Category Archives: Uncategorised

Tajikistan seeks extradition

JAN. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan has formally asked Turkey to extradite Umarali Quvatov, an opposition figure who previously had good links to Tajik president Emmomali Rakhmon. In October the Tajik authorities banned Mr Quvatov’s organisation Group 24. They also said that they wanted to charge him with bribery.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Kyrgyz guard killed on border with Tajikistan

JAN. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz media reported that one border guard was killed and two more injured during a gunfight near the frontier with Tajikistan. It is unclear if the gunfight was linked to the ongoing border dispute between the two neighbours or if it is related to smuggling or other crimes.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Attackers beat civil activist in Armenia

JAN. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Masked attackers beat a high-profile civil rights activist Vilen Gabrielian in Yerevan with wooden clubs, media reported. Mr Gabrielian was hospitalised after the attack with head injuries. One of his colleagues said that the attack was linked to his work The authorities have not confirmed this.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

EBRD halves Azerbaijan growth rate

JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) halved its predictions for Azerbaijan’s growth rate in 2015 to 1.5% from 3% in 2014. The downturn in the Russian economy and the fall in the value of oil have hit Azerbaijan.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Tajik C.Bank spends half reserves defending currency

>>Tajik CBank can’t afford aggressive defence of somoni again>>

JAN. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s rouble crisis is pushing Tajikistan to the brink of bankruptcy. The Tajik Central Bank has said that it spent half the country’s reserves last year trying to prop up its currency against the falling rouble.

These are worrying times for Central Asia’s governments. A combination of falling oil prices and Russia’s economic turmoil is pressuring their own finances.

Remittances from Russia have fallen sharply in value over the past six months or so, undermining economies in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan especially.

Central Banks have been spending heavily to try to bolster their currencies against a falling Russian rouble but this has proved difficult.

Despite spending half its national reserves — there is now less than $500m left in the Central Bank’s reserves — the value of the Tajik somoni has still fallen over 10% against the US dollar. Inflation has also risen.

All the signs are that 2015 will be complicated too. What the Tajik government can’t afford, though, is another costly battle to defend the somoni.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Kazakhstan and IS recruitment

>>IS have been recruiting heavily from Central Asia>>

JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan is desperate not
to get dragged into the debate over IS recruitment from Central
Asia.

Its intelligence services issued a rare statement denying that two
men murdered on a video last week were Kazakh. In the video the two
men spoke Russian and were accused of being members of the Russian
spy agencies. One man identified himself as coming from south
Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh intelligence services, though, said that this was not
the case.

In the IS video a young boy, who could be of Kazakh ethnicity,
shoots the two men in the head.

IS, a radical Islamic group based mainly in war-torn Syria,
recruits heavily from Central Asia and is a growing threat to the
region’s stability.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Uzbek car sales to Russia drop

JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — GM Uzbekistan sold 38% fewer cars in Russia in 2014 than it did in 2013, media reported quoting the European Businesses Association. The data highlights the impact that the falling rouble and the economic turmoil in Russia is having across the former Soviet Union. Russia is GM Uzbekistan’s biggest market.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Armenian economy to stagnate

JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The inter-government European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said the fall in the Russian rouble and a general economic downturn will knock Armenia’s economy into a recession this year. Armenia’s economy is particularly tied into Russia’s fortunes.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

IS recruiters extend drive to north Kyrgyzstan

JAN. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Kyrgyzstan have said recruiters for the radical group IS have started to extend their target areas to the north of the country (Jan. 16). Previously, IS recruiters had concentrated almost exclusively on southern Kyrgyzstan.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Uzbekistan retains strong growth outlook

JAN. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Despite the downturn in Russia’s economy, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) predicted decent growth for Uzbekistan’s economy in 2015 of around 7%. The EBRD heavily slashed growth rates of Uzbekistan’s neighbours. Uzbekistan’s economy is more sheltered than its neighbours.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)