MARCH 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underlining Armenia’s strengthening ties with Iran, President Serzh Sargsyan joined Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran to celebrate the Persian new year. Iran and Armenia are building a rail link and an oil pipeline. Leaders from Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan also joined the celebrations.
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(News report from Issue No. 33, published on March 28 2011)
MARCH 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian news agencies quoted Kyrgyz PM Almazbek Atambayev as saying during a meeting with Russian PM Vladimir Putin that Kyrgyzstan was ready to sell 75% of its gas company, KyrgyzGas, to Russia. Russia and the US are competing for influence in Kyrgyzstan, where they each have an airbase.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)
MARCH 17 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a gesture of good will over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged one prisoner each in a deal arranged last year. A ceasefire since 1994 has maintained a shaky peace over Nagorno-Karabakh but sporadic shootouts between Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers over the last few years have intensified.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)
MARCH 17 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Defence ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states — Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan — met in Astana to coordinate policy until 2013. The SCO, a military and economic group, has increased its activities over the last few years and some analysts have even referred to it as a potential counterbalance to NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 32, published on March 21 2011)
MARCH 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Masked police raided several Turkish businesses in Tashkent including one of the city’s biggest supermarket Turkuaz, media reported. The authorities said the businesses were fronts for Islamic extremism, accusations the businesses deny. The raids follow similar action against Turkish business in December and may be part of turf war.
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(News report from Issue No. 31, published on March 14 2011)
MARCH 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva signed a decree renaming a 4,446m mountain after Russian PM Vladimir Putin. Kyrgyzstan also has mountains named after the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin and former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Parliament voted on the name change in February.
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(News report from Issue No. 31, published on March 14 2011)
MARCH 7 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a sign of just how crucial Kyrgyzstan is to US policy in Central Asia and Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan’s President Roza Otunbayeva met with US President Barack Obama at the White House. The Manas airbase outside Bishkek is a major re-supply hub for the US mission in Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan has said it wants to impose a $40m fuel tax on the base.
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(News report from Issue No. 31, published on March 14 2011)
MARCH 3 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting hosted by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, Azerbaijan’s leader Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan discussed the ceasefire around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Analysts say the leaders’ meetings are important to avoid another war over the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 30, published on March 7 2011)
MARCH 2 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has agreed to boost by 50% the amount of gas it supplies to China, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on its website. The deal for Turkmenistan to supply China with 60b cubic metres of gas a year will be finalised in the second half of 2011, the NDRC said.
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(News report from Issue No. 30, published on March 7 2011)
FEB. 22 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a three-day trip to Beijing, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed a series of deals with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The deals included Chinese funds for a new Astana-Almaty high speed rail link, a uranium supply deal and various oil and gas projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 29, published on Feb. 28 2011)
