NOV. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has placed an order for 1,500 trucks with Russian manufacturer Kamaz, Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported. The deal, worth a reported $125m, is a major coup for Kamaz and also underlines other Turkmenistan’s drive to build new infrastructure.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran is to build a hydro-electric plant in Armenia, one of the strongest signals yet that the two neighbours are developing ever closer relations.
The Iranian state-run news agency, Fars News quoted Iran’s energy minister Hamid Chitchian as saying that a memorandum of understanding had been signed between the two sides and that construction of the hydro-electric plant will start shortly.
The two neighbours have been working on the deal for some time.
In many ways, both Armenia and Iran have been forced to work with each other because of their various geo- political scenarios.
Armenia borders Azerbaijan and Turkey, both enemies, and is short of friends in the region. Iran is looking for allies to bolster its position during the current US- imposed sanctions.
Over the past few years Armenia and Iran have widened their cooperation, particularly with energy swaps.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian energy major ENI has started to hand out the first contracts to build a shipyard at Kuryk on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast. The shipyard is designed to increase ship building capacity and generate jobs. It was announced as a joint-venture with KazMunaiGaz last year, when the Kazakh economy looked stronger.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan will lose $65m in revenue this year because of a delay in restructuring the Kumtor gold mining project, the country’s biggest industrial operation, media quoted Eldar Tadzhibayev, head of the Kyrgyz mining union, as saying. Kumtor has been the focus of a major row between Kyrgyzstan and its Canadian partners.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An oil rig partially collapsed in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, killing at least one worker. This was the second fatal accident on Azerbaijan’s off-shore energy sector in less than a month, throwing up general safety concerns.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Armenia from Russia were 8.6% lower in September this year than in the same month in 2013, media reported quoting the Central Bank. Armenia’s economy is closely linked to Russia which is suffering from a severe downturn triggered by a falling oil price and Western imposed sanctions.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan and Russia are close to agreeing an air defence deal, Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported quoting officials after a meeting between the two countries’ defence ministries. Russia already has a similar agreement with Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Yerevan, US software company Microsoft praised Armenia’s drive to boost its tech sector. Mark Day, a senior official at Microsoft, described Armenia’s tech sector as reaching a “world level”. Armenia has highlighted technology as an area it can attract foreign investment.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Kelimbetov, head of the Kazakh Central Bank, said the tenge currency would not be devalued for at least three years. The comments, made at a conference in Almaty, were the strongest indicator yet that, despite a falling rouble, the tenge would not devalue for the second time this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
NOV. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek border guards shot and injured a Kyrgyz man along the Uzbekistan- Kyrgyzstan border, media reported. The Uzbekistan- Kyrgyzstan border is one of the most fragile border zones in the region. Analysts have said that any spark could destabilise Central Asia.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)