Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kazakhstan’s Air Astana delays Iran flight

MAY 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s flagship carrier Air Astana said it has postponed the launch of its new route to Iran by a month. The company did not give an explanation on why it had delayed the launch of the route, which had been a much heralded link to Iran. Kazakhstan has been keen to welcome Iran back into the international community since the lifting of most sanctions earlier this year. Flights linking Almaty and Tehran should now start on June 30.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

WB approves loan for Armenian power companies

APRIL 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank approved a $30m loan to aid Armenia’s troubled power sector. The aim of the project is to give credit to state- owned power generation companies which have been losing money and rung up millions of dollars in debt. The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) has accumulated a deficit of $104m. Power generation, and how to pay for electricity, are sensitive subjects in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Taliban threatens Uzbekistan

MAY 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Taliban forces attacked a border post in Afghanistan in the Kaldar district just a few kilometres south of the border with Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government has long feared a spillover of fighting between Taliban or other rebel forces and Afghanistan’s army into its southern regions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Uzbek Police arrest GM Uzbekistan director

MAY 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek police arrested Tokhirzhon Zhalilov, described by media as the managing director of GM Uzbekistan, and accused him of faking exports to Russia.

Mr Zhalilov, together with other officials, allegedly masterminded a scheme to send cars booked for export to Russia to Shymkent, a city in Kazakhstan near the border with Uzbekistan. Instead of being shipped on to Russia, these cars were sent back to Uzbekistan and re-sold. This, according to sources at Uzbekistan’s state-owned car-maker quoted by the Uzbek service of RFE/RL, allowed Mr Zhalilov to amass illicit funds, which he then hid offshore.

The Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta said that, despite promises made earlier this year, GM Uzbekistan had failed to deliver shipments of its new Ravon model by the end of April.

So far, only the US-funded RFE/RL and Rossiyskaya Gazeta have reported the alleged arrest. Uzbekistan’s prosecutor, also, has not confirmed Mr Zhalilov’s arrest.

GM Uzbekistan is a joint venture between US-based GM and state ownedUzavtosanoat.

It is one of the largest car producers in Central Asia and one of Uzbekistan’s largest industrial units.

It mainly exports to Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Telenor official quits after Uzbek bribery investigation

MAY 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Norwegian telecoms company Telenor said its CFO Richard Olav Aa and General Counsel Pal Wien Espen resigned after an internal investigation on alleged corruption at VimpelCom — of which Telenor owns 33% — in Uzbekistan. The investigation concluded that although there had not been any corruption within Telenor, weak structures within the company had allowed corruption within VimpelCom to exist. In February, VimpelCom admitted to paying $115m in bribes to officials in Uzbekistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Kazakhstan bans Kyrgyz potato

MAY 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s ministry of agriculture said it has banned imports of potatoes from Kyrgyzstan following an outbreak of Globodera rostochiensis, a pest that the Kazakh authorities found in several imported shipments. The Kazakh government sent back around 1,000 tonnes of potatoes to Kyrgyzstan citing international trade agreements between the two countries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Turkmen president performs Hajj

MAY 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov completed a visit to Saudi Arabia, where he performed the Hajj to Medina and Mecca. In Saudi Arabia, Mr Berdymukhamedov spoke to the head of Islamic Development Bank, Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al-Madani, about potential investments in Turkmenistan’s infrastructure projects.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

UNM MP quits 5 months from Georgia election

MAY 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Five months before a parliamentary election, Georgian MP Giorgi Vashadze quit the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party because of what he described as its “closed” leadership style.

Mr Vashadze said he planned to set up his own political party in a move that may draw some support away from the UNM in what is expected to be a tight election battle with the ruling Georgian Dream coalition in October.

“People waited for new initiatives from the UNM, but this has been in vain,” Mr Vashadze told local media.

The UNM had excluded Mr Vashadze from its top ten list of candidates for the election in October. His former colleagues in the UNM accused him of being self-interested.

“Vashadze’s ambition was to be in the top ten of the party list. This was voted down. Quitting the party because of that reason is completely irresponsible,” Sergo Ratiani, MP and UNM’s secretary general, said.

Even so the row will hurt the UNM which is trying to position itself as a government in waiting ahead of the election. It lost power to the Georgian coalition in an election in 2012, having governed Georgia for eight years.

In late April, a poll sponsored by the local branch of the US-funded International Republican Institute showed just how close the election is likely to be. It said that the Georgian Dream party was still the most popular party with support at around

19%. The UNM came in second with 18%, but the surprise was the 12% support for for the Georgian Development Foundation, a movement founded by opera singer Paata Burchuladze.

Around 25% of the people polled, though, said they were either undecided on who they would for or wouldn’t vote at all, setting the scene for what analysts have said will be a close, hard-fought, election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Stock market: Centerra gold

MAY 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Centerra Gold shares rebounded 5% to 6.93 Canadian dollars last Friday after the regulator of the Toronto Stock Exchange briefly halted trading the day before, when news came through of a police raid at the office of a Centerra- owned company in Kyrgyzstan.

The stock continued to float around 7 Canadian dollars, settling on 7.18 yesterday, despite what could be regarded as poor quarterly results.

Centerra, though, still handed out its quarterly dividend of 0.04 Canadian dollars, in line with previous payments, which is something that other companies in the region have been dodging over the past few months if results have been lower-then-expected.

Low gold prices and slower-than-expected gold production have hit the company’s performance.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Tajik Air to fly to Beijing

APRIL 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s flagship carrier Tajik Air will start its Dushanbe-Beijing connection on May 2, a move that could boost trade ties with China. The direct flight will operate every Monday. Previously, Urumqi, in the Xinjiang region, was Tajik Air’s only Chinese destination.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 278, published on April 29 2016)