OCT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia may block trucks and trains carrying food from the EU and Norway to Kazakhstan from travelling across it territory because of an import ban. Russia has banned produce from the EU and Norway in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the West.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
NOV. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan will have to increase its imports of grain over the next three years to cover a growing population, a ministry of economic development official told Tajik media. The news will disappoint analysts who had hoped that a gradual rise in grain production would reduce expensive imports.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
NOV. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Islamic Development Bank has agreed to loan Uzbekistan $100m to build extra rural housing, media reported. This is the second major loan by intergovernmental agencies for rural housing in Uzbekistan. In 2011, the Asian Development Bank approved a loan of $500m.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan may officially be neutral but it is still discussing regional security issues with NATO.
NATO’s liaison officer for Central Asia Alexander Vinnikov met with Turkmen officials to discuss various bilateral security options, media reported. This was the second major security meeting held by Turkmenistan in October. Earlier in the month President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov met with Uzbek President Islam Karimov to discuss cooperation.
The main worry for Turkmenistan is the growing Taliban threat along its border with Afghanistan. The Taliban has increased their activities, triggering the Turkmen military to bolster its defences.
It’s also concerned about a re-galvanised Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The IMU emerged in the 1990s and had targeted Uzbekistan. In the 2000s it joined the Taliban fighting NATO forces in Afghanistan and this year claimed responsibility for an attack on Karachi airport. More recently, the IMU has publicly declared its support for the so-called Islamic State extremist group which is fighting in Syria and Iraq.
If the IMU did become a major threat to Central Asian states once again, Turkmenistan, with all its gas riches and long border with Afghanistan, could well be in its sights.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
NOV. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s PM Irakli Garbishvili sacked his defence minister Irakli Alasania for insubordination, throwing the coalition government into its most severe test of credibility since winning power at a parliamentary election in 2012 and then a presidential election in 2013.
Mr Alasania is head of the Free Democrats party which could withdraw its support for the Georgian Dream, the opposition coalition put together by Georgia’s richest man Bidzine Ivanishvili to oust Mikheil Saakshvili from power.
Georgian foreign minister, Maia Panjikidze, and Aleksi Petriashvili, the minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, are also members of the Free Democrats and are likely to resign from the government.
Without the 10 Free Democrats MPs, Georgia Dream loses its majority in Georgia’s parliament. It drops its representation to 75 MPs, out of 150.
Reports from Tbilisi said Mr Alasania was furious about the arrest of 10 officials from the ministry of defence for alleged corruption. He countered that the officials were innocent and that the arrests were part of a plot to undermine his staunchly pro-NATO and pro-Western agenda. The current government is broadly pro-West too, although it has mended ties with Russia.
Mr Alasania was on a trip to Europe when the arrests took place. Despite a busy schedule he still found time to openly criticise the arrests. This was enough for his boss, Mr Garbishvili, probably with the support of Mr Ivanishvili, to fire him.
Mr Alasania is a popular politician. His sacking has shaken Georgian politics.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
NOV. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia and Georgia are building a €300m electrical line between the two countries, Armenian energy minister Ara Simonyan told a cabinet meeting. The power line will improve the Georgian and Armenian electricity grid and help solidify the countries’ trade relations.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s sum currency lost 20% of its value over a few days because of the depreciation of the Rouble, Russian media reported quoting a Central Bank official. Economists have warned of a ripple effect across Central Asia from the worsening Russian economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – he European Court of Human Rights ordered Georgia to pay Sulkhan Molashvili, a former official in the state audit committee, $25,000 compensation for wrongly being imprisoned in 2004 for corruption. The current Georgian government has charged former ministers under ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili of abuse of power.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
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NOV. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Georgia eased to an annual rate of 3.4% in October, down from 4.8% in September, the national statistics office reported. Although other economies in the region are suffering with the downturn in Russia’s economy, Georgia’s is relatively buoyant.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
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OCT. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran said it had reached a deal with indebted Tajikistan to restructure ownership at the Sangtuda-2 Hydropower plant(HPP) plant built and operated in the Central Asian state by the Iranian company Sangob.
The new deal extends the period of Iran’s ownership of the facility by a further two years to 2029, a condition reportedly necessary because of a $40m bill that Tajikistan’s troubled state energy Barqi Tojik firm owes the plant.
Although details of the deal remain shrouded in secrecy, the importance of this agreement is that Tajikistan is having to agree to relinquish ownership of some of its core assets to cover various debts.
Tajik news agency Asia-Plus quoted an unnamed source as saying the deal was actually signed back in September. In March this year, the 100 megawatt plant was briefly shut down, suggesting a dispute between the sides.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)