Tag Archives: business

Pakistan anticipates power supply from Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistani media hinted that it was anticipating potential supply-side problems with CASA-1000 electricity project by saying that it had invited Russia to make up any short- fall over winter when Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s hydropower stations are less productive. The World Bank-backed $1.2b project aims to send electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan by 2019. This year, shortages in Kyrgyzstan have cast doubts over the country’s export capacity and Pakistan has explored other suppliers, including Turkmenistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Uzbekistan asks for a new loan from World Bank

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – During a visit to Uzbekistan by the World Bank’s new regional director for Central Asia, Lilia Burunciuc, the Uzbek ministry of economy asked for a $100m loan to improve the country’s job market. The ministry said it wanted to create around 500,000 new, sustainable jobs over the next five years. In June, the World Bank committed to a new partnership with Uzbekistan, earmarking around $3b for a vast range of projects.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Pakrut to increase gold production in Tajikistan

SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – London-listed China Nonferrous Gold said it is close to reaching its goal of increasing production capacity at its Pakrut gold project in Tajikistan to 2,000 tonnes/day. The company produced its first gold in Tajikistan in January. It has held an exploration licence since 2004. The Pakrut gold mine lies 120km north-east of Dushanbe.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

GM Uzbekistan switches to Belarus

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – GM Uzbekistan said it has discontinued sales of its Ravon Matiz car model in Russia and shifted exports to Belarus. The company did not give a reason for the marketing decision. Uzbekistan and Belarus have improved trade ties. GM Uzbekistan, a joint venture between US-based GM (25%) and state-owned Uzavtoprom (75%), has had to grapple with a corruption scandal involving car sales to Russia in the past few months.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Bashneft looks for fuel in Kazakhstan

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian oil company Bashneft said it will explore the possibility of buying into the petrol station market in Kazakhstan. Bashneft already operates in Kazakhstan, where it produces around 500,000 tonnes of petroleum products. Sales representative Kirill Kasterin said the company now wants to sell petrol under its own brand. Bashneft owns around 70 filling stations in Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Georgian Borjomi enters Korea

OCT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Korean company ANK PS signed an agreement for exclusive sales rights for Borjomi, the famous Georgian water. Borjomi, which is one of Georgia’s most recognisable brands abroad, will enter the Korean market in November.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Korea to invest in food programme of Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Korea International Cooperation Agency will send $4m to the United Nations World Food Programme to implement a three-year programme aimed at improving food security in four regions of Kyrgyzstan. The project will target the poorest areas of the Batken, Jalal-Abad, Osh and Naryn provinces in central and south Kyrgyzstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Georgia secures EU support for visa-free access

TBILISI, OCT. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — EU member states agreed to relax visa requirements for Georgians, a major step towards Georgia’s stated aim of gaining visa-free travel to the EU’s Schengen Zone.

The agreement needs to be voted on by the European Parliament but it would allow Georgian citizens to travel to the EU for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

“The Council takes the view that the entry into force of visa liberalisation for Georgia should be at the same time as the entry into force of the new ‘suspension mechanism’,” said the EU Council.

The suspension mechanism is a new tool that will be introduced to allow the EU to withdraw visa-free access quickly if members felt that it was being abused. The EU has said that this mechanism was necessary to give visa-free access to Ukraine, Turkey and Kosovo, as well as Georgia.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Azerbaijan signs missile deal with Russia

OCT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Russia agreed to jointly produce tactical air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles, according to the AzeriDefense magazine. Representatives of KTRV, Russia’s Tactical Missiles Corporation, and Sharg, owned by Azerbaijan’s ministry of defence, signed the deal in Baku. Azerbaijan has been spending heavily on its weapon system in the last few years.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)

Azerbaijan to invest in Bulgarian gas storage

SEPT. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR could soon enter the Bulgarian gas storage market, a potential bridgehead for its plans to construct a pipeline that will pump gas from the Caspian Sea to European consumers.

Bulgarian officials said that SOCAR has expressed interest in participating in the expansion of the Chiren storage facility. The government plans a €200m investment to double its capacity to 1b cubic metres. The underground gas storage facility at Chiren links up with Bulgaria’s network, making it a potentially valuable asset for SOCAR, which agreed to send 1b cubic metres of gas to Bulgaria by 2020. Azerbaijan wants to pump gas to

Europe via the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, a network of pipelines from Azerbaijan through Turkey, Greece and Albania to Italy.

Bulgaria hopes to receive Azerba- ijani gas through the construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria which will feed off the TANAP pipe- line that will form the backbone of the Southern Gas Corridor stretching from Azerbaijan to Italy.

Azerbaijan views Europe as an important next client for its gas.

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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)