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Inflation slows in Georgia

APRIL 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Price inflation in Georgia measured 0.5% in March, Geostats said, a sharp fall from 1.7% in February. The fall pushed overall annualised inflation down slightly to 5.4% in March from 5.5% in February. The Central Bank has said it is targeting overall inflation for 2017 of around 4%. Like the rest of the region, Georgia is recovering from a sharp economic downturn linked to a recession in Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Russian Officials accuse Kyrgyz man for suicide bomb in St Petersbug

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BISHKEK, APRIL 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Scrutiny of Central Asia as a breeding ground for Islamic extremists intensified after Russian security forces named 22-year-old Akbarzhon Jalilov from Kyrgyzstan as the suicide bomber who killed at least 14 people on Monday on the St Petersburg metro.

In the 48 hours following the attack, Russian police detained six people from Central Asia who they said were recruiting for the IS extremist group. Russia is a major destination for migrant workers from Central Asia and a vital source of remittance flows.

One of the 14 people confirmed dead in the bomb attack was a Kazakh national who had been studying in St Petersburg.

In Kyrgyzstan, people were split on the implications of the St Petersburg bomb. Many people worried about a backlash against Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia.

“The terrorist act has caused damage to our country’s image. All over the world, they now write that the terrorist was from Kyrgyzstan,” Azamat, from Karakol in eastern Kyrgyzstan, said. “Now, many of our migrants in the Russian Federation will be affected by the terrorist attack. There will be daily inspections and other actions [by police].”

Jalilov, the alleged suicide bomber, was an ethnic Uzbek of Kyrgyz nationality who was brought up in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan. Media reports, though, said that he had been living in Russia for a few years and had taken Russian citizenship. Earlier this year an Uzbek man was arrested in Istanbul for killing at 39 people at a nightclub on New Year’s eve.

In 2016, security forces said 600 Kyrgyz travelled to Syria to join IS and many people in Bishkek were worried that these people were returning and spreading extreme ideology.

“Radical Islam is guilty of this bombing. Some people go abroad to receive religious education, are recruited by radicals and come back,” said Dmitry, 36.

Central Asia is the focus of a debate over whether it has become the main recruiting ground for IS.

Those that say it has, have said the mix of frustrated young men with little prospects, the rise of militant Islam and the harsh tactics used by the security forces are pushing people into the arms of extremists.

Others have said this description is overblown. Edward Lemon, a research scholar at Columbia University specialising in extremism in Central Asia, said the region is not providing IS with a flow of recruits.

“These isolated attacks do not necessarily indicate that Central Asia is becoming a hotbed of extremism. In fact, the evidence suggests a slowing of the flow of recruits to IS and al-Nusra in recent months,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Armenian PM visits Turkmenistan

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MARCH 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian PM Karen Karapetyan flew to Ashgabat for a meeting with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, his first visit to Turkmenistan since taking on the premiership in September last year. According to reports from the meeting, he pledged to boost bilateral cooperation.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Azerbaijani president approves tourism plan

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MARCH 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev approved an action plan that is designed to boost beach tourism in the country, media reported. The plan will run to 2020 and is designed to improve infrastructure for tourists wanting beach holidays along Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea coast. A sharp fall in the price of oil has forced Azerbaijan to try to diversify its revenue streams.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Hungary’s Wizz Air to fly budget flights to Kazakhstan

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ALMATY, APRIL 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air said it would open a route from Budapest to Astana, making it the first European budget airline to fly to Kazakhstan.

The first flight will take off from Budapest on June 8, the Wizz Air website said, and the starting price of a one-way ticket will be 40 euros.

The accouchement of the new route, which has been the subject of negotiations since last year, was greeted with excitement by young Kazakhs who want easier access to Europe.

“I think it is a very good news because due to our geographical location it is not that easy to reach Europe and tickets are quite expensive, especially after devaluation (of the tenge in 2015),” said Sabina Serikova, 29, communication specialist. “And now, I think, every working person and even student can afford to go to Europe.”

In a statement, Wizz Air said it would fly twice a week to Astana. It also referenced Astana’s EXPO-2017 exhibition, also opening in June, as a reason to visit the Kazakh capital.

“Connecting the capitals of Hungary and Kazakhstan, we expect this service to significantly contribute to the development of economic and business relations between the two countries and we also believe that our low fares will attract a large number of visitors to both cities stimulating tourism and hospitality industries,” the statement quoted Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi.

Wizz Air, which sees itself as a pan-Central Europe airline, is fast establishing itself as the European airline that best serves the region. It already flies to Kutaisi and Baku.

By comparison, British Airways has cut all its routes to the region over the past few years although other European airlines, Lufthansa and KLM, have retained theirs.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Kyrgyz economy is improving, says C.Bank

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MARCH 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank kept its key interest rate steady at 5%, half the level it was 12 months ago, citing an improvement in the economy and a slowdown in inflation. Importantly it said that the economy had grown in the first two months of the year and that the som currency had stabilised without the Central Bank’s interference. Currencies and economies in the Central Asia/South Caucasus region have been hit hard since 2014 by a recession in Russia and fall in oil prices.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Kazakhstan-focused oil producer posts 47% revenue fall

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APRIL 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tethys, the embattled London- listed oil producer with interests in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Georgia, said that its revenues from oil and gas sales had fallen by 47% in 2016 to $11.7m. It said that the drop was due to a fall in production and a devaluation of the tenge in the second half of 2015. Tethys sells most of its oil in Kazakhstan’s domestic market.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

First shipment from Kazakhstan arrives in Baku

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MARCH 29 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The first shipment of goods from Kazakhstan’s new Kuryk port on the Caspian Sea reached Baku on March 24, a specialist shipping website reported. The port was commissioned in 2014 when the Kazakh economy was looking stronger than it is now. Kuryk is significantly closer to Baku than Aktau, Kazakhstan’s main Caspian Sea port. The freight ship took 18 hours to reach Baku, rather than the normal 22 hours.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Turkmen president opens potash plant

MARCH 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov officially opened a $1b Belarussian-built potash plant which he hopes will help transform the country’s economy away from near total dependence on gas exports.

Commissioned in 2010 and delayed by a couple of years, the Garlyk potash plant has been held up as a shining example of a strong Belarus-Turkmenistan partnership. The plant was built by Belarussia’s Belgorkhimprom.

For Belarussia, and Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko was also at the officially opening of the plant, construction of the factory was a chance to show off its expertise and know-how. For Turkmenistan, it signalled a great push by Mr Berdymukhamedov to try to capture a slice of the lucrative fertiliser market in China and India.

At a series of meetings before and after the opening of the potash plant, Mr Berdymukhamedov and Mr Lukashenko reaffirmed trade and partnership commitments towards one another.

Mr Lukashenko also said that there had been talk of Belarus helping Turkmenistan develop its textile industries. Belarus is heavily industrialised but also retains a significant agricultural base, including one of the world’s biggest fertiliser producers.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)

Cotton sector grows in Azerbaijan

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MARCH 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In 2016, Azerbaijan’s cotton sector created 64,000 jobs, the industry fibre2fibre.com website reported. It was quoting President Ilham Aliyev who also said the industry would create another 200,000 jobs in 2017. Mr Aliyev promised to invest millions of dollars into the cotton industry last year, part of his strategy to wean the economy off oil and gas.

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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)