APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Dominoes Pizza, arguably the most recognisable pizza brand in the world, opened its first store in Tbilisi on April 26, the company said in a statement. US fast food chains have been piling into Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, said the Caspian Sea oil project Kashagan would resume pumping oil in December 2016. This estimation is a few weeks earlier than Western energy companies linked to the project have suggested. Oil from Kashagan was suspended in 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Malaysia’s state energy company Petronas completed the $2.25b buyout of the Statoil’s assets in Azerbaijan, making it one of the biggest players on the Azerbaijani oil and gas scene.
The deal included a 15.5% stake in the Shah Deniz gas project, a 15.5% stake in the South Caucasus Pipeline Company and a 12.4% stake in the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company.
Importantly, too, Azerbaijan’s state oil and gas company SOCAR took over operational control of the South Caucasus Pipeline Company which pumps gas from the Shah Deniz project, across Georgia to Turkey. From there it links up to the Turkish gas pipeline network.
Statoil surprised analysts last October when it agreed the deal. At the time it said that it wanted to reduce the proportion of investment in its portfolio in favour of higher value projects.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nurzhan Subkhanberdin resigned as director of Kazkommertsbank after selling a 7.2% stake in the bank, one of the largest in Kazakhstan, to Kenes Rakishev, the son-in-law of the Kazakh defence minister.
Although Mr Subkhanberdin still owns 37.8% of Kazkommertsbank his ousting from the board effectively completes the takeover of Kazkommertsbank by businessmen
loyal to President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Earlier this year Mr Subkhanberdin was replaced as chairman of Kazkommertsbank, a position he had held since setting it up in 1991.
The London-based Mr Subkhanberdin was viewed with suspicion. He had openly sup- ported opponents of Mr Nazarbayev in the early 2000s.
Last year, Kazkommertsbank had been cajoled into a merger with BTA Bank, which the government rescued from bankruptcy in 2009. The merger imposed BTA Bank’s large portfolio of bad loans onto Kazkommertsbank, hitting its profits. In 2014, Kazkommertsbank said on April 30, profit dropped by 55%.
The deal is another major boon for Mr Rakishev too. He now owns 23.34% of the bank.
Mr Rakishev, 35, is closely linked to the Kazakh elite. Analysts have said the Kazakh elite use Mr Rakishev to buy companies and to hold shares in businesses.
He is married to the daughter of the minister of defence Imangali Tasmagambetov, one of President Nazarbayev’s closest associates.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Washington next week, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan will sign a trade deal with the US, media reported quoting US government sources. Although Armenia is an ally of Russia it is also improving ties with the West.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Marriott International hotel group announced plans to open its third site in Tbilisi, media reported. The 130-room Moxy Tbilisi Hotel is part of the Marriott’s push to open its lifestyle brand across Eastern Europe. Hotel brands are pouring into Tbilisi.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a ceremony in Istanbul, Tajik, Pakistani and Afghan officials signed a deal that will mean electricity generated in Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains will power households in Islamabad.
The CASA-1000 project should generate income for Dushanbe from its hydro-stations and for Kabul as a transit country while plugging a shortfall in electricity in Pakistan.
As well as an economic success, the $1.2b project is seen as a diplomatic highlight by the United States which is keen to involve Central Asian countries in trade deals with Pakistan and Afghanistan. It sees this as a way to foster stability once it withdraws its forces.
Richard Hoagland, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia, said: “We’ve already seen the efficacy of such an approach in the successes of the CASA-1000 energy project, which brought together a grouping of countries that had never before worked together on a development project.”
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Azerbaijani state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan raised a $200m loan from 18 financial institutions. This is important because it means Western banks are willing to lend to Azerbaijani state-owned institutions despite the economic downturn.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Djoomart Otorbayev resigned as Kyrgyzstan’s PM after barely a year in office.
The 59-year-old former international economist was the fourth Kyrgyz PM to resign since constitutional reform shifted power from the president to parliament in 2010.
Earlier this month the Kyrgyz government appeared to change tack significantly and argue for a great number of directors on the Centerra Gold board rather than the creation of a new company, with a 50:50 ownership, to run Kumtor.
His resignation was linked to the failure to secure a permanent solution to the ongoing row with Canada’s Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine in east Kyrgyzstan — the country’s single biggest industrial asset.
“I think my decision to resign will allow the majority coalition to choose a more decisive prime minister,” Kyrgyz media quoted Mr Otorbayev as saying.
Kyrgyzstan owns 32.7% of Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, and has been looking to boost its influence over the mine.
Importantly, Mr Otorbayev’s resignation highlights the unstable nature of Kyrgyz politics and also the dominance of the Kumtor ownership issue.
The three-party majority coalition now has 15 days to nominate a new PM for parliament.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has agreed to lower the price of gas it sells to consumers in Armenia by 13%, media reported quoting Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller. Gazprom owns the gas pipelines in Armenia.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
