MARCH 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Beijing, Kazakh PM Karim Massimov signed deals with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, worth $23.6b. The deals covered a range of industries from steel and glass production to oil refining and hydropower. China and Kazakhstan have increased cooperation in the past few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
MARCH 25 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurlan Kapparov, a key member of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s inner cortege and head of the Kazakh nuclear agency Kazatomprom, died of a suspected heart attack while on a business trip to Beijing. He was 44-years-old.
Slick and Western-educated, Kapparov was part of the post-Soviet wave of loyal bureaucrats who helped Nazarbayev retain his grip on power. Having headed state energy company KazakhOil, been Kazakhstan’s environment minister and, most recently, head of the state nuclear agency KazAtomProm, sources said that Kapparov had the potential to be a senior government minister.
While he never openly showed such lofty ambition, his presence in and around the government was keenly felt. He acted in the shadows, influencing Kazakhstan’s transition to a more nationalist energy policy. In 2000, as a young vice-minister of energy he was able to negotiate an increase in Kazakhstan’s share of the Tengiz oil field, to the detriment of the US’s Chevron.
Kapparov was also a powerful businessman. The Lancaster Group — which can be traced back to him — is the conduit through which several joint ventures with oil and mining multinationals accessed the Kazakh market. With strong ties to ENI and Saipem, Kapparov had been president of the Kazakhstan-Italy Business Council.
Kapparov had been in China together with Kazakh PM Karim Massimov to strike a handful of multi-billion dollars deals. Ahead of the main deal-making day, he was discovered on the floor of a lavatory in a Beijing restaurant. He had died of a suspected heart attack.
Hundreds gathered in Almaty to mourn his death at the Academy of Sciences although, importantly, veterans and state officials were bussed in to increase attendance. The divide between the government and ordinary people in Kazakhstan is such that enough the sudden death of senior officials is greeted with indifference.
Ambition and acumen brought Kapparov to power and his loss will be felt by the government.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
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APRIL 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazkommertzbank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest banks, named American Marc Holtzman as its new chairman, replacing Nurzhan Subkhanberdin. Mr Subkhanberdin remains a major shareholder in Kazkommertzbank. He lives mainly in London and has backed opponents of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
MARCH 26 2015, Almaty (The Conway Bulletin) – Cyan coloured labels proudly proclaiming “Made in Kazakhstan” have appeared in supermarkets across Kazakhstan, part of a government drive to promote local products.
Data collected by a Bulletin correspondent, though, suggested some labels may be misleading, perhaps even farcical.
At three supermarkets in central Almaty, basic agriculture goods — milk, cheese, yogurt — carrying the label did appear to be genuinely made in Kazakhstan but Italian chocolates and Belgian and French beer, all imported from Europe, also carried the label.
The Kazakh news magazine Vlast also looked into the veracity of the “Made in Kazakhstan” labels.
In its investigation, Vlast said that some ice cream and sweets sold as Kazakh had actually been made in Russia, part of the flood of Russian goods imported into Kazakhstan since the devaluation of the Russian rouble.
When Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the “Made in Kazakhstan” drive earlier this year he wanted the label to stimulate the local economy. It currently needs more oversight or risks becoming meaningless.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Geo-Jade Petroleum, a Chinese energy company, said it will buy KoZhan, a Kazakh energy company, for around $350m, media reported. KoZhan is owned by the so-called Eurasian Trio of Kazakh oligarchs.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
APRIL 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Apparently not content with bidding to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, Kazakh officials have said they are considering a bid to host the 2026 Football World Cup. The Football World Cup is perhaps the world’s biggest sports tournament.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
APRIL 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has banned sales of some pork products from Russia for health reasons, media reported, although some analysts said the real reason for the ban was worsening trade relations. Kazakh producers have complained of a flood of Russian goods. The devaluation of the Russian rouble has made Russian goods very cheap in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
BERLIN, MARCH 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – To celebrate Nauryz, a traditional festival to mark the start of spring, the Kazakh embassy in Berlin paid for a free concert at the city’s Philharmonic Theatre.
The performance was to be a celebration of Kazakh culture with two youth orchestras and several dancers flown in from Astana.
Culture, as well as politics and trade, have become an important part of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, promoting its brand and pushing its image. Kazakhstan is bidding to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2022, it is hosting the international EXPO in 2017 and wants to win one of the rotating seats at the UN Security Council.
Free, or heavily subsidised performances in European capitals are one way of pushing its messages.
The Kazakh ambassador to Germany, Bolat Nussupov, opened the concert in Berlin, speaking briefly about Kazakhstan’s concept on interethnic harmony. Kazakhstan heralds this concept regularly and the symbolism was maintained during the concert with dances routines from various Kazakh ethnicities in traditional costumes.
The evening, and the Kazakh PR push, continued outside the hall with free traditional food, from plov to baursaki.
“It’s nice to have such events when we’re so far from home. I felt surrounded by my own people, my own heritage for a night,” said Aya, who moved to Berlin 16 years ago from Kazakhstan.
And as well as delighting Kazakh emigres in Germany, the performance seemed to have made an impact on Kazakhstan’s target audience — ordinary Germans.
“It’s good to learn about Kazakh folklore, the performance was remarkable, if slightly cheesy,” Daniel, a German designer said as he swallowed a mouthful of baursak, a popular Kazakh fried bread snack.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
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MARCH 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Three Kazakhs and a Ukrainian opera singer born in Kazakhstan died in the Germanwings plane crash, the Kazakh foreign ministry said. The plane, carrying 150 people, crashed in the French Alps (March 24). It was flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Have we just witnessed Central Asia’s first inter-presidential bromance?
At the inauguration of a new school, Kyrgyzstan’s president Almazbek Atambayev shared some flattering, perhaps even flirtatious, remarks towards his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev.
“I’ve often thought that if instead of Akayev and Bakiyev we had had Nursultan Nazarbayev as our president, everything would have been different,” he said at the opening of a school funded by Kazakhstan.
Mr Atambayev was referencing Akayev and Bakiyev, two former presidents of Kyrgyzstan who were both overthrown in two different revolutions and who are labelled as corrupt and untrustworthy, a sharp contrast to the apparently benign and generous Mr Nazarbayev.
Mr Atambayev showered Mr Nazarbayev with more praise.
“Every time I meet with Nursultan Nazarbayev I am convinced that he is not only the elder of the people of Kazakhstan, but also the Kyrgyz,” he said.
Small and relatively impoverished compared to its northern neighbour, Kyrgyzstan needs to keep Kazakhstan sweet.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
