Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Uzbek delegation heads for US

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – An Uzbek government delegation, lead by foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, travelled to Washington to meet with its US counterpart, part of an annual bilateral process. At the end of last year, the US lifted Uzbekistan’s human rights ranking after the United Nations recorded improvements in its cotton picking system. Mr Kamilov met with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal.

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) –

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Uzbek police faces pay cut

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Policemen in the city of Ferghana told the Uzbek language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that they are not receiving their full salaries. The information stream from Uzbekistan is weak but evidence has been growing that prices are rising and shortages of good growing. The Uzbek government has not commented.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Czech company boosts deliveries to Uzbekistan

JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Czech engineering company Armatury Group delivered valves worth €3m ($3.3m) to Eriell, a service company operating in Uzbekistan’s oil fields, according to the group’s press release. Eriell, a Russian drilling company, is a supplier to another Russian company, Lukoil, which operates several oil and gas projects in Uzbekistan. The valves will be installed at a compressor station in the South Kemachi oil and gas condensate field, near Uzbekistan’s border with Turkmenistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Teliasonera writes off $622m of value from its Uzbek operations

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish telecoms company TeliaSonera effectively slashed the value of its assets in Uzbekistan by 5.3b Swedish kronor ($622m) to speed up a fire sale of its unit which it considers toxic after it was heavily implicated in a major corruption scandal.

Since last September, TeliaSonera has sought to sell off its businesses in Central Asia and the South Caucasus so that it can concentrate on its core mobile and data services in Europe.

TeliaSonera is under investigation in the Netherlands, Sweden and the US over its acquisition of mobile licenses in Uzbekistan in 2007. Prosecutors say the deal involved paying large bribes to the Uzbek president’s eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova. Rival Norwegian telecoms company Telenor has also been accused of bribing Uzbek officials.

The cut in value of Teliasonera’s Uzbek assets, which will be booked on its Q4 2015 operations, is part of a 7.2b Swedish kronor ($845m) cut in the company’s global assets.

“We are well on track shaping the new TeliaSonera and the process to reduce our presence in Eurasia continues,” Teliasonera CEO, Johan Dennelind, said in a statement.

“As a consequence of this progress and current status in the overall divestment process, Region Eurasia will be reported as discontinued operations. When doing this we are obliged to change valuation method for these operations. This has resulted in an impairment charge relating to our operations in Uzbekistan.”

In its forthcoming 2015 annual report, due later this month, TeliaSonera will block out results from the Eurasia region and tag it “held for sale”.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

UK’s Alpha and Uzbekistan’s Fayz Farm sign deal

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — UK-based Alpha Pharm Trading and Uzbekistan’s Fayz Farm signed a deal to create a joint venture to produce medicines in the Navoi free industrial economic zone. The joint venture, called Novo Farm Komplekt, will invest $3.7m in a factory and distribution centre for pharmaceutical products.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan border dispute arises

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz soldiers accused Uzbekistan of shelling their positions around the border in the south of the country, media reported. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan often trade barbed comments and accuse each other of infringing one another’s territory around their shared border areas. Analysts have said these disputes could destabilise the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Teliasonera sells its Uzbek unit value

JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) -Swedish telecoms company Teliasonera said that it would write $622m off the value of its Uzbek unit that it wants to sell. A corruption scandal has enveloped the Uzbek unit of Teliasonera and it has said that it wants to sell its entire Eurasian operations.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

ICG warns Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan on Taliban threat

JAN. 11 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-terrorist operations by Pakistan’s military along its border with Afghanistan have pushed Islamist fighters north, increasing the threat posed by the Taliban to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

The ICG said these battle-hardened radicals had played a key role in briefly capturing Kunduz, on the border with Tajikistan, last year.

“Insecurity in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, including Taliban control of districts across from Tajikistan, has increased pressure, with risk that battle-experienced Islamic militants could link up with even small numbers of potential allies inside the country,” ICG wrote.

The ICG is an influential voice. Its report sides with Russia’s analysis that stability along Central Asia’s southern border has worsened.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Russia cuts Turkmenistan gas imports in 2016

JAN. 4 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Amid low energy prices and economic strains, Russia’s state- owned Gazprom is reshaping its gas relations with countries in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

It is effectively buying gas from Central Asia to sell on to Europe, China and, partly, to the South Caucasus.

Gazprom confirmed it will stop gas imports from Turkmenistan and, at the same time increase purchases from neighbouring Uzbekistan to 3.1b cubic metres.

“The basis for this decision is the changed situation on the international gas market, as well as certain economic and financial issues arising from the Gazprom’s exports,” it said in a statement.

Gazprom didn’t release price details with either Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan but its statement did confirm shifting alliances in Central Asia. Previously, Russia had imported heavily from Turkmenistan. This flow, though, has fallen as relations between the two countries grew increasingly strained. Turkmenistan wants to supply Europe with gas, via Azerbaijan and Turkey, putting it in direct competition with Russia.

Last year, Turkmenistan effectively signalled that Russia had stopped paying for its gas.

But Gazprom needs to buy Central Asian gas to honour its deals with China and Europe, as well as making new deals in the South Caucasus.

Gazprom already supplies Armenia with gas and is negotiating export deals with Georgia and Azerbaijan who both need to meet domestic power consumption.

Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR, met with Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s CEO, in December to discuss 2016 volumes.

“The possibility of increasing [Russian gas] supplies taking into account the prospects for growth in natural gas consumption in the country was considered,” SOCAR said in a statement.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

China supplies trains to Uzbekistan

DEC. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Chinese consortium has supplied 11 locomotives to Uzbekistan as part of an ongoing partnership. CNTIC and CNR Dalian fulfilled a $44.39m contract they signed with Uzbekistan’s railway company in 2011. A loan from China EximBank financed 95% of the cost.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)