Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

SCO chief: India & Pakistan will join within three months

ALMATY, MARCH 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — India and Pakistan could become members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) by June, its Secretary-General Rashid Alimov said in a message that will raise concern in the West about the growing influence of the Russia and China-led security and economic alliance.

If, or perhaps when, India and Pakistan, join the SCO it will give the organisation leverage over roughly 40% of the world’s population and extend its geographical focus away from Central Asia towards South Asia.

Mr Alimov, Tajikistan’s former ambassador to Beijing who has been heading the SCO’s secretariat since 2016, put out the statement on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

There has been no official confirmation of Mr Alimov’s message but last year both Pakistan and India did sign an agreement pledging to join the six member group by the end of 2017. On June 8/9, the SCO plans to hold its annual summit in Astana.

Some analysts in the West have previously likened the SCO to an Asian version of NATO, set up to act as an alternative global rallying point to the West. Other observers have said that the comparison is off the mark and that the SCO is a long way off being as developed a military alliance as NATO.

Alongside Russia and China, the SCO members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia also have ‘observer’ status in the SCO, which is headquartered in Beijing and was set up in 2001.

The SCO holds war exercises, hosts diplomatic and governmental get-togethers and shares intelligence between members. It also promotes economic cooperation, allowing China to invest in Central Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Kyrgyz opposition appoints Tekebayev as presidential candidate

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MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz opposition group Ata- Meken appointed Omur Tekebayev, arrested last week at the airport for alleged corruption around a telecoms deal in 2010, its presidential candidate for an election set for November (March 5). Ata-Meken have said that the corruption allegations against Mr Tekebayev and other members of Ata-Meken were politically motivated.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)

Kyrgyz protesters gather after arrest of opposition leader

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BISHKEK, FEB 27/28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of people in Kyrgyzstan protested against the arrest of opposition leader Omurbek Tekebayev, sparking worries of pro-tracted anti-government street demonstrations.

By the end of the week, the crowds had dissipated from a peak of 300 in Bishkek and 200 in Bazar Korgon, the town in southern region of Jalal-abad where Mr Tekebayev was born.

Even so, the sight of angry protesters, mainly young men, marching through the streets of Bishkek to the White House, the presidential office, noisily airing their grievances brought back memories of 2005 and 2010 when violent revolutions over- threw two governments.

Mr Tekebayev has been charged with corruption linked to the telecoms company Megacom in 2010. His supporters have said that the charges are politically motivated, designed to scupper any chances that Mr Tekebayev has of winning a presidential election set for November.

Addressing the crowd, Rosa Otunbayeva, a former Kyrgyz president and one of Mr Tekebayev’s most high-profile supporters, described his arrest as political persecution.

Kyrgyzstan’s society is increasingly polarised and November’s election is likely to be a tense affair. President Almazbek Atambayev is stepping down after one term in power, as stipulated by the constitution. He has not yet named a preferred successor.

Murat Borombai, a resident of Bishkek, said he went to the demonstration to support the opposition and not Mr Tekebayev in particular.

“These people are opposed to the state authorities who have started to repeat the way of authoritarianism, violations of civil rights the move to lawlessness and arbitrariness,” he said.

The authorities have denied that there was any political motivation behind the arrest of Mr Tekebayev or any of his colleagues.

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(News report from Issue No. 319, published on March 3 2017)

Russian diplomat flees after car crash in Kyrgyzstan

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FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The first secretary of Russia’s embassy in Bishkek fled Kyrgyzstan days after driving his car through a red light and smashing it into a lorry, killing the driver. Bishkekers reacted with anger after news that Viktor Pukhov had been allowed to leave Kyrgyzstan for Russia was reported in local media.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Textile production drops in Kyrgyzstan

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FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Textile production in Kyrgyzstan was 27% lower in January compared to the same period a year earlier, media reported quoting official statistics. This is important as it shows the impact of a downturn in the economy. Textile production, outside mining, is one of Kyrgyzstan’s main earners.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Remittance flows to Tajikistan continues to slow

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DUSHANBE, FEB. 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajiks working in Russia sent $1.9b back to Tajikistan in 2016, representing around a third of the national GDP, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said quoting Central Bank statistics.

