Category Archives: Uncategorised

Armenian political row deepens

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan and the main opposition party’s leader, Gagik Tsarukyan, are embroiled in an increasingly bitter and acrimonious row.

Parliamentarians aligned to the Prosperous Armenia party walked out of the national assembly to protest against a government crackdown on Mr Tsarukyan.

They accuse Mr Sargsyan of launching a tax investigation on Mr Tsarukyan for purely vindictive reasons. The argument appears to have started at the beginning of the month with Mr Sargsyan describing the thick-set Mr Tsarukyan as “evil” after he accused the governing Republican Party of complicity in the abduction and beating of an Armenian civil rights protester.

In retaliation for ordering the tax investigation, Mr Tsarukyan called for demonstrations against the government on Feb 20.

The demonstrations didn’t materialise but the image of mainstream politics in Armenia has been tarnished.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Kyrgyzstan puts Jerooy up for sale

FEB. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz government said it was once again putting its second largest gold mine, Jerooy, up for sale by tender despite a failed attempt to sell it in 2013 for $300m. The Jerooy mine is also the subject of a $549m arbitration suit filed by its former owners, the Kazakh investment fund Visor Holdings.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Georgia invites Poroshenko to visit

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s president Giorgi Margvelashvili invited his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko to visit Tbilisi, a show of support for Ukraine’s pro-West government in their battle with Russia-backed rebels. Georgia has been trying to mend damaged relations with Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Industrial output in Kazakhstan drops

FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Industrial activity in Kazakhstan will decline by 0.3% this year to its worst level in 17 years, media reported quoting the economy ministry. The drop in industrial activity is symptomatic of the overall slowdown in Kazakhstan’s economy in the past 12 months.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Rouhani to visit Ashgabat

FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iranian president Hassan Rouhani will fly to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, media reported quoting a senior Iranian official as saying. Reports didn’t give a precise date for the visit, although it is expected at the end of February or in March.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Tajik migrants head home

FEB. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The falling rouble has persuaded up to half of St Petersburg’s Central Asian casual work force to return home, the AFP news agency reported.

St Petersburg’s deputy governor, Igor Albin, reportedly said that 50% of the snow sweepers, normally from Central Asia, had left the city.

AFP’s correspondent in St Petersburg directly quoted the head of a snow sweeping company who gave similar insight, although with a lower percentage heading home.

“Almost 30% of the workers who left to spend New Year’s as usual with their families in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan have not come back,” he said.

Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are most vulnerable to this trend. Tajikistan holds the dubious position as the country that is most reliant on remittances. These make up about 50% of its total GDP.

The Tajik Central Bank has tried to prop up its currency against the falling Russian rouble although it has warned that inflation is creeping up.

In Dushanbe, an immigration official told AFP that only half the number of Tajiks were leaving to take jobs abroad this year, compared to the same period in 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Uzbekistan boosts gold production

FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan increased gold production in 2014 by 4.1% to 102 tonnes, media reported quoting the US Geological Survey. Gold is an important source of foreign cash for the Uzbek government. Uzbekistan is now the seventh largest gold producer in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015

Georgia growth rate is halved

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with Reuters news agency, Georgia’s economy minister Georgy Kvirikasvili said he may halve the country’s projected economic growth to 2.5% this year. Mr Kvirikasvili said the side-effects of Ukraine’s civil war and the sanctions on Russia had hurt Georgia’s economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

OSCE arrives in Tashkent

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A limited OSCE election monitoring team arrived in Tashkent to observe Uzbekistan’s March 29 presidential election. The OSCE is Europe’s main democracy watchdog. It has monitored five elections in Uzbekistan since 1999, all of which it said lacked genuine competition and debate.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Uzbekistan to send car parts to Brazil

FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A car plant factory in Uzbekistan has started producing parts for cars in Brazil, media reported. UzSungwoo is an Uzbek-Korean joint venture. It was set up to produce parts for GM’s plant in Uzbekistan. Demand has dropped at the GM plant because of an economic crisis, possibly triggering UzSungwoo to sell to Brazil.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)