MARCH 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – After a 12 year joining process Tajikistan officially became a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO approved Tajikistan’s membership at the end of last year. Kyrgyzstan is the only other Central Asian WTO member although Kazakhstan will likely join by the end of the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 126, published on March 8 2013)
FEB. 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – On Feb. 1, Uzbekistan banned buying foreign currencies with cash. Officially, the ban was imposed to stamp out Uzbekistan’s burgeoning black market. Unofficially it appears to be another form of control over ordinary people.
A black market for US dollars in Uzbekistan has been vibrant for years because of heavy currency controls imposed by the government. These controls made it far cheaper to buy US dollars under the counter at the back of a carpet shop than it did in a bank.
But reports from Tashkent already suggest that strategy of banning currency transactions in cash to quash the black market, if this was the real aim, may have backfired. Despite the crackdown US dollars are still being traded. According to Eurasianet, the effect of the currency restrictions was to limit supply of US dollars and push prices up by roughly 40%.
The restrictions on US dollars may also effect wider sales. US dollars are often used in Uzbekistan to buy cars or houses as using sum, the local currency, in a large cash purchase is practically impossible because of the piles of notes needed.
Uzbek officials will point out that if you have a bank account you can, electronically, still buy US dollars. The worth of this, in a cash based economy, is, though, highly questionable.
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(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)
FEB. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan launched its first communications satellite, media reported. The satellite, launched from French Guiana, potentially allows Azerbaijani to diversify away from its energy industry and branch out into communications and broadcasting for the South Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa.
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(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)
JAN. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s Central Bank has banned the cash exchange of foreign currencies, mainly US dollars, from Feb. 1, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The Central Bank said it needed to ban the exchange of dollars to clamp down on Uzbekistan’s burgeoning black market. Dollars can still be bought electronically.
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(News report from Issue No. 122, published on Feb. 1 2013)
FEB. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – A shopping centre, a food production plant and a chain of car repair garages will be the first state-owned enterprises sold on March 9 during Turkmenistan’s privatisation process, media quoted officials as saying. More items are due to be privatised although it is unclear if this will include oil and gas assets.
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(News report from Issue No. 123, published on Feb. 8 2013)
JAN. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – It may, at times, feel slow, but Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is opening up Turkmenistan. Media reported that he has instructed one of his ministers to study entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for Turkmenistan, which has a reputation for being one of the most closed and repressive countries in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
JAN. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – It wasn’t until police reinforcements arrived on Jan. 24, according to media, that the authorities were able to regain control of the town of Ismayilli.
Since the previous afternoon, the town, about 200km north-west of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, had been the scene of street fighting between police and young men frustrated by the lack of jobs and an increasingly high-handed political elite.
The fighting erupted on Jan. 23 after a car crash reportedly involving the son of a government minister. Both the trigger, alleged favouritism towards the political elite, and the resulting vicious backlash, were telling.
This was Azerbaijan’s worst violence for a decade. It came less than a year after similar, though smaller, street fighting, also triggered by the political elites’ arrogance, in another town.
The fighting in Ismayilli will no doubt draw a similar reaction from the authorities. They will pour in police to clampdown on dissenters and mount a PR campaign to discredit the protesters.
Azerbaijan’s economy is booming, luxury goods crowd Baku’s streets and millions are lavished on prestige projects such Eurovision last year. The street violence, though, suggests that there are large swathes of Azerbaijan’s under-classes who are not so happy.
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(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
JAN. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Over the past decade, it’s become an increasingly familiar story. At almost every budget, the Azerbaijani authorities have boosted spending on weapons and other military hardware.
This year, though, the jump in military spending was more significant than normal.
According to media reports, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev said that military spending would hit $3.7b in 2013, up from 3b in 2012. A decade ago, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) estimated that Azerbaijan spent roughly $414m on its defence budget.
And Azerbaijan is not short of neighbours it considers to be problematic.
Azerbaijan’s military shopping spree is aimed mainly at Armenia. The two countries are still officially at war over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. A 1994 ceasefire keeps the peace around Nagorno-Karabakh but shootouts and death puncture this peace every week.
Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran have worsened considerably over the past 18 months too.
There have been a number of reported shootouts on their border. In Baku, the Azerbaijani authorities have arrested several people accused of being Iranian agents. The Iranians have also arrested several Azerbaijanis in Iran.
The Azerbaijani authorities are unlikely to relax their policy of rearmament any time soon.
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(News report from Issue No. 120, published on Jan. 18 2013)
DEC. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan opened a faster rail link between Astana and the west of the country, media reported, highlighting the authorities’ drive to improve infrastructure. The train, running nearly 1,500km to Aktobe, will make the journey in 16 hours, knocking 11 hours off the previous time.
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(News report from Issue No. 119, published on Jan. 11 2013)
DEC. 30 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s oil production dropped by 3.7% in 2012, mainly due to lower-than-expected output at the BP-led Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field, the head of Azerbaijan’s state oil company, Rovnag Abdullayev, said. Oil and gas are the mainstays of Azerbaijan’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 119, published on Jan. 11 2013)
