Category Archives: Uncategorised

Sweden starts Uzbek murder trial

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A trial has started in Sweden of a man accused of attempting to murder Obidkhon Qori Nazarov, an Uzbek dissident, in 2012. Yury Zhukovsky is accused of shooting Mr Nazarov twice in the head outside his apartment. In an interview with Eurasianet, the Swedish prosecutor said that he thought Mr Zhukovsky was linked to the Uzbek authorities. Mr Nazarov had fled Uzbekistan in 2006 after the Uzbek authorities accused him of trying to plot a coup.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Rosneft buys into Armenia

NOV. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rosneft, the Russian oil and gas company, bought Armenia’s Petrol Market chain of petrol stations for $40m, media reported, extending Russian influence over the country. Media reported that the deal was made in August but only reported now.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

EU to give Georgia grant

NOV. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EU is preparing to give Georgia a 100m euro grant to help its public administration, farming and rural development sectors improve and move towards European standards, the EU commissioner for enlargement, Johannes Hahn, said on a trip to Tbilisi. Georgia wants to eventually join the EU.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Uzbekistan reduces child cotton pickers

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A report by the UN’s International Labour Office (ILO) said the use of child labour to pick cotton in Uzbekistan has reduced although it hasn’t been totally eradicated.

The ILO’s findings are important because Uzbekistan has come under growing criticism for its use of children, medical staff and teachers for picking cotton. Cotton is one of Uzbekistan’s biggest exports, although many Western companies have stopped buying Uzbek cotton.

“The use of children in the cotton harvest has become rare and sporadic,” the ILO said in its report. “Authorities have taken a range of measures to reduce the incidence of child labour and make it socially unacceptable.”

It said that a campaign to stop teachers and medics being used to pick cotton has been less successful.

Activists rank Uzbekistan as one of the worst countries in the world for upholding human rights.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Georgia strengthens border security

NOV. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s security services said it had strengthened its border controls after at least 130 people were killed in Paris earlier this month by so- called Islamic radicals. Recruiters sending people to IS in Syria have used Georgia as a transit country to access east Turkey.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Tajikistan extends website blocks

NOV. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s parliament passed a law which will make it legal for the authorities to switch off the internet during counterterrorism operations. The Tajik authorities regularly block access to social media and news websites which they say promote Islamic extremism, irritating free speech campaigners.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

VimpelCom close to deal due to Uzbek bribery

NOV. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian telecoms company VimpelCom could be close to a $775m settlement with a US court that accused it of paying bribes to access mobile licences in Uzbekistan, Bloomberg reported. Earlier in November, the company set aside $900m for settlement costs. VimpelCom representatives declined to comment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Markets: De-dollarisation challenge

NOV. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The share of foreign currency-denominated deposits in Kazakhstan increased from 55.5% in January 2015 to 65.9% at the end of October, according to Central Bank chief Daniyar Akishev.

The devaluation of the tenge vis-à- vis the US dollar motivated people to keep their savings in US dollars to preserve the value.

One ofMr Akishev’s main tasks is to restore confidence in the tenge, after the currency lost 40% of its value over the summer. The 65.9% mark will beMr Akishev’s starting point, the ratio when he took office after his predecessor Kairat Kelimbetov was sacked on Nov. 2. New regulations restricting mortgage loans in foreign currencies might help reduce dollarisation, but a new wave of non-performing loans will soon hit the banking sector. A painful reminder of the 2008/9 financial crisis.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Kyrgyz prison chief hangs

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The warden in charge of the jail from which nine prisoners escaped last month has been found hanged in his cell, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Imankul Teltaev had been in pre-trial detention waiting for this trial on charges linked to the mass escape.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Turkmen asks Iran to collaborate on Caspian issues

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Tehran, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov proposed to his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, that the states bordering the Caspian Sea hold a high-level conference to discuss boosting the capacity of their ports. Turkmenistan is leading moves to increase trade around the Caspian Sea.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)