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Press freedom worsens in Tajikistan

APRIL 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Reporters Without Borders, an international watchdog for media freedom, said the press environment in Tajikistan has significantly worsened this year. In its annual ranking of countries, Reporters Without Borders said Tajikistan dropped 34 places, the largest overall fall in the table, to 150th place. There are 180 countries in the league table.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Kazakh President meets Karimov

APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Tashkent to meet with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov to discuss regional security and economic ties. Both leaders emphasised good relations between the two countries. Mr Karimov told Mr Nazarbayev that “we need to synchronise our watches and go in the right direction”, a reference to working more closely together.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Kazakhstan’s ArcelorMittal Temirtau appoints new CEO

APRIL 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – ArcelorMittal Temirtau, Kazakhstan’s largest steelmaker, said it will appoint Paramjit Kahlon, the former CEO of an ArcelorMittal steel plant in Ukraine, as its new CEO in May. ArcelorMittal Temirtau has laid off thousands of workers over the past few years as it tries to deal with low steel prices triggered by a glut of supply.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Mining sector to boost in Tajikistan

APRIL 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A boost from the mining sector helped Tajikistan’s industrial production to grow 13% in the first quarter of the year. Total industrial production stood at almost 3b somoni ($400m), compared to around 2.6b somoni ($450m at the time) in the first quarter of 2015. The mining sector grew by 74% year-on-year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Kyrgyzstan warns Gazprom

APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s anti-monopoly agency said it will monitor possible unjustified price increases by Gazprom Neft Asia for its petrol. The subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom owns and operates filling stations throughout the country. Reports had shown possible price increases of 7-10% for Gazprom’s petrol from April 1.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Georgian businessman plans $100m cement plant

APRIL 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian businessman Cezar Chocheli will enter a joint venture with an unnamed Chinese company to build a $100m cement plant in Senaki, around 250km west of Tbilisi. The new factory, will employ around 500 people. Investors expect construction to begin in June.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

GDP to shrink in Kazakhstan

APRIL 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agency Fitch said Kazakhstan’s GDP will shrink by 1% in 2016 and the value of assets owned by Samruk-Kazyna, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, will decline by $3b, or 5%. Fitch’s accounting is more pessimistic than previous government calculations, which forecast marginal GDP growth for 2016.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR plans expansion

APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR said it is eyeing expansion in both Ukraine and Turkey’s petrol distribution sector. This week, SOCAR said it is opening eight petrol station in Kiev. Last week SOCAR said it was in talks to buy OMV Petrol Ofisi, the Turkish subsidiary of Austria’s OMV.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Car and oil imports drop in Armenia

APRIL 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A regional economic downturn has dented Armenia’s imports in 2015, data from the state Statistics Committee showed. Car imports shrank by 38% to 27,300 last year, compared to 2014. Oil imports shrank by 8%. A region-wide currency crisis has affected purchasing power in the South Caucasus and Armenia’s trade numbers reflect this.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)

Turkmen ministry plans to boost CNG

APRIL 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Turkmen energy ministry said it plans to produce 450,000 tonnes of compressed natural gas (CNG) this year, betting on the high demand for fuel in neighbouring countries. The Turkmen government doesn’t generally publish data on its CNG production, but the tone of the release showed that this might be an increase compared to last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 277, published on April 22 2016)