DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps in a push to boost investment from the Gulf States, Kyrgyzstan will open an embassy in Dubai. President Almazbek Atamabayev announced the opening of a new embassy while on a trip to the UAE. Kyrgyzstan has slowly been increasing its international presence over the past year.
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uruguay’s vice-president Danilo Astori visited Armenia, highlighting a little-known but important global relationship.
According to media reports of Mr Astori’s visit, Uruguay was the first country in the world to recognise the Armenian Genocide.
Armenia and Turkey have been rowing for decades over the death of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in eastern Turkey at the end of the First World War. Armenia has said that the deaths were part of an organised genocide by the Ottoman Turks. Turkey has said that the deaths were part of general fighting.
It remains a thorn in Armenia-Turkey relations and forms a major part of Armenia’s foreign policy.
Uruguayan officials were clear on the significance of the trip.
“The trip will have official status and will be important to strengthen the bonds of solidarity, fraternity and cooperation that unite the two countries for decades, when 1965 Uruguay became the first country in the world to recognise the Armenian Genocide and thus inaugurated a long list of agreements and acts of solidarity with the Armenian people that has continued to expand,” they said according to press reports.
The importance of this is that it underlines just how much emphasis Armenia puts on promoting the genocide.
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a press conference in Astana with visiting French president Francois Hollande, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev called on the West to relax sanctions against Russia imposed for its alleged support of rebel forces in the east of the country. The sanctions on Russia have had a knock-on effect on Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Georgia, vital for its economy, soared to $508m in the third quarter of 2014, its highest quarterly intake for six years.
The data from Georgia’s national statistics office also showed that China had contributed $149m, 29% of the total. This is double China’s previous record FDI injection in Georgia. By way of comparison, the entire quarterly FDI for Georgia in Q2 2014 was $151m.
These figures are good news for Georgia but it has to tread carefully.
Clearly an increase in FDI is good. Georgia’s economy is reliant on FDI as a major source of income. When Georgia and Russia fought a brief war in 2008, FDI dried up, hurting the economy.
But an influx of Chinese money poses new problems and new strains. China has opened a cultural office in Tbilisi and Southern China Airline now offers direct flights to Urumuqi in the west of the country.
Chinese companies, though, often prefer to fly in workers from China rather than hire local workers, straining relations with local communities.
Of course, Georgian policymakers will welcome the rise in Chinese investment. They must also manage it carefully.
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In talks ahead of a ceremony to mark the inauguration of a train line running from Kazakhstan to Iran via Turkmenistan, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev urged his Turkmen counterpart, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, to join the CIS Free Trade zone. Mr Berdymuakhamedov has been opening Turkmenistan to global trade.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bolivia’s parliament passed a law condemning denial of the alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago.
Although Bolivia hasn’t made genocide denial a crime, the statement will be seen as a diplomatic victory by Armenia. It has been locked in a long-running row with Turkey over the allegations of genocide. Turkey denies the allegations and says that Armenians died in confused fighting in eastern Turkey.
Media quoted the resolution passed by the Bolivian parliament as saying: “It declares its firm commitment to human rights, truth, justice, solidarity and condemnation against all denialist policy regarding the genocide and crimes against humanity suffered by the Armenian nation.”
The declaration may be clear but the motivation behind it is far less clear. Armenia and Bolivia haven’t particularly strong ties and it may simply be a piece of posturing by the Bolivian parliament. Still, Armenia is short of friends and happy to take any vote of support.
Turkish-Armenian relations also caught the attention of Pope Francis this week during his three-day trip to Turkey.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko appointed a former health minister under ex-Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, an arch foe of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, to his government.
Alexander Kvitashvili served as health minister under Mr Saakashvili from 2008 until 2010 and will now take over the same post in Mr Poroshenko’s government.
Although Mr Kvitashvili will not head a high-profile department it is nonetheless significant. Russia’s President Putin reviles Mr Saakashvili, Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008, and any link between the current Ukraine government and the former Georgian government will probably irk him.
“I’ve been working on reforms in Ukraine for the last three months, but my love for this country has a much longer history,” Mr Kvitashvili said.
He has now taken Ukrainian citizenship.
Ukraine’s government is currently fighting a civil war in the east of the country. It has accused Russia of supply weapons and soldiers to the rebels.
Mr Saakashvili, currently living in New York, also said that he had turned down a post in Mr Poroshenko’s government. He said Mr Poroshenko had offered him the post of deputy PM but that he had turned down the position because he didn’t want to renounce his Georgian citizenship.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – NATO re-affirmed it is looking to open a training centre in Georgia despite Russian threats. At a press conference, NATO director-general Jens Stoltenberg said: “No other third country can veto or try to stop partnership between NATO and a sovereign nation as Georgia.”
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev said the country would sign treaties on Dec. 23 with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan that effectively amount to an accession agreement to the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union at the start of 2015. Armenia has already signed an accession deal.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Afghanistan’s President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani travelled to Baku for talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on how the two countries can increase cooperation. Azerbaijan can, potentially, play a large role in shaping post-war Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
