JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state- owned oil and gas company, resumed oil exports to Russia after a break of several weeks, Rovnag Abdullayev, the SOCAR chairman, was quoted by media as saying. No reason was given on why exports were resumed.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran could export refined oil products to Kazakhstan, Vahid Ahmadi, the Iranian deputy science minister, told media. This is important because Kazakhstan is looking for ways to boost its supply of oil-based products.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Many Central Asian countries have pledged their support for a deal between Iran and Western countries over its nuclear programme that will allow sanctions to be lifted. The positive feeling is mutual. In April 2015, Iran’s Foreign Minister noted that there is “no ceiling for the expansion of relations with regional countries, whether in the Caucasus or in Central Asia”.
Central Asia and Iran have already been cooperating for some time.
December 2014 saw Europe via Iran the inauguration of the new Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railroad, linking Central Asia to Iran’s southern ports. Iran has oil swap deals with both countries.
Turkmenistan also has gas pipelines running to Iran and in 2010 Iran sent equipment to Tajikistan for the construction of the Sangtuda-2 hydro- power plant.
Increased formal, and more flexible, cooperation will certainly benefit Central Asia. Iran will give Central Asia greater access to Middle Eastern and European markets. The energy export potential is attractive, particularly given that last year Russia said it would stop buying Central Asian gas, and Turkmenistan recently accused Gazprom of failing to pay debts. Supplying Europe with gas via Iran may be more feasible for Turkmenistan. The opening up of Iran also provides another legitimate partner in the region to counterbalance Russian and Chinese dominance, as is a key aim of the region’s “multi-vector foreign policy”.
However, it will also produce new competition in the region. In August 2014, before any nuclear deal was signed, Iran announced it would no longer import gas from Turkmenistan, instead building up domestic production. Having been excluded from markets for so long, Iran will want to build up its own trade partners rather than act as a transit country for Central Asia. Moreover, more Iranian oil on the market may cause a drop in oil prices, impacting Kazakhstan at already difficult times.
One thing is certain — new transport and energy infrastructure will need to be built for any Iranian reintegration to take place. China will no doubt be looking with interest at the opportunities this presents.
By Sarah Lain, Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Georgia’s parliament approved the appointment of Vakhtang Gomelauri, the current minister of interior, as head of the new State Security Service.
Its a controversial move as the State Security Service, which will take over most of Georgia’s intelligence gathering duties, was created to break up the power of the interior ministry.
Before becoming the interior minister, Mr Gomelauri was the head of the bodyguard team protecting Georgia’s most powerful man Bidzina Ivanishvili who set up the ruling Georgian Dream coalition.
And Georgia’s opposition have already accused the government of turning the position into a political football with Mr Gomelauria’s appointment.
“Gomelauri’s appointment shows that setting up the State Security Service to depoliticise security related matters is an absolute farce,” said Chiora Taktakishvili, an MP for the United National Movement during the vote in parliament.
As head of the new State Security Service, Mr Gomelauri will be in charge of defending Georgia’s borders, fighting terrorism, and preventing corruption.
Lincoln Mitchell, a political scientist, told the Bulletin it was, always unlikely someone without a close relationship with Mr Ivanishvili would have been appointed to the position. He also said, though, that he thought the creation of the agency was a step in the right direction.
“The Georgian Dream government has made Georgia more free than the previous regime, but has not moved as quickly as it should have to dismantle the tools that their predecessors used to limit freedoms,” he said.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – US fast food giant McDonalds will open its first store in Kazakhstan this year in Astana, media reported quoting city officials. Last year McDonalds said it had agreed a franchise deal with businessman Kairat Bornabayev.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament passed a final reading of a bill that strips supervision of the country’s commercial banking sector from the Central Bank. The World Bank had urged the government to drop the bill. President Giorgi Margvelashvili now has to sign the bill into law although he has said he may veto it.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia began gearing up to host the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi between July 26 and Aug. 1, one of the biggest sporting events it has hosted. Around 3,500 young athletes will compete for medals in a number of sports.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
TBILISI, JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian state regulators approved a price increase for electricity, a rise that will irritate consumers and also the power companies who said the rise was not enough to cover the cost of production.
Electricity prices have become a major political issue across Central Asia and the South Caucasus because falling local currencies have forced up the cost of imports needed to fuel power stations.
In Armenia, thousands of people have protested for weeks about a sharp increase in electricity prices.
Perhaps mindful of the political fallout, Georgia’s regulators tried to limit price increases. The price rises appear to vary enormously between 2% and 30% depending on consumers’ overall annual use.
Zurab Gelenidze, CFO of Georgian Industrial Group, said the price rises were not enough. “The sustainability of the entire system will become questionable,” he told media.
Also reacting to the price rises, PM Irakli Garibashvili said the government would give out subsidies to some lower income families.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan’s PM, said GDP grew by 8.1% in the first half of 2015, compared to 2014. Given the secretive nature of the country, Uzbekistan’s official statistics have to be treated with skepticism.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Astana, the Kazakh airline part-owned by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and BAE Systems, said that profit was $8.3m in the first half of the year compared to a $36.5m loss in the same period in 2014. The main driver of the increased profit was the cheaper price of jet fuel.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
