NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Council, the EU’s political core, has said it wants to renegotiate a new bilateral deal with Azerbaijan. This is important because it sets the tone of subsequent talks between the EU and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and the EU have rowed over human rights.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek and Kyrgyz officials met in Ferghana City, Uzbekistan, to agree resolutions to seven more border dispute areas, the 24.kg news website reported. The border resolution process is part of a drive by Uzbekistan since the death of Islam Karimov in September to repair damaged relations with its neighbours. 24.kg reported that the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border was 1,378km long and that nearly a third of this has been disputed.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
TBILISI, NOV. 16 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Georgian Mining Corporation said it raised £2.6m ($3.2m) in a new share offering designed to finance the development of its Kvemo Bolnisi copper and gold mine in the south of Georgia.
Last month, Georgian Mining changed its name from Noricum Gold to reflect the geographic focus of its operations.
After the restructuring and consolidation of ordinary shares, the fresh share issue represents 40% of the total issued shares and will dilute ownership in the company.
Before the placing, businessmen Michael Johnson (6.1%), Martyn Churchouse (5.4%) and Fahad Al- Tamimi (4.9%) were the three largest shareholders.
The company said the new cash will fund development of the Kvemo Bolnisi mine, in which it owns a 50% stake.
“This raise is a significant endorsement of our approach to commence production at low cost and for a minimum capex requirement,” director Greg Kuenzel said in a statement.
Georgia’s Caucasian Mining Group, owned by Russian entrepreneur Dmitri Troitsky, is Georgian Mining’s partner at Kvemo Bolnisi.
Georgian Mining bought its 50% share in Kvemo Bolnisi in July 2015 from GMC Investment for £2.6m ($3.2m). The company started drilling in June, in line with its forecasts. Reserves at the Bolnisi project include 980,000 tonnes of copper, 6.6m ounces of gold and 22m ounces of silver.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Uzbek subsidiary of Russian energy company Lukoil received a loan of $500m from various European and Japanese financial institutions to develop the Gissar gas and condensate field in Uzbekistan.
A consortium of banks — Italy’s Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, Russia’s VTB, Dutch lender ING, Japan’s Mizuho Bank, France’s Natixis and Austria’s Raiffeisenbank — has agreed to give the loan to Soyuzneftegaz Vostok, Lukoil’s subsidiary in Uzbekistan.
This is important because, by providing Soyuzneftegaz Vostok with a loan, Western banks are indirectly investing in Uzbekistan and, also, lending Lukoil funds. Lukoil is under US sanctions but not European sanctions.
The five-year loan will help Lukoil expand the Gissar project, which has produced around 1.3b cubic metres/year since 2011. The company plans to grow production to 4.8b cubic metres/year by 2017 and build a gas treatment complex near the field. Earlier this year, Lukoil said it was looking to obtain a loan from South Korean lenders and that it needed a $1b cash injection to com- plete the upgrade.
Sanctions were imposed on Russian companies after Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-corruption police in Kazakhstan detained Dmitriy Vasilyev, director at Aktobe Football Club, for embezzling 300m ($882,000) of public funds, official media reported. Mr Vasiliyev allegedly paid illegal premiums for Aktobe’s performance in Kazakhstan’s Premier League. FC Aktobe is owned by the finance department of the local government.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
ALMATY, NOV. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A closed court in Astana sentenced Tokhtar Tuleshov, the self- styled beer king of southern Kazakhstan, to 21 years in prison for attempting to stage a coup against Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Prosecutors had said that Tuleshov had financed a series of anti- government protests in April and May that focused on land ownership. The breadth of the protests and their leaderless nature unnerved Mr Nazarbayev. Police arrested the protest organisers and charged Tuleshov, detained in January for unrelated charges of illegally owning weapons and fraud, with financing the demonstrations.
Tuleshov made his millions through the Shymkentpivo brewery, one of the biggest in Kazakhstan, in the southern city of Shymkent.
His supporters say that he has been framed and point out that it is not possible for him to have paid for the protests from prison.
An ostentatious and dapper figure, Tuleshov used to drive through the scruffy streets of Shymkent in a chauffeured Rolls Royce. Birthday parties for his daughter were lavish affairs with pop stars flown in to sing and guests dressing up in outlandish fancy dress.
The trial was held behind closed doors with journalists only allowed into the courtroom for the final verdict. Human rights activists have said that the arbitrary and closed nature of the trial worried them and could set a precedent.
Analysts have also speculated that Mr Nazarbayev and other senior members of the government from the central and northern tribes in Kazakhstan used Tuleshov to send a warning to high-ranking members of the southern tribe not to challenge their dominance.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned an assault on Turkmen journalist Soltan Achilova, who had also been briefly detained and questioned by the police. In a statement, HRW said that the October attack on Ms Achilova, who works for US- funded RFE/RL, had been organised to silence criticism.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek deputy PM Ulugbek Rozukulov led a delegation to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, official Turkmen media reported. Mr Rozukulov’s mission is part of a drive by acting president Shavket Mirziyoyev to improve Uzbekistan’s international relations since the death in September of Islam Karimov.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Baiterek, a Kazakh government holding, said it secured a $300m loan from Japan’s SMBC, part of the Sumitomo group. The agreement, signed during President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to Japan, will support the supply of high-tech equipment. The Kazakhstan Development Bank, a subsidiary of Baiterek, will receive the funds and finance joint projects with Japanese companies.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A senior Afghan army commander in the north of Afghanistan said that the Taliban was encouraging Uzbek and Tajik radical militants to infiltrate Central Asia. The Pajhwork reported that Lt. Gen. Sher Aziz Kamawal had said that the Taliban was using instability in Kunduz region, on the border with Uzbekistan, as a launchpad for militants to move into Central Asia. Governments in Central Asia have been increasingly concerned about Taliban encroachment north.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
