JULY 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – An estimated 145 Kazakh and Chinese miners brawled in a canteen at a mine in eastern Kazakhstan on July 8, media reported. The brawl, which reportedly hospitalised 31 men, highlights the underlying ethnic tension at many Kazakhstan-China joint ventures.
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(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Governments across Central Asia and the South Caucasus welcomed a deal between the West and Iran over its nuclear programme that will allow sanctions on Tehran to be lifted, boosting their southern neighbour as an important trade partner once again.
Sanctions have weighed down Iran’s economy since 2002, stunting demand and undercutting its value to the region.
Central Asian and South Caucasus countries have legally been able to trade with Iran during the Western-imposed sanctions, but Iran’s economy had faltered. They now hope that, unshackled, Iran can generate wealth and demand throughout the region once again.
“It will have a positive impact on the economic and social development of all countries in the region, and will further strengthen the cooperation between Kazakhstan and Iran,” Kazakh foreign minister Erlan Idrissov said of the deal with Iran.
From Dushanbe to Yerevan, these sentiments were echoed across the region.
Georgia’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “(This) deal brings about normalisation of relations between Iran and Western countries, which will create new economic opportunities for countries both in the region and in the entire world.”
Iran has, over the past few years, been increasing links with both Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
In Azerbaijan it patched up a row over spying, in Georgia new regulations have allowed Iranians to set up businesses and Armenia has been busy making plans to increase trade with one of its few regional allies.
Its a similar story in Central Asia where ties with Iran are being improved and strengthened through new train links and product swaps.
And Iran’s economic impact on the region is significant. The ArcelorMittal steel factory at Temirtau in central Kazakhstan, for example, has long complained that sanctions on Iran severely dented demand for its steel.
With sanctions soon to be lifted and Iranian domestic and industrial demand primed to rise, Central Asia and the South Caucasus should benefit.
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(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s foreign currency reserves declined by 4.4% in the first half of 2015, data from the Central Bank showed. Kazakhstan, like other countries across the region, has been defending the value of its currency by spending its reserves.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – More people in Kazakhstan have pre-ordered the new $294,000 Bentley car from Rolls Royce than in Russia, Bloomberg News quoted Peter Schwarzenbauer, a BMW director, as saying. BMW owns Rolls Royce. This is anecdotal evidence that the Kazakh luxury market is still strong.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Max Petroleum, a London-listed oil company operating in Kazakhstan said that it was operating under severe financial stress because of a back-tax bill imposed by the Kazakh government. Earlier this year, Max Petroleum said the drop in oil prices was pressuring its finances.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6/7/8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Indian PM Narendra Modi started an eight day tour of Central Asia and Russia with stops in Tashkent and Astana, an expedition he hopes will generate energy deals and shore up business links.
This is the first grand tour of Central Asia by an Indian leader, underlining just how seriously the country is now taking the region. But India is also playing catch up with China which has already established deep business and government level links in Central Asia.
The need to deepen relations was acknowledged by Mr Modi in a statement to media he released after meeting Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
“I spoke about my vision for India’s relations with Central Asia,” he said.
“Kazakhstan is our biggest economic partner in the region. But, our relations are modest, compared to our potential. We will work together to take economic ties to a new level.”
Despite the rhetoric and good will that Mr Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov before him greeted Mr Modi with, no major deals were announced.
In Tashkent, the two sides said they discussed speeding up a deal to deliver uranium from Uzbekistan to India. In Astana, the Indian and Kazakh delegations also agreed a uranium supply deal and a mechanism to broaden military cooperation.
Mr Modi headed to the Russian city of Ufa on July 9 for a two day break from Central Asia to attend a meeting of the so- called BRICS, and a group that also includes Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa, and a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). India is an observer member of the SCO, an economic/security group headed by Russia and China and focused on Central Asia.
He returns to Central Asia on July 11 with a meeting in Ashgabat with Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov before travelling to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Mr Modi’s meeting with Mr Berdymukhamedov is arguably the most important.
India is the end destination for gas in an ambitious plan to build a pipeline from Turkmeni- stan across Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Funding for Kazakhstan’s healthcare service needs to be doubled or tripled, media quoted Almas Kurmanov, head of the budget at the ministry of health, as saying. Mr Kurmanov said Kazakhstan spends $254/person on health compared to an OECD average of $2,400.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kenes Rakishev bought an additional 2.61% stake in Kazkommertsbank from its founder and former chairman Nurzhan Subkhanberdin, further strengthening the Kazakh elite’s grip on one of the country’s largest banks.
The share purchase gives the 35-year-old Mr Rakishev, who is regarded as a trustee for more powerful members of the Kazakh elite and is best known for helping to buy a house in England from Prince Andrew in 2008, a 25.84% stake in the bank.
Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s national welfare fund, owns 10.7% of the bank and an investment company called Alnair, which is also close to the Kazakh elite, owns a 28% stake in it.
The London-based Mr Subkhanberdin still controls around 32% of the bank but he has been gradually pushed out of Kazkommertsbank this year. His stake in the bank has dwindled and in March he was ousted as chairman.
Mr Subkhanberdin’s mistake had been to flirt with supporting Kazakhstan’s opposition.
In 2009 he wrote an open letter to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev questioning the imprisonment of the former head of the Kazakh uranium company Kazatomprom, Moukhtar Dzhakishev on various corruption charges.
Earlier this year, the Kazakh government, through Mr Rakishev, forced Kazkommertsbank to buy the debt-ridden BTA Bank.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev celebrated his 75th birthday in a more subdued fashion than previous occasions, perhaps reflecting Kazakhstan’s recent economic struggles. Mr Nazarbayev has been Kazakh president since independence in 1991 but has not named a successor.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s new, low-cost domestic airline Qazaq Air will begin commercial flights on July 20, it said at its official launch in Astana.
Qazaq Air is a fully-owned subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, which will concentrate on flying less well served routes between regional cities across Kazakhstan.
At the launch party, the company director Blair Pollock said: “Many of the 12 routes on which the Q400 aircraft will operate are not currently served by any other carrier.”
The Kazakh government has made improving travel links between cities in this vast country a priority and the airline should improve business ties and trade between regional centres.
Qazaq Air said it had leased three Canadian Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 which can carry between 68 and 85 passengers, depending on the seating configuration
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
