Author Archives: admin

Fitch raises Armenian GDP

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agency Fitch said it forecasts GDP growth in Armenia of 2% in 2016. The agency also revised upwards its prediction on the final 2015 results. According to Fitch, Armenia grew by 2.7% in 2015, pushed up by a relatively positive trade balance. While imports fell sharply by 26% compared to 2014, exports only contracted by 1% in the same period.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Georgia makes military deal with Saudi

JAN. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s state-owned Delta, which manufactures weapons and other military equipment, said it had secured a deal worth up to 100m lari (around $40m) to build “several dozen” military evacuation vehicles for Saudi Arabia, an important deal in an economically tough environment. Georgia has invested fairly heavily in its defence and military equipment sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Swine flu deaths rise in Armenia

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s health ministry said that 18 people had died in the past two months from the H1N1 strain of swine flu, media reported, up from an earlier death toll of 10. The health ministry denied that the deaths had reached epidemic proportions but neighbouring countries have also started to report deaths linked to swine flu.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Inflation in Azerbaijan to soar in 2016

JAN. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Azerbaijan in 2016 will measure between 10% and 12%, finance minister Samir Sharifov said on TV, up from a previous estimate of 3%. In 2015 inflation measured 4%. The sudden increase is linked to the sharp devaluation in the manat currency, Mr Sharifov said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Tajik President promotes his daughter

JAN. 27 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon appointed his daughter, Ozoda, as head of the Presidential Administration, drawing accusations of nepotism.

Mr Rakhmon has form with appointing family members and friends to important government posts. One of his two sons, Rustam, is head of the government’s anti-corruption agency and had been head of the Tajik football association.

Earlier this month, Tajik MPs also voted to change the country’s constitution and lower the minimum age that a person can stand to be president to 30 from 35. This would allow Rustam, aged 28, to stand for president in 2020.

As for Ozoda, little is known about her. She had previously been a deputy foreign minister and her husband is the deputy head of the Central Bank. She has also studied in the United States.

Mr Rakhmon has been in power in Tajikistan since the end of a civil war in the mid-1990s. He is accused of setting up an authoritarian state. Last year Mr Rakhmon effectively closed down the only legal opposition party, consolidating his grip on power.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Editorial: Taliban threat for Uzbekistan

JAN. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – For policy makers involved in pushing the CASA-1000 and TAPI projects, reports from Afghanistan that the Taliban have attacked and badly damaged part of a power line sending electricity to Kabul from southern Uzbekistan is the stuff their nightmares are made of.

CASA-1000 is the World Bank-backed $1.1b project that will supply Pakistan with power from hydro-stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. TAPI is the name of a pipeline that will pump gas from Turkmenistan to India.

Both projects will transit across Afghanistan and form part of a loose north-south Silk Road that US officials have been touting for the past decade. The rub is that they require a stable Afghanistan and that, it appears, is exactly what they don’t have.

If the Taliban are attacking power lines running from Uzbekistan to Kabul then what would stop them attacking a power line running to neighbouring Pakistan or a pipeline running to India?

For each project, the leaders now have to inspect their security systems once again. Costs and doubts about both projects will be rising.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Lavrov meets Turkmen President in Ashgabat

JAN. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, at a time when relations between two countries are considered to be near a post-Soviet Union low.

During his trip Mr Lavrov offered Turkmenistan help in defending its borders against potential incursion from Taliban fighters, a threat that Turkmen authorities have said has become more acute over the past year.

The Russian foreign minister quoted Mr Lavrov as saying: “If Russia’s assistance is needed with respect to these endeavours, it goes without saying that it will be in our interests to provide it. Let me reiterate that today our Turkmen friends provided us with a detailed insight into their efforts to reliably protect the border with Afghanistan.”

Local media said Mr Berdymukhamedov declined this offer.

Relations between Turkmenistan and Russia have dipped to a new low over rows about gas contracts. This year, Russia confirmed it was scrapping gas imports from Turkmenistan and buying more from Uzbekistan. Analysts said this was a slight against Turkmenistan for discussing gas routes to Europe via Azerbaijan and the S.Caucasus, a rival route to Russia’s gas supplies to Europe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Qatar expands routes to Armenia and Azerbaijan

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Qatar Airways, the country’s flagship airline, said it would expand its routes in the South Caucasus in Q1 and Q2 of 2016. The company announced the opening of a new Doha-Yerevan route from May 2016. Qatar Airways will fly four times a week to Armenia’s capital. The company also plans to expand from seven to eleven the weekly flights to Baku, from the end of March.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Georgian Opera House prepares for new season after $40m renovation

JAN. 29 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s been one of the longest and most expensive renovation projects in Georgia’s history but now the 165-year-old Zacharia Paliashvili Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, originally called the Tiflis Imperial Theatre, is finally set to reopen its doors.

The curtains will be opened tomorrow night on the theatre’s six year, $40m renovation, a project paid for by former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Cartu Fund.

The first night will be reserved for invited guests only but members of the public can buy tickets for subsequent nights to see for themselves what has been promised has been a lavish renovation of one of the world’s most famous Russian Empire-era opera houses.

A grand and imposing building with a touch of Moorish swagger, the opera house dominates the central avenue running through Tbilisi. It was designed in the mid-19th century by Viktor Schröter, a German architect who lived in St Petersburg.

The main performance at the reopening of the theatre is a rendition of Georgian composer Zacharia Paliashvili’s symphony orchestra.

Standing in line to buy a ticket was, 70-year-old Lia Machitadze.

She wore a fur coat to ward off the January chill, large sunglasses and bright red lipstick. “I couldn’t wait for my aunt to take me to the opera when I was a little girl,”she said as she fluffed her hair up a little. “And now I can’t wait to experience its magical atmosphere again.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Stock market: KAZ Minerals

JAN. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In general, it was a positive week for Central Asia and South Caucasus focused companies, mainly because oil prices bounced back from the 12-year-lows touched last week.

After posting positive company results, shares in KAZ Minerals, previ- ously called Kazakhmys, shot up in the London Stock exchange continuing their positive trajectory picked up in mid-January. It finished trading on Jan. 28 at 122.75p – a three month high.

In its annual results KAZ Minerals said it was satisfied with its output despite a drop in copper cathode production. Although it has suffered from a slump in commodities prices, the KAZ Minerals is enjoying the cheap tenge currency. KAZ Minerals is focused on exports, so its revenue base, denominated in dollars, is solid.

A strong KAZ Minerals performance gives Central Asia/South Caucasus a cheerleader in this strife-laden period dominated by low oil prices.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)