Category Archives: Uncategorised

Tajikistan starts military exercises with China

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan and China start joint military exercises on the Tajik-Afghan border. The exercises come a month after China announced that it was going to build a network of border posts along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. It is increasingly worried about security along the southern fringe of Central Asia. In August a suicide bomber attacked the Chinese embassy in Bishkek.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Georgia joins EU’s Energy Community

TBILISI, OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian energy minister Ilia Eloshvili signed a deal for Georgia to join Europe’s Energy Community, meaning that it will now impose various EU rules and regulations over its electricity and gas networks.

For Georgia, joining the Energy Community is another step towards integrating its economy, and in this case energy network, more closely with the EU.

Earlier this year it entered into an Association Agreement with the EU which will make it easier to sell goods in Europe and this month EU members states said that Georgia should receive visa-free access to the Schengen zone.

At the signing ceremony in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina, Mr Eloshvili was clear about Georgia’s overall intentions.

“By receiving the status of the contracting party, we plan to embark on the implementation of new round of reforms for approximating Georgia’s energy sector with the European Union energy market rules,” media quoted him as saying.

Georgia had said in February that it wanted to join the Energy Community. Along with EU member states, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine are members of the Energy Community.

Georgia is expected to become a member next year after its parliament ratifies the deal and Dominique Ristori, director general for Energy at the European Commission said it would give the project momentum.

“With yet another new country joining the Energy Community family, this framework for the creation of a pan-European energy system is once again showing that it is relevant and successful,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakh President returns back to work

OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president returned to work after three days off because he had apparently caught a cold, his press office said. Part of Mr Nazarbayev’s image is his fitness and virility and it is rare for him to admit to taking any time off work. The cold apparently caused Mr Nazarbayev to skip a meeting of the FSU-focused CSTO group in Yerevan.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Cotton exports rise in Uzbekistan

OCT. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At its annual cotton fair, Uzbekistan reportedly signed deals to export finished cotton worth $1.3m, up from $800m in 2015, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Cotton is one of Uzbekistan’s most important exports. Many Western brands refuse to use Uzbek cotton in their garments because of its association with child labour.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Gerogia TBC Bank completes buyout of rival

TBILISI, OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s TBC Bank completed the takeover of Bank Republic, making it the biggest bank in the country in terms of loans.

At the same time, the Georgian Central Bank suspended the licence of Progress Bank, linked to former energy minister Kakha Kaladze and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, suggesting that a deal for TBC Bank to buy it was about to go through.

TBC had bought most of Bank Republic last month from Societe Generale for 315m lari ($136m) but still had to buy the final 6.4% from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, TBC Bank CEO, enthused about the future. “We believe the acquisition of Bank Republic is a critical step in delivering on TBC Bank’s strategy and represents a major step forward

in TBC Bank’s ambition to build the leading banking group in Georgia and the broader Caucasus region,” he was quoted by media as saying.

Importantly, the deals shift TBC Bank from having a 5.3% share of the deposits market to a 34.5% share.

Georgia’s banking sector is generally considered the most advanced in the South Caucasus. Bank of Georgia, TBC’s rival, is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakhstan renames Gulen-led schools

OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan is renaming a series of schools linked to the Gulenist Movement, blamed by Turkish president being behind a coup attempt earlier in the year, media reported. The movement is headed by the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. He has denied any link to the July coup attempt. Gulen schools in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are considered some of the best and both the Kazakh and Kyrgyz governments have been resistant to closing them despite pressure fromTurkey.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakhs turn to credit cards

ALMATY, OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhs are spending more money on credit cards than ever before, new data showed, as they try to work out ways of pulling through a prolonged economic downturn.

Data from the rankings.kz website showed that the amount of credit cards in circulation in Kazakhstan had increased by 250% this year, a jump that suggests a large rise, too, in consumer debt.

Kuralai Abenova, a student in Almaty, was using her credit card to buy kit to renovate her apartment.

“It is very convenient rather than saving money. I can take a large sum of money and then pay little bits of it off regularly,” she said.

A crash in oil prices and a recession in Russia have hit Kazakhstan hard. The tenge currency has lost around 50% of its value since 2014 and inflation is rising.

Analysts have previously warned, though, that Kazakhs’ over-reliance on credit was a weakness that could undermine the economy. During the Global Economic Crisis of 2008/9, Kazakh banks were left with piles of bad debt. The risk is that similar amounts of bad debt are being accrued now.

And this loose attitude towards consumer debt is being replicated in high street shops which are encouraging shoppers to spend through cheap loans.

Saida Zhunusova, a financial consultant at the electronics store Technodom, said she had seen a large increase in the number of people using credit cards or asking directly for credit to pay for products.

“Many people cannot pay for the goods with cash and it is more convenient for them to pay only a part of the cost. Compared to 2014-2015 our sales have doubled because of loans,” she said.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakh court fines Ural Oil and Gas

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Kazakhstan slapped a 2.1b tenge ($6.23m) fine on Ural Oil and Gas, a small energy company, for environmental damage. According to the prosecutor, the company had illegally disposed of its drilling waste at its operations in the Fedorovsky Bloc in Western Kazakhstan. State-owned Kazmunaigas (50%) and Hungary’s MOL (27.5%) are the two largest shareholders in Ural.

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kyrgyz MPs push back referendum

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — MPs in Kyrgyzstan voted to push back a referendum on changing the country’s constitution to Dec. 11 from an earlier date of Dec. 4. One of the reasons give for pushing back the referendum was to find the original document. This was supposed to have been kept in the President’s office but could not be found. The referendum focuses on strengthening the power of the PM.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakh women’s rights leaders ambivalent on Dariga as future president

ALMATY, OCT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dariga Nazarbayeva, daughter of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, may have been promoted to the Senate in a reshuffle last month, and is now being touted as a presidential successor, but many women appear ambivalent on supporting her candidacy.

The issue of who will succeed president Nursultan Nazarbayev, 76, as next president dominates Kazakh politics but Ms Nazarbayeva, 53, is a divisive figure and she fails to generate mass support among what should be her natural support base — women — as interviews with women’s rights advocates suggested.

Dina Smailova, who heads a group fighting domestic and sexual violence called ‘Don’t be silent’, said that while Ms Nazarbayeva had been supportive of their work, she may not be the right person to lead the country.

“I can view her candidacy as a woman who is educated, a modern woman but why not consider another candidate?” she said.

Women’s rights and domestic abuse moved into the mainstream in Kazakhstan this year after a well- known female TV presenter was badly beaten up by her husband at a petrol station outside Almaty.

According to the UN, 500 women are killed each year in Kazakhstan by their partners.

Aida Alzhanova, chair of Adam Damu charity and a former UN expert for women’s equality said Ms Nazarbayeva had not done enough to promote women’s rights.

“I didn’t know Dariga was promoting women’s rights,” she said. “Here gender inequality in politics and business is gradually moving into the domestic sphere.”

She did say, though, that she would consider supporting Ms Nazarbayeva.

“If she wins in a fair election and if she has a clear gender policy that fits with international norms and standards, then I will vote for her,” she said.

The third women’s rights leader interviewed by The Conway Bulletin said that she would support Dariga Nazarbayeva if she wanted to become president.

“I want to believe that if a woman becomes president there will be pos- itive changes in the country,” said Marianna Gurina, president of the Ulagatty Zhanuya charity, which pro- motes family values and women’s rights.

“Yes, I support her candidacy because I think she, as a woman understands women.”

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(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)