APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s minister for diaspora, Hranush Hakobyan, called for Armenians based abroad to support the Armenian economy by opening up bank accounts. The Armenian diaspora acts as an important support for Armenia’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with local media, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov compared Azerbaijan’s sparring with the United States to a new Cold War.
Mr Mammadyarov’s comparison may highlight how relations between the West and Azerbaijan, a key energy provider, have worsened although the anti-US rhetoric may be designed to appeal to a local audience.
“Bearing in mind the growing media interest on Azerbaijan with regards to the first European Games some people are trying to exploit the current situation for their nefarious purposes with Cold War style propaganda,” Mr Mammadyarov said.
The main sticking point is the heavy-handed suppression of civic rights in Azerbaijan over the past couple of years. Free media has been all but chased out of the country, human rights defenders and opposition leaders have been locked up.
Azerbaijan is particularly sensitive to criticism from the West at the moment. Next month it hosts the European Games which it desperately wants to use to showcase the country.
Azerbaijan’s media has hit back, though. A Bulletin correspondent said progovernment media in Azerbaijan had posted a series of articles attacking the United States’ reputation.
But Zardusht Alizade, Baku based political analyst told RFE/RL the anti-America campaign is targeted at a local audience to show that the government is powerful enough to criticise the US. The row, he said, may not be that serious.
“I think the real politics between the two countries is still great,” he said. “Gas flows, oil flows and this is the real politics.”
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Marriott International hotel group announced plans to open its third site in Tbilisi, media reported. The 130-room Moxy Tbilisi Hotel is part of the Marriott’s push to open its lifestyle brand across Eastern Europe. Hotel brands are pouring into Tbilisi.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a ceremony in Istanbul, Tajik, Pakistani and Afghan officials signed a deal that will mean electricity generated in Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains will power households in Islamabad.
The CASA-1000 project should generate income for Dushanbe from its hydro-stations and for Kabul as a transit country while plugging a shortfall in electricity in Pakistan.
As well as an economic success, the $1.2b project is seen as a diplomatic highlight by the United States which is keen to involve Central Asian countries in trade deals with Pakistan and Afghanistan. It sees this as a way to foster stability once it withdraws its forces.
Richard Hoagland, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia, said: “We’ve already seen the efficacy of such an approach in the successes of the CASA-1000 energy project, which brought together a grouping of countries that had never before worked together on a development project.”
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Reacting to the traditional start of the fighting season in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan ordered its Border Guards service to beef up its numbers along its southern border, Russian news agencies reported. Central Asian states are worried about the creep north of the Taliban.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
ASTANA/Kazakhstan, APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Keen to build his everlasting legacy, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has create a museum in Astana to furnish his image as the Leader of the Nation.
A few days before the 74-year-old Nazarbayev won his fifth presidential election on April 26, The Conway Bulletin had a look around the National Museum, a futuristic building of marble and glass set at the heart of the new city.
It is the largest museum in Central Asia and was opened on July 6 last year, the 17th anniversary of Astana’s designation as Kazakhstan’s capital, a crown it took from Almaty in the south.
As if to underline its superiority over the far more louche Almaty, the new National Museum in Astana has taken the best from the old National Museum. All the national treasures are here from a huge 1-tonne bürkit, the national eagle to the Altyn Adam, so-called golden man, symbol of the nomadic warring times of the Kazakh civilisation.
Two grandiose light shows are shown every hour, with videos featuring the President. His words are engraved at each corner. “One people, one civilization, one future,” read one.
A couple of hundred visitors on a Sunday afternoon felt barely visible in this vast museum. Directing staff pointed the way, ensuring that tourists and locals both experience Nazarbayev’s own reading of Kazakhstan’s history.
In the Astana Hall, countless photos of the president giving speeches and inaugurating buildings are accompanied by Nazarbayev’s own drawings that served as a guidelines for Astana’s landmark monuments, such as the Baiterek tower, first sketched on a tissue.
The question that everybody wants answering now is when is he going to stand aside and allow another president to run the country. Even when he does though, there is little doubt that Nazarbayev, as the Leader of the Nation, will be standing and watching not too far behind the scenes.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh media reported a 19% drop in sales of US dollars, euros and roubles at foreign exchange points in March compared to February, suggesting a slowdown of the near panicked drive by ordinary Kazakhs to sell out of tenge when they thought a devaluation was imminent.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015
APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps looking to boost relations with its neighbour, Armenia has been quick to welcome a potential reduction in sanctions over Iran, media reported quoting Armenian foreign minister Eduard Nalbandyan. Armenia and Iran have steadily improved trade and political links.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Azerbaijani state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan raised a $200m loan from 18 financial institutions. This is important because it means Western banks are willing to lend to Azerbaijani state-owned institutions despite the economic downturn.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is covertly cutting salaries for state employees to try and pay for the rising cost of the European Games which are scheduled to be held next month, the Eurasinet website reported.
It quoted unnamed employees of Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee saying that they had had their bonuses scrapped because of the Games.
Eurasianet said the State Customs Committee declined to comment and that the ministry of taxes denied the allegations.
The 16-day European Games, which starts on June 12, is a major set-piece event for Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. He wants to use sport to promote the country and to distract from criticism of his human rights record.
The problem is that, although Azerbaijan has enough oil- generated wealth to survive a regional downturn in economics, cash is getting tighter and paying for the multi-billion- dollar European Games is getting harder.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
