Category Archives: Uncategorised

Most Georgians feel country heading backwards

APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Roughly 55% of Georgians feel the country is heading in the wrong direction, a new poll for the US political group International Republican Institute (IRI) said.

This is a higher proportion than at any time since September 2009, during the aftermath of a brief war against Russia in 2008, when 63% of respondents said the country was heading in the wrong direction.

It is also, and this is important, the first time since March 2010 that a higher proportion of people have said that Georgia is heading in the wrong direction rather than the right direction. The IRI poll is, perhaps, the most accurate in Georgia and is a decent weather-mast to judge the general mood.

And it’ll make nasty reading for the governing Georgian Dream coalition which is having to deal with various economic problems as well as internal squabbling and accusations that it is using the Georgian justice system to settle old scores with officials who served under former president Mikheil Saakashvili.

In the IRI poll people’s main worries were the economy and Russian aggression. Over 60% of the respondents said the economy had worsened in the past couple of months and 76% said that Russia was the main threat to Georgia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

China to build refinery in Kazakhstan

APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chinese company CITIC has agreed to build a vital fourth Kazakh oil refinery in Aktau, Forbes Kazakhstan reported. The deal was arranged during a trip last month to China by Kazakh PM Karim Massimov. The project should cost around $6b and will be completed within 5 years.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Turkmenistan wants cotton JV with Belarus

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan and Belarus plan to set up a joint venture for cotton products, news agencies reported quoting a senior Belarusian official after a meeting with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan is looking for ways to diversify its economy from energy.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Azerbaijan test air force at night

APRIL 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s air force took part in what media said was its first ever night exercise. Azerbaijan has spent millions of dollars upgrading its military over the past few years. The night air exercise may be part of a bigger show of strength aimed at Armenia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Georgian defence minister rows with predecessor

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Former Georgian defence minister Irakli Alasania accused his successor, Mindia Janelidze, of ditching a deal to buy air-to-ground missiles from France, media reported. Mr Alasania, sacked last year, said scrapping the deal weakened Georgia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Turkmenistan appoints agent to check on Caspian Sea project

APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Construction of the Turkmenbashi International Sea Port on the Caspian Sea has been ongoing since 2013 but the Turkmen authorities have only just officially appointed a controlling agent to check on progress of the project, according to press reports.

The Italian company Rina Services have now been made the official controllers of the project.

The Turkmenbashi International Sea Port is a crucial piece of infrastructure for Turkmenistan as it should open it up further to Europe.

Inaugurated in August 2013 by Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, then PM and now president, the new Turkmenbashi port is being built by the Turkish company Gap Insaat for $1.5b.

Rina Services will be awarded $10m to act as the controller, a key third-party role to check the progress and the execution of the project.

The company, based out of the port city of Genoa, has certified Dragon Oil’s pipelines in Turkmenistan and is also active in Kazakhstan, where it audits and supervises Kashagan’s D-Island.

Michele Francioni, CEO at Rina Services, told the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore: “(Rina Services) has had a presence there [Turkmenistan] for some time with deeply rooted local organisations.”

According to the plan, construction should be completed by 2017 . The port should facilitate east-west trade.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Kyrgyzstan moves towards foreign agents bill

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Already two years in the works, the law on “foreign agents” might be ready for approval by the Kyrgyz parliament within the next couple of months, according to the latest public statements.

If approved by parliament, the bill would label as “foreign agents” all non-governmental organisations that receive foreign capital for their activities.

The law is similar to one brought in by Russia’s parliament a few years ago and has triggered an outcry from NGOs in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan is also particularly dependent on NGOs.

In March, a parliamentary committee approved the draft law and sent it to parliament. The main proponent, Nurkamil Madaliyev, of the conservative Ar-Namys party justified his position stating that “many local non-profits are interfering in the political life of the country” and foreign funding is crucial to their activities.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Kyrgyzstan deports US reporter

APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The media lobby group the Committee to Protect Journalists accused Kyrgyzstan of having no regard for independent journalism after it deported US journalist Umar Farooq. Mr Farooq had been in Osh investigating ethnic clashes in 2010.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Urkaine rejects extradition request for Saakashvili

APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ukraine rejected Georgia’s request to extradite former president Mikheil Saakashvili, media reported. The government in Kiev, which is locked in a battle for control of eastern Ukraine with Russia, has appointed Mr Saakashvili as a special adviser. He is wanted in Georgia for alleged crimes.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Kazakhstan to subsidise car-makers

APRIL 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will give car-makers 35b tenge ($188m) to help them survive the economic downturn, media reported quoting First Vice Minister for the Economy, Marat Kussainov. Kazakhstan’s car-makers have been hit hard by the sharp drop in the rouble because Russia was one of its biggest markets.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)