JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Alexander Tchikaidze quit as Georgia’s interior minister after a man who accused him of covering up the death of two people killed by police in 2006 was himself killed by a bomb. Mr Tchikaidze, an ex-police colonel, had been interior minister since 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Foreign investment in Uzbekistan is again under the spotlight after Russian news agency Regnum quoted the British ambassador in Tashkent, George Edgar, saying that companies were having to quit the country because of various problems with the business environment.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The security forces in Osh, the largest city in south Kyrgyzstan, arrested six men they say had been trained at camps for fighters wanting to join the radical Islamic group IS in Syria. The authorities also uncovered a large cache of weapons with the men.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s foreign minister Rashid Meredov visited Slovenia for meetings with his Slovenian counterpart, Karl Erjavec (Jan. 26). The talks focused on how to improve business ties between the two countries and are more evidence of stronger links between EU members and Turkmenistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
>>Tajikistan is heavily linked to Russia economy>>
JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan is actively considering applying for membership of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, Belarusian news agency BelTA quoted Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, as saying at a meeting of the Russian parliament.
This is the first major statement this year that Tajikistan still intends to join the trade bloc. It’s also significant because it implies Russia wants Tajikistan in the club.
The Eurasian Economic Union came into existence at the start of the year, replacing the Customs Union. It’s a trade bloc although analysts have said that the Kremlin is looking to use it to promote its own political agenda.
Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union on Jan. 1. Kazakhstan and Belarus were already members and Kyrgyzstan is due to join later in the year.
“Tajikistan is also interested and is mulling over the prospects of joining the Eurasian integration processes,” BelTA quoted Mr Nebanzya as saying.
Tajikistan’s economy is closely linked to Russia. It relies on jobs in Russia for its workers, who send back remittances which make up roughly half the country’s GDP.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
>>US says that the vehicles are non-lethal>>
JAN. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US Defence Department started delivering to Uzbekistan 300 vehicles designed to withstand ambushes and mines, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia, Daniel Rosenblum, told the Voice of America’s Uzbek language service.
This is controversial because it appears to go beyond a previous deal made between Washington and Tashkent which said that the United States would deliver non-lethal military equipment to Uzbekistan in exchange for help in withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan.
Ambush-resistant vehicles are, technically, non-lethal but these troop carriers can be mounted with machine-guns and are designed to be used during combat operations.
Uzbekistan has a dubious human rights record and activists have complained heavily about the US’ deal with Uzbekistan. Still, realpolitik meant that the US had to turn to Uzbekistan for help in extracting its kit from Afghanistan. Uzbekistan’s Soviet-era railway system is the quickest and safest way out of the country.
In the interview with Voice of America, Mr Rosenblum said Uzbekistan needed the vehicles to fight Islamic extremist groups and also for counter-narcotic operations.
“We consider them (the vehicles) to be non-lethal. They are intended to protect personnel, crews and passengers in areas that there might be explosive devices, mines, so on,” he said.
“Under those circumstances and for the purposes of counterterrorism and counter-narcotics, we thought that it was a legitimate request and decided to fulfil it.”
Technically Mr Rosenblum may be right. In reality, though, the line between so-called lethal and non-lethal equipment is becoming more blurred with this latest deal.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank increased its refinancing rate, the cost it charges other financial institutions to borrow money, by 1% to 9.5% to slow inflation. In December, the Central Bank increased the refinancing rate to 8.5% from 6.5%. New data showed prices rose 4.6% in December.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Students in Uzbekistan are being forced into signing petitions supporting the presidential candidature of Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, the Uzbek arm of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Mr Karimov has said he is going to stand for another term as president in an election in March.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
>>New tax code is an effort to stop tax evasion>>
JAN. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new tax code in Armenia is upsetting the very people it is supposed to be helping.
The government has decided to reduce the tax for small business, those earning less than $122,000, to 1% of their sales from 3.5%. The downside of the new law is that the traders and shopkeepers have to document more closely their sales.
Media reported that hundreds of traders demonstrated in front of the parliament building against the new tax laws. Their problem is the introduction of the extra paperwork.
The bottom line is that the government wants to increase tax receipts. To do this it has decided to crackdown on tax evasion and the fiddling of receipts. And this is where the problem lies. The Armenian traders’ will have to fill in more paperwork and, they say, will actually earn less under the new tax code because they will have to declare more of their sales.
The small traders have also complained that they are being used as guinea pigs before the new tax code is rolled out to bigger businesses.
With the Armenian economy reeling from the turmoil in Russia, the government is desperate to highlight good news. It has already had to postpone the introduction of the new tax code from November until Feb. 1. The issue is becoming increasingly contentious.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
JAN. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Libya have said three Tajik nationals died in an attack by Islamic extremists on a luxury hotel in Tripoli. Altogether seven people and three attackers died during the raid. It’s unclear who the Tajik nationals were. The hotel was used by visiting business and political delegations.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
