OCT. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s finance minister Bakhyt Sultanov announced cuts of $1.5b to the national budget over the next two years, a sign of tough economic times driven by sanctions on Russia and lower oil prices. The main cuts will focus on procurement and debt servicing.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Goldman Sachs has said Azerbaijan is partly to blame for falling oil prices by oversupplying the market. West Texas Intermediate is trading at around $79.58 a barrel, its lowest for two years.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek cinemas have been showing a carefully scripted film depicting how the life of the ordinary peasant is happier than those people seeking to emulate Western values in the city, the eurasianet.org website reported. Human rights workers accuse Uzbek officials of using propaganda to control people.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan stopped broadcasting the pan-CIS MIR TV shortly after a summit meeting of the CIS heads of state in Minsk, media reported. No official reason for cutting the broadcast was given although it does reduce, again, the amount of TV news that ordinary Uzbeks can watch.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a move that threatens to aggravate delicate relations with Russia, Georgia is planning to open up a NATO training base.
Georgian defence minister Irakly Alasania told Reuters in an interview that Georgia would not be cowed by a Russian warning not to host any NATO equipment or bases.
“Confrontation with Russia should be avoided. Georgia needs stability,” he said. “But we will never bow to the Russians.”
Relations between Russia and Georgia have improved since Mikheil Saakashvili quit as Georgian president last year but they are still icy and have been aggravated by alleged Russian action in Ukraine. Georgia supports the pro-Western Ukraine government.
Georgia has been pushing to join NATO for some years and has supported operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Earlier this month, Russia warned Georgia not to host any NATO equipment, although that warning appears to have been ignored.
“This centre will be jointly operated by NATO and Georgia and it’s going to be an additional layer of security and defensive capability for Georgia,” Mr Alasania said. “It will be a Georgia-owned facility, but planning will be jointly done with NATO.”
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s main opposition parties, Respublika and Ata Zhurt, will join forces to form a coalition ahead of parliamentary elections in 2015, media reported. If it holds together, the Respublika- Ata Zhurt coalition could be powerful as it would bridge the country’s north-south divide.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan is considering diversifying its energy transit routes because of Western sanctions imposed on Russia, media reported. One option being considered is the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline that runs from the Azerbaijani capital to Supsa on the Georgian Black Sea coast.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian energy minister Yervand Zakharyan flew to Tehran for another round of talks with his Iranian counterpart on increasing gas supplies. Marginalised by their neighbours, Armenia and Iran have been trading gas and electricity since 2009.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Playing the role of the great benevolent master, Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon granted amnesty to 10,000 prisoners in Tajikistan to mark the 20th anniversary of the country’s constitution. Mr Rakhmon, president since the mid-1990s, regularly uses amnesties to relieve over-crowding in prisons which human rights groups criticise.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Denmark’s Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary will fly into Tajikistan on Oct. 23 for a three day trip as part of her role as patron of the World Health Organisation’s Europe office, WHO said. Princess Mary’s visit will throw a rare touch of royal glamour over Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
