JULY 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Profit at Toronto-based Centerra Gold, owner of Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor gold mine, fell because of low gold prices, media reported. Kumtor is Centerra Gold’s main asset and the focus of a major row with the Kyrgyz government. Ian Atkinson, Centerra Gold CEO, also said he was confident of a deal with the Kyrgyz government soon.
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(News report from Issue No. 194, published on August 6 2014)
AUG. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Georgia issued an arrest warrant for former president Mikheil Saakashvili on charges that he abused his power and illegally privatised state assets during his 10 years in power. Mr Saakashvili, who is living in Europe, has said the new Georgian government is using the law to settle vendettas.
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(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)
AUG. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States denied it was discussing setting up a base in Uzbekistan after media reports said a deal was imminent. The US pulled out of its base outside Bishkek this year and speculation has been rising that it may be looking to set up a new Central Asia hub.
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(News report from Issue No. 194, published on Aug. 6 2014)
JULY 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A crowd of up to 50 people in Tbilisi reportedly attacked and beat an Armenian priest outside an Armenian Cathedral, media said. They reported that the trigger for the attack was an argument over parking. Armenia has called for an immediate investigation.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it had hired former British PM Tony Blair for its advisory board on how best to export energy from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to Europe. Mr Blair has been an adviser to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev since 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
DANGHARA/Tajikistan JULY 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — To passersby this town of 25,000 people south east of Dushanbe, is indistinguishable from any other poor Tajik settlement.
On one side of the drag running through its centre there is a crowded but limited bazaar, hawking cheap products from China. On the other, the standard array of grocery stores with little to sell and taxi drivers waiting for non-existent customers.
But Danghara is an important part of impoverished Tajikistan’s political vocabulary. The town’s most famous son, Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon, stuffs his government with people from Danghara and its eponymous district.
Making up only 1% of the total population of Tajikistan, Dangharans nevertheless head the ministries of education, health and internal affairs. The first Deputy Prime Minister is also Danghara-born.
“Half of Danghara has already moved to Dushanbe,” said Daler Khalidoev, a courier who lives in the capital but comes from Khujand. “They still smell of the village.”
Since Soviet times, regional divisions have plagued Tajikistan. Back then most of the local elite were plucked from Leninabad region (now Khojand) in the north, now it seems that Dangharans are in favour.
At Mr Rakhmon’s encouragement international organizations have built and equipped Danghara general hospital, one of the best in the country, at a cost of roughly $20m. The newly created Danghara Free Economic Zone 10km outside the city, will host strategic investments such as an Iranian detergent factory worth $1.4b and a Chinese oil refinery that will refine over 1m tonnes of crude per year.
“(It’s) jobs for his people,” said Khalidoev, the courier from Khojand.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia buried its former president Eduard Shevardnadze with full military honours at his residence outside Tbilisi. Shevardnadze had been the Soviet Union’s foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. Former US Secretary of State James Baker and other high profile foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan released on bail Tajik academic Alexander Sodiqov who officials arrested and charged with spying when working for British and Canadian universities in the south of the country. Mr Sodiqov’s arrest triggered international condemnation. As a condition of his bail, Mr Sodiqov has to remain in Dushanbe.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian Dream, a political coalition set up in 2012 by Georgia’s richest man Bidzina Ivanishvili, completed its clean sweep of the country’s major political offices by winning a run-off in the Tbilisi mayoral election. Davit Narmania, the Georgian Dream candidate, won with nearly 75% of the vote.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan confirmed it would host a Formula 1 Grand Prix race in 2016. Hosting an F1 race is a huge PR success for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who has been looking for ways to promote the country. Next year, Azerbaijan hosts the inaugural European Games.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
