MAY 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – During a meeting in Washington, Kazakhstan moved closer to entering the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after it reached an agreement on allowing US services access to the Kazakh market, media reported. Zhanar Aitzhanova, the Kazakh minister for economic integration, said Kazakhstan could possibly join the WTO in 2012.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 42, published on May 30 2011)
MAY 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Insurgents from Afghanistan and a disenfranchised local Muslim population threaten to push Tajikistan towards internal conflict, Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report. ICG reports are well respected and the warning is one of the starkest yet.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 42, published on May 30 2011)
MAY 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to New Delhi, Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed 34 deals with Indian PM Manmohan Singh on trade, communications, security and energy, media reported. India has heavily increased its presence in Central Asia this year, securing energy deals with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia and the other former Soviet states endorsed current Kazakh Central Bank chief, Grigory Marchenko, to replace Dominique Strauss-Khan as head of the IMF. The IMF chief has traditionally been a European but countries from outside Europe are pressurising the IMF to pick an outsider.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Food prices in Tajikistan have risen by about 30% in the last month, RFE/RL reported. Worried about social unrest, US-funded RFE/RL said that the authorities have spent millions stocking up on food and fuel and imposed price caps on meat.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 40, published on May 17 2011)
MAY 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited Ashgabat for the second time in seven months to sign agreements with Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdimukhamedov. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, both major gas producers, have increasingly worked together to open new markets and leverage more economic power.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
MAY 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – For the first time in 2011 annualised inflation in Armenia dropped below 10% and may reflect a slowdown in price rises across the region. Armenia’s annualised inflation in April was 8.6% down from 11.5% in March, its national statistics office said. Some analysts had warned that rising inflation could stir instability.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 26 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – China secured more control over energy supplies from Central Asia when it agreed to lend Turkmenistan $4b to develop the South Yolotan gas field. South Yolotan is one of the largest gas fields in the world. Most of its gas is expected to be pumped to China.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In contrast to the cool reception he received when he visited the European Union in Brussels in January, China laid on smiles and a guard of honour for Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s state visit on April 19/20.
Mr Karimov was in Beijing to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and to sign deals worth billions of dollars including an agreement to double the amount of gas Uzbekistan sells to China. The Uzbek state news website uza.uz said the deals were worth $5b and that Chinese banks had also agreed to lend $1.5b to 4 Uzbek banks for joint-ventures.
The numbers underscore just how much power and impact China can buy in Central Asia. Mr Hu hosted a similar visit to Beijing by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in February.
Over the last few years China has steadily bought up assets across the region, subverting the influence of both Russia and the West.
For the Central Asia states, China allure is not just its wealth, its proximity and its hunger for oil and gas. For now, at least, China is also less troublesome to deal with.
Former colonial power Russia has quarrelled with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan over the price of gas and the West has previously condemned human rights abuses, such as the shooting in 2005 of around 500 people at a protest in eastern Uzbekistan. China, instead, talks of jointly defeating terrorism, is welcoming and lays on the charm.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
APRIL 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps Kazakhstan’s most important company, state oil and gas monopoly Kazmunaigas said net profits doubled in 2010 to about $2.7b, Reuters reported. Kazmunaigas did not give a reason for the profit rise.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 36, published on April 18 2011)
