Tag Archives: international relations

Pope to visit Armenia and Georgia

APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pope Francis will visit the South Caucasus twice this year, the Vatican said, firstly to Armenia on June 24-26 and then to Georgia and Azerbaijan on Sept. 30 – Oct. 2. This is important because Pope Francis is one of the most outspoken popes in modern times. His visit will give him an international stage to opine on the affairs of the South Caucasus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Georgia charges transit fee

APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – After months of negotiations, Georgia and Russia’s Gazprom retained a deal that will give Georgia 10% of Gazprom’s gas throughput to Armenia. The deal was heralded by the Georgian side as a victory. They said that Gazprom had wanted Georgia to charge it a transit fee for hosting a pipeline to Armenia and then pay for its own gas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Kazakh President signs Iran deal

APRIL 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Tehran to meet with President Hassan Rouhani sign deals worth around $1b, giving Kazakhstan-Iran economic ties a major boost. Kazakhstan has been forthright at trying to boost economic ties with Iran since sanctions were relaxed earlier this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Italy dismisses Georgian rebel region

APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Italian Foreign Ministry dismissed a claim that the alleged new embassy of South Ossetia in Rome has any official status. Earlier, the Kremlin-backed Sputnik news agency reported the imminent opening of a representative office for South Ossetia in Rome. The Italian ministry said its official position “is to refuse recognition of the independence and sovereignty of South Ossetia.” Only Russia and a handful of countries looking to curry favour with the Kremlin have followed this lead and recognised South Ossetia as an independent country.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Kazakh President visits Cuba

APRIL 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited Cuba for the first time. The visit came shortly after Mr Nazarbayev’s trip to the US for the Nuclear Security Summit. In Cuba, Mr Nazarbayev met President Raul Castro and discussed bilateral cooperation and trade.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

EEU reschedules meeting due to Armenia-Azerbaijan fight in N-K

APRIL 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Eurasian Economic Union moved a meeting of its PMs scheduled for April 8 in Yerevan to Moscow because of fighting between Armenia-backed fighters and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Before the meeting was moved, Kazakh PM Karim Massimov had cancelled his trip to Armenia’s capital. The Moscow meeting will now be held on April 13.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Oil export ban is illogical, says ex-Kyrgyz official

APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – For the past six years, there has been an informal ban on petroleum exports from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan, former president of Kyrgyzstan’s Oil Traders Association, Zhumakadyr Akeneyev, said at a conference in Bishkek. According to him this practice is illogical within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and it has caused a rise in illegal trading. Kyrgyzstan imports almost all its petroleum products from Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Kazakh Pres. visits EU

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Brussels to hold high-level talks with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and president of the Euro- pean Council Donald Tusk. Mr Nazarbayev wants the EU to consider establishing a visa-free regime for Kazakhstani citizens.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Kerry wants Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict resolution

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – US secretary of state John Kerry said he wanted to see “an ultimate resolution” on the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Mr Kerry was meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Washington when he made the comments. Just days earlier, Azerbaijan said two of its soldiers were killed in clashes with the Armenian army.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Editorial: Kazakh-Russian avaition row

APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh fans of the BBC’s motoring programme TopGear fans were not the only disappointed onlookers of the aviation spat between Russia and Kazakhstan that grounded Kazakhstan-bound Aeroflot flights and Russia-bound Air Astana flights for a few days.

For supporters of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union, the spat was embarrassing. How do two, apparently close, allies who inhabit the same economic and military groups, come to squabble over flight paths?

The diplomatic exchange between the two aviation regulators seems to have originated from a request put forward by Air Astana to fly over Russian territory to reach Ulaanbaatar, its newly-established destination in Mongolia.

This row now appears to have been resolved but the damage to the image of the various Russian-led regional groups, chiefly the Eurasian Economic Union, will be harder to repair.

Still, at least the Top Gear team will now be able to travel to Kazakhstan, via Moscow, for filming.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)