Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Eurasian Economic Union begins in Kazakhstan

MAY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a ceremony in Astana, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed into existence the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU).

The EaEU is the successor of the Customs Union and is designed to further integrate its members’ economies. The rhetoric has been of high praise for the EaEU but the reaction on the street has been markedly different, as a correspondent for The Bulletin discovered in Almaty.

Berik, a 35-year-old office worker wasn’t even sure of the treaty. “Who are the parties involved?” he said. “Belarus and Russia. I’m not sure, with them it could go either way. It could either be a success or a failure.”

An ethnic Russian lady hurrying along the street also said she doubted the value of the group. “It would have been better if they had not signed the treaty,” she said.

Other people agreed. Most had either not heard of the EaEU or said they doubted it would be positive.

One of the few people to support the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union was Saken a 50-year-old man who worked in real estate. He said that Soviet era ties remained and that the union would be stronger than if countries pursued their own agendas.

“In the Eurasian Union we will welcome troubled countries like Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, who are not really as stable as we are, but we will definitely help them, with the same friendship we used to relate to each other during the Soviet era,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)

Eurasian Bank to grant Kyrgyzstan $20m

MAY 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Eurasian Development Bank, set up to fund projects in Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states, agreed to lend Kyrgyzstan $20m to develop its agriculture, media reported. The EEU will replace the Customs Union which comprises of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. Kyrgyzstan aims to join later this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Kyrgyz president intends to serve 1 term

MAY 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atamabayev said that he would respect the constitution which limits him to one 6-year term in office, media reported. Mr Atambayev was voted into power in 2011. His election was the first peaceful transition of power in Kyrgyzstan since the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Ex-Kyrgyz President begged for help

MAY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with Russian TV, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko described how former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev phoned him from a forest in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010 after fleeing protesters and begged him for help. Mr Lukashenko gave Mr Bakiyev residence in Belarus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Russia bolsters forces in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

MAY 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia views Central Asia as an imminent conflict zone and has bolstered operations at its military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said at the third Moscow Conference on International Security.

The Kant air base outside Bishkek, he said, in particular had seen a significant increase in manpower and airpower in the past couple of years.

This coincides with the US drawdown from its own airbase outside Bishkek as operations to Afghanistan have slowed.

But neither Moscow’s airbase at Kant nor its military installation outside Dushanbe, Tajikistan, both operating under the auspices of the Russia-led regional security group the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), have played any major role in ensuring Central Asian stability. During revolution and ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, as well as clashes between pro and anti-government forces in Tajikistan’s east in 2012, the Russians were nowhere to be seen.

Mr Shoigu’s comments could be interpreted as a sign that Moscow is readying to become a regional security guarantor now that Washington is exiting the region.

That said, the comments may also just be another round of posturing by Russia in its so-called near abroad.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Kyrgyz grey economy is complex to manage

MAY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The shadow economy in Kyrgyzstan is worth around 40% of the country’s economy, media quoted PM Djoomart Otorbayev as saying. He said agriculture was particularly affected and that he wanted to change this to bolster tax receipts. The figure highlights the complexity of managing the Kyrgyz economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Kyrgyzstan closes Agri company

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin)- In a rare admission of rampant corruption, Kyrgyzstan’s government announced it would dissolve Agroprod, the commercial arm of the ministry of agriculture. Agroprod was considered riven through with corruption and inefficiencies. It’s unclear what the Kyrgyz government plans to replace Agroprod with.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Kyrgyzstan to release crime boss

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kamchibek Kolbayev, Kyrgyzstan’s most prominent crime lord, is set to be released from jail in June having served 1-1/2 years of a 5-year sentence, media reported.

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a non-profit organisation, refers to Kolbayev as “a serious drug pipeline entrepreneur” and a key middleman in the heroin trade moving out of Afghanistan.

Kyrgyz officials have long been accused of enmeshment in this trade and civil activists are saying that his let-off stinks of a deal.

Put on an international drug barons list by Washington in 2011, Kolbayev was extradited to Kyrgyzstan from Dubai in December 2012 and charged with various crimes including kidnap and criminal conspiracy. During his trial, Kolbayev was noted for his debonair appearance and composure.

Kolbayev’s release signals continuing rule-of-law of issues in Kyrgyzstan. In April 2013 a political scandal blew up over the release on medical grounds and subsequent departure to Grozny of Kolbayev’s main rival, ethnic Chechen mobster Aziz Batukayev.

Batukayev, it turned out, was not ill at all.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Kyrgyzstan to join CU

May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin)- Kyrgyzstan will definitely aim to join the Russia-led Customs Union, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev told journalists in Shanghai where he had been meeting China’s leaders. Mr Atambayev’s statement adds extra impetus to Kyrgyzstan’s drive to join the group which also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

China increases mining activities in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon held talks in Dushanbe with Wan Zhenhua of Zijin Mining’s Zarafshon copper-gold- silver mining company in Khujand, Tajikistan (May 19).

Reports made the meeting sound rather Soviet. They listed the various social achievements which included finding work for 2,000 people since 2007 and noting that Chinese investment has reached $235m. The mine now produces half Tajikistan’s total gold production.

But the real story is elsewhere.

Typically, gold mining projects can take up to seven years to become profitable, while red tape surrounding license issuance and political unrest in Central Asia can considerably extend timeframes.

State-owned Zijin, China’s largest gold producer, also owns a gold mine in Kyrgyzstan’s Chui province. In Kyrgyzstan, Zijin had to evacuate roughly 250 employees from their operation in Orlovka village, Chui, in 2012 when one of their excavators reportedly killed a local’s horse, triggering an attack on the company’s offices.

Given the reluctance of other foreign investors to mine in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, some believe China’s interest in mining projects is about strategic control of mineral wealth in the two countries, rather than money.

“Chinese companies take on projects that in my mind are not profitable,” Valentin Bogdetski, head of the Kyrgyz Miners Association told the Conway Bulletin.

“Last year, a Chinese firm won a license for an iron ore concession in Zhetim-Too [Naryn province]. But this ore has little market value, so why do they want the license?”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)