MAY 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh environmentalist said 12-15 dead seals have washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea over the last week, media reported. In the past 10 years environmentalists have blamed offshore energy developments and overfishing for hundreds of seal deaths. The Kazakh government, though, has blamed viruses.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
MAY 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Five fairly strong earthquakes shook Almaty, the financial capital of Kazakhstan, in close succession. The US Geological Survey said the strongest earthquake measured 5.4 on the Richter scale. It was recorded around 76km north east of Almaty. No damage or deaths were reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 38, published on May 2 2011)
APRIL 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members — China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan — pledged greater cooperation at a meeting in Shanghai. Russian news agency RIA Novosti described the meeting as the first summit for the SCO military chiefs. Some analysts have said the SCO could act as a counterbalance to NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
APRIL 20 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian security forces in Dagestan said they killed an Islamic militant from Kazakhstan, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. Over the last two years, security forces have said that seven Kazakhs have died fighting with Islamic radicals in the North Caucasus fuelling fears of a rise in Islamic radicalism in western Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
APRIL 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In contrast to the cool reception he received when he visited the European Union in Brussels in January, China laid on smiles and a guard of honour for Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s state visit on April 19/20.
Mr Karimov was in Beijing to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and to sign deals worth billions of dollars including an agreement to double the amount of gas Uzbekistan sells to China. The Uzbek state news website uza.uz said the deals were worth $5b and that Chinese banks had also agreed to lend $1.5b to 4 Uzbek banks for joint-ventures.
The numbers underscore just how much power and impact China can buy in Central Asia. Mr Hu hosted a similar visit to Beijing by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in February.
Over the last few years China has steadily bought up assets across the region, subverting the influence of both Russia and the West.
For the Central Asia states, China allure is not just its wealth, its proximity and its hunger for oil and gas. For now, at least, China is also less troublesome to deal with.
Former colonial power Russia has quarrelled with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan over the price of gas and the West has previously condemned human rights abuses, such as the shooting in 2005 of around 500 people at a protest in eastern Uzbekistan. China, instead, talks of jointly defeating terrorism, is welcoming and lays on the charm.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
APRIL 15/16 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Indian PM Manmohan Singh visited Kazakhstan and signed a number of deals. The deals included Indian state energy company ONGC Videsh buying a 25% stake in the Satpayev exploration block, one of the biggest in the Caspian Sea, and for Kazakhstan to supply India with 2,100 tonnes of uranium by 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 36, published on April 18 2011)
APRIL 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps Kazakhstan’s most important company, state oil and gas monopoly Kazmunaigas said net profits doubled in 2010 to about $2.7b, Reuters reported. Kazmunaigas did not give a reason for the profit rise.
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(News report from Issue No. 36, published on April 18 2011)
APRIL 12 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s government named President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s son-in-law Timur Kulibayev as head of the country’s $80b sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. Mr Kulibayev had previously been deputy head. The move secures Mr Nazarbayev’s hold over the most important elements of the economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 36, published on April 18 2011)
APRIL 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan aims to join a customs union with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus on Jan. 1 2012, Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kyrgyz PM, Almazbek Atambayev as saying. The Kremlin has forged closer relations with the Kyrgyzstan since a revolution last April. Moving into the customs union will pull Kyrgyzstan towards Russia’s influence.
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(News report from Issue No. 35, published on April 11 2011)
APRIL 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov moved the head of the state’s investment fund Samruk-Kazyna, Kairat Kelimbetov to be minister for economic development. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, Timur Kulibayev is currently deputy head of the Samruk-Kazyna, which controls vast swathes of the country’s economy. He could be promoted.
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(News report from Issue No. 35, published on April 11 2011)
