Category Archives: Uncategorised

Heavy rain floods Azerbaijani capital for the second time this year

BAKU, OCT. 17/18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Heavy rainfall flooded parts of Baku forcing dozens of people to flee their homes and triggering a round of grumbling by locals about a lack of investment into essential infrastructure.

This is important because the popularity of Azerbaijan’s government has fallen sharply over the last couple of years with a drop in living standards linked to a devaluation in the local currency and a squeeze in GDP levels. Earlier this year, virtually unprecedented protests against a drop in living standards swept across a handful of towns in rural Azerbaijan.

This was the second major flood in Baku this year. The ministry of ecology described a flood in September as the worst for 36 years.

Reaction from Baku residents showed the levels of frustration felt by people. Aygun, a 28-year old teacher, said the government should start improving infrastructure in Baku and its environs.

“In the villages around Baku, the roads are all unpaved. So even after a day of rain, we get stuck in the mud,” she said.

And Emin, a 33-year-old consultant, agreed. He blamed corruption and mismanagement for the flooding.

“If they are going to build a new sewage system, they will need millions of manat,” he said. “But I’m not sure they have the money now when the oil prices are down. I don’t even know if they have the will.” He also referenced a cartoon on social media which showed the mayor of Baku, Hajibala Abutalibov, sitting and calmly ignoring the rain.

“I think the message is that it’s always ordinary people who suffer, never the authorities,” Emin said. “And that’s the reality.”

The government declined to comment but a spokesman for Azersu, Azerbaijan’s water operator, said the city’s sewage system needed updating.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Tajikistan increases trade with China

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan increased its trade with China by 32% in the first nine months of the year, its statistics agency said, highlighting its increased dependency on its near neighbour. Data said that Tajikistan-China trade turnover in this period was $700m, compared to Tajikistan-Russia trade turnover of $764m, which was down by 9.3%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Trump marred in property scandal with Kazakhs

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Financial Times published a story connecting US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, through a series of property deals, to a Kazakh family accused of money laundering.

In the story, the FT said Mr Trump was involved in a a 2006 property deal with Trump Towers Soho in New York and a company called Bayrock, linked to Viktor Khrapunov.

Mr Khrapunov is a former mayor of Almaty, who is now exiled in Switzerland. Earlier this year, prosecutors in Kazakhstan said they wanted Mr Khrapunov sent back to Kazakhstan to face charges of money laundering. Mr Kharpunov has said he is being hounded because of his opposition to President Nurtulan Nazarbayev.

Neither Mr Trump nor Mr Khrapunov have commented on the FT story.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

High-profile trial takes place in Kazakhstan

OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The trial of a group of 29 men who attacked various targets including a police outpost and killed eight people in June started in Aktobe, in the western Mangistau region, under intense security. The men are accused of having links to radical Islam. The authorities in Kazakhstan have grown increasingly wary of radical Islam.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Uzbek officials sentence islamists

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in the Ferghana Valley,east Uzbekistan, sentenced five men to up to nine years in prison for setting up an extremist Islamic cell, media reported. Uzbekistan and other countries in Central Asia have been cracking down on radical Islam although human rights groups have said these crack downs are being used as a pretext for curbing basic rights. Reports said that the group was trying to spread extremist propaganda and that they planned to overthrow the government. No more details were given.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Tajikistan starts military exercises with China

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan and China start joint military exercises on the Tajik-Afghan border. The exercises come a month after China announced that it was going to build a network of border posts along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border. It is increasingly worried about security along the southern fringe of Central Asia. In August a suicide bomber attacked the Chinese embassy in Bishkek.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Georgia joins EU’s Energy Community

TBILISI, OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian energy minister Ilia Eloshvili signed a deal for Georgia to join Europe’s Energy Community, meaning that it will now impose various EU rules and regulations over its electricity and gas networks.

For Georgia, joining the Energy Community is another step towards integrating its economy, and in this case energy network, more closely with the EU.

Earlier this year it entered into an Association Agreement with the EU which will make it easier to sell goods in Europe and this month EU members states said that Georgia should receive visa-free access to the Schengen zone.

At the signing ceremony in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina, Mr Eloshvili was clear about Georgia’s overall intentions.

“By receiving the status of the contracting party, we plan to embark on the implementation of new round of reforms for approximating Georgia’s energy sector with the European Union energy market rules,” media quoted him as saying.

Georgia had said in February that it wanted to join the Energy Community. Along with EU member states, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine are members of the Energy Community.

Georgia is expected to become a member next year after its parliament ratifies the deal and Dominique Ristori, director general for Energy at the European Commission said it would give the project momentum.

“With yet another new country joining the Energy Community family, this framework for the creation of a pan-European energy system is once again showing that it is relevant and successful,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakh President returns back to work

OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh president returned to work after three days off because he had apparently caught a cold, his press office said. Part of Mr Nazarbayev’s image is his fitness and virility and it is rare for him to admit to taking any time off work. The cold apparently caused Mr Nazarbayev to skip a meeting of the FSU-focused CSTO group in Yerevan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Cotton exports rise in Uzbekistan

OCT. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At its annual cotton fair, Uzbekistan reportedly signed deals to export finished cotton worth $1.3m, up from $800m in 2015, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Cotton is one of Uzbekistan’s most important exports. Many Western brands refuse to use Uzbek cotton in their garments because of its association with child labour.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Gerogia TBC Bank completes buyout of rival

TBILISI, OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s TBC Bank completed the takeover of Bank Republic, making it the biggest bank in the country in terms of loans.

At the same time, the Georgian Central Bank suspended the licence of Progress Bank, linked to former energy minister Kakha Kaladze and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, suggesting that a deal for TBC Bank to buy it was about to go through.

TBC had bought most of Bank Republic last month from Societe Generale for 315m lari ($136m) but still had to buy the final 6.4% from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, TBC Bank CEO, enthused about the future. “We believe the acquisition of Bank Republic is a critical step in delivering on TBC Bank’s strategy and represents a major step forward

in TBC Bank’s ambition to build the leading banking group in Georgia and the broader Caucasus region,” he was quoted by media as saying.

Importantly, the deals shift TBC Bank from having a 5.3% share of the deposits market to a 34.5% share.

Georgia’s banking sector is generally considered the most advanced in the South Caucasus. Bank of Georgia, TBC’s rival, is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)