Category Archives: Uncategorised

Georgian government survives vote

MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government easily survived a no-confidence vote in parliament triggered by the resignation of a minister earlier this month, meaning that PM Irakli Garbashvili remains in power.

Mr Garbashvili, part of the Georgian Dream coalition that turfed out former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s party from power, appointed four new ministers, including Tina Khidasheli as the country’s first female defence minister.

Importantly, even though Mr Garbashvili’s government won the no-confidence vote 87-38, it would still have damaged the government’s credibility.

The Georgian Dream has been beset by bickering and in- fighting and its popularity has plummeted as a regional economic recession batters Georgia. Its currency has slid 32% against the dollar.

Alongside Ms Khidasheli, Mr Garbashvili appointed Gigla Agulashvili as environment minister, Nodar Javakhishvili as infrastructure minister and Tariel Khechikashvili as minister for sport.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Strike out in west of Kazakhstan

MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 140 people working for the oil services company KazStroyService have gone on strike in west Kazakhstan demanding an increase in wages, media reported. Kazakhstan is sensitive to strikes. In 2011, 16 people died during fighting between protesters and police at a strike in west Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Georgian President visits Brussels

MAY 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ahead of a EU summit in Riga later this month, Georgian president Georgy Margvelashvili travelled to Brussels to meet the EU President Donald Tusk, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg. Georgia sees the Riga summit a chance to press its pro-EU agenda.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Tajikistan will not punish IS fighters

MAY 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s interior ministry said that it would not prose- cute men who have fought for the extremist IS group in Syria or Iraq if they repent and want to return home. Tajikistan is increasingly concerned about the number of young men who have moved to Syria to fight for IS.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Azerbaijan joins military drills with Turkey

MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Turkey began joint military exercises, underling their close alliance and highlighting just how isolated Armenia is. Media reported that the drills would continue until May 16. Azerbaijan and Turkey share an animosity for Armenia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Azeri court rejects journalist appeal

MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Baku rejected an appeal by journalist Khadija Ismayilova against a conviction for libel in February. Ms Ismayilova is in prison waiting for her trial to begin for coaxing another journalist into a suicide attempt. Her supporters have said that the charges are fabricated.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Azerbaijan to start producing higher grade fuel

MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan will start producing AI-95 grade petrol from 2018 to meet higher demand, said the vice president of the state- owned energy company SOCAR, David Mammadov. Azerbaijan currently produces AI-92, a lower grade of fuel. The government has been pushing people to buy more modern cars.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Armenia to send officer to Mali

MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia agreed to send a military officer as a token member of a United Nations peace-keeping force in Mali, west Africa.

Although from a practical point-of-view sending a solitary officer is a purely symbolic gesture, it still resonates with Armenia’s sense of self-esteem.

Media quoted defence minister Seyran Ohanian who was emphatic on the motives behind supporting the UN peace-keeping mission to Mali.

“Armenia’s involvement in international peacekeeping operations is aimed not only at increasing the international prestige of our country and helping build a pro-Armenian position in the world, but also at prevention and mitigation of possible threats (to Armenia) outside the country,” he said.

The emphasis should, just possibly, lie on ambitions to increase Armenia’s international prestige. Nobody has suggested that Mali’s security is a major concern in Yerevan.

It’s also worth remembering that Mali, and its collapse into a near failed state, was French foreign adventure and Armenia views France as one of its key international supporters.

Armenia has been involved with UN peace-keeping missions since 2004. Its main involvement has been in Lebanon, where an estimated 100,000 Armenians live, although it has also sent its forces to Afghanistan and Kosovo.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Kazakh Central Bank sets up $700m fund for bad mortgages

MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh Central Bank has created a $700m fund to help people pay their mortgages, a move designed to ease Kazakhstan’s mountain of bad consumer debt.

Banks in Kazakhstan have one of the highest ratios of non-performing loans in the world, a legacy of the 2008/9financial crisis. Now, with a new financial crisis linked to the drop in global energy prices and a sharp fall in the performance of the Russian economy, also hitting Kazakhstan’s mortgage holders, policy makers have been looking for ways to ease the burden.

Low-income households are the principal target of the measure, according to official sources. Families at risk will be able to access new credit at advantageous rates, in order to pay off their outstanding bill.

Around 20,000 loans obtained between 2004 and 2009 should be affected by this measure. The largest contribution will go to Kazkommertsbank, which will receive $205m and refinance the debt of 12,500 borrowers.

The rationale is simple. Policymakers have argued that people taking out mortgages between 2004-9 were relatively uneducated in the practise and may have been mis-sold a product or taken out debt that they could not finance.

Most mortgages during this period were also taken out in US dollars. The

Kazakh tenge has dropped markedly against the US dollar since then, making the loans harder to service.

Some analysts, though, have questioned the spirit of the measure.

Quoted on Forbes.kz, financial analyst Murat Temirkhanov said: “The word ‘refinancing’ has little to do with this measure. It should be described as a restructuring, i.e. an exchange of bad loans for cheap money from the state.”

Still, the new measure has the potential to revive the financial market in Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)

Ukraine’s civil war hits Georgia’s winemakers

TBILISI/GEORGIA, MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The second Saturday of May is an important date in Tbilisi’s calendar, as the New Wine Festival and its rivers of free wine kick off the capital’s summer party season.

But, although there were a record number of participants, this year’s festival was set against the backdrop of falling Georgian wine exports.

The 6th annual New Wine festival, organized by the Wine Club of Georgia, attracted thousands of visitors to sample 72 different types of local wine produced by more than 100 different companies and small family wineries.

“It is a great place to introduce people to different wines and to attract future customers,” Alex Rodzianko, an American who started his own winery in Georgia a couple of years ago and participated in the wine festival for the first time, said as he poured full glasses of amber wine to a circle of Georgians.

But life is less rosy for bigger companies, which target foreign markets. Last week the National Wine Agency released a report, which said that Georgian wine exports dropped by 58% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.

In total, in 2015 Georgia exported over 6m litres of wine worth $23m to 26 countries but the two biggest markets, Russia and Ukraine, reduced their Georgian wine consumption by 76% and 57% accordingly. Blame war in Ukraine and an economic recession in Russia.

Teliani Valley, one of the better-known Georgian winemakers, exports 80% of its produce. However their export sales are dwindling. Media representative Nutsa Avalishvili said that the company is now trying to expand into other countries such as Poland, Kazakhstan, China and the US to compensate for losses.

“The main reason for dropping sales in Ukraine is the political situation and crisis in that country,” she said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)