Author Archives: Editor

Kyrgyz President drops libel case

FEB. 5 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz president Sooronbai Jeenbekov dropped a $73,500 libel suit against the 24.kg news agency for publishing a story which said that he and his brother had ties to “radical Arab organisations”. Although he wants damages, Mr Jeenbekov’s decision to drop the libel suit will play well to free speech activists who have accused Kyrgyzstan of adopting some its neighbours’ autocratic leanings. Mr Jeenbekov’s predecessor, Almazbek Atambayev, was notoriously litigious and wouldn’t baulk at bankrupting media outlets.
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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Turkish company to open bus assembly plant in Dushanbe

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JAN. 29 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkey’s AKIA buses said that it is opening an assembly plant in Dushanbe. The factory is a joint-venture between AKIA and a Tajik government company and will have a production capacity of 250-300 buses per year. There are few manufacturing plants in Tajikistan.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

China pays for Tajik section of pipeline

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DUSHANBE, JAN. 31 (The Conway Bulletin) -China is funding construction work on the Tajik section of a pipeline that should culminate in more gas being imported from Turkmenistan, media reported.

Tajik news agency Asia Plus reported that work on the fourth Central Asia-China gas pipeline had stopped until China came forward with cash for the project. It quoted Tajik deputy energy minister Jamshed Shoimzoda as saying that China was now making payments.

“Certain works are currently being carried out in the Roudaki district,” he was quoted as saying.
The pipeline is important politically as it links Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It is also important economically as it will bring in transit fees and create jobs.

Building work on the project had begun in 2014 but appeared to stall in 2015 with Uzbek officials saying that work had been suspended.

Tajikistan is hosting a 400km section of the pipeline.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Turkmenistan cute petrol subsidies; prices soar

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FEB. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan raised its prices for petrol by 50% overnight, a sharp reminder of the financial pressure that the country is under. Petrol had been heavily subsidised by the government and while the prices are still low, around 1.5 manat or nearly half a US dollar for a litre, the price increase will rankle. Last year the government also cut subsidies on utilities.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Tbilisi metro ceiling collapses

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JAN. 30 (The Conway Bulletin) – Part of a refurbished ceiling at a metro station in Tbilisi collapsed, injuring 14 people. The mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, said that the ceiling had only been repaired last year and the criminal prosecutions were possible. Tbilisi’s metro network was built in 1966 by the Soviet Union.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Russia writes off Kyrgyz debt

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BISHKEK, FEB. 6 2018 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote off $240m of debt that Kyrgyzstan owed to Russia. The debt write-off had been expected as it was agreed during a trip to Moscow last year by former Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev. Since 2013, Russia has written off Kyrgyz debt worth $500m. The debt write-offs underline just how influential Russia is over Central Asia and its various economies.

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— This story was first published on Feb. 6 2018 in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Azerbaijan opens trade office in Beijing

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FEB. 6 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan officially opened a new trade office in Beijing. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had previously said that he wants to boost sales of everything from wine to holidays to Chinese consumers. At the opening of the office, Azerbaijan’s economy minister Shahin Mustafayev said that trade between the two countries had increased by 43% in 2017.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Scat Air to fly to Vilnius

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FEB. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) – Privately-owned Kazakh airline Scat Air said it will start flying directly to VilniuS. The aviation sector in Central Asia has increased in size and reach markedly over the past few years. Scat, based out of Shymkent in the south of the country, is one of the few privately-owned airlines in the region. With KLM and British Airways dropping flights to Kazakhstan, low-cost airlines out of eastern Europe, have been increasing their services in Astana and Almaty.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Azerbaijan’s ratings upgraded

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FEB. 3 (The Conway Bulletin) – Fitch the ratings agency upgraded Azerbaijan’s credit outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ because it said that oil prices had stabilised and that the country’s macroeconomic picture had improved. Importantly it also said that it expected Azerbaijan’s currency to remain broadly unchanged over the next few years.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Azerbaijan wants more Arab tourists

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JAN. 31 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps casting admiring glances at its key trading partner Turkey, Azerbaijan said it wants to develop tourism links with Arab states.

Turkey has successfully run a series of advertising campaigns aimed at the Middle East’s growing middle classes who want to spend their disposable income, and time, holidaying along the relatively cool Turkish Black Sea coast and shopping along Istanbul’s streets.

At a signing ceremony to promote tourism in Azerbaijan, Elshan Rahimov, chairman of the Azerbaijan-Arab Countries Cooperation said that Azerbaijan was fast becoming the holiday destination of choice for many discerning Arabs looking for shopping and culture.

He said that last year the number of tourists arriving from Saudi Arabia had increased by 450%, from Oman by 740% and from the UAE by 190%.

The growth in tourism from the Gulf states is also helping to boost Georgia’s tourism to peak levels

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin