JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Only around 5,000 trucks with Turkish produce travel to Turkmenistan each year through the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea because crossing Azerbaijan is too expensive, the head of the Turkish International Road Carriers Association, Fatih Sener, told local media. Around 50,000 trucks travel via Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – GM Uzbekistan, a joint venture between the Uzbek government and US carmaker GM, sold 10,357 cars in Russia in the first half of this year, media reported quoting the company.
This is 57% less than in 2014 and highlights the economic problems rebounding around Central Asia linked to the decline in Russia’s economy.
Russia is one of GM Uzbekistan’s biggest market, so for it to drop away so seriously is bad news for the company.
GM Uzbekistan is based near the city of Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
In 2010, GM Uzbekistan employed 5,000 people. If demand for its cars, and it mainly produces mid-range Chevrolet cars at this plant, falls away significantly then these jobs may be under threat.
The drop in car sales is symptomatic of a general decline in economic conditions around the Central Asia region.
As well as a drop in exports to Russia, remittance flows back to Central Asia from workers in Moscow and beyond have dropped across the region by around 40%. Currencies have also dropped in value by around a third.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ahead of its accession to the Eurasian Economic Union later this year, domestic producers in Kyrgyzstan have started a campaign to try and persuade more people to buy locally made products, the 24.kg news agency reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Four construction workers in Tbilisi died when part of a building they were demolishing fell on them, media reported. The former Institute for Physics and Mathematics was being demolished to make way for a hotel. The accident highlights Georgia’s poor construction safety record.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Max Petroleum, a London-listed oil company operating in Kazakhstan said that it was operating under severe financial stress because of a back-tax bill imposed by the Kazakh government. Earlier this year, Max Petroleum said the drop in oil prices was pressuring its finances.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Year-on-year inflation in Georgian in May hit 4.5%, up from 3.5% a month previously, the official statistics said. This was the highest rate of inflation since September 2014 and confirmed an upward trend in 2015 driven mainly by alcohol, food and cigarettes.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kenes Rakishev bought an additional 2.61% stake in Kazkommertsbank from its founder and former chairman Nurzhan Subkhanberdin, further strengthening the Kazakh elite’s grip on one of the country’s largest banks.
The share purchase gives the 35-year-old Mr Rakishev, who is regarded as a trustee for more powerful members of the Kazakh elite and is best known for helping to buy a house in England from Prince Andrew in 2008, a 25.84% stake in the bank.
Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s national welfare fund, owns 10.7% of the bank and an investment company called Alnair, which is also close to the Kazakh elite, owns a 28% stake in it.
The London-based Mr Subkhanberdin still controls around 32% of the bank but he has been gradually pushed out of Kazkommertsbank this year. His stake in the bank has dwindled and in March he was ousted as chairman.
Mr Subkhanberdin’s mistake had been to flirt with supporting Kazakhstan’s opposition.
In 2009 he wrote an open letter to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev questioning the imprisonment of the former head of the Kazakh uranium company Kazatomprom, Moukhtar Dzhakishev on various corruption charges.
Earlier this year, the Kazakh government, through Mr Rakishev, forced Kazkommertsbank to buy the debt-ridden BTA Bank.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan pumped 675, 000 tonnes of oil to Russia in the first half of 2015, up from 508,000 tonnes in 2014, media reported quoting state energy company SOCAR. Azerbaijan had planned to halt oil shipments through the Baku- Novorossiisk pipeline to Russia but instead, seemingly as relations with Russia have improved, increased exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s new, low-cost domestic airline Qazaq Air will begin commercial flights on July 20, it said at its official launch in Astana.
Qazaq Air is a fully-owned subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, which will concentrate on flying less well served routes between regional cities across Kazakhstan.
At the launch party, the company director Blair Pollock said: “Many of the 12 routes on which the Q400 aircraft will operate are not currently served by any other carrier.”
The Kazakh government has made improving travel links between cities in this vast country a priority and the airline should improve business ties and trade between regional centres.
Qazaq Air said it had leased three Canadian Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 which can carry between 68 and 85 passengers, depending on the seating configuration
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev said he would welcome Italian infrastructure company Snam taking a stake in the planned Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which will pump gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
