MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a boost for EU aspirations to pump gas from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan said that although the countries which ring the Caspian Sea still argue over ownership, it didn’t see any problems building a pipeline across it, media reported. The EU is keen to diversify its gas supplies away from Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Direct Tbilisi-Tehran flights will begin next month, media reported quoting Tbilisi mayor David Narmania. The launch of a direct route between Tbilisi and Tehran highlights the growing links between the two countries. Tehran’s mayor Mohammad Bagher was visiting Tbilisi to sign a twinning agreement.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At its summit meeting in Riga, the EU promised Georgia that it would decide by the end of the year whether to grant Georgians visa-free travel.
Georgia’s government has lobbied hard for a visa-free regime across Europe as it sees this as a vital step towards achieving its ultimate aim of joining the EU.
The EU had presented the so-called Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP) progress report on Georgia and Ukraine a couple of weeks earlier. It congratulated Georgia on its progress, but also pointed out that it needed to implement reforms in asylum, anti-corrup- tion, human trafficking and drugs.
The decision was a disappointment to Georgia’s government as well as for many ordinary Georgians. Misha Shavtvaladze, a political scientist from Tbilisi State University, explained.
“But the fact that we are not ready for this upgrade had a negative psychological effect. It has a lot to do with the national pride, like winning the Eurovision does.”
The opposition blamed the government for the lack of good news, but Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili said he did receive a positive message from the EU. Georgia will be the next country to be granted visa waiver, possibly even earlier than Ukraine, he told media.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Russia met in Moscow to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations, once again underlining how Azerbaijani foreign policy has shifted away from the West.
At the meeting Azerbaijani foreign minister and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov signed a commitment to hold a series of consultations and meetings over the next couple of years.
Mr Lavrov described Azerbaijan as a strategic partner and said that trade between the two countries had increased by 16% last year.
Of course, Russia has to tread a fine diplomatic line in the South Caucasus where Azerba- ijan and Armenia are still officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh. Armenia is a firm Russian ally and hosts a major Russian military base. It is also a member of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Perhaps as a teaser, Mr Mammadyraov said in an interview after the meeting that although Azerbaijani would consider joining the Eurasian Economic Union, it could never actually become a member if Armenian-backed forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.
“If Armenia withdraws its troops, if the borders are opened, if there is a normali- zation of the situation, if there is an economic component between Armenia and Azerbaijan, who knows what will happen tomorrow,” he told the Russia 24 TV channel.
The Eurasian Economic Union is a Kremlin pet project. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus are also members.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan extended a ban on the import of higher grade oil- products from Russia until June 20, the ministry of energy said, potentially enflaming a growing trade row between the two neighbours.
This is the second extension to the ban on A92/93 diesel fuel, first imposed for 40 days on March 5 to protect domestic producers against cheap Russian imports.
The Russian rouble has roughly halved in value over the past year, mainly because of the slump in oil prices, while the Kazakh Central Bank has defended its currency vigorously.
This created a large imbal- ance in prices.
This year Moscow and Astana have banned various products under the guise of breaking health regulations. In reality, though, Commentators have said the various ban on foodstuffs has been a low-level trade war.
The irony is that Kazakhstan and Russia are supposed to have reduced trade barriers after the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union which also includes Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Separately, the Kazakh energy ministry also announced it was increasing petrol prices slightly.
The government controls petrol prices. It has previously reduced them.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China’s Export-Import Bank has agreed to give a loan of $185m to Kyrgyzstan to help it build a road and tunnel between the north and south of the country, media reported. China has been funding more and more projects in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and discuss prospective energy projects.
After their meeting, Mr Sharif said Pakistan wanted to speed up regional energy projects, including the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan- India (TAPI) pipeline — a much-discussed project that could deliver Turkmen gas to South Asia.
Mr Sharif’s visit to Ashgabat highlights just how important the TAPI project is to South Asia and also reflects Turkmenistan’s burgeoning status in the region.
Turkmenistan is trying to push the TAPI project forward in order to diversify its export routes. Its main client is China although it is also in talks with the EU to supply gas.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s official Muslim group, the Assembly of Muslims of Armenia, has created the position of chief mufti for the first time, online media reported.
Importantly, it gave the top job to an Iranian trained cleric, Arsen Safaryan.
Regional analyst Paul Goble wrote in his blog that there were a handful of reasons why this was an important development.
The first reason, he said, was that the new job challenges the Baku-based Muslim Special Directorate of the Caucasus. Azerbaijan is a Muslim country and the natural location for a regional Muslim chief.
Mr Globe then wrote: “This move gives Iran an opening to expand its influence among Shiia not only in the post- Soviet space, also a direct challenge to Azerbaijan, but also among the nearly 400,000 Armenian Muslims (the Hemshins) living in the Middle East and Europe and also among the Yezidis who vastly outnumber the Shiia in Armenia.”
There were, Mr Globe explained, thousands of Muslims living in Armenia but most fled to Azerbaijan in the 1990s after war over Nagorno-Karabakh broke out. There are now only around 1,000 Muslims in Armenia.
Iran and Armenia have been steadily improving ties over the past few years. They are both short of regional allies. Now, it appears, Armenia could be quietly handing more responsibility for Armenia’s small Muslim community over to Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan aims to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the end of the year, PM Karim Massimov said at a meeting with Lithuanian government officials in Astana. Kazakhstan has been negotiating to join the WTO since the early 1990s.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Less than two years after Armenia appeared to turn its back on the EU by agreeing to sign up to the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union, the EU wants to start negotiating a new treaty to deepen political and economic ties with Yerevan, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted an unnamed official in Brussels as saying.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
