APRIL 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Tehran to meet with President Hassan Rouhani sign deals worth around $1b, giving Kazakhstan-Iran economic ties a major boost. Kazakhstan has been forthright at trying to boost economic ties with Iran since sanctions were relaxed earlier this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)
APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Coal production in Kazakhstan could shrink by as much as 20% by 2040, Bolat Akchulakov, president of Kazenergy, an industry lobby group, said. Kazakhstan relies on coal for 66% of its energy consumption. A number of coal fired power plants are currently being phased out both in Kazakhstan and in Russia, the main destination of Kazakhstan’s coal exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tajikistan sentenced Alisher Nazarov, nephew of former deputy defence minister Abdukhalim Nazarzoda to 3-1/2 years in prison, in what marks the beginning of a series of trials of people accused of a coup attempt last September. Nazarzoda, who allegedly led the armed insurrection, was reportedly killed on Sept. 15 by the Tajik army. The apparent coup attempt lead to a crackdown on Islamists across the country and a ban on supporting religious parties.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Italian Foreign Ministry dismissed a claim that the alleged new embassy of South Ossetia in Rome has any official status. Earlier, the Kremlin-backed Sputnik news agency reported the imminent opening of a representative office for South Ossetia in Rome. The Italian ministry said its official position “is to refuse recognition of the independence and sovereignty of South Ossetia.” Only Russia and a handful of countries looking to curry favour with the Kremlin have followed this lead and recognised South Ossetia as an independent country.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR will receive a loan of around $260m from the International Bank of Azerbaijan this year for the modernisation of the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery near Baku, Suleyman Gasimov, SOCAR’s vice president told local media. Last October, SOCAR and IBA agreed to a $1.6b loan that IBA would extend in several periodical tranches.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot said it is introducing an eight weekly link to Tashkent, a modification of its earlier summer schedule. The new flights will start on June 2, every Thursday from Moscow Sheremetyevo.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan-focused miner Central Asia Metals said copper production at its Kounrad project stood at 3,207 tonnes in the first quarter of the year. This is a 36.5% increase compared to the same period last year. The company said this increase was due to the completion of the first expansion of the SX-EW plant last spring.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the past few months, impatience has been the most common sentiment in Georgia’s political circles.
There was a change of PM at the end of last year, then the Republican Party announced it would run separately at the next election and now the once-loyal National Forum party withdrew from the government coalition.
But the most impatient move appears to have been played by President Giorgi Margvelashvili and PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili who announced the date for the autumn parliamentary elections for Oct. 8.
By convention, elections in Georgia are held in October, the government needs to give just two months of notice. Setting it up six months in advance was unnecessary. Unless, that is, the aim was to kick off electioneering early.
Voters and fellow coalition members are losing confidence in Georgian Dream. By setting the election date now, it might fancy it has more of a chance of persuading a sceptical public that it needs second term in power. It certainly has the deep pockets of Georgian billionaire, former PM and Georgian Dream financier to lean upon.
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(Editorial from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Automotive holding Allur Auto and Alatau Invest Capital agreed to form a partnership to expand the Kostanai car assembly plant and to create a national brand for Kazakh cars. Alatau is a new financial group owned by the eldest nephew of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kairat Satybaldy. Earlier in February, the company signed an agreement with Kaspi Bank and Baring Vostok to invest in the IT and financial sectors.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)
APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Central Asia Metals continued to rally this week in London, establishing a steady positive trend since an all-time low of 124 pence in mid-January.
Its stock price closed at 171p on Thursday, up over a third for the week.
The company is also preparing for the presentation of the yearly results next Monday, which analysts expect to be positive.
“Central Asia Metals operates at a high margin and is thus less affected by low copper prices,” Martin Potts, mining analyst at FinnCap told The Bulletin. “It is an established business in Kazakhstan and it has already repaid all the money it has raised to its shareholders, something unique in this sector.”
In our chart above, we tracked just how closely Central Asia Metals shares and copper have been linked, but it is also possible to note a recent “decoupling” of the two since mid-March.
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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)