Tag Archives: business

Flights to resume between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Somon Air, Tajikistan’s national airline, has scheduled a first Tajikistan-Uzbekistan flight since 1992 for Feb. 10, media reported. Regular flights are expected to start up between Dushanbe and Tashkent on Feb. 20. These flights are important as they signify a sea- change in relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, who have quarrelled for years, since the death in September of Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Aliyev wants Azerbaijan to boost wine sales

FEB. 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is producing only 20m bottles of wine per year, roughly a fifth of its capacity, media quoted President Ilham Aliyev as saying.

Mr Aliyev wants Azerbaijan to diversify away from oil and gas, which dominates the economy. The economy has taken a hit with the collapse in oil prices. He has previously highlighted the potential for growth in the hazelnut sector and now appears to have earmarked the wine-making industry for growth.

“Most of these plants were built in recent years. Major funds have been invested in them and modern equipment installed. How can it be possible for plants with a production capacity of 100m bottles to produce only 20m bottles of wine?” media quoted him as saying.

Georgia, which has a far more developed wine production and sales system, exports 50m bottles of wine every year. Most of the growth has come in China and other parts of the Far East.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Azerbaijani bank drops football sponsorship

JAN. 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), majority owned by the Azerbaijani government, has dropped sponsorship of a Baku football team as part of a cost-cutting drive.

Dropping sponsorship of Inter Baku, a top tier team, is another sign that the tough economic conditions have hit IBA hard. A few years ago such a move would have been unimaginable.

“In accordance with new strategic goals limitation of the IBA’s sports support will help the bank optimise its expenses and direct resources to the sphere of finance and banking, which are priority,” IBA chairman Khalid Ahadov said in a statement released by the bank.

“That will increase the efficiency of the recovery processes, conducted with government’s support.”

At the end of January, the Azerbaijani government increased its stake in IBA to 77% from 56% in order to ensure the stability of the bank, Azerbaijan’s biggest. Analysts have been warning for the past 12 months that an economic downturn was pressuring the banking sector in Azerbaijan. The Central Bank has also withdrawn trading licences from some of the smaller banks.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Tengiz will create 20,000 jobs, says Kazakh ministry

JAN. 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The $36.8b expansion of the Tengiz oil field announced last year will create 20,000 jobs, Kazakhstan’s labour ministry said in a statement. Labour minister Birzhan Nurymbetov said that 18,000 of those jobs would be given to Kazakhs. This job creation is vital in Kazakhstan which has seen mass job cuts over the past couple of years because of the tight economic conditions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

H&M still on track to open store in Kazakh city

JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — H&M, the Swedish fashion retailer, still intends to open its first store in Kazakhstan despite a fall in profit last year, its CEO Karl-Johan Persson said during its full-year results presentation. Mr Persson said that the rising value of the US dollar was one of the main drivers of the drop in profit. Last year H&M said that it would open its first store in Almaty. This is important because analysts have been worried that an economic downturn that has hit the region would hit companies’ plans.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Carmaker in Kazakhstan starts exports to China

FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ has started exporting its Lada 4×4 to China from its factory in Kazakhstan, the life.ru website reported quoting an official at the Asia Auto factory in the east Kazakh city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Asia Auto is one of the biggest car manufacturers in Kazakhstan. The Kazakh car making sector has been hard hit by the economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

New Uzbek bank to support agriculture set up

JAN. 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan will set up a new bank called Uzagroexportbank to support agriculture and farm exports, media reported. The new bank is another signal that new president Shavkat Mirziyoyev is trying to boost support for independent businesses. Analysts have previously identified agriculture as a way to boost Uzbekistan’s productivity.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Kazakhstan-focused Nostrum hits 2016 targets

JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its full year results, Nostrum Oil & Gas, which focuses on Kazakhstan said that it had just beaten its expected output with an average daily output of 40,351/barrels of oil equivalent (boe) compared to an anticipated 40,000 boe. It said that the final quarter of the year had been the best with 44,708 boe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

CPC says to expand in Kazakhstan

JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Caspian Pipeline Consortium plans to invest $150m in 2017 in expanding the capacity of the pipeline that pumps oil from western Kazakhstan around the northern tip of the Caspian Sea to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, its general director Nikolay Gorban told media. The expansion plan will boost the pipeline’s capacity to 67m tonnes per year, up from 52m tonnes. This is important because CPC is a key export route for Kazakhstan and especially for its important Tengiz field.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Telia CEO promises sale in Kazakh, Tajik, Uzbek markets

JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The CEO of Swedish mobile operator Telia, Johan Dennelind, said that he was confident that he would be able to sell off the company’s remaining assets in its Eurasia region this year. Interest in Telia’s regional asset which include Azercell, Geocell, Ucell, Kcell and Tcell have been light. A corruption scandal in Uzbekistan, linked to a 2008 bribe, triggered the sale.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)