SEPT. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A bomb exploded near a mosque in central Tashkent. Nobody was hurt in the explosion. Police said they are looking for two people who left the bomb in a bag at a bus stop.
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(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has approved a bill that will increase customs duties on sausages, fruit, vegetable, softs drinks and fruit juice and come into force on Oct. 1. Mr Berdymukhamedov has said he wants a policy of import substitution.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 11 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed his daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, to be a deputy PM, triggering an avalanche of speculation that she was being lined up to succeed him.
The appointment caps a remarkable turnaround for Ms Nazarbayeva who in 2007 fell out with her father and was forced to relinquish her seat in parliament and her media business interests.
Analysts said that her appointment as deputy PM was significant.
“It does look like a sign of succession,” Nargis Kassenova, professor of International Relations at KIMEP University in Almaty.
“Now with no danger of Rakhat Aliyev coming back, there seems to be no serious constraint to keep her away from top executive positions.”
Ms Nazarbayeva had been married to Rakhat Aliyev who fled into exile in 2007 and set himself up in opposition to President Nazarbayev. He was later arrested and charged in Vienna with murdering two Kazakh bankers outside Almaty.
Mr Nazarbayev had wanted him extradited but this year, the day before he was to stand trial, Aliyev was found hanged in his prison cell.
The succession issue for President Nazarbayev has become one of his most pressing. The 75-year-old, who has ruled over Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has not yet named a successor, which has allowed rumours to swirl and instability to take root.
Ms Kassenova, the KIMEP professor, said that Ms Nazarbayeva’s promotion may already have been trailed when President Nazarbayev earlier this month spoke about the Asian model of democracy.
“This dynastic approach to power is probably what President Nazarbayev had in mind when he recently referred to our Asian traditions to explain a slow move to Western-style democracy,” she said.
Ms Nazarbayeva returned to parliament in the 2012 election and has since held the position of deputy speaker of parliament.
There are other potential rivals for power. These include PM Karim Massimov, defence minister Imangali Tasmagambetov and Timur Kulibayev, the former head of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund and the husband of Mr Nazarbayev’s second daughter.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police arrested the governor of the Kostanai region in north Kazakhstan, Akhmetbek Akhmetzhanov, for corruption. Kazakh officials have arrested a handful of senior regional officials over the past year or so for corruption.
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(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 11 2015, YEREVAN (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian gas monopoly Gazprom agreed to cut the price of gas it sells to Armenia by 12%, giving the Armenian government much needed economic breathing space.
The economic turmoil blowing through the former Soviet region has hit Armenia hard. Its dram currency has lost around 20% of its value and its economy is stalling.
Inflation is also rising and protesters have become increasingly agitated about utility price increases. Earlier this year, thousands of people demonstrated against proposed electricity price rises, eventually forcing the government into a climb-down.
Now Gazprom, which owns 100% of Armenia’s gas network, appears to have taken pity on Armenia.
Shushan Sardaryan, a spokeswoman for Gazprom Armenia, said that the new price was set at $165, down from $189, for 1,000 cubic metres of gas.
“The current price of natural gas was based on an exchange rate of $1 equalling 416 Armenian drams,” she told reporters. “But the exchange rate significantly differs from this level and the fluctuations damaged the company.”
The dram is now hovering at around 480 against the US dollar.
Ms Sardaryan also made the point that although Russia had reduced the cost of its gas to Armenia, this price reduction would not be passed on to consumers.
Instead, the saving would be made by the government. Armenia has also floated the idea of pricing its gas in roubles, rather than US dollars, a move which would, in theory, protect it from price rises linked to the devaluation of its dram currency.
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(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Norway’s foreign minister Boerge Brende visited Georgia to meet with President Giorgi Margvelshvili and PM Irakli Garibashili. In Tbilisi Mr Brende underlined Norway’s support for Georgia’s territorial integrity. Importantly for Georgia, Norway is a NATO country.
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(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Car-maker GM Uzbekistan’s sales to Russia in Jan.-Aug. fell by 53% compared to the same period last year, it said. GM Uzbekistan is a joint venture between General Motors and the Uzbek government. It sold 13,752 cars to Russia in Jan.-Aug.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Aisultan Nazarbayev, grandson of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, has said he wants to be head of Kazakhstan’s football association. Mr Nazarbayev is already head of the club that owns FC Astana which has qualified for the UEFA Champions League.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan will spend $4.3b over the next three years improving living conditions around the Aral Sea, media reported. The Aral Sea had been the fourth largest lake in the world but upstream Soviet irrigation policies diverted water from its tributary rivers and shrunk it to a fraction of its former size.
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(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Members of Turkmenistan’s Council of Elders, an advisory body chaired by President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, have urged the government to charge people for using gas and water, media reported.
Free gas and water for people has been a cornerstone of society in Turkmenistan. Charging for it would be a major policy switch and may indicate that the economic turmoil that has has hit the region in the past year has had a heavy impact on Turkmenistan.
“Our people have, for many years, enjoyed unprecedented and unparalleled benefits, such as free water and gas. Given that today the standard of living has increased significantly, I believe it is time to abolish these benefits and introduce a fee,” official media quoted Gozel
Saparmyradova, a physics teacher and a member of the council, as saying.
She was backed up by Khudainazar Atageldiyev, described as a caterer.
“The new amendments to the Constitution will contribute to the development of the non-public sector of the economy,” he said.
Mr Berdymukhamedov was present at the meeting and had earlier delivered a speech in which he had showcased entrepreneurship in Turkmenistan. He didn’t mention the perilous state of the country’s economics nor charging for utilities.
But Mr Berdymukhamedov has previously used the Council of Elders to leak out policy changes and he may be considering charging for gas and water.
What impact this has on the population remains to be seen.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
