JUNE 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A 90m-high chimney at Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal’s steel factory in the town of Temirtau, central Kazakhstan, was damaged in an accident, media reported. The Temirtau factory is the largest steel making plant in Kazakhstan. There were no casualties in the accident although production will be slowed to repair the damage.
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)
JUNE 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Romanian PM Victor Ponta visited his Kazakh counterpart Serik Akhmetov in Astana to discuss the countries’ growing economic cooperation. Kazakh state energy company Kazmunaigas owns Rompetrol which controls an oil terminal on the Black Sea. Romania wants Kazakhstan to increase its use of the oil terminal.
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)
JUNE 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Soviet-era AN-2 plane crashed in southern Kazakhstan as it was irrigating a paddy field, media reported. One of the pilots of the AN-2, a single engine biplane, died in the crash and another was badly injured. Kazakhstan has modernised its fleet of planes although many still date back to the Soviet Union.
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)
JUNE 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhs drink 5.9 litres of vodka per person each year, the fifth highest in the world, the Economist magazine reported. Russians drink the most vodka with annual consumption of 13.9 litres per person. The high volume of vodka drunk in Kazakhstan reflects increased personal wealth and drinking habits.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — British PM David Cameron will fly to Kazakhstan on June 30 for a two-day visit, Kazakh media reported. Mr Cameron will be the first serving British PM to visit Kazakhstan and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will likely consider the trip a PR coup. Former British PM Tony Blair is an adviser to Mr Nazarbayev.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an open letter on its website, a Kazakh law firm acting for the local subsidiary of Japanese car manufacturer Toyota said that it wanted makers of counterfeit goods carrying its brand to be prosecuted.
The open letter is important as it acts as a warning. The car market in Kazakhstan is booming, fresh figures showed that new car sales continued to increase last year, and Western brands are looking to establish themselves.
The market is growing, the technical know-how to build the cars is in place but protection for Western brand’s intellectual property rights can often be lacking.
Toyota, which also produces cars under the Lexus brand, has previously flagged up counterfeit goods in Kazakhstan as a problem. The latest letter highlights that point.
For Toyota, defending its brand is especially important as it was only in February that it signed a deal to start producing cars at a plant in Kostanay, north Kazakhstan.
The issue of brand protection is also increasing important for Kazakhstan on a wider level.
As more and more Western companies with well-established brands enter the country and as WTO membership nears, Kazakhstan’s officials, legislators and prosecutors have to ensure that robust brand protection is in place.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Plans have emerged to build an 88-storey complex in Astana, the Kazakh capital. Media reported that the Abu Dhabi Plaza will cost $1.1b to build and will be the tallest building in Central Asia. The plans show that there is still appetite for ambitious building projects in Astana.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish security forces extradited to Kazakhstan a Kazakh national wanted in connection with a series of explosions in the town of Atyrau on the Caspian Sea coast in 2011, media reported. Kazakhstan is trying to stem attacks liked to militant Islam. This extradition will be viewed as a success.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The three Kazakh billionaire founders of London-listed ENRC — Alexander Machkevitch, Alijan Ibragimov and Patokh Chodiev — have prepared a new deal to privatise the metals and mining company, media reported. The deal is reported to be worth $4.7b and include a chunk of shares in Kazakh miner Kazakhmys.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government’s plan to unite pension savings in one fund is looking vulnerable.
Unveiled in January, the plan had been greeted with a decidedly mixed reaction. The idea was to draw efficiencies from a single scheme and to create a fund worth roughly $20b to dip into during an economic recession.
Detractors of the plan, that would see 10 private pension schemes and one state-run pension scheme unified under the Central Bank, said it would be uncompetitive.
Kazakhstan had been the first post-Soviet country to encourage private pension schemes and many bankers considered ditching them tantamount to being a turn-coat.
Now Halyk Bank, which has the largest private pension scheme in Kazakhstan, has said it would rather sell off its pension scheme for cash by the end of 2013 than swap it for shares in nationalised bank BTA.
In March, Kazakhstan deputy PM, Kairat Kelimbetov said that the three biggest pension schemes would be offered shares in state-run bank BTA in exchange. BTA went bankrupt in 2009 during the global financial crisis.
BTA bank is still distressed and had to re-structure its $11b debt for the second time last year.
Halyk Bank’s opinion counts as it is the biggest bank in Kazakhstan by volume of cash lent.
The move to switch Kazakhstan’s pension scheme was always going meet resistance. This is likely to be an unsettling period for the Kazakh banking sector.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
