OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev met in Astana at the Kazakhstan-Russia Business Forum and signed several bilateral agreements worth $4b. Both parties said they want to boost trade ties. No specific details of the deals were released.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Anaklia Development Consortium started construction at the $2.5b Anaklia Deep Sea Port, just north of Poti, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Georgia’s PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the port will be complete by 2020. TBC Holding and US-based Conti are part of the consortium. Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of TBC Bank, owns TBC Holding.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
ALMATY, OCT. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan-focused copper producer Central Asia Metals reported a 38% growth in production in Q3 2016 compared to the same period last year, because of the expansion of its Kounrad project near Lake Balkhash.
The company, listed in London, said it could potentially surpass its goal of producing 14,000 tonnes of copper this year. In the first nine months of the year, it produced 11,010 tonnes of copper cathode, up 31% compared to last year.
The news sent its shares up 3.6% to 181.75p, its highest level since April. The depreciation of the Kazakh tenge after the Central Bank ditched the peg to the US dollar in August 2015 also helped the company cut production costs which should help its full-year results.
“As a result of the devaluation of the tenge as well as some engineering cost savings, we remain confident that we can complete this capex programme approximately 25% below our initial budget of $19.5m,” chairman Nick Clarke said.
Central Asia Metals mainly exports its copper products to Turkey. Its exposure to other markets is limited.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s Statistics Committee said that trade turnover improved during the first eight months of the year, compared to last year. Exports increased by 19% to $1.1b, while imports decreased by 2% to just below $2b, reducing the country’s trade deficit. Trade with CIS countries increased, while it remained flat with EU countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
BISHKEK, OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has made conditions worse for Kyrgyz businesses, economy minister Arzybek Kozhoshev said in some of the harshest criticism so far levelled at the Kremlin-focused project.
Kyrgyzstan joined the EEU last August but has always been a reluctant partner — the other partners are Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Belarus — with businesses speaking out about the extra red tape and the risk of damaging important trade relations with China.
Now Mr Kozhoshev said that data showed extent of the damage.
“The first year in the EEU has not shown any positive results yet. Some economic indexes have worsened and export volumes have dropped,” Mr Kozhoshev said at a business forum.
“Textile exports dropped by 21.5% in the first half of the year compared to last year. Dairy products exports also fell by 24% in the same period. Our trade partners have created artificial barriers for our manufacturers.”
Kyrgyzstan’s economy has been under pressure, much like the rest of the region, but Mr Kozhoshev’s message was clear. Much of the problem, he said, was down to the EEU.
Coincidentally the two main architects of the EEU, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, were meeting in Astana for a Kazakhstan- Russia Business Forum. They had a very different take on the EEU.
During the session, Mr Nazarbayev lauded the EEU and encouraged all ministers to recount a positive story about the bloc.
“The Eurasian Economic Union is a key element in the revival of the Great Silk Road,” he was quoted by media as saying.
Some analysts in the West have said the driving force, and the Kremlin’s main aim, behind the EEU was political rather than economic.
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(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)
SEPT. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Abdulaziz Kamilov, Uzbekistan’s foreign minister, paid an official visit to Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon in Dushanbe in an effort to boost cooperation. Mr Kamilov and Mr Rakhmon held talks on joint efforts to combat terrorism and on water and energy issues that still divide the two countries. Uzbekistan has maintained strong opposition against Tajikistan’s decision to build a major dam and hydropower plant because it would affect downstream water supply.
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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)
SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s Central Election Commission registered all four parties’ candidates for the upcoming presidential election of Dec. 4. Acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev of the ruling UzLiDeP is the favourite. The People’s Democratic Party’s candidate Khatamzhon Ketmonov and the Social Democratic Party’s candidate Nariman Umarov both participated in a presidential election last year, pulling in less than 3% of the votes each.
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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)
SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EBRD said it may withhold funds for a pipeline linking gas fields in the Caspian Sea to consumers in Europe until Azerbaijan agreed to provide more transparency into its state linked energy companies.
Taking a tough stance, the EBRD, a London-based intra-governmental bank set up during the collapse of the Soviet Union to fund business and infrastructure projects, said unless Azerbaijan complied with the Extrac- tive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), it would withhold $1.5b ear- marked for the TANAP pipeline.
The EBRD’s stance casts fresh doubts over the Azerbaijani leadership’s commitment to transparency into its business dealings.
Riccardo Puliti, the EBRD’s managing director for energy, said that EITI, considered a global benchmark for transparency in the extractive sectors, would consider whether Azerbaijan had made progress at its next meeting in Kazakhstan in October.
“In the case of TANAP, it is important that this progress takes place. If there is no progress it will be quite difficult to justify a large amount of financing,” he told Turkish media.
Last year, the EITI downgraded Azerbaijan from ‘compliant’ to ‘candidate’ country and criticised it for a lack of transparency.
TANAP will link Azerbaijan’s pipe- line network to Greece via Turkey, forming part of the Southern Gas Corridor. SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state- owned energy company, owns a 58% stake in TANAP, Turkey’s Botas (30%) and BP (12%) own the rest. TANAP will link with TAP which will pump the gas to Italy.
Azerbaijan has yet to react to the EBRD’s statement.
Aliya Tskhay, a researcher focus- ing on Azerbaijan at the University of St Andrews said that the EBRD may have been trying to encourage Azerbaijan to engage more closely with the EITI.
“The EBRD request seems to be an encouragement for Azerbaijan’s government to still be part of the EITI, despite a status downgrade last year,” she said.
TANAP will cost $10b to build, while TAP has a price tag of around $5b.
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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)
SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s national telecoms operator Kazakhtelecom said in a financial statement that its operating profit grew 13.2% in H1 2016, compared to the same period last year. Revenues increased by 4.9%, mainly due to higher prices for its telecoms networks that it rents out to other companies. The merger of Altel, part of Kazakhtelecom, and Tele2 helped overall profits, which more than doubled in the first six months of the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)
SEPT. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Security Services of South Ossetia, the breakaway region of Georgia, arrested a Tajik man, Umarjon Ismonov, for allegedly attempting to recruit Central Asian migrant workers into the ranks of the IS extremist organisation, Russian media reported. In recent years, the Caucasian mountain range has become a fertile recruiting ground for extremist Islamic organisations.
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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)