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International Bank of Azerbaijan issues loan to Iran

JUNE 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – International Bank of Azerbaijan, the country’s largest lender, will issue a $500m loan to Iran for the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway section, part of a rail link from Qazvin to Astara, around the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. The total cost of the Rasht-Astara segment is projected to be $1.1b. The countries of the South Caucasus have been quick to engage Iran in business since sanctions were lifted earlier this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kyrgyzstan accuses Centerra of corruption at Kumtor

BISHKEK, JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev instructed state prosecutors to investigate agreements signed by Canadian miner Centerra Gold in 2003-04, after corruption charges emerged against both Centerra and former officials at the state-owned Kyrgyzaltyn.

Earlier this week, the country’s security service said that Dastan Sarygulov, the 69-year-old former head of Kyrgyzaltyn from 1992 to 1999, had been charged with plotting a coup earlier this year and taking bribes in the 1990s.

The charges appear to be based on accusations made last week by Len Homeniuk, former head of Centerra and Kumtor Gold, who sent a letter to Kyrgyz prosecutors alleging corrupt practices that had involved the miner over its entire lifetime, explicitly naming Mr Sarygulov.

In the letter, Mr Homeniuk said that the companies he headed were regularly asked for bribes by Kyrgyzaltyn, which owns a 32% stake in Centerra.

“[Their requests] were sometimes very significant, more than $200,000 in a given month,” Mr Homeniuk wrote. “Dustan Sarygulov and Kamchybek Kudaibergenov always explained such requests that they were under pressure by the office of the President.”

Centerra, Kumtor Gold and Kyrgyzaltyn have not commented on the allegations.

The revelations seem to be well- timed for Kyrgyzstan.

Sarygulov was already under house arrest, accused of having participated in the coup plot.

Now, analysts say, the Homeniuk letter could be a powerful tool for Mr Atambayev to both discredit his predecessors and taint Centerra’s record in Kyrgyzstan, just as it prepares an arbitration case in Stockholm against the government for blocking its business development.

“Timing is important. Homeniuk’s revelations seem a gift to Mr Atambayev now,” Mars Sariyev of the Institute of Public Policy, a Bishkek-based think tank, told The Bulletin.

Centerra owns the Kumtor Gold Company, which operates the country’s largest gold mine, which accounts for around 7% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP.

In March security forces raided the office of Kumtor in Bishkek looking for evidence of financial wrongdoing. Centerra has said that Kyrgyzstan is using heavy-handed tactics to try and claim more direct ownership of Kumtor.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Georgia becomes new destination for Chinese tourists

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – China Southern Airlines, a Chinese carrier, said it will begin regular flights from Beijing and Urumqi to Tbilisi from September 22. The company said the move responds to increasing interest in Georgia as a tourist destination. China Southern Airlines launched pilot flights from Tbilisi to Urumqi last November. Chinese tourism has become big business for Georgia which is increasingly promoting itself as a holiday destination.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakhstan begins constructing Shymkent city

JUNE 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s government said it has started construction work at Shymkent City, a new urban development outside Shymkent, in the south of the country. The government will share costs with local investors and plans to deliver the project in 2020. Shymkent is Kazakhstan’s third-largest city. The government wants to stimulate the economy through major building schemes.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Kazakh oil revenues fall

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh officials said production of oil and gas makes up around 17% of the country’s GDP, a proportion eight percentage points lower than in 2015. The fall in oil prices has impacted both feasibility and profitability at Kazakhstan’s oil and gas fields. This is an important measure of the impact of the drop in oil price on Kazakhstan’s economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

US court to seize Uzbek President’s daughter’s accounts

JUNE 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A US court said that it is ready to seize assets linked to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, in Ireland, Belgium and Luxembourg, if a corruption case in New York courts is not resolved soon. US authorities said these assets are valued €269m ($303m). In February, Ms Karimova was named as the beneficiary of bribes paid by telecoms companies seeking licences in Uzbekistan, the largest foreign corruption probe in US history.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Business comment: Gold in Central Asia

JUNE 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gold prices climbing up towards $1,300/ounce, but not everyone in the mining sector in Central Asia is happy.

In Kazakhstan, Russian miner Polymetal received a much-needed lifeline from Sberbank to push forward with its Kyzyl project in north-eastern Kazakhstan. The gold sector in Kazakhstan is enjoying a positive season, as production numbers in the country are up 3.7% to 13 tonnes of fine gold in the first five months of the year, compared to Jan.-May 2015.

The steady growth is paired with increased investment, as Polymetal is focusing its growth outside Russia on Kazakhstan and Armenia.

But this year has not brought only good news in Kazakhstan. In March, Alhambra Resources said it was seeking damages against Kazakhstan’s government, via the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, for the bankruptcy of its Kazakh subsidiary.

Recovering commodity prices, however, can do little to improve the mood in Kyrgyzstan, where Centerra Gold and the government are increasingly entangled in what could become a decisive legal battle.

Centerra sought the resolution of the continuous fines and corruption probes at the Stockholm court of arbitration.

The Kyrgyz government responded with more fines and charged a former director of Kyrgyzaltyn — which owns a stake in Centerra — of taking bribes from the Canadian miner.

These charges, fuelled by allegations from a former Centerra director, would make the Canadian company guilty of paying bribes, serving an order to the government, which is trying hard to show Centerra under a bad light.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Stock market: Tethys, Nostrum

JUNE 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Central Asia and South Caucasus-linked stocks fell this week, driven down by lower oil prices. As shown in the table, Tethys and Nostrum shares dropped significantly over the past week after a rather stable month.

Roxi, on the other hand, moved against the tide, gaining 15.3% in one week.

On June 14, the company’s non-executive director Edmund Limerick purchased 500,000 shares at 9.8p/share, for a total of £49,000. Mr Limerick and his wife now own 1.15m shares, or 0.12% of the company, up from 0.07% before the purchase.

The deal pushed up the share price, giving it a boost after weeks of downward pressure.

Kuat Oraziman, CEO, and Kairat Satylganov,CFO and director, own Roxi, which operates in Western Kazakhstan, not far from the massive Tengiz oilfield.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR becomes EURO sponsor

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, is a major sponsor of the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament currently taking place in France. Neither SOCAR, nor UEFA disclosed the amount paid for the sponsorship, although local media outlets have said it is around 120m manat ($80m).Azerbaijan’s government had previously sponsored Spain’s Atletico Madrid and England’s Sheffield Wednesday.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Tajikistan’s TSB resumes transactions

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tojiksodirotbonk, Tajikistan’s second largest lender, said it resumed money transfer transactions, and that it continued to operate under the administration of the Central Bank. TSB, as it is commonly known, is awaiting confirmation from the EBRD for a funding lifeline of around $165m. The investment would give the EBRD a 25% stake in the bank.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)