JUNE 27 2017 (The Bulletin) — Hungary opened a new embassy in Tashkent, highlighting, perhaps, Uzbekistan’s new openness under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto, who is on a short tour of Central Asia, officially opened the new embassy, highlighting its importance for boosting trade links.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Armenia and the EU have completed negotiations over a new Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement and will sign the deal in November, media reported by quoting Armenian foreign minister Eduard Nalbandian. This is the second attempt by Armenia and the EU to sign a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. The first, in 2013, failed after Russian pressure on Armenia.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — A court in Ukraine refused to approve the extradition of Akbar Abdullaev, the nephew of former Uzbek President Islam Karimov, to face various corruption and money laundering charges because it did not think he would receive a fair trial. Instead, Mr Abdullaev was given refugee status. He was arrested in Kiev in mid-January.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — The next round of talks in Astana focused on ending the violence in Syria have been set for July 10, media reported quoting officials. The talks are hosted by Kazakhstan but are run by Iran, Russia and Turkey. They also, importantly, include representatives from the Syrian government and also from the Syrian rebels. This will be the fourth round of talks this year in Astana focused on Syria. The Astana talks are not designed as a replacement for the Geneva peace talks which are run by the UN and are attempting to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to wipe out Kyrgyzstan’s debt of $240m, a deal that analysts said was hinged around Bishkek continued loyalty to Moscow. The deal was secured during a trip to Moscow by Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev. Kyrgyzstan is an important Russian ally. It is a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union and also the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. It also hosts a Russian Air Base.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 23 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh and Kyrgyz officials denied earlier press reports which said that they had been asked to provide peacekeeper soldiers for a force in Syria. Earlier reports had quoted Turkish and Russian sources as saying that both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan had been asked to provide military support to a peacekeeping force in Syria. The Kazakh and Kyrgyz militaries have limited, if any, experience of peacekeeping operations.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 20 2017 (The Bulletin) — The EU included Armenia in a $300m assistance programme for countries which have taken in refugees from Syria, media reported. In total, Armenia will receive around $3.3m of aid from the EU. It has taken in hundreds of refugees, mainly of Armenian heritage, who had been living in Aleppo. The Balkans, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Jordan all received aid from the EU too.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 20 2017 (The Bulletin) — Often accused of being thin-skinned, Kazakhstan reacted with fury at an article published by the Washington-based Foreign Policy magazine which said the EXPO
2017 site was boring and had no visitors. Kazakh officials claimed that Foreign Policy journalist James Palmer had never even visited the site before he wrote the story. They then also blocked the Foreign Policy website.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
ASTANA, JUNE 12 2017 (The Bulletin) — Ukraine sent an official complaint to the Kazakh foreign ministry after it emerged that an art exhibition set up for the start of EXPO-2017 showed Crimea to be a part of Russia.
Russia annexed Crime in 2014 but the international community, including Kazakhstan, has not recognised the landgrab. Instead it still refers to Crimea as part of Ukraine.
The offending exhibition was based on rows of globes each depicting a country taking part in EXPO- 2017. The Russia globe clearly shows that it owns the Crimean Peninsular while the Ukraine globe is bereft of its former territory.
“The festival Astana Art Fest map of Ukraine showed signs of the violation of territorial integrity,” the Ukraine embassy wrote on Facebook. “The Ukrainian side expects the Kazakh ministry of foreign affairs to clarify the action.”
The Kazakh foreign ministry has not publicly commented.
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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)
JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — The EBRD is set to finance the construction of a second solar power park in southern Kazakhstan, media reported. The EBRD will give a loan of $45m for the solar power park, the Clean Technology Fund will give $10m and the owners of the field, not named by media, will stump up another $80m. After the construction of Burnoye Solar 2, it will constitute one of the biggest solar power fields in Europe or Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)
