Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Business comment: Transit rush in Eurasia

DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — From Iran to Lithuania, several countries have tried to impose their agenda to lay out transit routes across the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Iran, which will soon be no longer cut off from international trade by Western sanctions, said it wants to become a road and rail transport link between Pakistan and the South Caucasus.

The link, which would run through Afghanistan and Tajikistan, would also connect Central Asia to Azerbaijan, said Iranian minister of roads and urban development Abbas Akhoundi.

In Klaipeda, Lithuania, thousands of kilometres away from the region, representatives from Lithuanian, Kazakh and Georgian railway and maritime companies met with large transport companies — among which were Britain-based DBSchenker and Germany-based InterRail Logistics — to design a China-Europe Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

Georgia and Turkey also want to be included in the project, which could compete with the EU- sponsored TRACECA corridors spanning from Central Asia to Europe and the Beijing-funded One

Belt One Road project from Eastern China to Western Europe.

In addition, because of the recent diplomatic row between Russia and Turkey, Azerbaijan has come forward and said it wants to become the transport hub for Turkish goods to Central Asia.

The growing links across the region will improve connectivity and cut back on transport times for westbound goods from China, South and Central Asia.

And its worth keeping in mind that stresses caused by the Russia- Turkey row may create opportunities for new trade routes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Tajikistan’s debt increases

NOV. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan debt-to-GDP ratio will rise to 30% by the end of the year from 22.5% at the start of the year, media quoted various analysts as saying. Tajikistan’s growing debt ratio highlights the impact of the economic downturn on the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Tajikistan’s remittances from Russia have fallen 40% this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Tajikistan extends website blocks

NOV. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s parliament passed a law which will make it legal for the authorities to switch off the internet during counterterrorism operations. The Tajik authorities regularly block access to social media and news websites which they say promote Islamic extremism, irritating free speech campaigners.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Tajik president to be given title of “Leader of the Nation”

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon is about to add another title to his growing list of names. Already called “His Excellency”, he will now add the moniker “Leader of the Nation”.

A group of deputies of the lower chamber of parliament have submitted a draft law proposing that Mr Rakhmon take this title.

One of the proposers of the bill, Abdurahim Kholikzoda told local media that the draft has been prepared because of a groundswell of support from ordinary Tajiks who want to honour their president and everything he has achieved.

“This is a tribute to the merits of the outstanding son of the Tajik people, President Emomali Rakhmon, and for his services to the country and the people of the country,” media quoted Mr Kholikzoda as saying.

Mr Kholikzoda has a track record of lavishly praising Mr Rakhmon. Once head of the State Religion Committee of Tajikistan, he called Mr Rakhmon “the sun” and “the star of happiness” earlier this year.

Many ordinary Tajik are suspicious, though, and suspect that Mr Rakhmon’s new title is a crude attempt to curry favour.

A Dushanbe resident called Farhod said: “We have the lowest economic development in the post- Soviet space, our migrants are dying in Russia, our families are freezing in areas without electricity or poisoned by carbon monoxide of coal, corruption is developed, and the list can go on.

“However, what are our MPs doing? They compete to invent such laws to get the attention of the President. I am speechless.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

EBRD gives airport loan to Tajikistan

NOV. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has given Khujand airport in north Tajikistan, a loan of $900,000 to modernise its runway and buy other essential kit, media reported. The EBRD is a major lender to infrastructure projects in Tajikistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Turkcell moves to buy mobile companies from TeliaSonera in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest mobile service provider, is planning on buying TeliaSonera’s assets in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Bloomberg News reported by quoting a source close to the company.

The source said that Turkcell had appointed HSBC and Citigroup to advise it on its potential bid to buy the stake in Fintur from TeliaSonera that it doesn’t already own.

Turkcell owns 41.45% of Rotterdam-based Fintur; TeliaSonera owns the rest. Fintur runs brands in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Moldova with 18m users.

