MAY 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has scrapped a plan to build a grain silo in Iran, media reported quoting an official at the Kazakh agriculture ministry. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s biggest grain producers and Iran is one of its biggest markets. The Kazakh agriculture ministry blamed political instability in Iran for pulling the plan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s ministry of agriculture warned that a large plague of locusts was likely to infest parts of north and west Kazakhstan. The ministry’s press release said serious locust plagues were cyclical and that the last major infestation was in 2000.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan boosted its gold reserves for the seventh month in a row despite falling prices, Bloomberg news reported. Kazakhstan’s stated policy is to buy all the gold produced in the country. According to data, the central bank now holds 125.5 tonnes of gold, up 8.9% this year. In 2012, it boosted gold reserves by 41%.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz authorities declared a state of emergency around the Kumtor gold mine in the east of the country after thousands of protesters demanding more financial benefits clashed with police. The Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyzstan’s biggest industrial project, is owned by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold. The Kyrgyz government owns a 33% stake in Centerra Gold.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting of the Russia-led Eurasian Customs Union in Astana, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev confirmed that Kyrgyzstan would join the group by 2015. Kyrgyzstan has been talking about joining the union, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, for the past year. Ukraine has been granted observer status.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — It certainly sounds grand. Baiterek, the name for the new Kazakh national holding company, means earth-tree, a mythological tree connecting the inner Earth, the human-inhabited surface of the planet and the heavens.
On May 27, the Kazakh government said it planned to set up a new company, Baiterek, to hold some of the nation’s assets. It’s still, though, not entirely clear what specific role Baiterek will play.
According to media reports, Baiterek will hold stakes in various national companies and work with foreign investors on innovation projects.
Names are important in Kazakhstan and the symbolism of calling the new company Baiterek is difficult to miss.
Baiterek also holds greater resonance in Kazakhstan as the name for the tower at the centre of Astana, a symbol of a growing, proud nation.
Baiterek, the holding company not the tower, is probably one to watch.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Due to Western sanctions against Iran and a sluggish world economy, steel production, an important part of Kazakhstan’s economy, continued to drop in the first four months of 2013, media reported quoting official data. Kazakhstan produced 22% less steel between Jan. and April 2013 compared to the same period in 2012.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)
MAY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Alongside the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and Norway and the China Construction Bank, Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) bought part of a $3.3b stake in Russian bank VTB, the bank told local media. The deal again shows just how much wealth Azerbaijan has at its disposal.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)
MAY 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital lying on the edge of the Kyzylkum desert, received the Guinness World Record for the highest density of marble buildings in the world. Flush with profit from gas sales, Turkmenistan’s leaders have re-built Ashgabat with white marble since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)
MAY 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In terms of banknote sophistication — artwork and anti-forgery security — Kazakhstan is world class.
The International Bank Note Society named Kazakhstan’s 5,000 tenge note, worth around $33, as the best new issue of 2012.
This is the second consecutive year that Kazakhstan has won the award after its new 10,000 tenge note won in 2012.
With the help of the British banknote printer De La Rue, the Kazakh Central Bank designed and launched the new 5,000 tenge banknote on New Year’s Eve 2011/12.
The judges praised its bright orange colour as well as the banknote’s designs, including an outline of the country, the iconic Soviet-built Hotel Kazakhstan in Almaty and Independence Statue in the centre of the city.
The note also contains various anti-forgery watermarks and other devices that improve its security.
Unusually for banknotes, the 5,000 tenge note, which beat Canada’s 50 dollar bill and the Jersey 100 pound bill for the award, does not carry the image of a famous national person.
If banknote art and sophistication is a sign of a confident, growing economy that is increasingly proud of its currency and aware of its national symbols, then Kazakhstan is definitely moving in the right direction.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)
