JUNE 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — US Vice-President Mike Pence will visit Georgia in July, the White House said in a statement, a clear signal of support for Georgia. Mr Pence’s visit will be the most high-profile visit from a US politician since Joe Biden’s visit in 2009 when he was Vice-President. George W. Bush visited Tbilisi in 2005 when he was President.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh company AllurGroup has started shipping cars to Dushanbe to form a fleet of taxis for the Tajik capital. The $600,000 deal for 55 Chinese-designed JAC S3s is important as it will keep jobs at the Kostanai-based SaryarkaAvtoProm. The Kazakh car making sector has been under pressure in the current economic downturn.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — The interior ministers of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan met for the first time in 19 years during a CIS meeting of interior ministers in Dushanbe. The meeting highlights just how far Uzbekistan has moved towards improving its relations with its neighbours since Shavkat Mirziyoyev become president in September 2016. His predecessor Islam Karimov had pushed to isolate Uzbekistan, eschewing regional meetings. Relations with Tajikistan had been particularly strained over plans to build a new dam.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 28 2017 (The Bulletin) — The Almaty-based Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has loaned Yerevan-based Ardshinbank $20m for a three-year period, media reported. Specifically, the loan is to facilitate import-export deals among member states of the EDB. As well as Armenia, these are Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Tajikistan. Other than Tajikistan, they are all members of the Kremlin-lead Eurasian Economic Union.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 28 2017 (The Bulletin) — Government spending on infrastructure projects and private sector development have given the Georgian economy a boost and means that it could surpass expectations of GDP growth of 4% this year, economy minister Giorgi Gakharia said in an interview with Reuters. This is important because of all the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Georgia’s appears to be recovering the fastest from a downturn triggered by a drop in oil prices that hit Russia, the regional economic driver.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 27 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan will increase imports of gas condensate from neighbouring Turkmenistan to feed its new refinery at Bukhara, media reported quoting state-owned Turkmengas. There have been no public announcements on an increase in gas to Uzbekistan and no numbers have been released on how much gas will be sent to Uzbekistan from Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan has been looking to broaden its gas purchasing clients.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 27 2017 (The Bulletin) — Korea’s LG International and Coca- Cola will be the main sponsors for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) to be held in Ashgabat in September, a sports media website reported. AIMAG is seen by Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as an important prestige occasion and is the first major international sports event that Turkmenistan has hosted.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 26 2017 (The Bulletin) — Georgian prosecutors have opened a case described as “unlawful imprisonment” over the abduction of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli from Tbilisi in May, media reported. It reported that investigators have asked Azerbaijan for access to Mr Mukhtarli who has resurfaced in Azerbaijani custody. Azerbaijani prosecutors have charged Mr Mukhtarli with crossing the border into Georgia illegally.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 27 2017 (The Bulletin) — Armenia will complete electricity transmissions lines to Iran and Georgia by the end of 2019, media reported quoting the deputy minister of energy, Hayk Harutyunyan. This is important because one of Armenia’s key export potentials is electricity. It operates the only nuclear power station in the region and has export capacity.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 26 2017 (The Bulletin) — Armenia has accepted around 30,000 refugees from Syria, the Economist newspaper reported in a story about how they have adapted to life in what many had regarded as the Motherland. Syria had been home to around 90,000 ethnic Armenians before a civil war broke out in 2011.
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Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)