Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kazakhstan restarts oil exports via BTC

MAY 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has started shipping oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline for the first time since mid-2015, media reported quoting the Azerbaijani energy ministry, an indication that the country’s oil production has picked up. BTC is considered an important part of the region’s energy infrastructure as it pushes oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey. Kazakhstan had cut its oil production as prices fell. The Azerbaijani energy ministry said that 90,000 tonnes of oil from Kazakhstan have been pumped through BTC already this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

UN human rights chief visits Uzbekistan

MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, started a tour of Uzbekistan, the first since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Mr Zeid met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan leader since September and the man credited with opening up the country, at the start of his trip.

During their 1-1/2 meeting, Mr Zeid urged Mr Mirziyoyev to show restraint in his campaign to root out radical Islamists.

“As in other countries, I have emphasized that the answer to the risk of radicalisation is not simply heavy-handed security measures and repressive policies which breed resentment and frustration, thereby making it easier for extremists to recruit new supporters,” he was quoted by Voice of America as saying.

Mr Mirziyoyev took over from Islam Karimov who was loathed by human rights activists for ordering soldiers to shoot and kill anti- government in Andijan, in the east of the country, in 2005 and for locking up his political opponents.

Analysts, though, cautioned that major policy changes were unlikely.

“Important economic reforms are currently underway, but the Uzbek administration, in close proximity with the powerful Uzbek security services, will not risk giving any oxygen to the political situation under which thousands of prisoners have been incarcerated for dissent for nearly two decades,” said Kate Mallinson, a Central Asia analyst.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

EBRD lends for irrigation to Kazakhstan

MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed a deal with Kazakhstan to lend it $180m to update and integrate its irrigation systems. The modernisation and update of the system is considered vital to boosting output in Kazakhstan agriculture, an increasingly important part of the Kazakh economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

John Deere tractors arrive to Turkmenistan

MAY 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has ordered 1,350 pieces of equipment from US tractor maker John Deere, media reported. The first equipment to arrive in Ashgabat were 50 combine harvesters. More equipment is expected later this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

HRW praises new Kyrgyz domestic violence laws

BISHKEK, MAY 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) praised Kyrgyzstan for introducing new laws surrounding domestic violence, describing them as setting an important new standard for the region.

Activists have complained that domestic violence has largely gone unchecked and ignored by the male- dominated societies of Central Asia. They consider the introduction of the laws which make reporting domestic violence easier, as reported in issue 327 of The Conway Bulletin, to be groundbreaking.

Hillary Margolis, women’s rights researcher at HRW, said: “By enacting this new law, the Kyrgyz government has shown a commitment to the rights of domestic abuse victims and is setting a standard that others in the region should follow.”

The new laws improve protection for the victims of domestic violence and also validate that a complaint made by anybody about domestic violence has to be investigated by the police. Previously only a complaint by the direct victim had to be investigated and often these victims were reluctant to come forward.

HRW said that domestic violence was widespread in Kyrgyzstan, affecting a third of women. It said that only around half the cases were reported and, even then, only 7% were referred to courts as criminal cases.

It is a similar story across the region. Last year, in Kazakhstan, the issue of domestic violence was thrust into the mainstream when the popular TV host Bayan Yessentayeva was beaten by her husband at a petrol station outside Almaty. In subsequent interviews, women’s rights campaigners described domestic abuse as rampant because of a mix of heavy drinking and macho attitudes which subjugate women.

Referring to Kyrgyzstan, HRW said that the new laws needed to be backed-up by a change to the mindset.

“The new domestic violence law will only be meaningful if its promise is backed by action to make better protection for victims a reality,” Ms Margolis, from HRW, said.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

Azerbaijan steps in to help Iran

MAY 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has said that it is prepared to send extra electricity to Iran in the event of a shortfall, media reported. The offer is more evidence, if more was needed, of the interlocking nature of the economies and markets of Central Asia, the South Caucasus and Iran. It also underlines how Azerbaijan has transformed itself over the last few years from an electricity importer to an electricity exporter.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

Kazakh president changes sport finance

MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree which should change the way that sport in the country is financed, skewing funding towards high-profile sports such as football, tennis and cycling . Kazakhstan has been using sport as a way of bolstering its brand across the world.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

Azeri police arrest soldiers for spying for Armenia

MAY 7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani police arrested a group of soldiers who they accuse of spying and plotting a coup backed by Armenia, with which Azerbaijan is still officially at war with over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.

The row follows a scandal in Armenia focused on the import of apples from Azerbaijan. Trade between the two countries has, officially at least, been banned by each of the two governments. Armenian customs officials and the apple smugglers have been arrested, media said.

In Baku, the government said they had foiled the plot by a group of soldiers and civilians to launch attacks in Azerbaijan. Relations between the two neighbours have deteriorated over the past year. Last April, several dozen people were killed in the worst outbreak of fight- ing around Nagorno-Karabakh since a 1994 UN-negotiated ceasefire.

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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

Georgia Healthcare boosts profit

TBILISI, MAY 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin)  — Georgia Healthcare Group reported a surge in revenue linked to its new pharmaceuticals business, underlining its position as one of the Central Asia/South Caucasus region’s best-performing stocks.

Shortly after announcing that revenue in the first quarter of the year had more than doubled to 186.6m lari ($76.5m) from 72.6m lari in 2016, Georgia Healthcare Group shares listed on the London Stock Exchange hit 370p. This was just shy of an all-time high of 379p reached earlier this year.

In a statement Georgian Healthcare, whose core business is running hospitals and health services, said that the addition of a pharmaceutical business had boosted its revenue.

“Our key focus during the first quarter of 2017 has been to ensure the successful integration of the newly-acquired Pharmadepot business,” it said in a statement.

Georgia Healthcare said it had a 29% share of the pharmaceuticals sector. It is Georgia’s largest healthcare provider, operating over 2,500 hospital beds, 23% of the market.

Georgia’s healthcare system has been revolutionized by the Georgian Dream government who introduced a variant of the Universal Healthcare model in 2013.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)

 

Azerbaijan’s IBA misses debt interest payments

MAY 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the biggest bank in the country and vital to its economy, said it had missed interest payments on loans, another sign it is struggling to stay solvent under the weight of mounting bad debt.

Azerbaijani finance minister Samir Sharifov also appealed to creditors to be patient while IBA restructured its debt. He said the bank would not pay interest on liabilities until this process was complete.

In the US, IBA applied for protection under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code. This protects the bank from being pursued by creditors while it restructures its debt.

Analysts have said all year that IBA is in serious danger of collapsing. In January, the government increased its stake in the bank to 76.7% from 55% in an admission that without state support the bank would fail.

Azerbaijan’s economy has been hit hard by a collapse in oil prices since 2014.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)