MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with the AP news agency, Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili said Russia would use its military to grab more territory in the former Soviet Union. Georgia has been warning about excessive Russian aggression since the two neighbours fought a brief war in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The IMF and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) both delivered withering assessments of the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, piling pressure on governments across the region.
Not since the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 has the region been under such economic strain, the IMF said in its assessment.
“Exchange rate developments, such as the appreciation of the US dollar and the depreciation of the rouble, are compounding the problem,” media quoted Juha Kähkönen, deputy director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, as saying at the presentation of the report in Kazakhstan on May 19.
The region’s average growth rate this year, the IMF said, would slow to 3.3% from 5.3% in 2014.
A collapse in the price of oil and the value of the rouble have knocked economies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Currencies have nosedived, losing around a third of their values in only a few months, governments have scrambled to cut budgets and companies have laid off hundreds of workers.
All the data, in short, paints a turbulent portrait of the last few months and an equally troublesome outlook for the next couple of years.
Mr Kähkönen’s statement came only a few days after the EBRD had issued a similar warning at its AGM in Tbilisi. It drew attention to the sharp fall in remittances to the region from Russia and the impact this would have.
“As the Russian economy has declined, remittances from Russia to Central Asia and to eastern Europe and the Caucasus have been declining at an alarming rate,” the bank said in a statement.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Seemingly in a fit of pique, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev said he will not attend an EU summit in Riga later this month designed to bring countries that ring Europe closer to the group.
APA news agency, which is linked to the Azerbaijani authorities, quoted the deputy head of the presidential admitstration, Novruz Mammadov, as saying that Mr Aliyev blamed the EU and the US for mounting an anti-Azerbaijan campaign in the media.
“The expansion of the black PR campaign against Azerbaijan, in close collaboration with some western powers which claim to be interested to develop strategic partnership ties with Azerbaijan, on the eve of the first European Games has triggered a reasonable uproar,” APA reported.
The West has criticised Azerbaijan for what it has said are retarded steps on civil rights. Courts in Azerbaijan have imprisoned journalists lawyers, opposition leaders and activists who have been critical of the government.
For Azerbaijan, this is a particularly sensitive time. Next month it hosts the inaugural European Games and it desperately wants to both put on a good show and also to present itself in a good light.
By ditching plans to visit the EU summit in Riga, Mr Aliyev is aligning himself more closely with Russia and away from Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia has toned down its hopes of a deal to scrap visas for its citizens travelling to Europe, the FT reported quoting Georgian officials ahead of an EU summit meeting in Riga. Georgia has been pushing to speed up integration with Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Brussels focused on human rights, the EU criticised new legislation passing through Kyrgyzstan’s parliament that outlaws promoting gay relationships.
The legislation is similar to laws brought in by Russia two years ago. Analysts have said Bishkek may have been motivated to introduce the rules by a desire to cosy up to the Kremlin.
The criticism of gay rights in Kyrgyzstan came the day after anti-gay rights protesters in Bishkek attacked a pro-gay rights meeting being held in the garden of an upmarket Bishkek hotel.
Over the past few years, the West has watched as Kyrgyzstan, once its poster-boy in Central Asia, has moved increasingly towards Russia. This month it also joined the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
As well as criticising Kyrgyzstan over its gay rights record, EU officials also praised the country for trying to clamp down on torture in prison and improving women’s rights.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government has stopped issuing tourist visas to its southern Badakhshan Province because of increased fighting along its border with Afghanistan, the Dushanbe-based ASIA-Plus website reported. Badakhshan has been the scene of intermittent anti- government protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek foreign minister Suleymanmurad Guladov travelled to Brussels to meet EU officials, including Maros Sefcovi, the European Commission vice president in charge of energy policy. While no deals were signed, the meeting is a reminder of the growing relationship between Europe and Central Asia over energy.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – En route to Moscow for the 70th anniversary celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Astana. Official media said the two presidents affirmed their close ties.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – As expected, parliament approved a law that will extend the time that citizens of most Western countries can stay in Georgia without a visa to 360 days from 90 days. Visa-free regulations were tightened in the summer.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Vienna, Austrian president Heinz Fischer told Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that Austria wanted to buy Turkmen gas. Europe is trying to persuade Turkmenistan to send its gas west to Europe. Turkmenistan is looking for more clients for its gas.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
