OCT. 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Indonesia established a 30-day visa free regime which they said would promote tourism between the two countries. The visa-free regime with Indonesia contrasts with Azerbaijan’s constraints on European travellers. Over the past few years, Azerbaijan has increased restrictions on European travel.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tony Adams, the former England and Arsenal footballer, has become the unlikely cheerleader of Azerbaijan’s healthcare system.
Media quoted him as saying that he credits doctors in Azerbaijan, where he is working as director of football at the country’s biggest club Gabala, with saving his life with heart surgery.
He said that he referred himself to the Gabala team doctor after feeling chest pains.
“The brilliant surgeons at the Medical Plaza (hospital) did a fantastic job, as has been reiterated to me by my cardiologist in the UK,” he said.
“I know full well that without the brilliance of Dr Uzeyir Rahimov and his team I would not be alive now: a minor heart operation saved my life.”
Mr Adams, 49, is one of England’s most successful living footballers. He played more than 650 times for Arsenal, between 1983 and 2002, winning 10 trophies. He also played 60 times for England.
Mr Adams started managing Gabala in 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
OCT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A journalist documenting forced labour practices in east Uzbekistan said his office had been burnt down in an act of sabotage, media reported. Dmitiry Tikhonov also said that files with data on a number of specific cases appear to have been stolen from his office in Angren.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s trade with Russia, its most important partner, has fallen sharply this year compared to the same period in 2014, official data showed. Exports to Russia were down 28% to $158.5m and imports were down over 10% to $712.7m between Jan-Sept. A recession in Russia has hit Central Asia and South Caucasus.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Georgia hit 5.8% for the 12 months to the end of October, the Geostat statistics agency said, the highest rate of price increases since 2011. Geostat said that health care, electricity and various house- hold goods and furnishings had pushed up prices.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 3/4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Britain and France to sign a series of headline grabbing deals and pose for useful photo-ops.
In London, Mr Nazarbayev met with PM David Cameron and the Queen. The two sides signed 40 deals for £3b ($4.6b).
Importantly, Mr Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter Dariga, a deputy PM, accompanied him on the trip and was part of the official photo with the Queen. In Soviet and post-Soviet iconography, featuring in official photographs sends a strong signal and being photographed next to her father at an official engagement with the Queen will have boosted any presidential ambitions that Ms Nazarbayeva harbours.
In Paris, Mr Nazarbayev met with President Françoise Hollande and signed another set of deals worth over $5b, according to state media in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Temir Sariyev inaugurated the second phase of a modernisation programme for the country’s biggest power plant outside Bishkek, a project considered vital for boosting the country’s decrepit power-generating infrastructure.
China agreed to fund the power plant upgrade, that will double capacity back to Soviet-era levels, in 2013 with a $386m loan from its Import-Export Bank. It handed the contract to strip out old Soviet-era kit and replace them with two new power producing units to China TBEA, a private company.
And Mr Sariyev was quick to praise China for its help in overhauling Kyrgyzstan’s power sector.
“I want to note the successful cooperation with China on the implementation of energy projects in the country and to express gratitude for the contribution to the economy of Kyrgyzstan,” he said according to media.
Earlier this year Kyrgyzstan opened a new power line that will transmit electricity from hyrdo- electric stations in the south of the country to its main population centres in the north without having to cross over Uzbek territory, as it had previously.
China has been investing heavily in infrastructure across Central Asia. It views this strategy as important for winning political influence.
Bishkek’s population is growing but its infrastructure has not been upgraded.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Norway arrested Jo Lunder, the former CEO of Russian telecoms company VimpelCom, in connection with alleged bribe paying in Uzbekistan, further damaging the reputation of foreign telecoms companies operating in Central Asia.
A few days earlier, Norway’s industry minister, Monica Maeland, sacked Svein Aaser as Telenor’s chairman over the corruption probe. She said that Telenor had been handling an internal investigation into the case badly.
“I no longer have confidence in Telenor’s chairman,” Ms Maeland said in a statement.
VimpelCom is alleged to have paid millions of dollars in bribes to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of President Islam Karimov, for mobile licences in Uzbekistan. Swedish TeliaSonera is also being investigated for bribe-paying.
In October, Telenor said it wanted to sell its 33% stake in VimpelCom, effectively cutting the company’s operations in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Roxi Petroleum said technical issues in one of its main new wells in the BNG area in western Kazakhstan have slowed production. It didn’t give any more details. In a trading update, Roxi also said it would drill a new well nearby for $8.5m to speed up the beginning of operations. Roxi showed stagnant operational results in H1 2015.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — French company Air Liquide will form a joint venture with Kazakhstan’s state-owned Kazmunaigas to increase production of industrial gases at the country’s refineries. The agreement, signed during President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to France, will improve the performance of Kazakhstan’s three refineries at Atyrau, Pavlodar and Shymkent.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
