NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -The US-funded RFE/RL reported that a court sentenced an Uzbek man to jail for being a member of IS. IS has been stepping up its activities in Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Toronto-based Condor Petroleum said in its third quarter results that it had had to abandon an exploration well it had drilled in the Zharkamys West field in western Kazakhstan after it was found to be dry. Condor suspended production in Kazakhstan earlier this year because oil prices were too low to turn a profit.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna said that it would sell stakes in two of its power related companies, its nuclear agency Kazatomprom and its power holding company Samruk-Energo, within a year, part of a wide-scale IPO of state- owned companies.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — KAZ Minerals, the Kazakh copper producer, plans to build two hydro- metallurgical processing plants in Zhezkazgan, central Kazakhstan, to extract more copper from low value, media reported. The combined project will cost around $30m. KAZ Minerals is one of Kazakhstan’s most important companies and has been linked to the elite.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan does not have a complaint against the Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), which operates the oil and gas field, and does not intend to levy a fine against it, energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik said. His intervention was intended to smack down a report by Bloomberg that the energy ministry was preparing a £2b fine against KPO.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US fast food company Wendy’s opened a new restaurant in central Tbilisi, the largest in the world. Spread over three floors, the restaurant is part of a new strategy by Wendy’s to develop a concentrated presence in a handful of countries rather than spread too thinly across several different countries. In Georgia, Wissol Group own the Wendy’s franchise.Fast-food brands have earmarked Georgia as a growth market.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s economy grew by only 1% in the first 10 months of the year, economy minister Yerbolat Dosayev told a government meeting, far below even the more pessimistic estimates of a year ago. Mr Dosayev said industry had contracted by 2.2%.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a potentially important move for regional trade links, Azerbaijan invited Iran to use its transport hub in the Kazakh port city of Aktau as a launch-pad to send its products across Central Asia. Iran is looking to bolster trade links across the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Tajikistan reported that the Russian military had started to pull out of its base in Kulyab, near the border with Afghanistan, a potentially destabilising move in a fragile border region.
There was no explanation as to why the Russian military would pull out of Kulyab but relations have become increasingly strained with locals.
Russian soldiers have been accused of getting drunk and fighting with locals as well as not paying local workers their full salaries, an accusation the Russian base has refuted.
Still, whatever the underlying reason for the withdrawal, Kulyab is one of three bases that Russia uses in Tajikistan and quitting it will change the dynamics.
Russia has 7,000 soldiers stationed in Tajikistan, its largest deployment outside Russia.
It has warned that Taliban activity in northern Afghanistan could threaten Central Asia and encouraged the region’s governments to strengthen their militaries.
The Kremlin, though, has ruled out taking back responsibility for patrolling Central Asia’s borders.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Georgia in October were 27% lower, at $90m, than during the same month in 2014, the Central Bank reported, an indication of the regional economic malaise. Remittances from Russia had nearly halved.
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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)
