JUNE 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a new report on malnutrition and food security, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation highlighted several areas of concern in Azerbaijan. These included stunted growth for under 5-year-olds because of poor diet and anaemia among pregnant women.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia restored a rule which gave citizens of more than 100 countries the right to reside in the country for a year. Last year parliament scrapped the one year visa-free stay and imposed a 90 day limit. This was deemed a mistake.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Prices manufacturers in Georgia are paying to produce their goods are rising at the fastest rate since 2011, the national statistics agency said, sparking concern that underlying inflation may also be accelerating.
Georgia’s Central Bank has said it wants to fight off the effects of regional economic turmoil and the falling value of its lari currency and keep inflation under control.
But Geostat, the Georgian statistics agency, said its Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 0.8% in May from April, registering an increase of 9% from May 2014.
“Manufacturing prices increased 11.1% contributing 9.05 percentage points to the overall index growth,” Geostat said of the PPI growth rate figures.
“The prices mainly increased for manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco products (16.9%), manufacture of paper and publishing (30.4%) and manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products (4.0%).”
The 9% year-on-year increase in May was the highest inflation in prices paid by producers since 2011 when the economies were recovering from the 2008/9 global financial crisis and price inflation was a major concern. Now inflation, triggered by a falling lari, is once again a headache that the Central Bank has to confront.
The lari has lost around 20% of its value this year. The Georgian Central Bank has been putting up interest rates to try to strengthen its currency and dampen inflationary pressures.
Geostat’s Consumer Price Index measured a jump in inflation of 0.6% in May, measuring a rise to 3.5% of year-on-year inflation, its highest since September 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Taliban released four Tajik soldiers it had captured in December in a deal brokered by Qatar.
Tajikistan’s National Security Committee confirmed the release of the soldiers but neither it nor the Qatari mediation team gave any details on what sort of deal had been struck.
According to Taliban sources, quoted by various media, the release of the border guards was achieved because of “good neighbour relations”.
The Taliban, however, remain a chief national security problem for Tajikistan. General Rajabali Rakhmonali told a press briefing that 1,500 Islamic militants were massing near the border of Afghanistan. Tajikistan has warned previously of a Taliban attack.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
YEREVAN/ARMENIA, JUNE 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Liana Pakhdigian, 32, was pregnant when she arrived with her husband in Yerevan from Aleppo, Syria, with just one piece of luggage three years ago.
They intended to stay for a fortnight but it has, instead, become their new home.
“War was worsening in Aleppo, forcing us to settle in Yerevan. We didn’t have enough money, shelter or even clothing. So we hired an apartment and intensively searched for a job,” she said.
They left behind their home in Aleppo as well as a furniture manufacturing business.
“We lost everything we had earned in our lives. But what is important is that we’re alive, healthy and looking forward,” the again pregnant Liana said.
She smiled but the tears welling in her eyes betrayed her sadness.
As the war in Syria has worsened, so the number of ethnic Armenians fleeing has increased. Armenians have, generally, been accepting. Armenia’s Ministry of Diaspora now estimates that
it has taken in 12,000 Armenians from Syria since the start of the conflict, most from Aleppo, which was home to more than 80% of Syria’s 100,000 Armenians.
Despite some grumbling, the refugees have generally integrated well. They speak the same language, are the same Orthodox religion and have many of the same customs.
And they are happy to be out of Syria. Gevorg Yepremian, 41, moved to Armenia from Syria 2-1/2 years ago with his wife and two children.
“My salary here is very low and life conditions are far from those in Syria where I have my own home,” he said. “But my children feel good here and they play with many toys. Also, there is no shooting in the streets.”
Then, rather wistfully, more in hope than expectation, he said: “If things improve in Syria I think we’ll go back.”
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia faces a chronic shortage of electricity within three to four years unless it brings online extra generating capacity, the World Bank said in a report.
Power generation in Armenia is particularly controversial as it involves the Metsamor nuclear power station outside Yerevan.
Metsamor, built in the 1970s, generates around 40% of Armenia’s power but is considered a danger by the European Union because of its aging technology and location in an earthquake-prone zone. It has recommended that the power station is closed down although Armenia earlier this year elected to bring a Russian company in to extend the lifespan of the power station.
Lora Bailly, head of the World Bank office in Yerevan, said that even with Metsamor generating power, Armenia still faced a problem.
“Our analysis suggests that in the near future Armenia will need additional capacity to avoid power shortages. It is very important in three to four years to put into operation a new thermal power unit,” she said at a press conference in Yerevan.
And next year the Armenian government plans to close the Metsamor power station for six months for repairs.
Ms Bailly said that Armenia could supplement its current power generation with thermal power.
This month electricity shortages have been in focus in Armenia. The state regulators have just approved a 17% increase in electricity prices, the third rise in two years, irritating many Armenians. Opposition groups have promised protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a lavish ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev opened the inaugural European Games.
The focal point of the $95m opening ceremony celebrations was a haunting rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine by Mr Aliyev hosted a handful of global leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The leaders of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Serbia also attended.
And the glitz and the glamour couldn’t displace all the criticism of Azerbaijan and its record on human rights over the past few years.
Irish band U2 used a concert in Montreal to call for the release of a number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. In a strongly worded statement, Rupert Colville, the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights, heavily criticised Mr Aliyev and the authorities in Azerbaijan.
“These cases are indicative of a shrinking democratic space in Azerbaijan,” he said.
The Games themselves haven’t been without controversy either. Police arrested a bus driver who ploughed his coach into a group of Austrian swimmers walking on a pavement in the Olympic village and a partisan Azerbaijani crowd booed Armenian athletes at the Opening Ceremony.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are still officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan will only see the benefits of its membership of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union in 2017, media quoted economy minister Oleg Pankratov as saying. He said inflation will initially soar in Kyrgyzstan once it joins the economic group.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Oil production in Azerbaijan fell slightly in the first five months of the year to 17.6m tonnes compared to 17.7m tonnes during the same period in 2014, an official at the national statistics agency told Reuters.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Trade between Russia and Uzbekistan has dropped slightly last year because of the worsening economic conditions, Vladimir Tyurdenev, the Russian ambassador in Tashkent, told media. Mr Tyurdenev’s comments are a rare admission by an official that the downturn in Russia’s economy has hit Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)