OCT. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Negotiations over the Tajik-Kyrgyz border have re-opened, media reported. This is important because this year there have been several skirmishes along the border. The issue of the Tajiki-Kyrgyz border is one of the most sensitive in Central Asia and has the potential to destabilise the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police arrested the head of the Kazakh Border Guards Services, a powerful military unit, General Nurlan Dzhulamamnov for abuse of power. It’s unclear exactly what the charges are although the arrest will come as a blow to the Border Guards Service already suffering from an image problem linked to bullying and corruption.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EU is strongly in favour of improved ties between Armenia and Turkey, media quoted a member of the EU delegation to Ankara, Bela Szombati, as saying. Armenia-Turkey ties are strained because of a row over the alleged genocide in eastern Turkey towards the end of the First World War.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will probably issue another sovereign or quasi- sovereign bond next year following its $2.5b Eurobond issue in October, the head of the Kazakh Central Bank Kairat Kelimbetov told Reuters in an interview. Mr Kelimbetov said another debt issue would likely be made as a sukuk, a bond linked to Islamic banking principles.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Eager to burnish its image in Washington DC, Azerbaijan has signed a $15,000/month deal with US lobbying firm Mair Strategies, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Azerbaijan is well-known for paying lobbyists in the United States and Europe to bolster its standards.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – By 2020 Kazakhstan aims to be producing 100m tonnes of oil a year, up from 82m tonnes currently, media quoted a senior official as saying. The jump in production is mainly attributed to Kashagan, the giant Caspian Sea oil field, finally starting production. It has been delayed by several years.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan announced plans to open an embassy in Baku, underlining its determination to increase cooperation with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is an attractive ally for Kyrgyzstan as it is growing rich from energy exports and has invested in Kyrgyzstan’s economy. Kyrgyzstan needs to increase energy imports.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Flights by Russian airline Aeroflot resumed between Moscow and Tbilisi for the first time since a brief war between the two neighbours in 2008. The resumption of Areoflot flights is another sign that Russia-Georgia relations have improved since Mikheil Saakashvili left the Georgian presidency last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked his defence minister Serik Akhmetov after only six months in the job and replaced him with the powerful mayor of Astana Imangali Tasmagambetov.
No official explanation was given for the sacking, although analysts were quick to come up with two theories.
The first is that Mr Akhmetov was linked to the former governor of the central Karaganda region, Baurzhan Abdishev, who has been tarnished by a corruption scandal. With Mr Nazarbayev pursuing an anti-corruption agenda, he may have wanted to purge his cabinet of potential problems.
The second theory is that with the Ukraine civil war rumbling on, Mr Nazarbayev wanted to ensure that his military was up to scratch. Mr Tasmagambetov is one of his most loyal lieutenants and appointing him as minister of defence will ensure that his orders are carried through effectively. Mr Tasmagambetov has previously been head of the presidential administration, prime minister and mayor of Almaty.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)
OCT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s government is increasingly worried about the number of young Tajiks fighting in the Syria for the extremist group Islamic State (IS). Media quoted officials as saying that 50 Tajik nationals had now been killed in Syria, up from five in June.
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(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)