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Azerbaijan to finance solar plants in Germany and Turkey

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Akim Badalov, head Azerbaijan’s State Agency on Renewable Energy sources, said Azerbaijan will finance the construction of two small solar power plants in Germany and Turkey. The capacity of the prospective solar plant in Germany is 10 megawatts, according to the Trend news agency. Although still marginal, Azerbaijan’s interest in renewable energy has grown steadily in recent years.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Japanese PM begins Grand Tour of Central Asia with stopover in Turkmenistan

OCT. 23 2015, BISHKEK (The Conway Bulletin) — Japanese PM Shinzo Abe began a tour of the five Central Asian Stans designed to boost links with the region.

The trip started in Turkmenistan, where Mr Abe signed deals worth over $18b in the chemical and power sectors.

This was the first official visit by a Japanese PM to Turkmenistan, proof of the country’s growing status as a global energy exporter.

Stopovers in Dushanbe and Bishkek will also mark the first official visits to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for a Japanese leader.

Central Asia has been attracting high-profile interest from Asian leaders over the past few years. In 2013, China’s President Xi Jinping completed a similar Grand Tour of the region and this year Indian PM Narendra Modi also visited all five Stans.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Japan equips Turkmen gas field

OCT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Several Japanese companies signed a framework agreement with the Turkmen government to supply equipment to the Galkynysh gas field, one of the largest in the world. Mitsubishi, Chiyoda, Sojits, Itochu and JGC are among the companies involved in the expansion of Galkynysh. Turkmenistan wants to expand Galkynysh to pump gas along a planned pipeline to India.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Kazakh labour figures down

OCT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Over 11,000 people lost their jobs in Kazakhstan in the first nine months of the year, the ministry of social development said. The ministry monitors only a sample of private businesses, so the total numbers could be larger, according to Radio Free Europe. A chart produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit showed that the overall size of the Kazakh labour force is shrinking.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

S&P drops Kazakh Kashagan

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – International ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said it will stop including the Kashagan oil field in its economic forecasts for Kazakhstan because of continuous delays in production.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Chinese hotel opens in Georgia

OCT. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hualing Georgia, a private Chinese holding, opened its first luxury hotel in Tbilisi Sea New City, a new urban development on the shores of an artificial lake near Georgia’s capital city. Hualing has invested $150m in Tbilisi Sea New City, including $73m in the hotel. China been investing heavily in the S.Caucasus.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

VimpelCom sells kit in Kazakhstan, Armenia

OCT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian telecoms company VimpelCom said it is selling 50,000 phone towers across the former Soviet Union for $5b. VimpelCom, headquartered in the Netherlands, hired several banks to broker the deal. Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are among the countries involved in the deal.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Business comment: Opec, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — When OPEC calls, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are unlikely to answer.

OPEC, an organisation for oil exporting countries, is seeking to coordinate a cut in production with non-OPEC countries to lift oil prices.

Acting as a cartel, OPEC can determine production levels in order to control global oil prices. It has done so repeatedly over the past decades.

Strapped for cash and reliant on oil exports, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are not OPEC members and do not enjoy the same market power as Saudi Arabia or Russia.

Because their action would have little effect on oil prices they are unlikely to play OPEC’s game, according to Daniel Yergin, vice- chairman of the IHS consulting company and one of the most authoritative voices on Caspian energy issues.

“I think they will not cooperate. They (Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan) are typical non-OPEC countries who simply produce at a maximum they can,” Mr Yergin told Reuters.

Lower oil prices and ageing fields have pushed production numbers down in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan (minus 2% and 3% respectively) and they simply cannot afford to arbitrarily cut back production in concert with OPEC.

The economies of these two Caspian countries are heavily reliant on hard currency revenues from oil exports. They’ll want to keep oil production at a maximum.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

After seven year delay, Georgia restarts skyscraper project

TBILISI, OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Construction work on two twisting skyscrapers that will dominate the Tbilisi skyline restarted after a seven year lull, a symbolic act of confidence in Georgia’s economic revival since a 2008 war with Russia.

At 41-storeys , the Axis Towers will become Tbilisi’s tallest – and one of its most iconic – buildings when they are completed in 2017.

Opening the start of construction for the towers, Georgia’s President Irakli Garibashvili said the project will help boost the tourism industry in Georgia.

“The Axis Towers is a completely Georgian project,” Garibashvili added.

One of the two towers will be a five-star hotel operated by the French company Pullman, and the other tower will host residential apartments. The British company Arup would be involved in building the towers.

In February, the Georgian government and the Axis property company agreed to re-start the $83m project that was derailed by economic stagnation in Georgia after the 2008 war.

The project is funded through a joint venture between Axis and the state-owned Georgian Co-Investment Fund.

“About 1,000 people will be employed in the Axis Towers in the (construction) stage,” Mr Garibashvili according to comments on his website.

“Once it’s built several hundred people will have steady employment here.”

Georgia is witnessing a surge in prestige building projects, including the Tbilisi Sea New City development and various projects planned for the Black Sea resort of Batumi.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Aerbaijan’s imprisoned oppo leader complains

OCT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The lawyer for imprisoned Azerbaijani opposition leader Ilgar Mammadov said he had been beaten by guards in prison. The accusation piles more pressure on Azerbaijan’s human rights record. It has denied entry to researchers from Amnesty International and arrested journalists and opposition activists. Mammadov was sent to prison in 2014 for inciting riots.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)