MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – The black flag of the extremist group IS has been seen flying in north Afghanistan close to the border with Central Asia, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. This is important because Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have both said they are worried about the Taliban moving north.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Pakistan wants to increase energy cooperation with Uzbekistan, media reported, a potential boost for the Uzbek oil and gas sector.
Western energy companies such as London-listed Tethys Petroleum are gradually exiting Uzbekistan because of a worsening business environment.
Pakistan is also lobbying for Uzbekistan to participate in the TAPI pipeline project that would bring Turkmen gas to India, passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Uzbekneftegaz, the national oil and gas company in Uzbekistan, annually produces 63b cubic metres (bcm) of gas mostly for domestic consumption.
The government has a plan to increase both production and exports and to reduce wasteful use by 2020. The aim to export up to 16bcm by 2020 is well short of Uzbekistan’s regional commitments.
Notwithstanding the declining demand in Russia for Uzbek gas, China is asking for 10bcm and Pakistan’s demands might just be impossible to meet.
Furthermore, the TAPI project has proved to be a difficult one to realise and the timeline for its completion in 2017 is still under review.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 14 2015 (The Bulletin) – Pakistan’s president Mamnoon Hussein hailed talks with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku as a milestone in relations between the two countries.
Importantly for Azerbaijan, Mr Hussein underlined Pakistan’s support for Azerbaijan’s stance over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian-backed rebels have controlled the region since a UN-brokered 1994 ceasefire.
“We’ve always supported Azerbaijan’s stance, which we think is the right one,” he said.
Increasing support for its drive to win back the region of Nagorno-Karabakh is a key foreign policy plank for Azerbaijan.
Trade and diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan are currently light and Pakistan’s main interest is probably in securing much needed energy supplies.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s statistics agency said that it had received a donation of $2.5m which it said will help strengthen is systems, vital for measuring the economic and social health of the country, the 24.kg website reported. Akylbek Osmonoliyev, head of the statistics agency, did not say where the funds originated.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced opposition activist Siraj Kerimli to 6 years in prison for drug trafficking. Kerimli’s supporters say the charges have been fabricated as part of a government crackdown on dissidents. The EU and the US have both criticised Azerbaijan for its free speech and human rights’ records.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia that underlined the Kremlin’s alliance with the rebel state. Georgia has previously said Russian moves to solidify its hold on South Ossetia and Abkhazia are a breach of international law.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – The Georgian government sold the 35-storey Batumi Tower for $25.4m to a development company, generating much needed cash and ridding itself of one of former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s pet projects.
The blue and white tower with a golden ferris wheel set halfway up one of its sides has always generated wonder and ridicule.
Mr Saaskhvili, who was Georgian president from 2003 until 2013, had wanted the tower to serve as a Georgian-American technical university. His detractors said that it was a wasteful white elephant.
It has been unoccupied since it was finished in 2012.
Lika Glonti, an educational expert based in Tbilisi said: “I do think that this kind of building was not optimal for a university, but this is rather an issue of a taste. Selling Batumi Tower is a consequence of cancelling the idea of Batumi Technological University.”
The building was auctioned a day before the finance and economy ministries announced their plans to tackle the economic crisis. The local currency, the Lari, has fallen sharply against the dollar in the past few months and economists have revised down their economic growth predictions for this year.
A global collapse in oil prices and economic turmoil in Russia have impacted the wider former Soviet region.
On March 12, the economy ministry announced the privatisation of more assets, part of a larger three year plan to see it through the financial crisis that has swamped the region over the past few months.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 15 2015 (The Bulletin) – Preliminary data from Georgia’s statistics agency, Geostat, showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) jumped by 39% to 1.3b last year.
This is the highest level of FDI since 2008 when Georgia experienced an economic boom before a short war against Russia curtailed investor confidence in the country.
Geostat wasn’t able to give specific reasons for the sharp increase in FDI in 2014. FDI is vitally important in Georgia and the statistics showed how Georgia’s economic conditions had improved this year.
The data, though, doesn’t reflect the worsening economic conditions over the past months.
Economic turmoil in Russia and a drop in the price of oil have hit the region, knocking growth rates and denting currencies. This has trickled through to Georgia. FDI levels are expected to fall again this year.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kashagan, the giant oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea which was supposed to lift Kazakhstan into the top tier of global energy producers, may not resume output until 2017, the Shell energy company said.
This is, effectively, a six month delay to the schedule Kazakh officials have been promoting. Kazakh officials had talked up 2016 as the re-start date.
“Replacement activities are ongoing, with production expected to restart in 2017,” Shell said in its annual report.
Shell owns a 16.8% stake in Kashagan.
It has reliable information on how essential maintenance is progressing.
Kashagan has turned into one of the biggest white elephants in global energy history. It was supposed to be operational by 2013 but leaky pipes were discovered shortly after output started at the multi-billion-dollar project.
Other Kashagan shareholders include Italy’s ENI, the US’ Exxon, France’s Total, China’s CNPC, and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Bulletin) – Several people were injured during a fight between activists of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and activists of the opposition United National Movement party in the city of Zugdidi, media reported. The fight highlights worsening political climate in Georgia. A large opposition march is planned for Tbilisi on March 21.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
