Category Archives: Uncategorised

Gazprom to apply discount to Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gazprom Kyrgyzstan representatives said they would apply a 1% discount on gas supplies to households and industries to reflect the strengthening of the som currency. Gazprom Kyrgyzstan, a subsidiary of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom which owns Kyrgyzstan’s gas distribution network, can revise gas tariffs on a monthly basis. Gas prices have become a political issue in the region, often sparking protests against proposed price rises.

ENDS

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

Pope faces hostility on trip to Georgia

TBILISI, OCT. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pope Francis endured a diplomatically tough trip to Tbilisi and Baku, his second to the South Caucasus this year.

In Tbilisi, hostile Orthodox Christian followers tried to unsettle the Pope by heckling him and waving banners with anti-Catholic slogans outside each of his various meetings.

“The Vatican is a spiritual aggressor” and “Pope, arch-heretic, you are not welcome in Orthodox Georgia,” their posters read according to media reports.

The Orthodox Church, suspicious that the Pope’s real reason for making the visit was not to improve relations but to recruit followers, also called for a boycott of a Papal mass planned for a football stadium.

“As long as there are dogmatic differences between our churches, Orthodox believers will not participate in their prayers,” the Georgian Orthodox Church said on its website.

Only a few thousand people turned up to the mass, leaving the stadium looking empty.

Earlier the Pope had met with both the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II and President Giorgi Margvelashvili.

The Pope then visited Azerbaijan, a country with a tiny Catholic community, where he held talks with President Ilham Aliyev aimed at improving diplomatic relations.

Pope Francis said that in both Yerevan, which he visited earlier this year, and Baku he had urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to hold peace talks.

“Armenia is a nation with open borders, it has problems with Azerbaijan and should go to an international tribunal if dialogue and negotiation is a no-go,” he was quoted as telling media.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh which is controlled by Armenia-backed forces.

ENDS

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

Kyrgyz President says he had heart attack

OCT. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said that he had had a heart attack while en route to New York for a UN meeting and that he was back at work after undergoing medical care. On Sept. 19, Mr Atambayev cancelled the trip to the UN Annual Assembly after suffering chest pains during a layover in Turkey. He later flew to Russia for medical care before returning to Bishkek at the weekend.

ENDS

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

Uzbek media reports reappearance of Gulnara on Twitter

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek local media reported the reappearance of Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of the late Uzbek President Islam Karimov, on Twitter. Ms Karimova, whose account is not confirmed, has been under house arrest since 2014. Through the new account, Zabitaya1972, which roughly translates into ‘beaten’ followed by her year of birth, Ms Karimova allegedly published a letter denouncing acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev of excluding her from her father’s funeral in September.

ENDS

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

Uzbekistan plans to create new e-library

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – LG CNS, the IT provider owned by Korea’s LG, signed a $12.1m contract with Uzbekistan’s ministry of IT and communications to build a national online electronic library system. The project will be started at the Navoi national library and will then be expanded to education institutions, government agencies and airports.

ENDS

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

Georgia signs train deal with China

OCT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – CRRC, China’s state-owned train manufacturer, signed an agreement with state-owned Georgian Railway to supply 28 new electric locomotives and jointly build a factory to produce trains in the country. The new $20m factory, located near Tbilisi, will be operated by CRRC and local companies BMI Partners and AS Group 1990. The joint venture aims to create an export hub for train parts to Europe and Turkey.

ENDS

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

Kyrgyz court starts re-trial for Askarov

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz court started a re-trial of Azimzhan Askarov, a human rights activist jailed for life after being accused of stirring ethnic hatred during the 2010 revolution that toppled former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Under pressure from international human rights lobby groups, Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court ordered a re-trial in July. At the first hearing, Askarov pleaded not guilty.

ENDS

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

Tension rises ahead of Georgia election after car bomb

TBILISI, OCT. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A bomb exploded under the car of leading UNM parliamentarian Givi Targamadze in central Tbilisi, the most serious act of violence in a heated, and at times dangerous, campaign ahead of Georgia’s parliamentary election on Saturday.

Media reported that Mr Targamadze and his driver were unhurt in the blast, although four other people were injured.

The United National Movement party (UNM), backed by former President Mikheil Saakashvili, immediately accused the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, backed by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, of planning the bomb attack.

“I think he (Targamadze) was chosen as a target because he has been keeping active contacts with the law enforcement which scares Ivanishvili very much,” Mr Saakashvili said on his Facebook page.

The Georgian Dream has denied any involvement and its supporters have instead said that the UNM planted the bomb itself to destabilise the country.

Georgia’s parliamentary election campaign has become increasingly fraught as polling day approaches.

Opposing MPs have fought on live TV debates, three supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition were allegedly beaten up by a group of UNM supporters and last week two men were shot and injured at a rally being given by Irakli Okruashvili, a former Georgian defence minister.

Analysts have said that the election is too close to call.

ENDS

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

Kazakhstan cuts interest rates

ALMATY, OCT. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 12.5%, its third rate cut this year, saying that slower inflation and a renewed confidence in the local currency were signs of economic recovery.

Most analysts were taken by surprise by the Central Bank’s decision, although Daniyar Akishev, the Bank’s chief, had hinted at possible rate reductions in recent weeks.

And the Central Bank said that another rate cut was likely at the next policy meeting in November .

“If the slowdown in inflation continues and stable growth in tenge deposits is confirmed, a reduction in the base rate before year-end isn’t excluded,” the Bank said its statement on the rate cut.

Inflation, which had reached 17% in annualised terms, has slowed to 5.6% in the first nine months of 2016, prompting the rate cut.

In the past nine months, the tenge/US dollar exchange rate improved by 14%, contributing to increased stability.

The tenge had lost half of its value overnight in August 2015, when the Central Bank ditched the peg to the US dollar. Months of uncertainty followed, sending the tenge further down and prompting successive rate increases.

Since the appointment of Mr Akishev in November last year and the stabilisation in oil prices at around $50, up from $27 at the start of the year, confidence in the country’s economy has slowly strengthened and recovered.

Oil is the cornerstone of Kazakhstan’s economy. The collapse in oil prices from around $110 per barrel in 2014 to $40 had undermined its prospects.

ENDS

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

Behlen to build sport infrastructure in Georgia

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Behlen Industries, a Canadian construction company, started building a new Sports Palace in Batumi, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. The project is part of a government drive to build new sporting facilities across the country to promote healthy lifestyles and improve facilities for amateur and professional sports men and women. New complexes will also be built in Telavi and Gori, in east and central Georgia. The total cost of the three projects is $33.9m. Behlen is part of WGI Westman Group.

ENDS

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