Tag Archives: business

Euro parliament agrees Uzbek cotton deal

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Parliament voted to renew a textile deal with Uzbekistan after dropping the agreement five years ago because of concerns over child labour, drawing anger from human rights groups who said that modern day slavery was being excused.

Under the EU-Uzbekistan trade deal, originally agreed in 1999 but suspended in 2011, tariffs on Uzbek cotton will be dropped. It is a major boost for Uzbek president Shavkat Mirziyoyev who appears to want to improve the country’s image after the death in September of Islam Karimov.

The vote was passed by 564 in favour versus 100 against the motion, with 41 abstentions.

Commenting on the vote, MEP Maria Arena, said: “This consent is the result of the progress and commitments made by Uzbekistan in the fight against forced and child labour. But as adult forced labour remains a strong concern, we will follow the situation closely and if there are serious human rights violations or any regress on these issues, MEPs will not hesitate to ask the Council and the Commission to suspend the entire partnership agreement.”

Last month the European Parliament’s influential International Trade Committee had voted to recommend that a deal was approved.

Uzbekistan has appeared to respond to pressure to clean up its employment issues. This year the UN’s International Labour Organisation monitored the harvest in Uzbekistan and said that while doctors and teachers were forced to work in the cotton fields, there were far few children working.

Cotton is a major cash earner for Uzbekistan. It is the fifth largest cotton producer in the world.

Human rights group, though, were less than impressed. “Adopting this Protocol now sends the wrong message to Tashkent,” Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, said. “Do members want to be seen by Uzbekistan’s millions of victims of forced labour as the parliament that turned a blind eye to their suffering?”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Trump cancels hotel deal with Azerbaijan

DEC. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — US President-elect Donald Trump’s business cancelled a licensing deal it had made in Azerbaijan, media reported. Mr Trump had been criticised during the US presidential campaign for making a deal to lend his name to a hotel development project in Baku linked to senior members of the Azerbaijani elite who had previously been accused of money laundering.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Comment: Georgia moves towards visa-free EU access, writes Bernardi

DEC. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian Dream coalition government in Georgia stands on the brink of a great victory. It may have been former President Mikheil Saakashvili who set the ball rolling for more integration with the EU for Georgia but he has been vanquished by the Georgian Dream. To the victor the spoils.

Now — once the mechanism to kick out any countries whose citizens abuse the system has been approved, and this EU sources say is a mere formality — Georgians holding biometric passports will be able to enter the 26-country Schengen area for up to 90 days.

By early next year Georgians will be able to avoid the tiring, often boring and sometimes humiliating visa process. Instead they’ll be able to confidently stroll up to immigration queues handover their passport, flash a smile and then skip over into the EU.

And good for them.

This hasn’t been an easy or even straight forward process. There have been plenty of times when the EU could have pulled the process. Instead both the EU and Georgia have stuck to the script. Just. The big wobble was created by the Syria refugee crisis. Suddenly, once the impact of hundreds of thousands of hungry and impoverished refugees had been absorbed by Europe, and Germany in particular, the EU was less keen to allow visa-free access to Georgia, and also to Ukraine as it happens.

Of course though, the perceived threat of Georgian people flows was overblown. There are only 4m people in Georgia and they are not all involved in organised crime, as the German government seemed to imply at one point. The vast majority also don’t want to migrate to Europe. They just want to be treated as equals.

Perhaps, though, geopolitical forces also propelled the process along again. With Russia seemingly dominant in eastern Ukraine and in the Middle East, the EU may have wanted to remind the Kremlin that soft power and the slow pull of European values can be influential. By agreeing to grant Georgia, and Ukraine, visa-free access to the Schengen area, the EU is making itself relevant.

Make no mistake, Georgia’s westward European trajectory is as geopolitically charged as it ever was.

By Giulia Bernardi, The Conway Bulletin’s Tbilisi correspondent

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Israel to build poultry plant in Kazakhstan

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Israeli poultry processing company BAL International said it will build a new food chain plant in Kazakhstan. The company, which owns two factories in Israel, plans to install a new production line in the Almaty region. Its business will be mostly geared towards exports to China. The company also plans to kick-start a mutton export line from Kazakhstan to Israel. The deal was signed during Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Astana.

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(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Tajikistan sells fertiliser producer to China

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik parliament ratified an earlier agreement on the sale of Tajik Azot, a fertiliser producer, to China’s Henan Zhong Holding. The Chinese side, which will hold a 51% stake, pledged a $360m investment to modernise the plant. The Tajik government will retain 30% of the profits. In 2014, the government seized Tajik Azot, previously owned by Ukrainian businessman Dmitro Firtash, after Firtash was arrested in Vienna. China has extended its influence over Tajik business this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f

Kazakhstan-based CAM director’s shares increase

DEC. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Central Asia Metals said that its deputy chairman Nigel Hurst-Brown had been given 215,000 ordinary shares from an unnamed shareholder, increasing his shareholding to 0.81%. The transaction was completed at no cost. With a stake of 19%, Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev is Central Asia Metals’ largest shareholder.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

KAZ Minerals gets funding

DEC. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed copper miner KAZ Minerals said it had been given a $300m loan from state-owned Kazakhstan Development Bank to fund the development of the Aktogay mine in eastern Kazakhstan. The loan will have a maturity of 8-1/2 years. At a press conference, Oleg Novachuk, the company’s chairman, said that the total debt of the company totalled around $2.5b.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Kazakh energy ministry forecasts Kashagan production

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A report from Kazakhstan’s energy ministry forecast total production at Kashagan to reach 308m tonnes in total by 2041, the KazTAG news agency reported. This is important because it shows the size of the oil field and just how much oil the consortium developing it can expect to produce during the lifespan of the production sharing agreement. ENI, Shell, Kazmunaigas, Inpex, Total, ExxonMobil and CNPC are the consortium members.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

China completes power plant refit in Tajikistan

DEC. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China completed the $350m refit of a power plant outside Dushanbe that is considered vital to generating electricity for Tajikistan’s capital city. The refit of the power station highlights just how powerful China’s has become in Tajikistan. It has replaced Russia as the mainstay of the economy. Electricity is important in Tajikistan because its cities suffer from blackouts throughout the year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Tethys’ Kazakh subsidiary resumes sales

DEC. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Tethys Petroleum said its Kazakh subsidiary had restarted gas sales to the state- owned distributor Intergas Central Asia after a seven-week suspension. Intergas Central Asia cut the gas supply contract with Tethys Aral Gas in October. At the time, Tethys was locked in a row with Kazakh investors who had promised to deliver a cash injection.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)f