Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Kazakh bank appoints new CEO

DEC. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — ForteBank, one of the biggest banks in Kazakhstan, appointed Magzhan Auezov, who had been CEO of Kazkommertzbank for one year until mid-April, as its new CEO. Mr Auezov, a career banker, was brought into Kazkommertzbank to oversee its merger with BTA Bank. He left Kazkommterzbank, now rebranded as QazQom, in April to head the local banking lobby group. As well as taking over as CEO of ForteBank, Mr Auezov has also been made the CEO of Kassa Nova Bank. Both banks are majority owned by Bulat Utemuratov, considered to be close to Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Georgia’s Central Bank props up lari

DEC. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Central Bank sold $40m to try to stem a drop in the value of the lari, its first currency intervention since Oct. 12. In the past three months, the lari has lost around 19% of its value against the US dollar, worsening an already difficult economic outlook. In 2016, Georgia has sold $280m. The Central Bank blamed a strengthening US dollar for the lari slide.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

S. Korea increases loan to Uzbekistan

DEC. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a trip to Seoul, Uzbek deputy PM Rustam Azimov met with his South Korean counterpart and agreed an increase in an economic loan to Uzbekistan from South Korea to $400m from $250m. The loan has been specifically earmarked to build a new passenger terminal at Tashkent airport and to build a new data centre. South Korea has built up links with Uzbekistan through business deals.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Kazakh presenter resigns after fake news

DEC. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ruslan Smykov, a presenter with the Kazakh TV news channel First Channel Eurasia, resigned after he broadcast a fake news interview with a Russian TV host. It’s unclear why Mr Smykov broadcast the fake interview but the incident does highlight the weak editorial control in the Kazakh media.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR signs deal with Lotos

DEC. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — SOCAR Trading, part of the Azerbaijani state-owned energy company, has agreed to send crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquified natural gas (LNG) to Poland’s Lotos Oil, media reported. Lotos Oil is listed on the Warsaw stock exchange and is the country’s second largest oil producer. This year it also bought 2m barrels of crude oil from Iran.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Kazakh presenter resigns after fake news

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Kyrgyzstan deal to sell 4,000 donkeys to China sparks anger from animal rights activists

BISHKEK, DEC. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz plans to export 4,000 donkeys to China have angered animal rights protesters who have said that the animals are transported in inhumane conditions and are often killed for gelatin extracted from their skins which is then used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The BBC reported that Chinese importers bought the donkeys from a village near Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan for an estimated 3,000-4,000 soms ($43-57) per donkey.

China is a major importer of donkeys. It sources many from Africa.

The donkeys are often used to work the land but are also butchered for their skins. Chinese medicine producers want the gelatin from the donkeys’ skins.

A couple of years ago, donkey meat was discarded in Kyrgyzstan, after hundreds of donkeys had been killed and skinned.

Animal rights activists want the export of donkeys to China to be stopped or at least regulated. Business leaders in the region though said that the donkey trade had become a profitable export for poor farmers.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Georgian police arrests two for pyramid scheme

DEC. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Georgia arrested two businessmen for using an alleged pyramid scheme to steal $25m. A court said that Tamaz Lobhzanidze and Merab Peradze had used the company Ltd Georgia to persuade hundreds of small investors to give them loans of between $15,000 and $100,000. They promised dividends of 33% and initially paid out before stopping the flow of cash. Mr Lobhzanidze and Mr Peradze deny the charges.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Court jails Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan financier

DEC. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in the United States sentenced Irfan Demirtas, reported to be a joint Dutch and Turkish national, to seven years in prison for raising funds for the radical group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Demirtas was arrested in Germany last year and extradited to the US. The IMU is considered a terrorist group and has been fighting US-led forces in Afghanistan. It was formed in the 1990s in Uzbekistan and has previously targeted Tashkent with bombs.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Radisson Red to open in Georgia

DEC. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rezidor Hotel Group, which operates the Radisson brand of hotels, said that it planned to open a 100-room Radisson Red hotel in Tbilisi by 2019. Radisson Red, only released this year, is the Rezidor’s mid-range offering, pitched slightly below the Radisson Blue brand but above Park Inn. It’s another indication that the Georgian economy is picking up slightly.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)f