Turkcell CEO, Kaan Terzioglu, appeared to confirm the company’s intention to buy TeliaSonera’s stake in Fintur. Answering journalists’ questions in Istanbul on when a deal would be finished, he said: “in 2016 if all the negotiations go well.”

The deal is important because it moves TeliaSonera towards its stated aim of selling its companies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. It also owns businesses in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan which it wants to find a buyer for.

Earlier this year, it said that it wanted to sell up after investigations began into a corruption scandal at its Uzbek company. It is alleged to have paid Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, millions of dollars in bribes to gain access to the Uzbek mobile market in 2007/8.

Telenor, its Norwegian rival, is also investigating alleged corruption at its Uzbek subsidiary. It owns a 33% stake in Russia-based Vimpelcom which owns a company in Uzbekistan that also, allegedly paid a bribe to enter the market.

Turkcell is Turkey’s main mobile operator. Its shareholder structure has been argued over since 2011. It has shares listed on the New York and Istanbul stock exchanges but its institutional shareholders include Turkey’s Cukurova Holding, Russia’s AlfaGroup and TeliaSonera.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

TeliaSonera’s appoints Tajik Tcell’s head as Eurasia VP

NOV. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish mobile provider TeliaSonera appointed the former head ofTcell, Tajikistan’s biggest mobile network provider, Mansur Khamidov to be a vice-president in charge of the Eurasia region. TeliaSonera is currently restructuring its operations and has said that it wants to sell its Eurasia companies, partly because of corruption allegations alleged against its Uzbek subsidiary. As well as Tajikistan, TeliaSonera owns mobile operations in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Russia pulls out of Tajikistan base

NOV. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Tajikistan reported that the Russian military had started to pull out of its base in Kulyab, near the border with Afghanistan, a potentially destabilising move in a fragile border region.

There was no explanation as to why the Russian military would pull out of Kulyab but relations have become increasingly strained with locals.

Russian soldiers have been accused of getting drunk and fighting with locals as well as not paying local workers their full salaries, an accusation the Russian base has refuted.

Still, whatever the underlying reason for the withdrawal, Kulyab is one of three bases that Russia uses in Tajikistan and quitting it will change the dynamics.

Russia has 7,000 soldiers stationed in Tajikistan, its largest deployment outside Russia.

It has warned that Taliban activity in northern Afghanistan could threaten Central Asia and encouraged the region’s governments to strengthen their militaries.

The Kremlin, though, has ruled out taking back responsibility for patrolling Central Asia’s borders.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Pakistani PM visits Tajikistan

NOV. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip that also took in neighbouring Uzbekistan, Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif visited Dushanbe for a meeting with Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon that would have focused on the CASA-1000 energy project. CASA-1000 aims to turn Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan into power exporters, sending electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

TeliaSonera says Tajikistan ordered Facebook block

NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish mobile operator TeliaSonera said that the authorities in Tajikistan had ordered it to block access to a series of social media sites, including Facebook, because of alleged security threats.

In an unusually candid note, TeliaSonera, which operates in Tajikistan under the Tcell brand, said it had complied with the order, given on Nov. 2, although it did cast some doubt on the motives behind it.

“Government’s requests or demands often serve legitimate purposes such as the protection of certain human rights, but they may also be problematic in that they could conflict with other human rights,” it said in a statement on its website. “TeliaSonera’s commitment is to respect freedom of expression in telecommunications.”

The authorities in Tajikistan often ban access to social media because they say radical Islamists have infiltrated it. Human rights groups, though, have accused the government of cracking down on free speech.

As well as blocking Facebook, the authorities also blocked the Russian websites odnoklassniki.ru and vk.ru.

TeliaSonera, which is looking to sell its businesses in Central Asia and the South Caucasus after a corruption scandal in Uzbekistan, said it doesn’t comment on domestic politics.

“However, TeliaSonera does engage in dialogue regarding requests from authorities that affect our business and customers of companies in which we have ownership interests,” it said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)