JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan wants to sell its Soviet-era torpedo factory on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, media reported. Russia has previously offered to buy the factory and is still the most likely purchaser. Media quoted a Kyrgyz government official saying the factory was worth $30m and the surrounding land another $180m.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian officials criticised a trip by French actor Gerard Depardieu to Georgia’s break-away region of Abkhazia as both ignorant and inflammatory for Georgian-Russian relations. Russia gave Mr Depardieu citizenship earlier this year after he complained about high taxes in France.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — British companies signed deals in Kazakhstan worth $1b during PM David Cameron’s two-day trip, local media reported. This was the first trip to Kazakhstan by a serving British PM. Most of the deals agreed were in the energy and mining sectors.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — British PM David Cameron completed a two-day trip to Kazakhstan. This was the first trip to Kazakhstan by a serving British PM and concluded with reportedly $1b worth of deals between the two countries. Human rights groups said that Mr Cameron should have done more to press concerns on Kazakhstan’s rights record.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Czech car-maker Skoda will start producing its saloon car the Octavia in Kazakhstan from this month, media reported, highlighting the Kazakh public’s growing demand for new cars. Skoda, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, produces cars at a plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Recognisable by its unreformed Soviet style packaging and logo, Rakhat chocolate is iconic in Kazakhstan; symbolism even laces the name. In Kazakh, Rakhat means “pleasure”.
Rakhat is a rare example of an established Kazakh retail brand and that makes its sale important.
According to a company announcement on July 2, Lotte Confectionery, a South Korean company, has agreed a deal to buy 76% of Rakhat from four shareholders for about $120m. On the Kazakh stock exchange website these shareholders were listed as Natalya Khilchuk (11% stake), BD Associates ltd (UK, 29% stake), Anatoliy Popelyushko (25.45% stake) and Sweet City LLP (12.2% stake).
The deal values Rakhat, which had sales of nearly $200m in 2012 and employs 4,000 people, at roughly $157m.
Rakhat is one of the most high profile Kazakh retail companies ever sold. This is not an oil and gas company nor a mining company, it is a chocolate maker and its sale highlights Kazakhstan’s growing appeal to consumer brands.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will upgrade its military base in Armenia and help modernise the Armenian army, local media reported. The move was probably designed to balance out increased Russian arms exports to Azerbaijan, Armenia’s main enemy. Armenia and Azerbaijan are officially at war over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan disappointed India’s government by triggering its option to buy an 8.4% stake in the Caspian Sea oil field Kashagan. US energy major ConocoPhillips said last year that it was selling its stake to Indian state energy company ONGC Videsh for $5.5b. Kazakhstan, though, held the option to block this deal.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Since January 2011, Iranian businessmen have been flooding into Georgia to set up companies and trade with the world. Although US-led international sanctions have been imposed on Iran, Iranians have been able to enter Georgia and operate there with relative ease.
For a stay of less than 45 days, Iranians didn’t need a visa to enter Georgia. With direct flights between Tbilisi and Tehran starting up again in 2010 after a 10 year gap, Iranian businessmen, and tourists, became an increasingly common sight in Georgia.
That was until July 2, when Georgian officials abruptly ended this arrangement. It had become increasingly irritating for the US, perhaps even embarrassing, that its most staunch supporter in the region was giving Iranians an easy option to bypass sanctions they had imposed.
The US has imposed sanctions on Iran to try and stop it developing a nuclear capability which it says would be used to build a bomb. Iran has denied this and said that it wants to develop nuclear capability for its own civilian energy generation programme.
The Wall Street Journal reported that last year Iranians opened nearly 1,500 companies in Georgia, double the number opened in 2011 and dwarfing the 84 that Iranians opened in 2010.
Two US trade delegations recently visited Tbilisi. Perhaps they conveyed Washington’s irritation.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek and Chinese companies signed deals worth $100m at an investment forum, media reported quoting Uzbekistan’s ministry of foreign economic relations. Among these was a deal between Uzbeklegprom, an Uzbek state-run company, and Chinese textile companies. The deals show China’s increasing reach in Central Asia.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
