Tag Archives: international relations

Turkmen leader travels to Kabul

AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov travelled to Kabul to meet with Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, an important signifier that he wants to play a greater role in improving his neighbour’s stability. Turkmenistan has developed a handful of high profile projects with Afghanistan, including the TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to India.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

Kazakhstan to host nuclear fuel bank

AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a deal with the Kazakh government to host the first internationally-controlled bank of low-enriched uranium, an agreement that will boost Kazakhstan’s global stature. The idea is that countries can ask to tap into the supply for fuel for their power stations and prevent any unilateral nuclear build up.

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(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

UN members criticise Azerbaijan

AUG. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Six members of the UN’s Human Rights Council said that a trial that sentenced human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus to jail for 8-1/2 and 7 years for various financial crimes, was politically motivated. Their intervention was just the latest in a series of criticism of the authorities in Azerbaijan by Western rights groups.

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(News report from Issue No. 244, published on Aug. 21 2015)

Georgia accuses Russia of helicopter flight

AUG. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government accused Russia of flying a military helicopter into its air space around the border of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Earlier this year South Ossetian forces apparently grabbed a slither of Georgian territory. Russia is also staging large scale military exercises in South Ossetia.

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(News report from Issue No. 244, published on Aug. 21 2015)

Kyrgyzstan joins EEU

AUG. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan formally joined the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union when it dropped customs barriers with its neighbour Kazakhstan, which is also a member. Both Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev and Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev attended a ceremony to mark the occasion. Belarus and Armenia are also members of the group which some critics have said is an underhand way for Russia to increase its political influence.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan plan Caspian naval drills

AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia will host two naval exercises this year with the Azerbaijani and Kazakh navies, media reported quoting senior Russian officials. The drills will take place in the Caspian Sea. The first will be a bilateral exercise involving Azerbaijan and Russia. The second will be trilateral and also include Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Kyrgyzstan joins EEU

AUG. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on allowing Kyrgyzstan into the Russia- led Eurasian Economic Union. This was the final piece of paperwork that Kyrgyzstan needed to enter the trade bloc. Other members of the Eurasian Economic Union include Belarus and Armenia, which also joined this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 242, published on Aug. 7 2015)

Statoil quits Azerbaijani fields

JULY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Statoil, the oil and gas company part owned by the Norwegian government, has decided to sell its 20% stake in the Trans- Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project that will pump gas from Azerbaijani fields in the Caspian to consumers in Europe.

Rovnag Abdullayev, the head of Azerbaijani oil and gas company SOCAR, announced the news on Azerbaijani TV.

“Statoil has decided to leave the TAP project completely, and there is a company which is ready to buy its stake,” ANS TV quoted him as saying.

“Several companies have expressed an interest in buying Statoil’s stake, and it would be better if several companies would buy it.”

Statoil declined to comment.

If confirmed, Statoil’s decision to quit TAP is probably more a reflection on how it is

re-adjusting its portfolio rather than on the project itself. Statoil has already said it wants to reduce its exposure to risk in its portfolio and has sold its stakes in the giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea as well as in the South Caucasus Pipeline.

Stakes in these projects were snapped up by SOCAR, BP and Malaysia’s Petronas and Statoil’s stake in TAP will attract bids from companies looking for a high-profile project.

TAP is an 870km pipeline project that should link up with the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline near the Turkey-Greece border which will then carry Azerbaijani gas onto central Europe.

The current TAP shareholders are BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Belgium’s Fluxys (19%), Spain’s Enagas (16%) and Swiss company Axpo (5%).

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Georgia accuses Russia of provocative war games

JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Around 1,500 Russian soldiers and dozens of pieces of artillery and missile systems started a major military exercise across the North Caucasus and the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, Georgia’s government said.

The Georgian government described the war games, which came around a week after South Ossetian forces extended a de facto border into Georgia, as a major act of provocation by Russia that could destabilise the region.

“This provocative act of the Russian P Federation represents an infringement of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Georgia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said the Georgian military would respond if provoked.

Russia hasn’t commented but the South Ossetian land-grab, that included taking control of a 1.6km section of a pipeline operated by BP which pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, and the alleged military exercises have created the worse stand-off between Georgia and Russia since they fought a war in 2008.

Earlier in July, Russia said that NATO exercises in Georgia, which included a contingent of US soldiers, would have “explosive consequences”.

Georgia said that the Russian 2-week long military exercise began on July 15 across the North Caucasus and South Ossetia.

Georgia is pushing to join NATO, especially since Russia annexed Crimea last year and, allegedly, sent its forces into eastern Ukraine to help rebel forces fight a civil war against the Ukrainian military.

Europe and the United States have been supportive of Georgia’s Western orientation, but also stand-offish on allowing Georgia to join NATO.

Donald Tusk, the European Council President, was in Georgia for a pre-planned visit. He detoured to the area where South Ossetia had extended its control.

He praised the Georgian government for its restraint.

“The Georgian government met it firmly, but calmly, he said. Our goal is not to yield to these provocations and not to give anyone any pretext for escalation,” Mr Tusk said.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani president holds talks with Tusk

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Donald Tusk, head of the European Council, completed his tour of the South Caucasus in Baku where he held talks with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. Mr Tusk’s visit comes at a time of increasingly strained relations between Azerbaijan and the West.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)