Tag Archives: business

Congress investigates Azerbaijan trip

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US Congress said that its ethics committee was investigating whether SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state-owned energy company, paid for a 2013 trip to Baku for 10 congressmen and 32 staff members.

Congress’ rules ban foreign governments paying for overseas trips. All the Congressmen implicated in the investigation deny any wrong-doing and have said that they were unaware that SOCAR had paid for their trips to a conference in Baku.

The Houston Chronicle reported that the focus of the investigation are hundreds of thousands of dollars paid out by SOCAR to two Texas-based non-profit organisations which then paid for trips to Baku.

Azerbaijan’s lobbying techniques have attracted more and more criticism over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakhstan to issue Eurobond, again

JUNE 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will issue a £2b Eurobond, economy minister Yerbolat Dossayev told local media.

Mr Dossayev didn’t give specific dates for the issue but Reuters reported that Citigroup and JP Morgan are joint book- runners and Kazkommerts Securities and Halyk Finance are joint lead managers for the issue.

This is the second major dollar-denominated Eurobond that Kazakhstan has issued in the last year. In 2014, Kazakhstan issued a $2.5b Eurobond, its first since 2000.

Kazakhstan has been dealing with the fall out of a slide in global oil prices and a dip in the fortunes of Russia’s economy. Although the Central Bank has not stated just why it has borrowed so heavily in the past year, it is likely linked to this economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Iran to develop trade with Tajikistan

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran plans to export more refined gas products to Tajikistan and Armenia, Iranian media quoted a senior official at the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company as saying.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakhstan’s GDP suffers high energy intensity

JUNE 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan is one of the least energy efficient countries in the world for generating economic growth, Tomasz Telma, regional director for Europe, Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, told Bnews.kz.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Iran-Uzbekistan trade increases

JUNE 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran has agreed to boost the amount of cotton and fertiliser from Uzbekistan that it transports along its railway, media reported. Transit routes through Iran, Central Asian states gain access to ports on the Persian Gulf.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Turkmen gas will reach Europe

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and the European Union will set up a working group to look at the best way to deliver Turkmen gas to European consumers, media reported quoting the European Commission. This is, probably, an important step forward for Turkmenistan which wants to send its gas across the Caspian Sea to Europe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kyrgyz MPs resisted Kumtor restrictions

JUNE 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – MPs in Kyrgyzstan resisted an attempt by the Ata-Meken party to impose stricter mining techniques at the Kumtor gold mine. Ata-Meken is part of the ruling coalition. Kumtor is owned by Toronto-based Centerra Gold. Kyrgyzstan has been arguing with Centerra over ownership of the mine.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Tajik electricity exports rise

JUNE 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan increased exports of electricity to Afghanistan by a third in May compared to the same month in 2014, media reported quoting official statistics. This is important because international backers view Tajiksitan’s hydro-generated electricity as a decent export.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakh BTA ends banking

JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh Central Bank cancelled BTA’s banking licence, officially ending its banking activities. BTA, which had once been one of Kazakhstan’s biggest banks, merged with Kazkommertzbank earlier this year. It assumed a massive proportion of bad debt in the 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Azerbaijani weapons exports increases

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Yaver Jamalov, Azerbaijan’s defence industry minister, said he wanted to increase the number of countries that Azerbaijan exported its weapons and ammunition to. Mr Jamalov said he had concluded a deal with Iraq’s government to supply hundreds of grenade launchers and mortars.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)