JULY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Armenia in the first half of the year were down 33% to $408m, the Central Bank said. This is consistent with other countries in the south Caucasus which are struggling to cope with the fall out from a recession in Russia and a drop in oil prices.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund, or SOFAZ, said that it had bought $500m worth of Chinese yuan, part of a policy to diversify its assets.
The purchase will also endear Azerbaijan to China, another unsaid reason for SOFAZ to buy yuan. China has been boosting its interest in the South Caucasus over past few years and Azerbaijan is looking for more allies.
“In order to further broaden and diversify the currency basket, SOFAZ has started making investments in Chinese Yuan,” SOFAZ said in a statement on their website.
And that wasn’t all. SOFAZ said it was looking at further exposure to China.
“Going forward, SOFAZ is planning to gain exposure to Chinese equity markets,” it said.
Azerbaijan’s oil fund is important because at $37b it is one of the biggest investment funds in the world. Its mission is to act as a social fund for the government to dip into in special circumstances and to fund large infrastructure projects.
It has begun to diversify its investments and, over the past couple of years, has built up a property portfolio in Europe and Asia.
It has been planning to buy into China ostentatiously to further diversify its investments.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kenes Rakishev bought an additional 2.61% stake in Kazkommertsbank from its founder and former chairman Nurzhan Subkhanberdin, further strengthening the Kazakh elite’s grip on one of the country’s largest banks.
The share purchase gives the 35-year-old Mr Rakishev, who is regarded as a trustee for more powerful members of the Kazakh elite and is best known for helping to buy a house in England from Prince Andrew in 2008, a 25.84% stake in the bank.
Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s national welfare fund, owns 10.7% of the bank and an investment company called Alnair, which is also close to the Kazakh elite, owns a 28% stake in it.
The London-based Mr Subkhanberdin still controls around 32% of the bank but he has been gradually pushed out of Kazkommertsbank this year. His stake in the bank has dwindled and in March he was ousted as chairman.
Mr Subkhanberdin’s mistake had been to flirt with supporting Kazakhstan’s opposition.
In 2009 he wrote an open letter to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev questioning the imprisonment of the former head of the Kazakh uranium company Kazatomprom, Moukhtar Dzhakishev on various corruption charges.
Earlier this year, the Kazakh government, through Mr Rakishev, forced Kazkommertsbank to buy the debt-ridden BTA Bank.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s military started a two-week military exercise with NATO countries, including the US, at an airbase near Tbilisi. Much to the annoyance of Russia, Georgia is intent on joining NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan pumped 675, 000 tonnes of oil to Russia in the first half of 2015, up from 508,000 tonnes in 2014, media reported quoting state energy company SOCAR. Azerbaijan had planned to halt oil shipments through the Baku- Novorossiisk pipeline to Russia but instead, seemingly as relations with Russia have improved, increased exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – To counter an increase in the number of Uzbek migrant workers returning home from Russia without work, Uzbekistan’s government has asked South Korea to increase the quota of workers it takes, RFE/RL reported. South Korea takes up to 22,500 migrant workers from Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev celebrated his 75th birthday in a more subdued fashion than previous occasions, perhaps reflecting Kazakhstan’s recent economic struggles. Mr Nazarbayev has been Kazakh president since independence in 1991 but has not named a successor.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s new, low-cost domestic airline Qazaq Air will begin commercial flights on July 20, it said at its official launch in Astana.
Qazaq Air is a fully-owned subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, which will concentrate on flying less well served routes between regional cities across Kazakhstan.
At the launch party, the company director Blair Pollock said: “Many of the 12 routes on which the Q400 aircraft will operate are not currently served by any other carrier.”
The Kazakh government has made improving travel links between cities in this vast country a priority and the airline should improve business ties and trade between regional centres.
Qazaq Air said it had leased three Canadian Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 which can carry between 68 and 85 passengers, depending on the seating configuration
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BISHKEK — Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev awarded Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev the Order of Manas (First Class), Kyrgyzstan’s highest honour, for helping to create the Eurasian Economic Union.
He flew to Astana to give Mr Nazarbayev the award on his 75th birthday, five days after the Kazakh leader ratified Kyrgyzstan’s accession into the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
“We feel a strong fraternal support from the Republic of Kazakhstan,” Mr Atambayev said, according to media.
Toktogul Kakcheckeyev, an executive director at the Association of Political Scientists of Kyrgyzstan think tank in Bishkek, explained.
“The Manas award was given by Almazbek Atambayev to Nursultan Nazarbayev because of Nazarbayev’s efforts to develop regional cooperation in terms of Eurasian economic community,” he said. “Originally it was Nazarbayev’s idea to launch regional economic cooperation.”
In 1994, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in a speech in Moscow, Mr Nazarbayev spoke rather nostalgically of creating a Eurasian Union. This has now materialised, or, at least a version of that vision.
Still, some observers have said that Mr Atambayev’s award to Mr Nazarbayev was a brazen attempt to curry favour with the most powerful leader in Central Asia.
And Kyrgyzstan has form with this. The Kyrgyz parliament can be relied upon, almost every year, to nominate Mr Nazarbayev for a Nobel Peace Prize for giving up the nuclear weapons that Kazakhstan inherited after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Mr Nazarbayev is only the twelfth recipient of a First Class Order of Manas in its 19 year history.
Other recipients include Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary- General.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sixteen US senators have written to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev calling on him to improve human rights in the country, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Mr Aliyev has previously accused the West of mounting a smear campaign against Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
