Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Roxi wants merger in Kazakhstan

MARCH 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Roxi Petroleum said that it was trying to merge with Switzerland-based Baverstock to create a new company called Caspian Sunrise. Under the offered deal, Baverstock which already owns 10.45% of Roxi, would take control of an additional 41% stake in the new company. The new company’s main asset is the BNG contract area in Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

EIU ranks Kazakh city as the cheapest

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MARCH 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial centre, as the cheapest major city in the world to work in as an expat in its annual cost of living survey. It said that although inflation was rising, prices hadn’t yet caught up with a 50% devaluation in the tenge in 2015. The EIU said that a packet of 20 cigarettes cost $1.02 and a loaf of bread cost 90 cents. In Singapore, which the EIU said was the most expensive major city in the world, a packet of cigarettes costs $9.63 and a loaf of bread costs $3.55.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Uzbek president travels to Astana to meet Nazarbayev

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ALMATY, MARCH 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a high-spirited and carefully choreographed meeting in Astana, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev lauded what they said would be a fruitful and fulfilling partnership between the two neighbours.

The meeting was important as it marks another genuine shift in diplomatic relations for Uzbekistan. Under Mr Mirziyoyev, Uzbek diplomats have been working hard to shake off their difficult image and to repair damage inflicted during the cantankerous 25 year rule of Islam Karimov.

“Kazakhstan wishes our strategic partner, neighbour and brotherly people of Uzbekistan, prosperity and well-being,” the Kazakh presidential website quoted Mr Nazarbayev as saying. “In the future, we look forward to a fruitful relationship in the framework of bilateral contacts.”

The diplomatic and economic relationship between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the most populous and wealthy countries in the region, is vital for Central Asia. If they work in harmony, then the other three coun- tries of the region will also prosper. If they squabble, as has been the case, then economic development will be slow.

This was the two leaders first meeting since September 2016 when Mr Nazarbayev travelled to see Karimov’s grave in Samarkand. Mr Mirziyoyev had then been acting president. He was officially sworn in as Uzbekistan’s second post-Soviet president in December.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Fruit exports to Kazakhstan to increase

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MARCH 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan is looking to boost the value of its fruit exports to Kazakhstan by 30% to $410m this year, media reported quoting Uzbekzokovaktovholding, the state- linked holding company. The 2017 target is an indication of the improved relations between Uzbekistan and its neighbours since Pres. Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over from Islam Karimov in September.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

OnePlus to push out smartphone to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

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MARCH 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has signed a deal with FSU-wide distributor Marvel to push its 3T model into the Kazakh and Kyrgyz markets, media reported. OnePlus has only been building smartphones since 2013 but it has already attracted rave reviews. The deal, which should push the 3T onto the shop floors of mobile handset retailers, reflects the prominence of China in Central Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Third Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan breakup without progress

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ALMATY, MARCH 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The third of a series of meetings held in Astana to discuss the civil war in Syria broke up without much sustained progress, delegates reported, a blow to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ambitions to establish his capital as a go-to centre for conflict resolution.

The main sticking point for the talks was a boycott by the rebels, they had sent a delegation to the first two rounds. It may also be that the peace talks have broken down irreparably after news on Monday that rebel forces had attacked government held Aleppo.

The talks are organised and run by Turkey, Iran and Russia and have no major Western participation other than at observer level. There is no UN involvement in the Astana talks, although Kazakhstan has been keen to draw parallels.

Despite spending most of the time going over old ground and also lacking a rebel delgation, the Kazakh foreign ministry released a statement lauding the talks as a vital part of the peace-making process in Syria.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan reiterates that the Astana meetings are an integral part of the Geneva process under the UN aegis and regards the results of the third International meeting on Syria in Astana to be a meaningful contribution to the process of political settlement of the Syrian crisis on Geneva platform,” it said.

In a statement released by the Russian foreign ministry, the Kremlin blamed unnamed groups for trying to sabotage the talks, a thinly disguised dig at the rebel factions who dropped out.

Mr Nazarbayev and Russian Pres- ident Vladimir Putin discussed the talks on March 18.

No details of the discussion was given to the media.

The three power-brokers said that they had agreed to reconvene in Astana for Round Four of the peace talks on May 3/4, although this statement was made before news of the March 20 rebel attacks on Aleppo.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kazakh opposition trial starts in absentia

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MARCH 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Almaty began the trial in absentia of fugitive billionaire and self-styled Kazakh opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov, potentially setting Kazakhstan on a collision course with France which has refused to extradite him. The former head of BTA Bank is accused of embezzling billions of dollars. He fled to Britain after the collapse of BTA Bank in 2008/9 and then to France where he was arrested in 2013. Last year, a judge in Paris ruled against his extradition because of concerns that he would be tortured.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Inflation at correct level, says Kazakh Central Bank chief

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MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh Central Bank chief Daniyer Akishev said that he wanted to target inflation of 6-8% by the end of the year. It currently measures 7.8% which is down from a recent high of 17.7% in July 2016. Kazakhstan’s economy has stabilised after falling heavily in the previous couple of years, a drop linked to the fall in oil prices and tenge weakness.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)f

Kazakh Central Bank says to buy KKB bad debt

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ALMATY, MARCH 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Central Bank confirmed that it would buy up 2.4 trillion tenge ($7.5b) of bad debt owned by Kazkommertsbank, effectively subsidising its purchase by Halyk Bank.

Halyk Bank, owned by the daughter and son-in-law of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, agreed to buy Kazkommertsbank earlier this year for an undisclosed amount in a deal that will give it a 38% market share and Kazakhstan’s elite control of the banking sector.

The 2.4 trillion tenge bad debt held by Kazkommertsbank is a legacy of its purchase of BTA Bank from the government. The government had

bought it in 2008/9 when it was about to collapse during the Global Financial Crisis.

Separately, deputy Central Bank chairman Oleg Smolyakov said it would take two to three months for Halyk Bank to carry out its due diligence of Kazkommertsbank before the takeover could be completed.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Bank plans to expand

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MARCH 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Bank plans to expand into Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan in a bid to become a truly regional operator, its CEO Pavel Loginov said in an interview with Forbes Kazakhstan. Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, is considered the financial capital of Central Asia but the only two banks in the region listed on the London Stock Exchange are both Georgian — Bank of Georgia and TBC.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)