Category Archives: Uncategorised

Tajik Air buys numbers of planes from Airbus

MARCH 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost the status of state- owned Tajik Air, Tajikistan’s deputy PM Azim Ibrohim said that the government had bought a number of planes from Europe’s Airbus. State-owned Tajik Air and privately-owned Somon Air are the only two airlines in the country and both use Boeing-made aircrafts. Countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been using airlines to promote their national brands.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Turkish developer opens new hotel in Georgian capital

MARCH 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish real estate developer Mehmet Surkit opened a new luxury boutique hotel in central Tbilisi. In a statement, Mr Surkit said the hotel had cost 12m lari ($5.3m). Hotel groups have been expanding rapidly in Tbilisi. The city is also promoting itself as a tourist and business destination.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Silk Way West in Azerbaijan signs agreement with Malaysian Cargo

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Silk Way West Airlines, a private freight air carrier based in Azerbaijan, signed an agreement with Malaysia Airlines Cargo that will allow them to mutually use their aircraft fleet. Earlier in January, Silk Way West Airlines signed an agreement with the Komatsu airport in Japan to open a new route. The Silk Way Group, a large industrial conglomerate, owns Silk Way West Airlines.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Air Astana to launch flights to NYC

MARCH 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s flagship carrier Air Astana said it is exploring opening a route to the US by the beginning of 2017. Air Astana, which is half owned by the Kazakh government and half by BAE Systems, is also looking to open flights to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Kazakhstan’s gas distributor loses revenue

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s gas distributor Kaz- TransGas Aimak lost around 124b tenge ($365m) in 2015 selling gas on the domestic market because the government insisted that it keeps prices down. “Every year we incur losses because the wholesale price is kept below production and transport cost, but we make up for the losses in other departments, such as transit and exports,” the company’s CEO Ibulla Serdiyev said in a statement. KazTransGas Aimak is a subsidiary of state-owned Kazmunaigas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Azerbaijan’s SOFAZ to spend big

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to set SOFAZ’s spending at 10.7b manats ($6.5m) and revenues at 4.6b manats ($2.8b) for 2016, meaning that the fund will post a loss for the second consecutive year. Assets held by SOFAZ, Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund, dropped by 9.5% in 2015 to $33.6b because it paid around 8b manats ($5.16b) into the state budget to help the country weather the economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Armenia’s power production rises

MARCH 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s electricity production grew by almost 9% in February compared to the same period last year, pushed up again by the proliferation of small hydropower stations. For the first two months of 2016, electricity generation grew by 7% to 1.3b kWh. The Metsamor nuclear power plant accounted for 42% of the total power generation in the country. Power generation has become big business in the South Caucasus, with countries trying to meet a jump in demand.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Kazakh ministries ban smart phones

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Government ministries in Kazakhstan have banned smart phones from buildings to try and stop official documents being leaked. The ban, apparently, was to try and stop officials from photographing documents with their smart phone and then sending them on to people using WhatsApp. Kazakhstan has launched a number of drives over the past few years to try and professionalise its civil service.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Les Copains opens shop in Kazakhstan

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Italian retailer Les Copains, luxury handbags, opened its first shop in Kazakhstan. The new boutique will be located in the Esentai Mall, Almaty’s luxury shopping centre. Earlier, the company had opened shops in Moscow. Les Copains said it is looking to expand further in Asia and in the former Soviet Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Armenia receives Russian PM

MARCH 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan hinted that a final decision on the long-running negotiations with Russia over gas prices would be made when Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev visits Yerevan next month. Armenia imports all its gas from Russia, one of its most important allies, and has asked for a cut in price to help it cope with an economic downturn. Russia has agreed a cut but not as drastic as Armenia had wanted.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)