Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Luxurious holidays for Kyrgyzstan’s police

CHOLPON ATA/Kyrgyzstan, JULY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A sunny day had turned bad. Rain was sweeping down the valley warning of an impending storm. Just ahead of the storm, a sleek black 4×4 cruised out of the hills bordering Lake Issyk-Kul, the mountain-ringed glacial lake in eastern Kyrgyzstan.

“Do you need a ride?” asked the young Kyrgyz woman in the passenger seat.

Her driver pulled off towards Issyk-Kul, the large clear-blue lake which serves as a summer playground for Kyrgyzstan’s middle class and ruling elite.

The well-dressed lady in the passenger seat picked up the conversation.

“My driver took me to drink the first milk from a horse that’s just had a baby. It’s very good for the skin,” she said.” “I’m staying at Caprice. My husband’s in Bishkek. He’s in the financial police. He is, how do you say, a workaholic?”

Anti-corruption lobby groups accuse Kyrgyzstan’s police of being riddled with bribe-taking officials. Caprice, the hotel where this Kyrgyz lady was staying, lies near the town of Cholpon Ata on the northern shore of Lake Issyk Kul and is Kyrgyzstan’s most luxurious lakeside resort.

The hotel, the 4×4 and the pampered lifestyle spoke of wealth far beyond the reach of the average Kyrgyz civil servant. In a land of shady deals and rampant tax avoidance, a position in the country’s financial watchdog can be lucrative indeed.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)

Gunfight at Kyrgyz-Uzbek border

JULY 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — At least one Uzbek soldier died in a gunfight with Kyrgyz soldiers on their shared border. Shootings are relatively common along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border but the incident again highlights tension. Analysts have said the issue could destabilise the region.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)

International donors pledge $1.7b to Kyrgyzstan

JULY 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s economy yo-yos. Last year, it shrank by nearly 1%; this year estimates predict that it will grow by 7%.

The yo-yo effect depends on political stability, Kyrgyzstan has suffered two violent revolutions since 2005, as well as the health of its biggest industrial project, the Kumtor gold mine. Last year Kumtor, owned by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold, had a poor year and dragged down the entire national economy (it accounts for about 12% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP).

And mitigating this yo-yo effect is one of the main reasons that international donors have pledged $1.7b in grants and loans to Kyrgyzstan over the next five years.

Earlier this year, the Kyrgyz government, led by President Almazbek Atambayev unveiled an ambitious $13b growth plan. Much of this, the government said at the time, relied on the financial might of Western donors and investors underpinning this ambition.

At a conference in Bishkek on July 10, the World Bank, the IMF and others matched this ambition, giving Kyrgyzstan the chance to stabilise and grow its economy. This should improve the investment environment for foreign companies looking for a foothold in Central Asia too.

The alternative for Kyrgyzstan is more economic, and political, instability

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)

Kyrgyzstan to sell its Torpedo factory

JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan wants to sell its Soviet-era torpedo factory on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, media reported. Russia has previously offered to buy the factory and is still the most likely purchaser. Media quoted a Kyrgyz government official saying the factory was worth $30m and the surrounding land another $180m.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)

More protests in Kyrgyzstan over gold mine

JUNE 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly 500 people protested near the Kumtor gold mine in east Kyrgyzstan, media reported, the latest in a series of protests against the Canadian owners of the mine. The protesters want the mine nationalised. Toronto-listed Centerra Gold owns Kumtor, the biggest industrial project in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz government owns a third of Centerra Gold.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)

Kyrgyzstan produces historical movie

JUNE 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Following its neighbour Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan will produce a historical film promoting its national values, media reported. The film called “Queen of the mountains” will cost $1.5m and will tell the story of a Kyrgyz noblewoman who saves her nation from Russian imperial forces in the 1870s.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)

Russia sends military aid to Kyrgyzstan

JUNE 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will start sending military aid and kit to Kyrgyzstan from 2014, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported quoting Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister. Accepting Russian military aid highlights a shift in Kyrgyzstan’s allegiance from the US. The US is closing its air base outside Bishkek next year.

(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)

US airbase in Kyrgyzstan to be shut

JUNE 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted to close a US airbase outside Bishkek by July 2014. Kyrgyzstan has threatened to close the airbase for years but the decision will still irritate the US ahead of a planned military withdrawal from Afghanistan through Central Asia in 2014.

(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)

HRW warns of deportations to Kyrgyzstan

JUNE 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Human Rights Watch (HRW) said three Uzbek men Kyrgyzstan wanted extradited from Russia may be tortured if they are handed over to the Kyrgyz authorities. The Kyrgyz authorities want to question the men over their roles in ethnic fighting in the south of the country in June 2010.

(News report from Issue No. 139, published on June 17 2013)

Kumtor production resumes in Kyrgyzstan

JUNE 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Production resumed at the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan after the authorities lifted a state of emergency. Protesters demanding more benefits from the mine had blockaded the site and clashed with police. The Kyrgyz government and Toronto-listed Centerra Gold, which owns the mine, put a Sept. 10 deadline on talks for a new Kumtor ownership deal.

(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)