Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kazakhs rush to buy Russia-made goods

APRIL 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – People in Kazakhstan, it appears, are still rushing to buy cheap Russian goods.

Official data showed that in February Kazakhs across the country bought 3.5 times more roubles than they did a year earlier.

In some areas, the rise was even bigger. In Mangistau, western Kazakhstan, the increase between February 2014 and February 2015 was nearly 19 times, Almaty the increase was 18 times and in Kyzylorda region of southern Kazakhstan the increase was nearly 35 times.

Russian goods have become far cheaper over the last few months because of the near 50% devaluation of the Russian rouble. Most Central Asian states have also devalued their own currencies but Kazakhstan has said that it will resist a sudden cut.

It knocked 20% off the value of its tenge currency last year and sees defending it as the best way to retain credibility.

Still, analysts have said that it is only a matter of time before Kazakhstan relents and cuts the tenge by up to 40%.
ENDS

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

In Baku, refugees rub shoulders with luxury

BAKU, APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – – Gulnara Makhmedova, a 62-year old refugee from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh stood in front of a crumbling Soviet apartment block tucked behind the whitewashed faculty of medicine at Baku State University.

Just a few hundred yards away luxury cars were parked up in front of haute couture shops and expensive restaurants.

Gulnara lives with five members of her family in a one-bedroom apartment. In her apartment block, electricity runs for only a few hours a day and the water that trickles out of the tap is brown.

“My family has been waiting for a new flat for over twenty years now,” she said.
Gulnara is one of around 600,000 internally displaced refugees from the conflict which pitted Azerbaijani forces against Armenian-backed separatists after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. Only a fragile 1994 cease-fire now keeps Nagorno-Karabakh from falling back into war.

They live in a precarious state of destitution in Azerbaijan’s sprawling capital.
“We all hoped we could start a new life here, but we only found ourselves living in worse conditions than the ones we left behind,” she said, pointing at the disintegrating mould stained ceiling of her apartment.

“When we arrived in Baku back in 1993 we immediately understood we were not welcome here as we represented a living reminder of Azerbaijan’s defeat,” she told the Bulletin referring to the thousands of civilians who fled Agdam, her hometown after an Armenian defeat of Azerbaijan.

Analysts have said that there may be another reason why Gulnara and her family are made to live in broken Soviet apartment blocks. It may suit Azerbaijani president Ilham ALiyev and his government to be able to show domestic television and visiting dignitaries the human suffering that the smouldering Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has generated.
ENDS

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

Air Baltic makes deal with Uzbekistan

MARCH 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Baltic, based in Riga, and Uzbekistan Airways have announced a planned codeshare on a route to New York, media reported. The deal matches Uzbekistan Airway’s aspirations to increase its various service.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Turkmenistan asks US for military help

MARCH 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has asked the US for military aid to help it stop the spread north of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Eurasianet reported quoting a US general’s statement to Congress. Turkmenistan has been warning for months about Taliban activity on its border.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

World Bank approves loan for power upgrade in Armenia

MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank has approved a $52m loan to upgrade Armenia’s power distribution network, media reported. The authorities in Armenia blame the aging power network partly for the patchy electricity supplies across the country.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Azerbaijan CBank sells US dollars

APRIL 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Central Bank said it had spent more than $1b of its reserves defending the value of the manat currency since it devalued by a third in mid-February. The admission will be an embarrassment for the Central Bank as the devaluation was meant to relieve pressure on the manat and protect reserves.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Atambayev finishes European jaunt

MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev has rounded off an 8-day tour of European capitals, on which he signed various economic deals and tried to drum up support for action against Islam extremism.

Mr Atambayev pitched the tour as his attempt to promote his country and attract investors despite economic conditions in Central Asia deteriorating further.

In Austria, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany he met with the heads of government and royals.

“I am sure that there will be a whole new stage of relations between Kyrgyzstan and the European Union,” he said in Brussels (March 30).

Europe, generally, views Kyrgyzstan as a relative beacon of parliamentary democracy in Central Asia, a region more closely associated with autocratic leaders.

Over the past few years, though, Kyrgyzstan has moved steadily towards Russia. It plans to join the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union later this year.

Importantly, Mr Atambayev also received various promises for financial support. Switzerland agreed to allocate 74m francs ($77m) to develop the health sector and support small and medium enterprises.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Israel’s Elbit to build factory in Georgia

MARCH 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Elbit Cyclone, a subsidiary of Israel’s Elbit Systems, plans to build a factory in Georgia that will produce parts for passenger planes, media reported quoting Georgian economy minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

This is an important development for industry in Georgia as it represents a potential shift to a more hi-tech focus. Reports did not say what parts specifically the Georgian factory would produce for Elbit Cyclone, although all the factory output will be for export, but they did say the longer-term aim was to develop a hi-tech industrial sector.

The $85m cost of the project will be shared by the Georgian government and Elbit Cyclone. The factory will also employ 300 people.

And Elbit Systems already has a link with Georgia.

Prior to its 2008 war with Russia, Georgia bought several spy planes from the company. Elbit Systems is the largest publicly-traded military equipment manufacturer in Israel.

lbit Systems also makes technical equipment for the US military.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Armenia hid Russia gas prices, says parliamentary inquiry

MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A parliamentary inquiry in Armenia said the government subsidised gas for consumers between 2011 and 2013 ahead of a controversial buyout of the pipeline network by Russia’s Gazprom.

The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said the government had previously denied it was subsidising gas imports from Russia.

The Armenian government was desperate both to retain support ahead of an election and to write off a $300m debt to Gazprom. To do this, it needed the public’s support to sell the pipeline distribution network.

The inquiry’s findings will pile more pressure on Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan whose administration has become increasing unpopular.

The RFE/RL report also said Gazprom cut the gas price when Armenia agreed to join the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which also includes Belarus and Kazakhstan.

“The commission has found documentary evidence of unpublicized Russian-Armenian agreements that gradually raised the gas price from $180 to $270 per thousand cubic meters in 2011-2013,” RFE/RL reported.

“Gazprom cut the price to almost $190 per thousand after Armenia agreed to join the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union in late 2013.”

This is yet more evidence that Russia pressured Armenia into joining the EEU.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Kazakhstan may have to cut infrastructure projects

MARCH 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – During a briefing, Senator Yertargyn Astayev, a member of parliament’s budget committee, said ministries might not have enough cash to fulfil projects unveiled by Mr Nazarbayev’s Nurly Zhol party.

According to Mr Astayev, the interior ministry, which deals mainly with law enforcement and migration issues, will soak up the largest budget cut of $225m.

But, importantly, Mr Astayev also said finances earmarked for large infrastructure projects were going to be “placed under strict control”.

The hint was clear. The investments envisaged by Mr Nazarbayev are under threat.
Economic turmoil in the region has forced Kazakhstan into cutting the budget.

Mr Nazarbayev said that various departments had to save a combined $3.3b.

And the cutbacks have caught the public’s attention too.

Rauan, a 43-year-old engineer from Almaty said the government should ditch various high-profile but less useful projects such as EXPO-2017.

“Now we are funding these projects, designed only to feed our pride, at our own expense,” he said. “Perhaps our ambitions are too high.”
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)