JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Central Bank reported that foreign currency exchanges increased by more than 50% in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2014. In Feb., Azerbaijan devalued its manat currency by a third.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECRH) in Strasbourg ruled that Russia had broken the European Convention on Human Rights in 2006 and 2007 when it detained hundreds of Georgians in Moscow and deported them. At the time, analysts said the deportations were linked to a Russia-Georgia spy row. The ECRH ruling will likely raise Georgia-Russia tension.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Relations between the United States and Azerbaijan appeared to have sunk to a new low after Azerbaijani media accused US ambassador Robert Cekuta of inciting a revolution.
The US embassy published a rare statement refuting the allegations, saying that meetings with opposition groups and media were part of its ongoing mission to listen to all sides of Azerbaijan’s community.
“The Ambassador also continues meeting extensively with top figures in Azerbaijan’s government,” the US embassy statement said.
“The US Embassy is not plotting a coup in Azerbaijan. Nor is it instructing or financing any political party in the country.”
Relations have nose-dived in the past year over Azerbaijan’s crackdown on civil society. Azerbaijan has responded to criticism by accusing the US and Europe of mounting a smear campaign.
The US Peace Corps, a US- government funded organisation which sends teenagers and young adults abroad to live and teach English, has quit Azerbaijan, as has the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The US has also criticised Azerbaijan for jailing opponents of President Ilham Aliyev.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s oil and gas ministry accused Russia’s Gazprom of failing to pay for natural gas it has supplied it with this year, aggravating a bitter row between the two countries.
Gazprom declined to comment. “Since the beginning of 2015, Gazprom has not paid its debts to the state corporation Turkmengaz for the volumes of Turkmen gas it supplied,” the Turkmen government statement said on its website.
“Russian company Gazprom has become insolvent on its natural gas purchase-and-sale contracts due to the continued global economic crisis and economic sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia.”
Turkmenistan and Russia have publicly rowed before. In 2014, Gazprom slashed the amount of gas it imported from Turkmenistan to 11b cubic metres (bcm). In 2015, it planned to buy 4bcm. This is a huge drop from previous purchases. In 2008, Gazprom bought 40 bcm from Turkmenistan. And the row has also sucked in other sectors.
In 2010, Turkmenistan expelled Russian mobile phone operator MTS from the country. It later re-installed it.
The drop in Russian gas purchases has forced Turkmenistan to look elsewhere for clients. China has become its biggest client and it is trying to win contracts from the European Union.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s foreign currency reserves declined by 4.4% in the first half of 2015, data from the Central Bank showed. Kazakhstan, like other countries across the region, has been defending the value of its currency by spending its reserves.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI – Georgia’s parliament voted 78-0 in favour of stripping control of the country’s security and intelligence agencies from the ministry of interior.
Under the reforms the interior ministry will retain control of policing in Georgia and the border guards, although its overall power will be much reduced.
The current interior ministry structure was created by former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. He pooled counterintelligence operations and border control with other law enforcement units under the interior ministry. Mr Saakashvili argued this system was more efficient. His opponents said accountability was reduced.
Nino Dolidze, a university professor at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, explained.
“Together with the ministry of justice, it was the flagship of all Saakashvili’s reforms,” she told The Bulletin. “But it also became the place where his success started to melt and decrease.”
One of the main promises of the Georgian Dream coalition during 2012 parliamentary elections was to break down this concentration of power.
From Aug. 1 a new State Security Service will take over counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, anti-corruption, surveillance and other special operations responsibilities. The head of the State Security Service will be selected by the government and approved by parliament for a single six-year term.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – More people in Kazakhstan have pre-ordered the new $294,000 Bentley car from Rolls Royce than in Russia, Bloomberg News quoted Peter Schwarzenbauer, a BMW director, as saying. BMW owns Rolls Royce. This is anecdotal evidence that the Kazakh luxury market is still strong.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Only around 5,000 trucks with Turkish produce travel to Turkmenistan each year through the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea because crossing Azerbaijan is too expensive, the head of the Turkish International Road Carriers Association, Fatih Sener, told local media. Around 50,000 trucks travel via Iran.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan said it had added Russian opera singer Lyubov Kazarnovskaya to the list of people barred from visiting the country because she had recently travelled to the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia are still officially at war over the region.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – GM Uzbekistan, a joint venture between the Uzbek government and US carmaker GM, sold 10,357 cars in Russia in the first half of this year, media reported quoting the company.
This is 57% less than in 2014 and highlights the economic problems rebounding around Central Asia linked to the decline in Russia’s economy.
Russia is one of GM Uzbekistan’s biggest market, so for it to drop away so seriously is bad news for the company.
GM Uzbekistan is based near the city of Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
In 2010, GM Uzbekistan employed 5,000 people. If demand for its cars, and it mainly produces mid-range Chevrolet cars at this plant, falls away significantly then these jobs may be under threat.
The drop in car sales is symptomatic of a general decline in economic conditions around the Central Asia region.
As well as a drop in exports to Russia, remittance flows back to Central Asia from workers in Moscow and beyond have dropped across the region by around 40%. Currencies have also dropped in value by around a third.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
