OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tbilisi mayor Davit Narmania opened a new Japanese Garden in the city’s botanical gardens. The $85,000 project had been paid for by the Japanese government and was dedicated to celebrating Georgia-Japan relations.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> I hear that the Uzbek government sent high-level delegation to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. Why is this news? Surely this is standard practise?
>> It’s certainly not standard practice for Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Their bilateral relations have been worse than poor over the past few years. This has been most obvious along their shared borders where soldiers and villagers from each side have squared up. At times it has threatened to develop into conflict, a conflict that the rest of the region has always worried would drag in neighbours. Part of the problem was that Uzbekistan blamed Kyrgyzstan for building a network of hydro projects across its rivers, depriving it of the water that it needs to irrigate its important cotton fields. There are also a series of rows over sovereignty around parts of their shared border in and around the Ferghana Valley. Osh, for example, is in Kyrgyzstan but is home to thousands of Uzbeks.
>> That does sound serious. How was this conflict avoided?
>> Essentially it appears that the death in September of Uzbek president Islam Karimov has been the key to improving bilateral Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations. He had a reputation for being a cantankerous, intransigent man who preferred to keep relations with his neighbours cool. Karimov had been in power since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan’s interna- tional relations have been notably cool during this period. The new guy, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, appears to be taking a different tack. Since he was installed as acting president, relations with Kyrgyzstan have improved markedly.
>> So, what specifically has improved?
>> There have been platitudes and visits from either side, handshakes and warm words. This may not sound like a great deal but it is. Impression is every- thing in this instance. The image of Kyrgyz and Uzbek government officials shaking hands and standing together for photo-ops in the Ferghana valley is invaluable for maintaining the peace and reducing tension. The deals and finer details will come later. It’s also important that these get-togethers have been happening around Osh and other towns and cities in the Ferghana Valley. This is the most tense and most ethnically diverse part of Central Asia. Using the Ferghana Valley as the backdrop adds extra weight to these gestures of friendship.
>> Got it. So this is the beginning of something good. What happens next?
>> It’s likely that Mirziyoyev will be confirmed as Uzbekistan’s permanent president at an election in December. If he is committed to improving relations with Kyrgyzstan, this will be a good thing for stability. Central Asia needs Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to be on good terms. We’re also due a meeting between Mirziy- oyev and Almazbek Atambayev, the Kyrgyz president. When this does happen, and it’ll probably be next year as both hold votes in December – Uzbekistan a presi- dential election and Kyrgyzstan a referendum on changing the constitution – we’ll get a better idea of just how far Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations have come.
>> And what is motivating this thaw in relations?
>> It’s not 100% clear. Mirziyoyev may have decided, along with the other Uzbek power brokers, that post- Karimov Uzbekistan needs to set out on a different foreign policy course and that making allies with neighbours and opening up to investors is the right tactics. Of course, the charm offensive may also just be a short-term gimmick ahead of the December election.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A fifth round of negotiations took place between the EU and Armenia over a new framework agreement. A framework agreement would pull Armenia, which is part of the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union, closer to the EU. Armenia needs to develop its allies. Russia, though, which has cool ties with the EU, is one of its biggest backers.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
BISHKEK, OCT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A high-ranking Uzbek government delegation visited Osh in Kyrgyzstan for a groundbreaking meeting which highlighted both improving relations between the two neighbours and the charm offensive that Uzbekistan’s president-in-waiting, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has laid on since Islam Karimov died in September.
Uzbek delegations have also travelled to Tajikistan and China since Mr Mirziyoyev was appointed acting president. His press office has also said that he has spent time talking to Turkmen president Kurbangly Berdymukhamedov.
This friendly foreign policy approach is in marked contrast to the stance that Karimov took when he was president. He preferred to keep a distance from his neighbours, often souring relations.
The most remarkable change has been towards Kyrgyzstan where border rows had threatened to tip into war.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia and Turkmenistan will launch new direct flights in November, linking Tbilisi and Ashgabat. The flights will run twice weekly and will be operated by Turkmenistan Airlines. Since Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s visit to Turkmenistan in 2014, relations between the two countries have improved. Now, the governments want to boost trade beyond oil products which dominate.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)
OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan increased its trade with China by 32% in the first nine months of the year, its statistics agency said, highlighting its increased dependency on its near neighbour. Data said that Tajikistan-China trade turnover in this period was $700m, compared to Tajikistan-Russia trade turnover of $764m, which was down by 9.3%.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)
OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Tashkent, the foreign ministers of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan signed a deal to extend bilateral relations. Although vague in detail, the agreement is important because it underlines the improving ties between the two neighbours. For most of the year tension along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border has been rising. Since the death of Uzbek president Islam Karimov in September, though, dialogue between the two sides has improved markedly.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)
OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Yerevan, leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) agreed to set up a new crisis response centre. The thinking behind the centre is to improve the exchange of information between CSTO members on terrorism. The CSTO includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)
SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko flew into Samarkand to visit the grave of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who died last month. Acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev welcomed Mr Lukashenko and accompanied him to Karimov’s grave.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)
OCT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – During an official trip to Tbilisi, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said that he supported Georgia’s territorial integrity. By voicing support for Georgian rule over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which claimed independence after a brief war in 2008, Mr Atambayev was effectively condemning Russia’s support for the rebels.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)
