Category Archives: Uncategorised

Armenia’s CBank shifts research unit to spa town

DILIJAN/Armenia, JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Once best known as a spa resort in the north-eastern mountains of Armenia, for the past couple of years Dilijan has also been a base for the Central Bank.

As part of a government plan to redistribute wealth around the country, the Central Bank moved 100 employees in the Central Bank’s research department and their families to this quiet, gentle mountain town of around 20,000 people.

“Central Bank’s move to Dilijan has had multiple effects,” the Armenian Central Bank chairman, Artur Javadyan, told the Bulletin on a trip to Dilijan.

“Our staff’s first concern was whether their children would have appropriate education and other facilities for permanent residence. This encouraged the Central Bank to create new and high quality infrastructures.”

It’s an ambitious project for the Central Bank to tackle. It had to build new infrastructure for its employees, such as schools, sports centres and apartment blocks, investments which have had positive drip-down effects on the local population, their shops and businesses.

And it appears to be paying off. The Central Bank employees who have moved to Dilijan, which lies in a national park, said they were enjoying the experience.

“It is great in here,” one said as birdsong floated across the air. “After a hard working day we go to play football, have some beer and rest.”

Nearby, a supermarket has experienced a boost in demand for products generated by the workers.

And Armenia’s newest financial hub — even if it is a small, embryonic one — is also a magnet for tourists interested in nature. Surrounded by forested mountains, Dilijan is famous for its natural springs which have attracted tourists from around the world.

“We’re so happy to see our city developing, where you can see the contrast of old and new,” said a Dilijan resident.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Uzbekistan to boost cargo levels

JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – As part of its ambition to become a more important transit country, Uzbekistan plans to increase the amount of cargo it moves through to Europe, media reported. A government official said that Uzbekistan wanted to increase cargo levels by 400% over the next few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Georgia’s President opposes new banking law

MAY 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili said that he opposed stripping the Central Bank of its supervisory duties over the country’s commercial banks. As reported in last week’s Bulletin, reformers suggested that these powers should be given to an independent body.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

UN criticises Azerbaijan ahead of Games

JUNE 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Games, due to start in Baku on June 12, may turn out to be more of curse for Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev than a blessing.

The Games have shone a spotlight on Azerbaijan and it is not a pretty sight, according to many Western politicians and activists.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Michael Frost, was the latest high profile figure to criticise Azerbaijan on its civil rights record.

“As preparations are in full swing for the Baku Games, the Azerbaijani authorities stepped up their efforts to harass, jail, and surveil human rights defenders, as well as ban them from travel and freeze their assets,” he said, according to the UN website.

Many of the journalists and activists arrested over the past couple of years have been sent to prison on drugs and arms related charges. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been chased out of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani officials dismissed Mr Frost’s statement as part of the anti-Azerbaijan narrative that has been put forward over the last few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Kyrgyzstan bans RHD cars

JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A law in Kyrgyzstan banning the import, registration and maintenance of righthand-drive cars came into force. The bill was signed into law earlier this year. Traffic experts in Kyrgyzstan have said that righthand drive cars are involved in more accidents than lefthand drive cars.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Azerbaijan looking for plant investor

JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is looking for foreign partners to invest in the $16.5b oil, gas and petrochemicals processing plant it plans to build near Baku, a senior executive at the plant told Reuters. Azerbaijan has delayed completing the plant because of a lack of funds.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Kazakhstan to boost petrol production

JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan plans to produce the higher grade AI-92 and AI-95 petrol at a refinery in the north of the country, media reported quoting the Kazakh Development Bank. Kazakhstan has a shortage of refined oil products.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Kazakhstan looks for Caspian Sea oil partners

JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Seemingly undeterred by the fall in global oil prices over the past 12 months, Kazakhstan announced a new project to explore the Caspian Sea for more oil and gas deposits that it may be able to tap into.

Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s energy minister was talking to the Kazakh parliament when he made the announcement.

“Based on studies by international experts, the Caspian Depression is estimated to hold giant hydrocarbon reserves of some 60 billion tonnes of oil. This is why we are starting to implement the Eurasia project with the use of innovative geological technologies,” he said.

“Five of the world’s leading oil and gas companies have displayed interest in this project and we are now forming a consortium.”

If, though, Mr Shkolnik was high on grand gestures, he was weaker on the detail.

Mr Shkolnik may have said that five international companies were looking at joining the Kazakh government in a consortium, but he didn’t say which ones. Currently, with oil prices hovering per barrel, down from around $100 in the summer, exploring the Caspian Sea may not be an enticing prospect.

And there is also the small matter of Kashagan too. Kazakhstan and its partners have poured billions of dollars into this Caspian Sea oil field and yet it is still to produce significant quantities of oil.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Georgia-Russia flights rise

JUNE 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of people travelling by air directly between Tbilisi and Moscow has risen by 65%, Georgia’s government said. Georgia and Russia have only recently re-started direct flights between the countries. The data shows just how important an air-link is between the two capitals for trade and tourism.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Electricity prices to rise in Amenia

June 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Electricity prices in Armenia will increase, media quoted Robert Nazaryan, chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission, as saying, ending months of indecision. This will be the third electricity price rise in two years and triggered street protests.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)