JUNE 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — A court in Ukraine refused to approve the extradition of Akbar Abdullaev, the nephew of former Uzbek President Islam Karimov, to face various corruption and money laundering charges because it did not think he would receive a fair trial. Instead, Mr Abdullaev was given refugee status. He was arrested in Kiev in mid-January.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 27 2017 (The Bulletin) — The ruling Georgian Dream’s decision to postpone introducing proportional representation in elections until 2024, pushed back from 2020, is a damaging precedent for the country’s democracy, 32 civil society organisations wrote in an open letter. The groups that have signed the letter include the influential Young Lawyers Association and Transparency International. The Georgian Dream signalled last week that it was going to brush aside pressure and not immediately ditch the majoritarian system during constitutional changes.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ordered officials in Tashkent to build a new airport from scratch, apparently dropping plans to build a new terminal for international flights at the current airport. The decree, did not say when the new airport would be completed or how much it would cost.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 28 2017 (The Bulletin) — A delegation of senior officials from Jehovah Witness chapters in Europe and the United States travelled to Tashkent for a meeting with the Uzbek government. Very little detail on what was discussed was released by the Uzbek government but the Jehovah Witness officials may have been complaining about an ongoing crackdown against its members.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JULY 3 2017 (The Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz Central Bank said that the economy was picking up, electing to keep interest rates steady, but Kyrgyzstan’s som currency has continued to fall. It is now trading at around 69.2/$1, its lowest since March. If its drops through the 69.4/$1 barrier it will hit its lowest value since September.
The turnaround in the currency has been startling and highlights just how vulnerable the currencies of Central Asia are to the whims of their governments. Analysts said that the recent drop in the value of the Kyrgyz som from 67.2/$1, its highest level since mid-2015, has been controlled and bears the hallmarks of a managed decline.
Analysts have warned that inflationary pressures have been built into the Kyrgyz economy. A decline in the value of a national currency is one way that inflation seeps out. The Central Bank said that inflation was now around 4.4%, a large jump from the end of last year when it was measuring deflation.
GDP growth for the first five months of the year was over 6%, outpacing expectations.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 25 2017 (The Bulletin) — Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Baku after what commentators described as a chaotic race with several crashes. Ricciardo races for the Red Bull team. This was the second F1 race in Baku, but the first called the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The first race, held in 2016, was called the European Grand Prix.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — The next round of talks in Astana focused on ending the violence in Syria have been set for July 10, media reported quoting officials. The talks are hosted by Kazakhstan but are run by Iran, Russia and Turkey. They also, importantly, include representatives from the Syrian government and also from the Syrian rebels. This will be the fourth round of talks this year in Astana focused on Syria. The Astana talks are not designed as a replacement for the Geneva peace talks which are run by the UN and are attempting to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 22 2017 (The Bulletin) — In a speech at Nazarbayev University, EBRD chairman Suma Chakrabarti said that Kazakhstan still needed to improve its various structures to help businesses. In his speech he highlighted governance as particular concern. He said that the quality and size of the civil service needed to be improved and strengthened and state-led programmes needed become more effective at increasing exports and diversifying the economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 22 2017 (The Bulletin) — Highlighting Georgia’s improving economy, Dubai-based retail company Majid Al Futtim signed a deal with Wissol Group to launch another Carrefour store in Georgia at a new shopping centre outside Batumi. Majid Al Futtim currently runs two Carrefour hyper- markets in Georgia and six super- markets. By comparison, this year Majid Al Futtim said that it was closing its only Carrefour store in Kazakhstan because the economy and market were too small. It had been only been open for 15 months.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 20 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Tajikistan have banned people under the age of 40 from travelling to Mecca this year for the Hajj, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Officials said that ban was designed to give older people the chance of completing the Hajj but analysts said it could be designed to try and prevent young people from becoming radicalised. Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries are worried about the spread of radical Islam.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)