NOV. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s parliament voted to extend for seven years a deal with the United States designed to stop the spread of so-called weapons of mass destruction. Under the deal the US supplies Armenia with equipment and training to stop the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The original deal was signed in 2000.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The deputy head of the government’s Baiterek development corporation, Aslan Jakupov, was arrested with two other people for taking bribe of a around $80,000 over a house-building contract in Pavlodar, media reported. Media said that Aslan Jakupov is the son of a senior Kazakh MP. The case shows just how ingrained corruption is in Kazakhstan. The prosecutor said that Mr Jakupov was suspected of taking a series of bribes from construction companies in deals across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili announced that he was setting up a new political party in Ukraine less than a week after quitting as governor of the Odessa region because of what he said were links between the government and corrupt practices. He called for an early election in Ukraine. Last month, Mr Saakashvili’s United National Movement party was soundly beaten in a parliamentary election in Georgia and his detractors have said that he has set up a political party in Ukraine because his much-vaunted return to Georgian politics failed to materialise.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to visit Uzbekistan on Nov. 18 for talks with acting- president Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Mr Mirziyoyev has made improving Uzbekistan’s international relations a priority since taking over in September after the death of Islam Karimov.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Russo-Kazakh Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) said it is ready to consider supporting the modernisation of the Nurek hydropower plant, the largest in Tajikistan. In an interview with Avesta, EDB chairman Dmitri Pankin said that, if the government asked for help, the EDB would help fund reconstruction work at the dam together with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The Tajik government had previously said the modernisation will cost $700m.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a half-year report, the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the country’s largest lender, said it completed the first stage of a cleanup of its toxic assets. In the first half of 2016, IBA transferred 9.9b manat (around $6b) to the government-owned credit company Aqrar Kredit. Azerbaijan’s ministry of finance owns 54.9% and Aqrar Kredit owns 27% in IBA.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Brussels, Turkmen and EU energy officials confirmed their commitment to making the so-called Caspian Development Corporation, which aims to send gas from Turkmenistan to Europe, become a reality. The Caspian Development Corporation is a concept that has been talked of and worked towards since at least 2010. One of the projects Caspian Development Corporation is exploring is building a pipeline across the Caspian seabed.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan intends to build a database holding fingerprints for all its citizens by 2021, media reported quoting the interior ministry. Deputy interior minister Rashid Zhakupov said that the project will cost 36.8b tenge ($107 million) and is designed to speed up border controls. The initiative should also tighten security across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a speech to parliament to present the government’s budget plans for 2017, Tajikistan’s finance minister Abdusalom Kurboniyon said that the government’s debt measured 36.3% of its GDP, slightly higher than last year. Tajikistan’s debt ratio has been rising over the past couple of years because of an economic downturn triggered by a fall in oil prices and a recession in Russia. In 2014, Tajikistan’s debt to GDP ratio had been around 28%.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank cut its key interest rate by 0.25% to 6.5%, its lowest level since at least 201. The Central Bank has been steadily cutting interest rates throughout the year to try to combat falling inflation. At the start of the year, Armenia’s interest rate had been set at 8.75%. The Central Bank said that economic activity was still slow and that it expected soft inflationary pressures to continue.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
