SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a deal to sell spare power to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The deal, signed in Islamabad, means building power cables from Central Asia. Hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan generate spare electricity in the summer while both Pakistan and Afghanistan suffer shortages.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rounding off a tour of Central Asia, Chinese president Xi Jinping signed a deal with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rakhmon, to build a 400km gas pipeline crossing Tajikistan to China from Turkmenistan. The deal, announced on the side lines of a regional summit in Bishkek, is a major boost for Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
AUG. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s parliament called a presidential election for Nov. 6. Incumbent president, Emomali Rakhmon, is expected to win a large victory and another seven-year term. He has ruled Tajikistan since the end of a civil war in the mid-1990s. Critics say the election will be a one-sided farce.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
AUG. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon promised that Tajikistan’s parliament would soon ratify an agreement that will allow Russia’s military to remain in the country until 2042. Delays in ratifying the deal, made in 2012, have strained relations with Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 146, published on Aug. 5 2013)
JULY 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik Central Bank has stopped publishing monthly remittance data because it can be manipulated for political gain, media quoted its head, Abdujabbor Shirinov, as saying. Remittances account for roughly 50% of the Tajik economy, the highest proportion in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
JULY 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon has officially opened the first oil refinery in Tajikistan. The refinery has the capacity to process around 100,000 tonnes of oil a year. Russia, which had supplied Tajikistan with most of its oil products, will supply oil to the new refinery.
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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
JULY 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik authorities have said they have found a body in a river that could be the leader of the minority Uzbek group in Tajikistan, Salim Shamsiddinov, who went missing in March, media reported. Analysts have said Mr Shamsiddinov’s disappearance may be linked to his business interests or to his politics.
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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
JULY 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sighting lower-than-expected inflation, the Tajik Central Bank cut its key interest rate to a record low of 6.1%. It had previously cut rates to 6.5% in August 2012. Inflation across Central Asia and the South Caucasus has generally slowed, although the World Bank has said food price rises may reverse this.
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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)
JUNE 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and France’s Total agreed a deal with London and Toronto-listed Tethys Petroleum to develop an oil and gas site in Tajikistan. The deal gives each company a third stake in the Bokhtar project. Developing Bokhtar successfully could transform Tajikistan’s economic future.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps responding to criticism, Tajikistan has introduced laws both strengthening legislation against money laundering and increasing punishments for people convicted of washing cash, media reported. Experts had said Tajikistan’s anti-money laundering legislation was one of the weakest in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
