MAY 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia and China formally signed a free-trade agreement that Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili described as a vital step towards boosting relations. Under the agreement, almost all goods will be exempt from import duties. The deal was agreed at the end of last year and should be operational by the end of this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Western media and human rights lobby groups demanded an investigation into the stabbing of a Kazakh journalist who was travelling by train from Almaty to Astana. Ramazan Yesergepov, chairman of Journalists in Danger, a media freedom group that provides legal advice, had been travelling to Almaty to talk to Western embassies about a decline in press freedom in Kazakhstan. Mr Yesergepov was stabbed in the abdomen. He was taken to hospital. His wounds were not life-threatening.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan is preparing a new draft law on combating corruption, continuing an anti-graft drive that has left onlookers wondering the motivation behind it. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has said that the anti-corruption campaign is aimed at defending ordinary people’s rights but analysts have said it may be a tool to distract from the economic downturn, linked to a drop in commodity prices, and also a way to unseat ministers and officials that are considered to be too powerful.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Reports from Afghanistan said that government forces had pushed back Taliban soldiers who had moved up to the border with Tajikistan. Worried about a possible incursion across into Tajikistan, the Tajik military earlier this month deployed extra forces along its border. Analysts are worried that any push into Tajikistan by the Taliban may destabilise the Central Asia region.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev travelled to Turkmenistan for the second time in 10 weeks, an indication of just how important he regards bilateral relations. Mr Mirziyoyev’s interest in Turkmenistan lies in stark contrast to his predecessor, Islam Karimov, who preferred an isolationist stance. Mr Mirziyoyev’s first overseas trip as president was made to Ashgabat in March.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Valery Permyakov, the former Russian soldier convicted of stabbing to death a family of seven in 2015 in Gyumri, Armenia’s second city, was transferred to Russia to see out the rest of his life sentence. Permyakov had been serving at the Russian military base in Gyumri when he murdered the family.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 10/11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, finished a tour of Uzbekistan by saying that in general he was confident that the country, often derided as one of the worst in the world for human rights, had started to mend its ways.
Mr Zeid’s visit was the first by a UN Human Rights Commissioner to Uzbekistan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It has been viewed as a turning point in Uzbek relations with international institutions and a major PR victory for Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev who has been looking to woo global institutions.
In a statement at the end of his two night trip to Uzbekistan, Mr Zeid said that he had been impressed by the new Uzbek administration’s endeavor setting up a series of units to improve human rights.
“Uzbekistan is, in my view, at a crossroads. The volume of constructive human rights related proposals, plans and new legislation that has emerged since President Mirziyoyev took up the office is remarkable,” he said.
“It is going to be a long and difficult road to get near that point [improved human rights], with obstructions and setbacks, but I do believe the journey has begun.”
The New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement afterwards saying that Uzbekistan’s rhetoric now needed to be turned into action.
Mr Mirziyoyev, inviting Mr Zeid to tour Uzbekistan was a risk. In the end, though, he appears to have impressed Mr Zeid. He wants to improve Uzbekistan’s image to give it access to finance, which is increasingly linked to human rights, and gain more acceptance.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 11-14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A slew of Central Asian officials flew to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for bilateral talks and also regional development. Visitors included Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on his first visit to China since becoming Uzbek leader in September last year. China has become an important driver of economic development in the region with its ‘One Belt, One Road’ policy that envisions Central Asia as a stagepost for Asia-Europe trade. The Central Asian leaders returned home with billions of dollars worth of deals.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
BISHKEK, MAY 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ruling Social Democratic party picked current PM Sooronbai Jeenbekov to be its candidate in a presidential election in Kyrgyzstan later this year, a decision that an analyst said confirmed the government’s pro-Russia bent.
Parliament also voted to move forward the presidential election date to Oct. 15 from Nov. 19.
A Central Asian political analyst said that the appointment of Mr Jeenbekov as the Social Democrat’s candidate showed that the party was increasingly in hoc to the Kremlin.
“He’s considered soft on Russia,” the analyst said, asking not to be named. “The Social Democrats nearly appointed a pro-Western candidate but it looks like the Kremlin intervened and they have now gone for Russia’s man.”
Rumors prior to Mr Jeenbekov being given the candidature had suggested that President Almazbek Atambayev’s chief of staff, Sapar Issakov, would be the likely candidate. He is considered pro-Western.
Mr Atambayev is stepping down after a single term in office, as stipulated by the constitution.
His detractors, though have said that he may be lining himself up to become PM at an election scheduled for next year. The Kyrgyz constitution is being changed to shift power from the president to the PM’s office.
As the Social Democrats’ candidate, Mr Jeenbekov is now the front- runner to succeed Mr Atambayev.
But it’s likely to be a competitive and tightly-fought election, and not a foregone conclusion, in what is considered Central Asia’s most vibrant democracy. Former PMs Temir Sariyev and Omurbek Babanov have also said that they will compete in the election.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
MAY 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A unit of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) signed deals to boost financing of small and medium-sized businesses in Uzbekistan with two Tashkent-based banks, Ipak Yuli and Asia Alli- ance. The deals continue the sense of openness and development that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ushered into Uzbekistan since taking over as president in September 2016. Earlier this year, he welcomed the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) back to Tashkent for the first time since 2003. This month the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Uzbekistan for the first time.
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(News report from Issue No. 329, published on May 20 2017)
