Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

EU criticises Azerbaijan over human rights

DEC. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EU and human rights groups criticised Azerbaijan for sentencing to 10 years two anti-government activists who said they were tortured by police. The day before, a court had sentenced Bayram Mammadov and Giyas Ibrahimov on drug related charges. They were detained earlier this year for graffiting anti-government slogans on a statue of former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev. The drug-related charges were added later and their supporters say they have been made up to increase prison sentences.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Trump cancels hotel deal with Azerbaijan

DEC. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — US President-elect Donald Trump’s business cancelled a licensing deal it had made in Azerbaijan, media reported. Mr Trump had been criticised during the US presidential campaign for making a deal to lend his name to a hotel development project in Baku linked to senior members of the Azerbaijani elite who had previously been accused of money laundering.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Comment: Georgia moves towards visa-free EU access, writes Bernardi

DEC. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian Dream coalition government in Georgia stands on the brink of a great victory. It may have been former President Mikheil Saakashvili who set the ball rolling for more integration with the EU for Georgia but he has been vanquished by the Georgian Dream. To the victor the spoils.

Now — once the mechanism to kick out any countries whose citizens abuse the system has been approved, and this EU sources say is a mere formality — Georgians holding biometric passports will be able to enter the 26-country Schengen area for up to 90 days.

By early next year Georgians will be able to avoid the tiring, often boring and sometimes humiliating visa process. Instead they’ll be able to confidently stroll up to immigration queues handover their passport, flash a smile and then skip over into the EU.

And good for them.

This hasn’t been an easy or even straight forward process. There have been plenty of times when the EU could have pulled the process. Instead both the EU and Georgia have stuck to the script. Just. The big wobble was created by the Syria refugee crisis. Suddenly, once the impact of hundreds of thousands of hungry and impoverished refugees had been absorbed by Europe, and Germany in particular, the EU was less keen to allow visa-free access to Georgia, and also to Ukraine as it happens.

Of course though, the perceived threat of Georgian people flows was overblown. There are only 4m people in Georgia and they are not all involved in organised crime, as the German government seemed to imply at one point. The vast majority also don’t want to migrate to Europe. They just want to be treated as equals.

Perhaps, though, geopolitical forces also propelled the process along again. With Russia seemingly dominant in eastern Ukraine and in the Middle East, the EU may have wanted to remind the Kremlin that soft power and the slow pull of European values can be influential. By agreeing to grant Georgia, and Ukraine, visa-free access to the Schengen area, the EU is making itself relevant.

Make no mistake, Georgia’s westward European trajectory is as geopolitically charged as it ever was.

By Giulia Bernardi, The Conway Bulletin’s Tbilisi correspondent

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Israel to build poultry plant in Kazakhstan

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Israeli poultry processing company BAL International said it will build a new food chain plant in Kazakhstan. The company, which owns two factories in Israel, plans to install a new production line in the Almaty region. Its business will be mostly geared towards exports to China. The company also plans to kick-start a mutton export line from Kazakhstan to Israel. The deal was signed during Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Astana.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Kyrgyzstan passes referendum that extends powers of PM and bans same-sex marriage

BISHKEK, DEC. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to change the country’s constitution and shift power from the president’s office to the PM.

The referendum was controversial because opposition groups said that it was designed to empower current president Almazbek Atambayev who has to stand down next year. They accused him of eyeing up a strengthened PM’s office as his next role.

Under the changes the PM will be able to sack cabinet ministers and heads of local administrative regions and the president will no longer chair the Kyrgyz defence council. The referendum also banned same-sex marriage, angering gay rights groups.

Around 80% of the vote was cast in favour of the referendum proposals. Vote turnout was around 42% and one senior Western diplomat told The Conway Bulletin that the referendum only gained enough momentum because officials had cajoled people living in new villages that have sprung up on the outskirts of Bishkek, the capital, into voting for the proposals.

Even so, there was plenty of grumbling too about foul play and vote stuffing.

Nazira, 24, an independent observer said: “Some political parties’ representatives were standing at the polling station entrance, talking to voters and offering them up to 3,000 som ($30) for their vote.”

This is the third referendum in Central Asia this year.

Tajiks voted to extend the length of presidential terms and in Turkmenistan they scrapped a limit on the number of terms a president can remain in power. Across the Caspian Sea, in Azerbaijan a referendum was used to lengthen a presidential term.

In an election run alongside the referendum, people in Bishkek voted to retain the Social Democrats as their city government, although with a reduced number of seats.

The Social Democrats, the party of President Atambayev, won 13 seats in the Bishkek city election, just ahead of Ata Jurt with 12 seats. The other 20 seats were split between Onuguu-Progress, Mekenim Kyrgyzstan and Kyrgyzstan parties.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

FDI in Georgia rises by 5%

DEC. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Foreign direct investment in Georgia, vital for its economy, was 5% higher in the first nine months of 2016 compared to 2015, the country’s statistics agency said. Total investment for Jan — Oct 2016 was $1.3b. The transport and communications sector attracted the most investment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

WB cuts growth targets in Armenia

DEC. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Bank revised down its growth estimates for Armenia to 0.4% from 2.8% earlier this year because of a sharp economic contraction in the past six months. Gohar Gyulumyan, the World Bank’s senior economist in Armenia, said that growth had been strong in the first half of the year but had fallen off since July. Growth in 2016 would be 2-2.5%, she said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Tajikistan sells fertiliser producer to China

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik parliament ratified an earlier agreement on the sale of Tajik Azot, a fertiliser producer, to China’s Henan Zhong Holding. The Chinese side, which will hold a 51% stake, pledged a $360m investment to modernise the plant. The Tajik government will retain 30% of the profits. In 2014, the government seized Tajik Azot, previously owned by Ukrainian businessman Dmitro Firtash, after Firtash was arrested in Vienna. China has extended its influence over Tajik business this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Kazakhstan-based CAM director’s shares increase

DEC. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Central Asia Metals said that its deputy chairman Nigel Hurst-Brown had been given 215,000 ordinary shares from an unnamed shareholder, increasing his shareholding to 0.81%. The transaction was completed at no cost. With a stake of 19%, Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev is Central Asia Metals’ largest shareholder.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

KAZ Minerals gets funding

DEC. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed copper miner KAZ Minerals said it had been given a $300m loan from state-owned Kazakhstan Development Bank to fund the development of the Aktogay mine in eastern Kazakhstan. The loan will have a maturity of 8-1/2 years. At a press conference, Oleg Novachuk, the company’s chairman, said that the total debt of the company totalled around $2.5b.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)