JUNE 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officials in Azerbaijan are considering increasing the electricity tariff to a more equitable market rate, media reported. Electricity across the former Soviet Union is generally subsidised although governments are reducing this, much to the irritation of ordinary people.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Oleg Smolyakov, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s Central Bank, said a change of monetary policy to target inflation instead of a stable exchange rate would not be possible within the next couple of years, the first sign of a row back on the high- profile strategy.
The potential row-back will disappoint businesses and international observers who have urged the Kazakh Central Bank to allow its tenge currency to float more freely.
“We believe that we cannot afford switching to inflation targeting within a time range of one to two years,” media quoted Mr Smolyakov as saying.
This is a departure from the bullish declaration by Central Bank chief Kairat Kelimbetov who said Kazakhstan would liberalise its currency market.
According to Mr Smolyakov, Kazakhstan needs more tools to switch from the current currency corridor to targeting inflation. A sharp fall in the value of the Russian rouble since last summer has pressured currencies and economies across the region.
Also, seemingly eager to smooth public concerns over a volatile currency, Mr Smolyakov said the Kazakh tenge would remain stable with oil prices over $50 per barrel.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – New York-based ContourGlobal bought Armenia’s largest hydro-electric complex for $250m, media reported, the first major investment by a Western company in the Armenian energy sector. Russian companies dominate Armenia’s power generation sector.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s oil shipments via the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline increased 40% in the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2014, media reported quoting the state energy company. The increased oil flow through Russia is scheduled.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kazakh agricultural equipment manufacturer is in negotiations with a Turkish company to buy the licence to manufacture its armoured vehicles. Kazakhstan has previously said that it wants to improve and strengthen its defence sector manufacturing base.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif flew to Dushanbe for talks with Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon, his first visit to Tajikistan since the neighbours agreed an electricity supply deal earlier this year.
At this meeting the two leaders agreed to speed up building the infrastructure needed for Tajikistan to send electricity generated from its hydropower stations to Pakistan under the CASA-1000 deal.
Importantly they agreed to improve communication and links.
This is important. International organisations as well as Western states have supported the CASA-1000 deal. They want electricity sent to Pakistan improved as well as cash flowing into Tajikistan’s economy.
They also want to encourage deeper relations between countries, including between Tajikistan and Pakistan.
JUNE 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s GDP was 6.9% higher at the end of May than it was a year earlier, the Kyrgyz national statistics office said. The main driver of this growth was the Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial project.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan ordered the OSCE to close its office in Baku and barred Amnesty from visiting the city, triggering fresh criticism of its civil rights record shortly before President Ilham Aliyev opens the inaugural European Games.
Azerbaijan and the West have been locked in an acrimonious row over civil rights which has threatened to damage their fragile relationship.
Now the OSCE, as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is more commonly known, said that the Azerbaijani authorities had ordered it to close its Baku office.
“The government of Azerbaijan has notified the OSCE of its intention to close the organisation’s office in Baku,” AFP quoted the spokesman for the OSCE Baku office, Rashad Huseynov, as saying.
This takes relations between Europe and Azerbaijan to a new low. Among other roles, the OSCE is Europe’s democracy watchdog. It evaluates elections against European democratic standards.
Azerbaijan already has form, though. At the end of last year it raided and closed the office of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
London-based Amnesty also said it had cancelled a trip to Baku after the Azerbaijani authorities said that its delegation was not welcome to visit until after the European Games.
It’s a delicate relationship between Europe and Azerbaijan. While it may not like Azerbaijan’s attitude towards dissenters, Europe wants to buy its gas.
For Mr Aliyev, these are frustrating times.
He wants to increase the profile of Azerbaijan through sport and had hoped that the European Games, set to open on June 12, would act as the perfect launch.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
MAY 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with TV channel Russia-24, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev said fears that China has excessive influence over Kazakhstan were unfounded. Mr Nazarbayev also said Kazakhstan and China were about to sign more bilateral deals. China has extended its foothold across Central Asia in the last decade.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s deputy economy minister, Garegin Melkonyan, said that although Armenia was a member of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union, it wanted a deal with the EU that was as close as possible to an Association Agreement.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)