APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A proposed $70b takeover of BG by Royal Dutch Shell will have implications for Kazakhstan’s energy sector. BG is a major shareholder in, and the operator of, the Karachaganak oil and gas project in north Kazakhstan. This will pass to Shell if the deal goes through.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government passed a law that will pave the way for a joint venture between Uzavtomprom and Germany’s MAN Group to build truck cabins. The factory should be operational by 2016. Uzbekistan has developed a substantial auto industry although a region-wide economic decline has hit demand.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 1,000 people gathered on the outskirts of Baku to demonstrate against a stalling economy and a crackdown on civil rights. The authorities sanctioned the rally. Some opposition said the real aim was to nullify genuine anti-government protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Only a few months after agreeing a 35m euro/year deal to extend the lease on a German military base in south Uzbekistan, the Uzbek government wants to double the rent, the eurasianet.org website reported quoting German media. The German military base is now the only Western base in Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Argentinean news agency Telam removed from its website an article on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijani officials complained it was biased, media reported. Azerbaijan is very sensitive over how its dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh is portrayed.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US State Department has criticised its embassy in Tajikistan for filing sanitised reports on civil violence in the south of the country in 2012 which ended with Tajik US-trained Special Forces shooting dead 20 civilians, the eurasianet.org website reported. The US State Department said its confidence in the embassy had been undermined.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Alcohol prices in Georgia have increased by 10% over the past year, the national statistics agency said.
Alongside the rising price of food (3.7%) and healthcare (6%) the cost increase in Alcohol is a major driver of overall inflation. Annualised inflation for March measured 2.6%, up from 1.3% in April.
Analysts blame a fall in the value of the lari currency for this price rise but new taxes slapped on alcohol from March 1 have also driven up prices.
The government increased tax on beer by 50% and on hard liquor by 100%. It has said the tax will bring in an extra 100m lari ($45m) and harmonise Georgia’s tax laws with the EU.
And for now, it appears, thirsty consumers and bar owners in Tbilisi are shouldering the price rises.
Cory Greenberg, owner of Dive Bar in Tbilisi said distributors wanted more for a litre of beer but he has promised to keep prices steady.
“Not so much for charity, but because it is smart,” he said. “Let the others raise their prices and business will come to us.”
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund has spent $8b, or 10% of its total, over the past nine months supporting the tenge currency against devaluation pressure, media reported quoting official statistics. The size of the drop gives a good indication on the severity of the economic downturn.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Thirty-six Armenian soldiers flew to Germany for a NATO military exercise, Armenian media reported. Armenia is the only former Soviet state to send a contingent to the exercise. Its participation shows that despite being a close ally of Russia, Armenia is still cooperating with the West.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Community leaders in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge have asked the government for more help to stop teenagers heading to Syria to join the militant group IS, media reported. The Pankisi Gorge is an Islamic stronghold in Georgia and has strong ethnic and cultural ties to Chechnya in Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
