Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kazakh President finds new role for C.Bank ex-head

DEC. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Kairat Kelimbetov, ex head of the Kazakh Central Bank, as head of the Astana Financial Centre, media reported. Mr Kelimbetov has kept a low profile since being sacked as head of the CBank in Nov. after two years in the job. The Astana Financial Centre is a state project to promote the Kazakh capital as an international finance centre.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Nazarbayev offers to host Ukraine talks

DEC. 29 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Senior officials, and perhaps even heads of government, from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France have tentatively agreed to meet in Astana for talks later this month on how to resolve the ongoing civil war in Ukraine. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is keen to project Astana as a global centre for conflict disputes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Tension rises on Turkmen border

DEC. 17 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Villagers in north Afghanistan have threatened to attack Turkmen soldiers who have set up guard posts 30km inside Afghan territory as a buffer against attacks from the Taliban, media reported. Turkmen officials have said that their forces have repelled several Taliban attacks.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Uzbekistan holds parliamentary election

DEC. 17 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan held a parliamentary election largely described as being designed to re-enforce the government’s authority. Only four pro-president parties were allowed to contest the election to the 150-seat lower house of parliament. Europe’s main election watchdog, the OSCE, said the election was uncompetitive.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Kazakhstan takes Guantanamo inmates

>>Former Guantanamo Bay inmates accepted as asylum seekers>>

DEC. 31 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has taken charge of five former prisoners from the US’ controversial Guantanamo Bay prison.

The three Yemeni and two Tunisian nationals were flown to Kazakhstan and officially recorded as asylum seekers. It’s unclear, though, if they were transferred to a Kazakh prison or if they are being held elsewhere.

US President Barack Obama has said he is eager to close Guantanamo Bay prison and moving inmates to other countries is considered a politically acceptable way of achieving this.

But it’s also politically sensitive for the countries that agree to take the prisoners. Kazakh officials were eager to explain that the five prisoners, who were alleged to have links to al Qaeda but were never charged with a crime, had chosen to come to Kazakhstan.

In New York Laura Pitter, who analyses the US’ security policies for Human Rights Watch, said: “Accepting them as free men is the correct practice for Kazakhstan. The US has been detaining them unjustly and if Kazakhstan can give them a chance at a new life this should be commended.”

Still, news of the move triggered speculation over what deal had been done between Kazakhstan and the US.
In December, Yerlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, travelled to Washington for an official visit. Besides security issues, diplomatic talks were focused on economic bottlenecks such as the negotiations for Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

KazKom profit drops on BTA buy

DEC. 11 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Kazkommertsbank posted a drop in profit for the nine months to the end of September 2014 of 10% mainly due to its purchase of BTA Bank which has a large amount of debt, media reported. Analysts said that Kazkommertsbank bought BTA Bank for political rather than business reasons.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Oil shipments from Batumi, Georgia, drop

JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Crude oil and oil product shipments from the Georgian port of Batumi fell by around 22% in 2014 compared to 2013 because of lower than expected exports from Kazakhstan and re-routing through pipelines, a port official told Reuters. Batumi oil terminal is controlled by Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Armenia increases interest rates

>>Russian rate rise triggers Armenian reaction>>

DEC. 23 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank raised its key interest rate to 8.5% from 6.75%, a move widely interpreted as an attempt to keep up with its Russian counterpart.

Inflation in Armenia is creeping up, mainly because of anticipated price pressure triggered by joining the
Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union which ties the Armenian economy even more closely into the Russian economy.

In November Armenia’s annualised inflation was 2.6% up from 2.2% in October and economists have said that this trend is likely to accelerate.

But the Russian Central Bank’s defence of its rouble currency is also giving its allies a headache.

In mid-December to stop a run on the rouble, the Russian Central Bank raised interest rates overnight to 17% from 10.5%. This has forced its closest allies to follow.

Armenia is in a tight spot.

It is so reliant on Russia that it has become a virtual satellite state, and more so after it signed a deal to enter the Eurasian Economic Union.

Adapting to the Kremlin’s Eurasian Economic Union and the impact of this political-economic move will dominate Armenia in 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Armenia joins the Eurasian Economic Union

JAN. 1 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — After a year long build up, Armenia joined the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU). The EaEU also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus. Kyrgyzstan will join in May. Critics of the project have said that it is a Kremlin power grab.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Turkmenistan devalues the manat

JAN. 1 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan devalued its currency by 19% overnight to try and counter a slump in oil prices.

This was the first manat devaluation in seven years, underlining just how heavily former Soviet states have been hit by the drop in the price of oil and subsequent drop in the value of the Russian rouble.

Bloomberg News quoted data from the Turkmen Central Bank that showed the manat trading at 3.5 to the dollar, a drop from 2.85.

Oil prices are now around $50/barrel, half the price they were trading for earlier in 2014.

Turkmenistan’s economy has boomed over the past few years thanks mainly to gas sales. The price of gas is closely linked to the price of oil. Its main client is China but Europe has also been looking to woo Turkmenistan and so have states in the Gulf and the Indian Subcontinent.

The problem for Turkmenistan is most of its gas contracts are pegged to global markets.

Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov promised plenty of new major infrastructure projects in 2015.

With falling revenues from oil and gas sales, these may now be at risk.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)