MARCH 15 2015 (The Bulletin) – Hundreds of people demonstrated in Baku against the devaluation by 33% of the manat currency last month. The size of the march was contested with its organisers saying 10,000 people attended and police saying there were a few hundred.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Unnerving its three partners, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan said he would skip a meeting of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in Astana on March 20, media reported.
His absence from the meeting has triggered questions about Armenia’s commitment to the project which it has only just joined.
The meeting between President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus is billed as an important one to navigate out of the financial crisis.
It had been postponed from March 13 to March 20. Kazakh officials initially said Mr Putin was too unwell to attend.
But Armenia — the fourth member of the economic group — has chosen not to attend. Armenia only joined the EEU, which morphed out of the Customs Union, on Jan. 1.
It has always been considered a supporter of Russia which it relies upon for economic and military support.
Armenia’s government didn’t explain why Mr Sargsyan would not fly to Astana for the meeting. Instead a senior official said the meeting had been organised to sort out problems which did not concern Armenia.
Perhaps, but it has created noise around Armenia’s potential unhappiness around the state of the region’s finances so much so that the Kremlin was bounced into releasing a press statement which said that Mr Putin and Mr Sargsyan had shared a telephone conversation during which the Russian leader had been reassured of Armenia’s good intentions.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 14 2015 (The Bulletin) – Georgia received nearly 8% less visitors in January and February this year compared to the same period last year, media reported quoting government figures. Some analysts blamed the drop on tightened visa regulations for visitors from China, Iran, Iraq and Egypt.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is heading to Central Asia for his first overseas trip since re-emerging into public view.
He is due to fly to Astana for a summit with his Kazakh and Belarusian counterparts on March 20.
The meeting was postponed from March 13. Kazakh officials at first said that the meeting had been delayed because Mr Putin was ill. Russian officials denied this, keeping people guessing on just why he cancelled several appointments and disappeared for a few days without explanation.
And Central Asia has played a prominent role in the episode. Mr Putin used a brief video with visiting Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev on March 16 to show the world that he was not hiding. He previous public appearance had been on March 5.
The summit with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has also stirred controversy, although this time not by Mr Putin.
It appeared to be a meeting of the heads of state of the Eurasian Economic Union members, except that the group’s newest member, Armenia, was missing.
This set off rumours that Armenia had grown increasingly disinterested in the Russia-led group since joining in January, especially given the context of the increasingly painful economic downturn.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has had to step in and reassure both Russia and the general public that this was not the case. Instead, he said, the meeting just didn’t include Armenia.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – Carrefour, the French supermarket group, opened their first store in Armenia. The news is a boost to Armenia which has been hit hard by a financial downturn in the region. Carrefour said it had taken three years to open its new store in Yerevan.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has admitted that it is on the brink of losing control of a measles outbreak with up to 250 suspected cases of the disease reported every day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
Responding to the outbreak, which has been becoming increasingly aggressive over the past year, Kyrgzstan announced that it would vaccinate 2m people under the age of 20.
WHO laced its statement with thinly disguised criticism of Kyrgyzstan’s late response to the epidemic.
“The outbreak, which began in early 2014, has caused over 11,300 suspected cases to date and continues to increase by 120–to 250 suspected cases every day,” WHO said.
“The country’s decision to initiate the mass immunization campaign comes in the wake of a call on 25 February 2015 by WHO Regional Director for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab for policy-makers, health-care workers and parents to immediately step up vaccination against measles across age groups at risk to stop the outbreaks.”
The measles epidemic and the apparent slow response of the Kyrgyz authorities to deal with it has done damage to Kyrgyzstan’s already tarnished international image.
Bishkek needs its vaccination programme to work.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Bulletin) – Food prices in Azerbaijan rose in February by 6.6%, media reported quoting the state statistics agency. Economists have been warning that Azerbaijan may be facing inflation after a sudden devaluation by 33% of the manat in February.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 12 2015 (The Bulletin) – A court in the northern Tajik town of Khujand is trying 23 men for allegedly belonging to an offshoot of the banned Islamic extremist group the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), media reported. Tajikistan says is has become increasingly concerned about Islamic extremism.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 12 2015 (The Bulletin) – Armenia is planning a bond issue to help it through the current financial crisis, Reuters reported quoting sources. Armenia’s last bond was issued in September 2013 and was worth $700m.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian president Vladimir Putin is due to fly to Astana on March 20 for a meeting with his Kazakh and Belarusian counterparts, his first overseas trip since he disappeared from public view for a few days. Mr Putin’s disappearance sparked speculation that he was ill.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)