NOV. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Acknowledging that hundreds of Kyrgyz citizens have been fighting in Syria for the Islamic State, an extremist Islamic group, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev told Kyrgyzstan’s Security Council he was determined to defeat extremism. He said Kyrgyzstan was at risk of “Arabisation”.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
NOV. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has agreed to export electricity to Kyrgyzstan to help ease its impending power problems. The deal is likely to be finalised later this week when the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan meet. Kyrgyzstan has said low reservoir levels means an electricity shortage this winter.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Germany has agreed a deal with Uzbekistan to keep open an air base in the south of the country, media reported. According to German media, a helicopter crash a few days
before the current lease ran out at the end of October complicated the deal to extend the lease for the base which Germany took over in 2001 in the aftermath of the attack on New York by Al Qaeda and the NATO invasion of Afghanistan.
The base is important for several reasons.
After the withdrawal of the US military from their base outside Bishkek, the German base in Uzbekistan will now be NATO’s only full time base in the region. The French air force use the airport at Dushanbe but they share many of the facilities with civilian aircraft.
Uzbekistan is also an important transit country for NATO which is planning on shifting most of its kit out of Afghanistan through Uzbekistan and Russia.
For Uzbekistan, the German base is also something of a bulwark against the threat of Al Qaeda and Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.
Neither Uzbek nor German officials gave any details on the lease extension deal. Media reported that Germany stations about 300 soldiers at the base. Details of a 2011 deal showed that it paid 16m euros a year to lease the base.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
NOV. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan produced 1m tonnes of cement for the first time since the breakup of the Soviet Union, media reported. The boost in cement production is thanks to China which has built and operates a new cement plant. China has also paid for a massive infrastructure programme.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani media has refuted a suggestion by Kazakh deputy energy minister Uzakbay Karabalin that it will be able to supply Kazakhstan with enough fuel to make up for its on-going shortfall. Kazakhstan is looking for options to make up for the shortfall, which is frustrating ordinary people.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – France’s President Francois Hollande will travel to Astana on Dec. 5 for a two day visit, the French embassy in Kazakhstan said. France and Kazakhstan have developed close economic ties. Mr Hollande’s predecessor Nikolas Sarkozy visited Astana a handful of times.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
NOV. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Homosexuals in Kyrgyzstan are considering leaving the country when a law banning gay propaganda is adopted, Reuters reported. The so-called anti-gay law is similar to one already adopted by Russia. “The entire atmosphere is getting more threatening,” one man told Reuters.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a speech to potential foreign investors, Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili underlined the economic importance of the Baku- Tbilisi-Kars railway, due to launch next year, to Georgia. The railway will supposedly give industry and business across the region a boost.
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(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)
OCT. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At least 19 people have died this year during Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. Human rights campaigners have long accused the Uzbek authorities of forcing people to work in cotton fields during the harvest.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s General Prosecutor arrested four current and one former senior military officials for corruption. The officers are accused of organising a sham tender for military procurements. The arrests will be a blow to Georgia aspires to join NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)