Category Archives: Uncategorised

WHO praises new cigarette laws in Kyrgyzstan

>>Laws important in country with little formal health education>>

JAN. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The World Health Organisation (WHO) is lauding a move by Kyrgyzstan to increase tax on cigarettes and to make it law to publish garish images of the damage smoking can to people’s health on packets.

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament ratified the news laws at the end of last year, WHO said. The laws will equalise the tax on cigarettes with neighbouring Kazakhstan.

“Tobacco taxes for different types of tobacco will increase as of 2015 and are expected to increase to the level of tobacco taxes in the neighbouring Kazakhstan,” WHO said in its statement.

“As of 2014, tobacco taxes in Kyrgyzstan are 2-1/2 to 12 times lower than in Kazakhstan.”

The pictures that will be carried on cigarette boxes from 2016 show how smoking gives people cancer and other diseases.

This is an important step. Tightening regulations on smoking and educating the general public on the dangers of smoking is seen as a civilising step and a marker of a country’s development.

For Kyrgyzstan, where cigarettes appear to be clamped to the lips of men walking down a street and the purple fog of tobacco smoke fugs many bars, this is a big step indeed. Public health is often overlooked in Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Armenia, Azerbaijan armies clash around N-K

JAN. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia accused Azerbaijan of killing two of its soldiers along the border to the dispute region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Separatists backed by Armenia control Nagorno-Karabakh but peace, or a relative peace, is only held by a 1994 UN-brokered ceasefire. There are weekly shootings along the border.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Uzbekistan increases security along border

JAN. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek Border Guard Service has beefed up its units along its frontier with Afghanistan, citing intelligence that the Taliban was mustering its forces, although some analysts and Afghan security officials questioned the level of the threat.

Central Asian governments have said that the withdrawal of NATO from Afghanistan will worsen its own border security.

Two weeks ago, Zamir Kabulov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Afghanistan said that the Taliban was planning a wide offensive on Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in April.

Even with the Russian warning and the Uzbek military build-up, the Tajik-language service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Afghan general Abdusabur Nusrati refuting reports of the Taliban build-up.

An Uzbek analyst who declined to be named was also sceptical over just how acute the Taliban threat was.

Instead he suggested that the move may be linked to the up and coming presidential election set for March 29. He said that the security issue may play into President Islam Karimov’s image as the tough man of Uzbekistan.

“The country is preparing for presidential elections in only three months,” he said. “To my mind this statements is another indication that he is eyeing another bid as president.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Dunkin’ Donuts opens in Tbilisi

JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgians are now able to buy Dunkin’ Donuts in Tbilisi. One of the United States’ biggest fast food franchises opened its first two stores in Tbilisi, giving the economy a major PR scoop.

Other than Russia, Georgia is the only country in the former Soviet Union that Dunkin’ Donuts has opened a franchise.

“Opening Dunkin’ Donuts in Georgia proves that there is an attractive business climate in this country and it is easy to do business here,” US ambassador Richard Norland said at the opening of the stores.

Georgia’s economy has rebounded strongly from 2008 when it collapsed after a brief war with Russia. Since then foreign investment and exports, mainly to Russia, have picked up pace.

The Wissol conglomerate, which has close connections with the Georgian business and political elite, brought Dunkin’ Donuts to Georgia. Last year it also brought Wendy’s, another US fast food chain to Georgia.

The vice-president of Dunkin’ Donuts in Europe, Carlos Vidal, said that Wissol had the experience to launch a brand successfully in Georgia.

“Wissol Group owns knowledge of establishment of retail business and management,” he said.

“Together with Wissol Group we have ambitious plans in Georgia because we know that the population of the country is ready to receive the unique experience of Dunkin’ Donuts and to become everyday customer of sandwiches, donuts, bakery and a variety coffee products.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015

Kim Kardashian to visit Armenia

JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia is bracing itself for a major celebrity visit when Kim Kardashian, a Los Angeles-based reality TV star, and her sisters travel to Yerevan later this year. US media announced that the sisters were planning a visit to their ancestral homeland.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Mrs Clooney to represent Armenia

JAN. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The new Mrs Clooney, wife of Hollywood superstar George, is adding a dash of glamour to a case going through the European Court of Human Rights involving Armenia. Amal Clooney has agreed to represent Armenia as it challenges an appeal against a Turkish politician who denied an alleged genocide against Armenia in 1915.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015

Uzbekistan cuts refinancing interest rate

JAN. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s Central Bank has cut its refinancing rate for domestic banks to 9% from 10%, media reported. The refinancing rate is the cost of borrowing between financial institutions. The Central Bank said it had cut the refinancing rate to try and boost investment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Kazakh boy allegedly murders two men on IS video

JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A video distributed by the extremist group IS reportedly shows a Kazakh boy aged 10-years-old shooting dead two men who are said to have worked for the Russian intelligence agencies. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said that the boy appears to be the same boy shown in an IS propaganda video at the end of last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Nazarbayev meets Merkel in Berlin

JAN. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — On his first major foreign trip of 2015, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev travelled to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Reports from Berlin said the two leaders discussed the Ukraine war and developing business links.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)

Kyrgyz currency reserves fall

JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s currency reserves dropped by 12.5% in 2014 to just under $2b, the head of the Central Bank, Tolkubek Abdygulov, was quoted by media as saying. The drop was due to Central Bank interventions to try to prop up the Kyrgyz som, under pressure from a falling Russian rouble.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)