Islamists and more liberal thinkers. The IS extremist group has successfully recruited men to join their forces in Syria from the Pankisi Gorge.

Iza Bekauri, spokesperson for KRDF said that the centre has previously been threatened.

“There have been threats that we should get out of the Gorge. They said our work here in this place is unacceptable and we should leave,” media quoted her as saying.

The KRDF is a government sponsored programme that aims to help refugees in the Pankisi Gorge integrate. These are mainly ethnic Chechens who escaped from fighting in Russia’s North Caucasus in the early 2000s.

As well as providing legal assistance to Chechen refugees, the the community centre promotes educational and recreational activities for both youths and women.

A KRDF employee who wanted to remain anonymous told The Conway Bulletin that some radical elements in the Pankisi Gorge were against women using the centre.

“They like our educational activities but they don’t like our cultural events, women engagement and Women Council’s work,” he said.

Levani, a local dentist, said that a lack of education was the problem.

“Some young men don’t like the idea of women being more independent. Chechens have been living there for long time and they love Georgia. The problem is Pankisi is a remote and isolated part of our country. The problem is not Islam, the problem is limited education”, he said.

The KRDF has said it will consider suspending its activities if the area is deemed unsafe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Inflation slows in Kazakhstan

JAN. 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Annualised inflation in Kazakhstan slowed to 8.5% in 2016, down from 13.6% in 2015, the country’s statistics committee said. The slow- down will be a relief to the Central Bank as it will give it increased room to use its monetary policy levers to try and induce more economic activity. The government’s inflation target has been 6-8%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Kazakhstan Caspian pipeline exports increase

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Exports via the Caspian Pipeline, which pumps oil from western Kazakhstan, around the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, rose by 4% in 2016, data released by the pipeline’s owner the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) showed. CPC’s main client is the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan. CPC’s biggest shareholders are Russia with a 24% stake, Kazakhstan with a 20.75% stake and Chevron with a 15% stake.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)