Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Uzbek president to visit China

APRIL 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will travel to China in mid-May his aides told media. Since taking over as president in September 2016 from Islam Karimov who died of a heart attack, Mr Mirziyoyev has been on a charm offensive to boost relations with his neighbours. China is a critical influence on Central Asia and an important ally for Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Kazakh language clubs thrive as people explore national heritage

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ALMATY, APRIL 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In Kazakhstan’s cities, where Russian was once the dominant language, Kazakh language clubs are increasingly popular.

Alina Achilova, a student at the International Information Technologies University in Almaty, helped set up the Qazaqsha club three years ago. Based in a museum for national instruments, the club has broad appeal, attracting students, professionals and the retired. What they share, Ms Achilova said, was Russian as their first language and a desire to explore their own cultural heritage.

“I had many friends of different ethnicities and native Kazakhs who couldn’t speak or understand Kazakh language and would always ask me for help,” she said. “In Almaty I couldn’t find any places for them to learn Kazakh and thought it’d be good to open such a place.”

Language has once again been thrust into the political spotlight in Kazakhstan. President Nursultan Nazarbayev said this month that he wants to switch Kazakh to the Latin alphabet from Cyrillic to broaden its appeal and to identify it more closely with other Turkic languages.

Since independence from the Soviet Union he has worked on building the cultural identity of Kazakhstan, promoting national heroes, cultural and language. Kazakh has grown in popularity and in Almaty it is far more widely spoken now than it was even a decade ago.

Some analysts have accused Mr Nazarbayev of trying to airbrush Russian and the Cyrillic alphabet out of Kazakhstan, but it is still an official language, still widely spoken in business and politics and is the main language in the north of the country.

Still, even among Kazakh’s supporter base, there are people who question whether the switch to Latin is such a good idea.

“I think it will be very long, expensive and problematic process,” said Yerke Maratkyzy, at Qazaqsha club.

Turkish is written in Latin, as is Uzbek, although in Kyrgyzstan, the Cyrillic imposed by the Soviets in the 1920s is still used, like in Kazakhstan. Before that, both Kazakh and Kyrgyz had been written in Arabic script.

For Erden Zikibay, a volunteer at another Kazakh language club called Bas Quso, the switch to Latin is a positive step.

“It will help bring together Kazakh people and Kazakhstani people to the Turkic and Western worlds, and increase popularity and prestige of Kazakh language inside Kazakhstan.”

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

India wants to boost cotton imports from Kazakhstan

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APRIL 20/21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in the south Kazakh city of Shymkent, Kazakh and Indian officials pledged to increase cooperation in the cotton trade. Indian businessmen said that they wanted to increase the supply of cotton from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has been trying to develop its cotton sector over the past few years in a drive to move away from rely too heavily on the oil and gas sector.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Kazatomprom not impacted by bankruptcy, says agency

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APRIL 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s nuclear agency, said that it wouldn’t be affected by the bankruptcy last month of Toshiba’s US unit Westinghouse Electric because it had organised an option to sell its 10% stake back to Toshiba at the price it bought it for. Kazatomprom, the world’s biggest uranium miner, bought a 10% stake in Westinghouse in 2007 for $540m. Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy last month after cost overruns at four nuclear reactors it was building in the US.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

ADB loans $80m for rail upgrade in Uzbekistan

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APRIL 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved an $80m loan earmarked for the electrification of a 145km stretch of railway in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley. Uzbekistan has been attracting more lending and investment from international financial institutions since Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as president in September last year.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Wizz Air numbers to Georgia rocket

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APRIL 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Wizz Air, the Budapest-based low- cost airline, said that it had carried 100,000 people to Georgia in the first six months it operated flights to the Georgian city of Kutaisi. It also said that passenger numbers had risen by 200% in the first quarter of 2017. Wizz Air open its route from Kutaisi to Warsaw in September 2016 . This year it also expects to start operating a route between Kutaisi and London Luton airport. Air passenger numbers travelling to and from Georgia have rocketed leading international airlines to increase flights or set up new routes to either Kutaisi or Tbilisi.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Currencies: Kazakh tenge and Azerbaijani manat

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APRIL 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Softer oil prices have pushed down the value of the Kazakh tenge and the Azerbaijani manat. The tenge is now trading at 313.8/$1, its lowest value since March and the manat is trading at 1.665/$1, a two week low.

Oil has come off a high on April 11 of $56.23/barrel to be trading at around the $51/barrel mark. The main driver of the dip in oil prices is geopolitical concerns over US intervention in Syria and the spike in tension around the Korean peninsular. Both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are price takers and will have to settle for whatever the geopolitical machinations hand them.

On the equities front, it has been a very good fortnight for TBC Bank. It has ragreed a $100m loan from the EBRD to implement the so- called Deep and Comprehensive Trade Agreement with the EU. This is designed to boost trade between Georgia and the EU. TBC Bank’s share price has risen by around 20% this year and analysts are positive.

“Looking ahead, TBC Bank is expected to record a rise in its bottom line of 8% this year, followed by further growth of 14% next year,” said share analyst The Motley Fool. “When combined with its relatively low P/E ratio, this puts it on a PEG ratio of only 0.8. This suggests that more share price growth could be ahead for the company.”

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Uzbek authorities close internet cafes

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APRIL 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s security services raided internet cafes across the country in an apparent attempt to clampdown on extremist networks, the Eurasianet website reported. Eyewitnesses said that it looked as if the security services were searching through log books and databases looking for signs that extremists had been using internet cafes to spread propaganda. Central Asian governments are under pressure to do more to hit extremist networks after an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz were accused of attacks in Istanbul and St Petersburg this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Kazakhstan to close Radiotochka

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APRIL 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Radiotochka, one of the few remaining independent media outlets in Kazakhstan, will close because of a combination of financial and political pressure. Last year its editor, Bigeldy Gabdullin, was arrested for extorting bribes from officials. His deputy editor fled the country shortly afterwards.

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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)f

Armenian boosts cheese-making

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APRIL 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Spayka, an Armenian industrial and transport conglomerate with strong links to the elite, said that it intends to boost its food manufacturing department with a $70m investment in cheese-making. Specifically, Spayka said that it planned to create 300 jobs and export cheese to other countries in the South Caucasus and to Russia. Armenia is looking for ways to boost its economy after a sharp downturn in 2014-16.

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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)