MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of Western tourists travelling to Kyrgyzstan has increased from 57,000 in 2013 to 86,000 last year, media quoted Kyrgyz government officials as saying. Officials said the introduction of a visa-free regime in 2012 had helped increase numbers.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At an energy conference, Suleymanmurad Guladov, a senior Turkmen energy official, said the government expected foreign investors to pump $3b into looking for gas reserves on its Caspian Sea shelf, Reuters reported. This is a rise from the $2.5b invested last year, Mr Guladov said.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government has stopped issuing tourist visas to its southern Badakhshan Province because of increased fighting along its border with Afghanistan, the Dushanbe-based ASIA-Plus website reported. Badakhshan has been the scene of intermittent anti- government protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek foreign minister Suleymanmurad Guladov travelled to Brussels to meet EU officials, including Maros Sefcovi, the European Commission vice president in charge of energy policy. While no deals were signed, the meeting is a reminder of the growing relationship between Europe and Central Asia over energy.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cigarette production in Armenia is booming, media reported quoting official statistics. In Q1 of 2015, cigarette production in Armenia increased by 28.4% compared to the same period in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank said it expects Kazakh GDP to grow by 1.3% this year, a drop of 0.5% on a previous estimate. It said growth rates would rise in 2016 to 2.8% and to 3.9% in 2017. A fall in global oil prices and a drop in the Russian rouble have hit C.Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – One of Tajikistan’s most senior police chiefs has gone missing, Radio Free Europe/Radio liberty reported. Gulmurod Halimov, commander of the interior ministry’s special forces unit OMON, has not been seen since leaving home in Dushanbe on April 23.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan will increase oil and gas production by 9% in the next five years, Uzbekneftegaz the state oil and gas company, said. Media quoted Uzbekneftegaz representatives at a conference in Tashkent aimed at foreign investors.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – En route to Moscow for the 70th anniversary celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Astana. Official media said the two presidents affirmed their close ties.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Baku arrested Nizami Piriyev, a high-profile Azerbaijani businessman closely associated with President Ilham Aliyev.
Mr Piriyev, media reported, was charged with various financial crimes. He is in prison ahead of a trial in what appears to be a spectacular public fall.
One of Azerbaijan’s richest men, Mr Piriyev was the official owner of the Azerbaijan Methanol Company, a large and high-profile operation on the outskirts of Baku.
He paid for former British PM Tony Blair to fly to Baku in 2009 to open the plant. Mr Blair, criticised for taking cash from dubious governments since he left office in 2007, was photographed at a press conference in Baku sitting between Mr Piriyev and his son, Nasib.
Mr Piriyev’s holding company PNN Group also owned franchise rights to a number of Western brands in Azerbaijan and across the former Soviet Union. This included the British high street news agent WHSmith and US fast food chain KFC.
Mr Piriyev used to work in Russia for Gazprom and had businesses stretching across Central Asia.
It’s unclear what triggered his arrest and whether he has been associated with Azerbaijan’s increasingly marginalised opposition or if he had fallen out with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The United States and Europe have been increasingly critical of Mr Aliyev for cracking down on opposition.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
