NOV. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistan wants to export Tajik electricity on to other consumer countries, Pakistani media quoted a senior government official as saying. The announcement is, potentially, good news for Tajikistan which is looking for markets for its hydropower. Tajikistan and Pakistan are working on a grid system called CASA-1000.
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(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States transferred three Yemen prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Georgia, the second transfer since 2010, media reported. The prisoner renditions are controversial and have been banned in many countries. Georgia is one of the United States’ most staunch allies and hopes to join NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 12-13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iranian president Hasan Rouhani visited Baku on his first official trip to Azerbaijan since becoming Iran’s leader in 2013. The trip was friendly, a turnaround in Iran-Azerbaijan relations. Under former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the two neighbours had seemingly edged close to war.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A suicide bomber injured three Georgian soldiers guarding the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, media quoted Georgia’s ministry of defence as saying. Georgia has been an enthusiastic supporter of the US-led war in Afghanistan. It sees support as building momentum towards NATO membership.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Prince Andrew, fifth-in-line to the English throne, flew out to Baku for talks with President Ilham Aliyev, the Daily Mail newspaper reported. It’s unclear why Prince Andrew made the trip although he was Britain’s special trade representative.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran is to build a hydro-electric plant in Armenia, one of the strongest signals yet that the two neighbours are developing ever closer relations.
The Iranian state-run news agency, Fars News quoted Iran’s energy minister Hamid Chitchian as saying that a memorandum of understanding had been signed between the two sides and that construction of the hydro-electric plant will start shortly.
The two neighbours have been working on the deal for some time.
In many ways, both Armenia and Iran have been forced to work with each other because of their various geo- political scenarios.
Armenia borders Azerbaijan and Turkey, both enemies, and is short of friends in the region. Iran is looking for allies to bolster its position during the current US- imposed sanctions.
Over the past few years Armenia and Iran have widened their cooperation, particularly with energy swaps.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan and Russia are close to agreeing an air defence deal, Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported quoting officials after a meeting between the two countries’ defence ministries. Russia already has a similar agreement with Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek border guards shot and injured a Kyrgyz man along the Uzbekistan- Kyrgyzstan border, media reported. The Uzbekistan- Kyrgyzstan border is one of the most fragile border zones in the region. Analysts have said that any spark could destabilise Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan signed a deal with Turkey to provide gas for a new pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
The deal means that Europe will take delivery of Turkmen gas directly, part of a major proposed new gas route that will avoid using Russian infrastructure.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan singed the deal with his Turkmen counterpart Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov during a visit to Ashgabat.
“We attach great significance to deliveries of Turkmenistan’s natural gas to Europe via Turkey,” media quoted him as saying.
“Europe’s energy security is important for us.”
Over the past few years, Turkmenistan has boosted its exports of gas dramatically. China is its main client but it has also sorted out alternatives. Joining the so-called TANAP pipeline is a major boon for Mr Berdymukhamedov as well as for Europe.
The TANAP programme will pump gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz 2, which is under construction, to Central Europe by 2019 although it was always envisaged that other countries would also use the pipeline.
Turkmenistan has previously expressed some interest in sending its gas to Europe but had not unveiled any specific plans. Now that a deal with Turkey has been struck, it seems that Turkmenistan is committed to sending its gas to Europe.
Importantly, though, neither Mr Erdogan nor Mr Berdymukhamedov revealed any of the details of the deal.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will donate $100m to Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev said during a trip to Astana to sign a new electricity supply deal. Mr Atambayev described the aid to Kyrgyzstan as can act of fraternal support from Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
