Category Archives: Uncategorised

Uzbekistan looks to European companies for rail upgrade

NOV. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan wants to upgrade its railway system and it has turned to European companies for the technology and the know-how.

Temir Yollari, Uzbekistan’s state-owned railway company, signed a €38m ($41m) deal with Spanish train manufacturer Talgo to buy two high-speed electric trains.

The new AVE 250 trains will be delivered in 2017. Temir Yollari is already using two Talgo trains, purchased in 2009, for its Tashkent-Samarkand route, opened in 2011.

The Uzbek government is spending around $400m to complete the rail link by 2016 — a potential windfall for European and other western companies looking for deals in the region.

Once completed, the railway line will half the travel time from Tashkent to Bukhara to around 3-1/2 hours.

In another deal struck this week, Temir Yollari signed a memorandum with French company Alstom to establish a production line for asynchronous traction motors, an advanced electric train engine, which Uzbekistan intends to use on new locomotives.

The asynchronous traction technology has not yet been introduced in the former Soviet Union.

“We appreciate the opportunity to work in Uzbekistan’s attractive investment environment and see this project as mutually beneficial for the parties [and] as the first step in the

development of Alstom’s long partnership with the country,” said Martin Vaujour, VP for Alstom CIS.

On paper, Uzbekistan is improving its legislation. The latest World Bank “Doing Business” ranking praised Uzbekistan for its reforms in the past two years. But it is still regarded as a difficult place. Corruption, bureaucracy and asset grabs by the state have all scarred investors.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Telenor suspends execs involved in Uzbek bribe

NOV. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Norwegian telecoms company Telenor said it had suspended four executives, including COO Richard Olva Aa, while an investigation into alleged bribe paying by VimpelCom in Uzbekistan continues. Telenor owns 33% of VimpelCom.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

EU-Armenia to conclude deal

NOV. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Final negotiations between the EU and Armenia over a deal to replace a failed 2013 association agreement should be concluded by the end of the year, Karen Nazaryan, deputy Armenian foreign minister said. The deal is important as it increases EU interaction with Armenia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Kyrgyzstan ditches energy ministry

NOV. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan disbanded its energy ministry and reinvented it as a holding company under the ministry of environment. It will hold all the government’s stakes in its various energy projects. The reasons for the transformation have not been made clear.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Armania increases electricity exports

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia wants to increase exports of electricity, natural resources minister, Levon Shahverdyan, said, more evidence that it wants to become a region energy exporter. Iran and Georgia are both dealing with power shortages.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Kazakhstan to sign EU deal

NOV. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will sign an expanded partnership agreement with the EU next month, according to PM Karim Massimov. Speaking at a forum on Eurasian economic integration, Mr Massimov said Kazakhstan wanted to build on the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement it signed last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Turkmenistan plans TAPI start

NOV. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan will host the official groundbreaking ceremony for the TAPI pipeline, which will pump gas from fields in the east of the country to consumers in India, via Afghanistan and Pakistan, on Dec. 13. This is important because TAPI has been spoken of for decades.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Henkel constructs first factory in Georgia

NOV. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — German industrial company Henkel started construction work at its first factory in Georgia. The new €6m ($6.5m) plant will open in 2016 and produce adhesive materials, one of Henkel’s core businesses. In the medium-term, Henkel plans to export its production to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

GM Uzbekistan sales fall

NOV. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sales of cars by US-Uzbek joint venture GM Uzbekistan to Russia fell by almost 50% in the first 10 months of 2015, to just over 17,000, local media reported. GM Uzbekistan’s share in the Russian market, its most important market, has also fallen to 1.3% from 1.7% in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Kazakh CBank approves Kaspi Bank ownership

NOV. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh Central Bank approved a request to modify the shareholder composition of Kaspi Bank. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s nephew Kairat Satybaldy and Mikhail Lomtadze, chairman of Kaspi Bank, transferred their shares and joined the holding company JSC Kaspi, headed by Kaspi Bank director Vyacheslav Kim. Kaspi Bank is the 6th largest bank in Kazakhstan by assets.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)