Category Archives: Uncategorised

Uzbekistan asks for a new loan from World Bank

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – During a visit to Uzbekistan by the World Bank’s new regional director for Central Asia, Lilia Burunciuc, the Uzbek ministry of economy asked for a $100m loan to improve the country’s job market. The ministry said it wanted to create around 500,000 new, sustainable jobs over the next five years. In June, the World Bank committed to a new partnership with Uzbekistan, earmarking around $3b for a vast range of projects.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Turkmenistan to design golf course

OCT. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – US golf champion Jack Nicklaus flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to discuss designing Turkmenistan’s first golf course. Mr Nicklaus’s company, Nicklaus Design, has mulled building a golf course in Turkmenistan, near the border with Iran, for the past couple of years.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Kyrgyz police releases wife of Tajik opposition figure

OCT. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz police released the wife of Sobir Valiev, a Tajik opposition figure, 22 hours after her arrest. Kyrgyzstan’s Security Service said the woman, Zhannat Khamzayeva, was questioned regarding the alleged illegal activities of her husband. Mr Valiyev, a member of the opposition movement Group-24 who currently lives in Poland, is accused of illegal border crossing and forging documents. The Security Service ordered Ms Khamzayeva to remain in the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Link with GM Uzbekistan threatens to dent Clinton’s presidential campaign

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – US media sympathetic to the Republican party has hinted that a gift by car manufacturer GM to the Clinton Foundation in 2010 may have triggered a visit by Hillary Clinton to a factory GM part-owns in Uzbekistan in 2011 when she was Secretary of State.

This is not the first time that Ms Clinton has had to fight off allegations of poor judgement linked to her charitable foundation that she co- founded with her husband, former US President Bill Clinton, but it is the first time that Uzbekistan has fea- tured in the US presidential debate.

Fox News, which favours the Republican party, referenced a corruption scandal which has hit GM Uzbekistan this year over alleged bogus car sales to Russia.

“Clinton isn’t tied to any of the allegations,” it reported. “But it’s another example of how Clinton Foundation donations and subsequent State Department actions have put the Democratic presidential nominee in an awkward position.”

In 2010, GM gave the Clinton Foundation cars worth $685,000. A year later, Ms Clinton visited the GM Uzbekistan factory, a joint venture with the Uzbek government, in east

Uzbekistan, giving it a major publicity boost.

Business deals, and subsequent allegations of bribe paying, with Uzbekistan have proved damaging to Western companies before. Ms Clinton may also be tarnished by association.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

GM Uzbekistan switches to Belarus

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – GM Uzbekistan said it has discontinued sales of its Ravon Matiz car model in Russia and shifted exports to Belarus. The company did not give a reason for the marketing decision. Uzbekistan and Belarus have improved trade ties. GM Uzbekistan, a joint venture between US-based GM (25%) and state-owned Uzavtoprom (75%), has had to grapple with a corruption scandal involving car sales to Russia in the past few months.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Pakrut to increase gold production in Tajikistan

SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – London-listed China Nonferrous Gold said it is close to reaching its goal of increasing production capacity at its Pakrut gold project in Tajikistan to 2,000 tonnes/day. The company produced its first gold in Tajikistan in January. It has held an exploration licence since 2004. The Pakrut gold mine lies 120km north-east of Dushanbe.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Bashneft looks for fuel in Kazakhstan

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian oil company Bashneft said it will explore the possibility of buying into the petrol station market in Kazakhstan. Bashneft already operates in Kazakhstan, where it produces around 500,000 tonnes of petroleum products. Sales representative Kirill Kasterin said the company now wants to sell petrol under its own brand. Bashneft owns around 70 filling stations in Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Turkmen cashpoints experience shortages

OCT. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen workers have been unable to access their salaries due to cash shortages at cashpoints across the Dashoguz province in northern Turkmenistan, the local service of RFE/RL reported. Teachers and other state workers who had not received salaries for months were notified that their back salaries had been paid into their bank accounts. Cash shortages, however, made funds inaccessible. News has been leaking out of Turkmenistan for months about cash shortages.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)f

Azerbaijan to initiate ties with the EU

SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s parliament voted to initiate a rapprochement with the EU, after relations were downgraded last year after the EU criticised Azerbaijan’s human rights record. The resolution follows an official visit by delegates from the EU parliament to Baku earlier in September. Azerbaijan quit the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in Sept. 2015, after a row with the EU and the OSCE over restrictions on parliamentary election observers.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Georgian Borjomi enters Korea

OCT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Korean company ANK PS signed an agreement for exclusive sales rights for Borjomi, the famous Georgian water. Borjomi, which is one of Georgia’s most recognisable brands abroad, will enter the Korean market in November.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)