Tag Archives: Tajikistan

China to build piplene between Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

JULY 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China will go ahead with the construction of a fourth line of the Central Asia-China gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, officials said. Luo Wei Dong, a deputy at China’s ministry of commerce told the Kremlin- funded Sputnik news agency that the pipeline will be built in the near future and will increase the overall capacity by 54% to 85b cubic metres/year.

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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)

Car sales fell in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s customs agency said that the country imported around 1,300 cars in H1 2016, a drop of 80% compared to the same period last year. Earlier reports said that car imports in Kyrgyzstan have also dropped in H1 2016. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are two of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world and their economies have been hit hard by a recession in Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Tajikistan’s aluminum smelter increases production

JULY 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s state-owned aluminium smelter TALCO said it produced 73,100 tonnes of aluminium in H1 2016, a 13% increase over the same period last year. Low commodity prices, though, meant it sold aluminium at a price range of $1,400-$1,600/tonne. Production costs have reached $2,000/tonne.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Tajikistan plans EEU talks

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan could soon join the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union, Abdufattoh Goib, head of the Border Service, told local media. Mr Goib said the government had instructed officials to join EEU working groups to study access requirements. Earlier this month, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of CIS affairs at the Russian Duma, said that Tajikistan might join next year.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Tajikistan confiscates Iranian products

DUSHANBE, JULY 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Tajikistan have banned the import of dozens of Iranian products, an apparent retaliation for a visit made by Tajik opposition leader Muhiddin Kabiri to Tehran last year.

Mr Kabiri is the exiled leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan which had once been the biggest opposition party in the country. It was hounded and broken up last year with most of its leadership imprisoned.

Tajk President Emomali Rakhmon has said that that he wants Mr Kabiri extradited from Europe, where he now lives. Instead, Iran’s leadership invited him to a theology conference last year in Tehran where he met with Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ali Homanai.

Now, in a possible retaliation, Tajikistan’s government standards agency has said that many Iranian imports do not meet their health standards and don’t carry product descriptions in Tajik. They have been banned.

In Dushanbe, the Tajik Agency for standardisation, metrology, and certification said it had seized 664 tonnes of good from Iran this year.

Ibodullo Kubodiyon, the head of the agency, said at a news briefing that some Iranian companies have stopped importing products to Tajikistan.

“Food products imported by these companies did not meet the established TajikStandart requirements, the products also did not have proper labelling. In particular, there was no description of the goods in Tajik language,” he said.

Tajikistan and Iran have generally made awkward allies. They share cultural and linguistic similarities but their approach to religion differs.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Briefing: Region’s economies sputter into life

JULY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — >>Malaise, downturn recession. What exactly going on in Central Asia and the South Caucasus?

>>All countries in the region are either growing slower than last year or, in some cases, their economies are even shrinking. The crisis is regional, although each country has shown its own specific problems.

>>This is the region-wide problem. I can see but what caused it?

>>The US dollar strengthened so much in 2014 that it triggered a sharp drop in oil and commodity prices. This pulled dollars away from Emerging Markets, like our own patch. As commodity prices sank, Russia fell into a crisis that quickly turned into a recession. The depreciation of the rouble cut the value of salaries earned by migrant workers, triggering a slowdown in remittances to Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

>>Okay, but oil prices picked up again since the 13- year low point in January. Isn’t that good for energy exporters in Central Asia and the South Caucasus?

>>Higher oil prices have helped state-owned oil companies to relax their emergency mode, but they’re still too low to justify the region’s most expensive projects. Think of the Kashagan oil project in Kazakhstan’s sector of the Caspian Sea, or the upgrade of Azeri Chirag-Guneshli oil project in Azerbaijan. Plus there are negative signs for transparency over the re-organisation of government companies and structures in the energy sector in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

>>And what about the other commodities, such as gold and aluminium?

>>Gold is a big component of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP as it depends on the performance of the Kumtor gold mine in the east of the country. This year, operational problems and corporate battles have slowed production, which has significantly hit Kyrgyzstan’s growth figures. It now could slip into a recession. Tajikistan, on the other hand posted a promising 6.6% GDP growth in the first half of 2016 and state-owned smelter TALCO increased aluminium production. But these numbers should be read with caution. TALCO also said that it is currently operating at a loss, as its production costs are 25% higher than market prices.

>>Right, so is it all bad?

>>Not necessarily. Dollarisation, as Georgia’s Central Banker said this week, is still a problem across the region and the currencies continue to be weak. But despite some devaluations and depreciations, most of them have kept steady in 2016, which is a sign that governments want to keep their economies stable and will spend their reserves to prop them up.

>>And for companies looking to do business in the region, how bad is it?

>>If in 2015 we saw scores of international companies running away from projects in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, this year we’ve seen promising developments, such as the final investment decision for the expansion of the Tengiz oil- field in Kazakhstan and the signing of the contract for the construction of the Rogun dam in Tajikistan, both multibillion-dollar commitments. French hypermarket Auchan has also opened up its long-awaited store in Dushanbe. Perhaps confidence is returning or at least a sense of “let’s just get on with it”.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Tajikistan and Uzbekistan downgrade flights to Pakistan

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Both state-owned Uzbekistan Airways and Tajikistan’s Somon Air have downgraded their links to Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, citing security concerns and dwindling consumer interest.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Stock market: Tethys Petroleum, Olisol

JULY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tethys Petroleum’s share price has fallen steadily in the past four months, as the Olisol share buy-in becomes a reality. This week it closed at 1.63p/share in London on Thursday, down 6.9% on the previous week.

The Guernsey-based oil and gas company operates chiefly in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. In May it reached a final financing agreement with Kazakhstan-based Olisol, which is poised to buy a 42% stake in the company once the deal becomes concrete.

Last week, the company announced the appointment of a new Chief Commercial Officer, Kazakhstan-born Alexander Skripka, who is also a director and shareholder of Olisol.

Mr Skripka had previously worked for state-owned Kaztransgas, the main gas distributor in the country. The link with a state-owned company is perhaps a sign of just how embedded Olisol is in the elite circles of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Kyrgyz President signs CASA-1000 deals

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev signed a range of laws that ratify domestic and international agreements on CASA-1000, an electricity transmission project that will send power from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Loans from international lenders, including the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, will make up 70% of Kyrgyzstan’s total funding for the project.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)

Uzbek PM warns Tajikistan on dangers of Rogun

JULY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev complained to his Tajik counterpart over the signing of a $3.9b contract with Italy’s Salini Impregilo to build the Rogun dam and hydropower station on the Vakhsh river.

Uzbekistan has always opposed the project, which it has said will reduce essential water flow from the Pamir mountains to the Amu Darya river which irrigates Uzbek cotton fields.

For Tajikistan, Rogun carries symbolic value, it will be the world’s tallest dam, and is also economically important.

Mr Mirziyoyev said Tajikistan’s stance will trigger a reaction.

“The persistence with which the Government of Tajikistan seeks at all costs to continue construction of the Rogun hydroelectric power station, cannot but cause anxiety for the possible dangerous and irreparable consequences of such risky steps taken by the Tajik side,” he wrote.

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(News report from Issue No. 290, published on July 22 2016)