Tag Archives: tourism

Kazakh company to invest in Yurt tourism

MARCH 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Baiterek Travel Center, a government-linked tourist development company, plans to invest around $2.8m building a yurt camp resort in the Zhambyl region of southern Kazakhstan, the Interfax news agency reported by quoting a source at the regional chamber of entrepreneurs. Kazakhstan has been looking to boost tourism numbers. Since 2014 it has scrapped visa requirements for visitors from dozens of Western countries.

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

Trump’s problematic Azerbaijan hotel deal

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MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> So what has Donald Trump, President of the United States, been doing in Azerbaijan?

>> Trump’s deals with Azerbaijanis have been getting him in trouble. Do you remember the dossier that a former British spy compiled on him last year, during the US presidential election? So incriminating were some of his discoveries about Trump’s alleged dealings with Russia and his potential for being blackmailed that the spy handed over the dossier to the US intelligence services. At the heart of these allegations was a visit that Trump made to Moscow in 2013 during the Miss Universe contest that he owns. There were some lewd allegations from that trip, too lewd to repeat in this family newspaper, but, and this is the point, the trip was set up by an Azerbaijani businessman, Araz Agalarov, with strong links in Russia.

>> Okay, but now I hear that there has been hotel project in Baku which is linked to Trump.

>> Yes, this is a different issue. Trump agreed to lend his brand to a hotel in a Baku suburb in 2012. This was before the US election and during a boom time for the Azerbaijani economy. It was a good place to invest. His daughter Ivanka visited the Tower in 2014 to make sure that the work was going to plan. While she was there, she also met with Trump’s Azerbaijani business partners, and this is where the trouble now lies for Trump. He either picked his business partners carelessly or, worse, was in some way complicit in various dodgy deals.

>> What do you mean? Who were his business partners for this Baku project?

>> Trump’s main business partner was Elton Mammadov, brother of Azerbaijan’s former powerful transport minister Ziya Mammadov who has various businesses, including in the hotel sector. The problem for Trump is that these businesses are alleged to be linked to corruption and also to dealings with Iran’s Republican Guard. This is illegal for Americans under US sanctions. Trump has vigorously denied any links to corruption or doing business with Iran.

>> What has Trump and his team done about this?

>> Before Christmas, Trump quietly cut his links to the unopened Baku hotel and last month, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev sacked Ziya Mammadov as transport minister, although it is unclear if this was connected to the Baku hotel deal.

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

Georgians to enter EU on March 28

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MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgians will finally be allowed to travel to the EU for up to 90 days without a visa from March 28, Georgia’s foreign ministry said. Earlier this month, the EU had approved visa-free travel for Georgia and Ukraine to the 26- member Schengen Zone.

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

Trump’s opponents ask questions over Azerbaijan deal

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MARCH 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Opponents of US President Donald Trump verged on accusing him of corruption after they linked him to a hotel in Baku connected to Azerbaijani officials accused of taking bribes and of having links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

A report by the New Yorker said the Trump International Hotel and Tower Baku was linked to Azerbaijan’s former transport minister Ziya Mammadov who has been linked to a business partner who does business with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Some sanctions on dealing with Iran have been lifted but for US citizens it is still illegal to deal with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, directly or indirectly

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

Armenia drives to attract Iranians

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FEB. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Armenian authorities have started discussing setting up Farsi learning centres, installing bill- boards aimed at Farsi speakers and a Farsi information hotline. Media reported the Farsi-language drive was a tactic to encourage more Iranians to visit Armenia.

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

Flights to resume between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Somon Air, Tajikistan’s national airline, has scheduled a first Tajikistan-Uzbekistan flight since 1992 for Feb. 10, media reported. Regular flights are expected to start up between Dushanbe and Tashkent on Feb. 20. These flights are important as they signify a sea- change in relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, who have quarrelled for years, since the death in September of Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov.

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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

China eyes major purchase on Georgian coast

TBILISI, JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — China underlined its ambitions to boost its presence in the South Caucasus by signing a deal with the Georgian government that could lead it to buying up 75% of the Poti Special Industrial Zone on the Black Sea coast.

Poti is the main entry and exit points into and out of Georgia for goods. It is majority owned by APM, a unit of Maersk Group.

Owning a majority stake in the Poti Special Industrial Zone would be a massive boost for China and would give it a major presence on the Black Sea for the first time.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by the Georgian government and CEFC China Energy Company Limited at a ceremony in Tbilisi attended by Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

Georgian media spun the deal as part of China’s One Belt, One Road project which aims to revive the Silk Road across Central Asia between China and Europe.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Uzbekistan cancels move to scrap visas

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan cancelled plans to drop visa requirements for tourists only a few weeks after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev surprised people by promising to open up the notoriously hard-to-enter country.

The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website reported that Uzbekistan’s official legislation website had published a document delaying by four years the introduction of the visa-free regime for tourists. The document had been signed Mr Mirziyoyev.

In December he had said that tourists from Western countries would be allowed to enter the country for up to 30 days without a visa.

Kate Mallinson, a London-based Central Asia analyst, said that the change of plan on the tourists’ visa- free regime hinted at a power struggle within the Uzbek system.

“The Uzbek government’s volte face on allowing visa free entry highlights the continuing leverage of the hidden state and all-powerful security services, the SNB,” she said.

“The SNB fiercely scrutinises entry of foreigners into the country and will have challenged this move which would have significantly undermined its control.”

Uzbekistan has one of the most tightly controlled visa regimes in the world.

Mr Mirziyoyev’s move to relax it appeared linked to the increased openness after the death in September of Pres. Islam Karimov. Karimov had ruled since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and was regarded by many as a harsh autocrat.

Since taking over as president, Mr Mirziyoyev has improved ties with Uzbekistan’s neighbours and promised to improve the country’s business environment.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

High demand triggers Georgian airport expansion

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In 2016, 1.8m people used Tbilisi international airport, media reported, more than double the people volume in 2010. The high usage has triggered an expansion scheme. A new arrival terminal will be able to process 3.25m people every year, officials said. The airport is operated by Turkey-based TAV Airports Holding. Georgia has invested millions into boosting tourist numbers, marketing itself as both a seaside destination with its resorts on the Black Sea coast and also as a winter sports hub. Iranians and Iraqis have also been travelling to Georgia to set up businesses.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Visa-free travel nears for Georgians

JAN. 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Parliament’s civil liberties committee voted to approve visa-free travel for Georgia and Ukraine, setting the stage for a full parliamentary vote on the issue in February or March. The civil liberties committee is considered a powerful sounding- board and analysts said that it was likely that the European Parliament would approve the motion and that Georgians will be able to travel without a visa to the Schengen zone from April or May.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)