The data underlines the fall in the value of the remittances being sent back from Russia, where a drop in oil prices and Western sanctions imposed after Russian interference in eastern Ukraine, has hit the economy and pushed it into a recession.

“Over 870,000 Tajikistan citizens are working in Russia. The amount of their money transfers to the motherland was $1.9 bln in 2016, corresponding to one third of the republican GDP,” Tass news agency quoted Mr Ushakov as saying.

Remittances of $1.9b is around 15% lower than in 2015, which was itself nearly 50% lower than in 2014. The proportion of Tajikistan’s national economy that remittances makes up is also down sharply. Previously, remittances sent to Tajikistan from Russia accounted for around half of its GDP.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are often described as being the most remittance-dependent countries in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Kyrgyz police arrests crowds protesting

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FEB. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kyrgyzstan detained the prominent opposition figure Almanbet Shykmamatov, allegedly questioning him for nine hours over corruption allegations. Dozens of people protested outside the White House, the presidential office. Mr Shykmamatov is a member of the Ata Meken political party, which draws it support mainly from the south.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)f

Kyrgyz president complains about Kazakhstan

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FEB. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with Euronews, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev directly criticised his neighbour Kazakhstan for imposing what he described as an economic blockade in 2010. He was discussing why Kyrgyzstan joined the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union, a trade group that has grown unpopular in Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan responded to the accusation of an economic blockade by filing an official complaint. Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have become fraught over trade rows.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Centerra expects to have to pay Kyrgyz fines

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BISHKEK, FEB. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its 2016 results Toronto-listed Centerra Gold said that it expected to have to pay all or part of a set of fines handed out to it by Kyrgyz environmental bodies over what it had previously described as an attempt by the government to pressure it into ceding a larger stake in the Kumtor gold mine.

Centerra Gold is locked in a battle with the Kyrgyz government over ownership of the Kumtor mine. Kyrgyzstan owns a 32.7% stake in Centerra Gold but it wants to own a direct stake in the mine which generates about a tenth of its GDP.

Last year Centerra launched an action at an international arbitration court after a Kyrgyz judge ordered cash generated by the Kumtor mine to stay in the country.

“If the Company were obligated to pay these amounts, it would have a material adverse impact on the Company’s future cash flows, earnings, results of operations and financial condition,” Centerra said.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)

Central Asian leaders prepare to welcome Russian president Putin

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BISHKEK, FEB. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to visit Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on Feb. 27/28.

In Astana Mr Putin will bolster President Nursultan Nazarbayev who has taken an increasingly tough line on opposition figures and also against the media. In Dushanbe, Mr Putin is likely to discuss Tajikistan’s eventual membership of the Krem- lin-lead Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) with President Emomali Rakhmon.

But Bishkek will be the most complicated stopover for My Putin. There he will discuss a presidential election in November and the EEU.

“Possibly, the Kyrgyz authorities’ candidate will be chosen with the Kremlin, as loyalty to the President of Russia is important,” Bishkek based political analyst Mars Sariyev told media.

And then there is the issue of the EEU which Kyrgyzstan grudgingly joined in 2015. It’s popularity has waned as an economic downturn has bitten. Businessmen said import tariffs and sanitary certificates needed to export to EEU members had become a barrier for exports of clothes, meat, vegetables, and dairy products.

At Bishkek’s Dordoi bazaar, one of the biggest in Central Asia, opinion was mixed. Most complained but one trader saw it differently. He said that the EEU was also positive for some aspects of business.

“The only benefit is the fast growth of local textile manufacturers,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 318, published on Feb.24 2017)