Tag Archives: business

Turkey wants to boost ties with Uzbekistan

APRIL 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a trip to Tashkent, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that he wanted to see improved ties with Uzbekistan, a boost to new president Shavkat Mirziyoyev who has been trying to woo his neighbours . Relations between Uzbekistan and Turkish had been strained under Mr Mirziyoyev’s predecessor, Islam Karimov, with the Turkish business community in Tashkent, a sizable and influential group, complaining of being unfairly targeted by the authorities.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Tele2 posts upbeat Kazakh assessment

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ALMATY, APRIL 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish mobile operator Tele2 said that its joint venture in Kazakhstan with Altel in February last year was working out with revenues rising 14% in Q1 2017 versus Q1 2016 on a like-for-like basis.

Tele2 said that a 3% rise in its customer base and an increase in the average spend per user, a key indicator that the Kazakh economy is improving, had driven up revenues. Tele2 owns a 49% stake in its joint venture with Altel, which has around 6.5m subscribers – a 22% market share.

“Although still competitive, the market continued to benefit from higher pricing levels. The JV continued to replace old products with new offerings that offer better support for ASPU growth over time,” Tele2 said in its statement.

Altel is owned by state-run Kazakhtelecom. The joint-venture with Tele2 is seen as a challenger brand to the more established Kcell, part-owned by Sweden’s Telia, and Beeline, the brand name operated by Russia’s Vimpelcom.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Kazakhstan places limit on airline ownership

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APRIL 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ahead of a planned IPO of Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s parliament has passed a motion that bans foreigners from owning more than 49% of its national airlines. Britain’s BAE Systems currently owns 49% of Air Astana which is slated to be one of the first of a series of high-profile Kazakh state- owned companies to be privatised.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Georgia PM visits Tehran

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APRIL 22/23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili travelled to Tehran to meet with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, underlining increasingly close Georgia-Iran ties. In a series of tweets after the meeting, Mr Kvirikashvili said that he had discussed developing trade and transport ties with Mr Hassan. His visit comes 10 days after Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Zarif visited Georgia as part of a Central Asia/South Caucasus tour.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Georgia considers VAT cut for domestic flights

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APRIL 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s government said that it was considering scrapping VAT on aviation fuel for planes flying domestic routes. While flights to and from international airports have boomed the domestic sector is considered underdeveloped. Scrapping VAT was one of a series of proposals under consideration to change tax mechanisms in Georgia. Other incentives being considered including giving help to small power stations.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Kcell posts upbeat economic assessment

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APRIL 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an upbeat assessment of the Kazakh economy, Kcell CEO Arti Ots said that Q1 2017 had been a period of stabilisation for the mobile operator. Service revenue, an important indicator of a mobile operator’s health, still fell but only by 1.5% while overall revenue was flat. Operating margins, though fell to 37% in Q1 2017 compared to 42% in Q1 2016, showing just how competitive the sector is. A price war has dented margins in Kazakhstan’s mobile market. Telia is a major shareholder in Kcell although it has said it wants to sell out of Central Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Azerbaijan-focused Abershon to produce by 2019

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APRIL 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Abershon field in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea, operated by France’s Total, could start gas production in late 2019 or early 2020, an official at Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar said. Aberson is considered to be a potentially major gas producer for Azerbaijan which is heavily reliant on the energy sector for revenue. The field was discovered in 2011.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Aviation liberalisation talks start between Armenia and EU

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APRIL 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and the EU started the first round of negotiations over an aviation deal which analysts have said should depress air ticket prices to Europe from Yerevan and open up the market for Armenian airlines. Armenian airlines have struggled to stay solvent over the past few years, often blaming high landing tariffs. Armenia wants to join the EU’s common aviation space. This is, essentially, the free market mechanism that the EU has used to open up the aviation sector and allow airlines from any countries to fly between any cities with the area.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Yandex opens office in Kazakhstan

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APRIL 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Yandex, the Russian language search internet search engine, opened its first office in Kazakhstan, another sign of renewed confidence in the region’s economy. The office in Almaty is an effort by the Russian language search engine to boost advertising revenues from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the eighth office that Yandex has set up outside Russia. It said there are 5m hits on its search engine each day from Kazakhstan. Yandex has its own dedicated yandex.kz URL.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Iran pledges to develop hydro in Kyrgyzstan

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APRIL 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rounding off a three day tour of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif said that Iran could help Kyrgyzstan develop its hydropower sector. Kyrgyzstan has been looking for partners to develop its hydropower sector ever since Russia pulled out of pledged investments during a recession in 2015/16. For Kyrgyzstan, electricity generated by hydropower is seen as a vital export. It has signed deals to sell electricity to Pakistan and India through the US-backed CASA-1000 scheme, due to come on line over the next couple of years. For Iran, investing in Kyrgyzstan’s hydro sector would help it develop links in the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)