NOV. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has invited companies to compete in a tender to build two hydropower stations, hydroworld.com, the industry new website, reported. The projects, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), highlight how important hydropower is to Kyrgyzstan.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it had completed one-month long planned maintenance work on its Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) on time. Azerbaijan has been pressuring BP to improve output at its ACG fields. ACG has been the main source of its oil revenues although this has flagged.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the first eleven months of this year Tajikistan equalled its top post-independence annual production figure for gold, the country’s Asia-Plus news agency reported.
Like its record cement production figure, posted earlier this year, the increase is due to Chinese investment.
The yield of 3 metric tonnes (mt) is modest by regional standards — neighbouring Uzbekistan produces 90 mt/year and Kyrgyzstan 10-20 mt/year — but it’s still important to Tajikistan, one of the most impoverished countries in the world.
Chinese-Tajik Zeravshan Gold Company is responsible for over two thirds of Tajikistan’s total gold output. And this underlines China’s increasingly tight grip over Tajikistan’s economy. Without China, Tajikistan’s gold and cement industries would be in a far more perilous state.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural division, declared that lavash was a cultural icon belonging to Armenia. Lavash is a thin white bread used to wrap cheese, vegetable or meat. UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage List, compiled since 2008, appears to delight and infuriate nations in equal measure.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s gold and foreign currency reserves have grown by 15.8% this year, media reported quoting the Central Bank’s press service. This war-chest is important because the Central Bank has said it is prepared to spend to defend the tenge currency against falling oil prices and a drop in the Russian rouble.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – NATO re-affirmed it is looking to open a training centre in Georgia despite Russian threats. At a press conference, NATO director-general Jens Stoltenberg said: “No other third country can veto or try to stop partnership between NATO and a sovereign nation as Georgia.”
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Prosecutors in Georgia charged former president Mikheil Saakashvili with complicity in the murder of banker Sandro Girgvilani in 2006, media reported. Girgliani was killed after a row in a bar with interior ministry officials. Mr Saakashvili is living in self-imposed exile in New York.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Azerbaijani security forces arrested two men for setting fire to a mosque in a village in Azerbaijan. Media quoted the security forces describing the arson as an act of terrorism. It said that one of the men arrested had fought with Kurdish fighters in Syria.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev said the country would sign treaties on Dec. 23 with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan that effectively amount to an accession agreement to the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union at the start of 2015. Armenia has already signed an accession deal.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov said Kazakhstan wanted to develop shale gas sites, industry website shaleenergyinsider.com reported. The website quoted Mr Massimov talking at an energy conference. If Mr Massimov acts on his statement it would mark a change in Kazakhstan’s energy policy.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
