DEC. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian truck and bus producer GAZ said that it sold 30 city buses to Kyrgyzstan for 2.7m euro. It said that the buses were destined for Osh and that they were designed to carry up to 104 passengers.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)f
DEC. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Foreign direct investment into Azerbaijan fell by 5.3% in the first nine months of the year, the Azerbaijani central bank said, more evidence of the country’s sharp economic decline. Oil revenues form the backbone of the Azerbaijani economy. These have collapsed over the past couple of years, mirroring a sharp drop in prices. Oil majors have been less willing, too, to invest in Azerbaijan’s oil sector because of the price fall.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Wison Engineering, a Chinese construction company that specialises in the oil and chemical sectors, said it had been awarded a contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in the Zhambyl region of southern Kazakhstan by Astana Trans Oil, a Kazakh state- linked company. Wison said the deal was part of China’s Belt and Road economic policy to develop trade and transport links through Central Asia. It said the plant would be operational by 2018 but gave no financial details.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
ALMATY, DEC. 21/22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iranian Leader Hassan Rouhani toured Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, a tour that underlines Iran’s ambitions in the region.
Western sanctions on Iran were eased this year, triggering a wave of enthusiasm of a potential return of Western business but, aside from a handful of high-profile deals, this has failed to materialise. Analysts have said that, instead, Iran and Mr Rouhani have turned their focus on Central Asia where they have built up strong business and economic ties over the past few years.
This was highlighted in a statement released by Mr Rouhani’s press team before he left Tehran. He said that Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan formed a vital part of Iran’s trade corridors.
“We will gain access to Europe and the Black Sea through Armenia, and to the northern and eastern countries through Kazakhstan,” he said.
“Also, China is seeking to connect its railway to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran through Kyrgyzstan”.
And positive bilateral relations were on show throughout Mr Rouhani’s trip. Speaking after his meeting in Astana with Mr Rouhani, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev said: “An agreement was reached to strengthen the political influence of the two countries within the framework of international organizations such as the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, SCO.”
The issue of the UN is particularly important as Kazakhstan is starting two years as one of the non-permanent Security Council members.
Prior to landing in Kazakhstan, Mr Rouhani had visited Armenia. It has developed ties based on swapping its gas for Armenia’s electricity.
From Kazakhstan, Mr Rouhani travelled to Bishkek where he received public support from president Almazbek Atambayev for Iranian membership of the Russia and China led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Iran applied to join the group in 2008 but Western sanctions slowed its application. Now those sanctions have been lifted, Iranian membership has been talked of again.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Belarus officially opened its first embassy in Tbilisi, promising to improve ties between the two former Soviet states. Belarus has been increasingly active in bilateral diplomacy with the South Caucasus over the past year.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — German manufacturer Seimens is reportedly eying up extending credit to Turkmenistan to build the TAPI gas pipeline that will run to India across Afghanistan and Pakistan. Media said that the $2.5b loan deal would hinge around Turkmenistan buying Seimens equipment for its compressor stations. Turkmenistan considers the TAPI pipeline deal to be vital for its future economic success.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China Southern Airline is considering buying a 49% stake in Air Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan’s minister of transport, Zhamshitbek Kalilov, told media. The Kyrgyz government had, earlier this year, failed to sell a stake in the company. Any partner would have to upgrade the Air Kyrgyzstan fleet and take on its debt. Kyrgyzstan is looking to raise cash to get it through a sustained economic downturn.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
BISHKEK, DEC. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan cancelled the reintroduction of a law that required all tourists to register with an interior ministry unit within five days of arriving in the country.
The law had proved unpopular with tourists, who didn’t understand the system and felt vulnerable to extortion, and also with businesses whose revenues had been hit.
Kyrgyzstan reintroduced the rule on Nov. 5 but never properly explained why. It was also seen as a step backwards for Kyrgyzstan which had scrapped tourist visas in 2012.
In a direct plea to the government, tourism leaders in the Karakol region of east Kyrgyzstan, popular for skiing and hiking, posted a video explaining the impact on their businesses.
“Tourism in Karakol is one of the main economic activities of the city, owing to which we live and eat,” Jamilya, 29, a owner of local cafe said in the video. “Your law on registration is the absolute opposite to the development of Kyrgyzstan and development of tourism and I ask you to hear the voice of the people and cancel the registration.”
Kyrgyzstan, which is short on natural resources but is renowned for its Alpine scenery, has tried to market itself as an adventure tourism destination. Tourism now accounts for nearly 5% of the country’s GDP.
Azamat Aitbaev, a member of Karakol city parliament and the initiator of the video messages told The Conway Bulletin that tourist numbers were down 70-80% compared to last year.
“December is the most active month in winter tourism, and we have already lost it because of this mandatory registration,” he said.
Under the reinstated rules citizens of Western countries will be able to stay in Kyrgyzstan for 30 days without registering and citizens of other FSU states, and countries with special bilateral agreements, will be able to stay in Kyrgyzstan for up to 90 days without registering.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
ALMATY, DEC. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shrugging off a Romanian investigation into the privatisation in 2003 of its main refinery asset, KMG International, the Black Sea orientated subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy producer Kazmunaigas, reaffirmed its commitment to sell a 51% stake in the company for $680m to China’s CEFC.
If the deal, first put together in May, does go ahead it will be a relief to the Kazakh government which has been trying to raise much needed cash to see it through a steep economic downturn linked to a sharp drop in oil prices.
For China, the 51% stake in KMG International would give it control over the Petromida refinery on Romania’s Black Sea coast near Constanta, which has a refining capacity of 5m tonnes of oil a year. The company also controls hundreds of petrol stations across Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Georgia through the Rompetrol brand.
KMG International’s CEO, Zhanat Tussupbekov, said the financial backing of CEFC would allow the company to expand.
“The strategy of KMG International with its new major shareholder aims at developing major projects, Romania being the business priority,” he said.
“We plan to increase the refining capacity to 10m tonnes of crude per year, to build up to 200 new fuelling points, to develop industrial services in upstream and downstream areas, as well as to build a co-generation plant on Petromidia platform.”
Importantly, though, the deal still needs regulatory approval from the EU, Romania and China.
The original deal for the sale had stalled because of a Romanian investigation into the purchase of Rompetrol, which owned the Petromida refinery, by Dinu Patriciu in 2003 for $760m. He sold the refinery four years later for $1.6 to Kazmunaigas. Patriciu died in 2014. The investigation into the deal doesn’t appear to be concluded.
Kazmunaigas International owns 55% of the company that owns the Petromida refinery. The Romanian government owns the other 45% of Petromida.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
DEC. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s parliament ratified a $55m loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) aimed at developing the country’s tourist sector. Much of the loan has been earmarked for Armenia’s regions.
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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)
