Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kyrgyz president awards Kazakh leader

JULY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BISHKEK — Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev awarded Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev the Order of Manas (First Class), Kyrgyzstan’s highest honour, for helping to create the Eurasian Economic Union.

He flew to Astana to give Mr Nazarbayev the award on his 75th birthday, five days after the Kazakh leader ratified Kyrgyzstan’s accession into the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.

“We feel a strong fraternal support from the Republic of Kazakhstan,” Mr Atambayev said, according to media.

Toktogul Kakcheckeyev, an executive director at the Association of Political Scientists of Kyrgyzstan think tank in Bishkek, explained.

“The Manas award was given by Almazbek Atambayev to Nursultan Nazarbayev because of Nazarbayev’s efforts to develop regional cooperation in terms of Eurasian economic community,” he said. “Originally it was Nazarbayev’s idea to launch regional economic cooperation.”

In 1994, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in a speech in Moscow, Mr Nazarbayev spoke rather nostalgically of creating a Eurasian Union. This has now materialised, or, at least a version of that vision.

Still, some observers have said that Mr Atambayev’s award to Mr Nazarbayev was a brazen attempt to curry favour with the most powerful leader in Central Asia.

And Kyrgyzstan has form with this. The Kyrgyz parliament can be relied upon, almost every year, to nominate Mr Nazarbayev for a Nobel Peace Prize for giving up the nuclear weapons that Kazakhstan inherited after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mr Nazarbayev is only the twelfth recipient of a First Class Order of Manas in its 19 year history.

Other recipients include Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary- General.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

DHL makes Kazakh deal

JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Parcel delivery company DHL has signed a deal with Kazakhstan’s railway company Temir Zholy which it said would improve and increase freight transport between China and Europe. The deal highlights Kazakhstan’s growing prominence as a transport route between Europe and Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kazakh oil and gas company wants to sell Kashagan stake

JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazmunaigaz, Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company, said it would sell half its stake in the Caspian Sea Kashagan oil field to Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund.

This is a curious arrangement as Samruk-Kazyna actually owns Kazmunaigas. It may be a way for Kazmunaigas, which has been badly hit by the sharp drop in energy prices, to borrow cash cheaply.

According to a press release from the London Stock Exchange, Kazmunaigas is seeking the consent of the shareholders in the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) , the consortium which operates the Kashagan, to sell half of its 16.88% share to Samruk-Kazyna for approximately $4.7b.

“Samruk-Kazyna’s agreement to purchase the Kashagan Shares reflects the State’s strong support of KMG (Kazmunaigas), as a strategic national asset,” the statement said.

Part of the cash raised by the sale would be used to pay $2.2b Kazmunaigas owes in fees relating to its 2013 purchase of the Kashagan stake from US company ConocoPhillips.

Kazmunaigas said that the sale would come with an option to buy back the stake in Kashagan for the same price between 2016 and 2020.

NCOC declined to comment.

Kazmaunaigas had run up large debts, partly because of the oil price slump. Halyk Bank analyst Sabina Amangeldi said in a note last month that the company already has seven Eurobond issues outstanding worth a total of $8.8b.

She also noted that lower oil prices had knocked Kazmunaigas’ revenues by around a third and that profit had been wiped out.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kazakh economy to perform poor growth

JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Economists polled by Bloomberg News said Kazakhstan will be one of the top ten worst performing economies in 2015. Kazakhstan’s economy is expected to grow by 1.2% this year, down from an estimate of 3.6% in March.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kazakh oil and gas company to sell Romanian assets

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazmunaigas, the Kazakh state oil and gas company, is trying for a third time to sell off three companies it owns in Romania, media reported quoting the Kazakh finance ministry. Kazmunaigas wants to sell Rominserv Valves, a valve manufacturer, SA Palplast, a plastic pipe maker and Global Security Systems which provides security guards. All three are currently owned by Rompetrol, a Kazmunaigas subsidiary.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kazakh President picks up EXPO tips in Italy

JUNE 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Possibly keen to pick up a few handy tips ahead of his own international exhibition in Astana in two years time, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the pavilions of Milan’s EXPO 2015.

Mr Nazarbayev and Italian PM Matteo Renzi toured the exhibition and then sat down for an official meeting where bilateral trade and diplomacy were discussed.

Media later reported that the two men had said they agreed bilateral deals worth $500m, although details were scant. Even so, the deals and the meeting highlighted the close trade and diplomatic links between the two countries.

Italian oil and gas company Eni is one of the biggest investors in Kazakhstan.

Mr Nazarbayev considers EXPO- 2017 in Astana an essential showpiece. He wants to promote Kazakhstan and his role in building the nation at EXPO- 2017.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

NPLs drop in Kazakhstan

JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said the percentage of non-performing loans held by banks had fallen from a peak of 33% to 13% because of a combination of tax breaks and state financing. It’s unclear exactly how these measures helped to reduce non-performing loans.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kazakhstan purchases fighter jets

JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has bought four SU-30 fighter jets from Russia, media reported quoting a senior Kazakh airforce commander. Kazakhstan has said that it wants to bolster its armed forces.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Another EXPO-2017 arrest in Kazakhstan

JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Kazakhstan arrested Sulambek Barkinkhoyev, the managing-director of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s flagship EXPO-2017 event, on suspicion of corruption. The arrest came a few days after police also arrested Mr Barkinkhoyev’s boss on corruption allegations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakhstan to join WTO by end of the year

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – After 19 years of negotiations, Kazakhstan will join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) later this year after officially agreeing terms with the economic group.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev was quick to appear on TV to laud the success of the WTO entry .

“The WTO membership opens up new horizons for our econ- omy,” Mr Nazarbayev said on national TV.

Commodities make up most of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade, already carried at very low tariffs.

Tariffs are at the centre of the debate on Kazakhstan’s WTO membership.

It is also part of the Russia-led Customs Union, which morphed into the Eurasian Economic Union this year. This is, essentially, an old-school trade bloc which promotes free trade between members but puts up barriers to non-members. The other members of the Eurasian

Economic Union are Russia, Belarus and Armenia. Kyrgyzstan is on the brink of joining.

Even so, the WTO and Kaza- khstan appear to have found a way around this potential stumbling block, although the details are scant.

Kazakh industrials have also been reticent about joining the WTO.

“Our community is concerned that the accession into the WTO would seriously reduce the protection levels and cause the flooding of cheap goods into our markets, which would kill our production,” Rakhim Oshak- bayev, deputy chairman of the National Chamber of Entrepre- neurs, told Kazakh media.

The terms of the accession remain classified and analysts have questioned this secrecy. When it first applied to join the organisation in 1996, Kazakhstan was a poor country which had just emerged from the ashes of the Soviet Union. Now, the scenario is different.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)