Author Archives: admin

UOP to work on Azerbaijan’s refinery

NOV. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US-based UOP signed a contract to provide technology and licensing for new units to be built at the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery near Baku. UOP is a subsidiary of Honeywell International. SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, has been looking for partners to modernise the country’s most important refinery. Azerbaijan needs to produce more petrol to hit growing demand.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

OECD criticises Uzbek graft

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Corruption is still rife in Uzbekistan despite the introduction of the country’s first anti-corruption plan earlier this year and a so called anti-corruption coordination commission, the OECD said in a new report.

In its report, the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said that Uzbekistan needs to criminalise corruption and promote public sector honesty and integrity.

Corruption and bribery are considered deeply embedded in Uzbekistan. The OECD, an intergovernmental organisation, report is evidence that little has changed despite some headline policies.

In effect, the OECD, said that Uzbekistan’s new laws were window dressing.

In its exhaustive 116 page report, the OECD said that Uzbekistan needed to focus on a handful of key policies if it was committed to beating corruption.

These involved conducting anti- corruption surveys regularly and publishing the results; improving the independence and integrity of the law enforcement agencies; developing e- government tools.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Kazakh government progress NGO law

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh Senate passed a bill that will regulate financing for NGOs, a move criticised by the West as cutting back on civil liberties. The new bill is similar to a law passed in Russia and limits NGOs’ access to funding from overseas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Lukoil upgrades Uzbekistan field

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian oil and gas company Lukoil completed the construction of two electric substations at a major gas field in Uzbekistan. Lukoil is the operating company at the Gissar gas field in the south of the country.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Azerbaijani currency reserves fall

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s foreign currency reserves fell 3% in September to just over $7b, media reported, highlighting just how much cash the Central Bank has spent propping up the manat. Azerbaijan’s Central Bank has now spent half its currency reserves in the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Kyrgyzstan appoints Sariyev PM

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament reappointed Temir Sariyev as the country’s PM, one month after an election won by President Almazbek Atamabayev’s Social Democrats. Mr Sariyev will head the coalition government. He has been PM since May 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Referendum campaign starts in Armenia

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Campaigning has started ahead of a referendum on Dec. 6 on the Armenian constitution. The referendum debate focuses on whether to increase the powers of Parliament and the PM over the President. Opposition groups say Pres. Serzh Sargsyan wants to give himself more power once he leaves the presidency in 2018.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

BP to stay at Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan said it wants BP to remain as the operator in Shah Deniz, the country’s largest gas field. A senior official at SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, told Reuters that SOCAR and BP will continue cooperation for Phase 3 of the project.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

NASA publishes mysterious earthworks in Kazakhstan

OCT. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – NASA published satellite pictures of earthworks found in north Kazakhstan which have baffled scientists. The photos of the Turgai region show massive stone circles. It’s unclear exactly what they represent, how old they are or who built them.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Georgia’s Central Bank raises interest rates

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank increased its key interest rate to 7.5%, its highest level since Sept. 2011, to try and dampen rising inflation.

In January, Georgian interest rates were 4%, demonstrating just how aggressively its Central Bank has pushed up the cost of borrowing.

In a statement, the Georgian Central Bank said that Consumer Price Inflation now measured 5.8%, pushed up by a rise in the cost of imported goods and a jump in electricity prices.

“According to the current forecast, in the beginning of 2016 the inflation will remain above its target value, will start decreasing afterwards and will return to its target value of 5% in the second half of 2016,” the Central Bank said in a statement.

This year, similarly to other cur- rencies in the region, the Georgian lari has lost around 28% of its value.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)