OCT. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan will increase its defence spending next year by just over 3%, keeping up with inflation, IHS Janes Defence reported quoting the Azerbaijani finance ministry. Azerbaijan has been increasing its defence spending through the last few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
BAKU/Azerbaijan, DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Global oil prices have collapsed since the summer, hitting governments, currencies and ordinary people. Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, was built on oil and this slide has, perhaps, been keenest felt here.
Matanat Guliyeva’s husband works for a private oil company. She said: “Salaries have been late for the last two or three months. We have to reduce our budget, as we are uncertain whether my husband’s wage will arrive next week or not.”
Funds directly from oil sales or from taxes generated by oil sales, power Azerbaijan’s state budget. Earlier this month the government passed a budget that increased spending next year but some people in Azerbaijan are now worried about possible economic turmoil triggered by the falling oil prices.
Aytekin Gasimova 18, said she follows news about oil prices closely because an oil price means that her father, who works in local market in Moscow, will also earn less.
“I’m mostly concerned about my tuition fee,” she said. “It seems my family may have difficulties in paying for my education.”
Nijat Qafurov, 43, a bank worker is more optimistic. He said that people’s income will not decrease due to oil prices drop. Instead, he said, if prices keep falling, the government will cut infrastructure projects, not salaries.
And this sense of being able to ride out economic uncertainty rebounded around Baku.
Azer Mammadov, 28, a construction worker, said that the Azerbaijani government has enough money to save the economy.
“I am sure, they have kept some money for such days, and will not let people starve,” he said. “The government will manage it somehow.”
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
OCT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed a raft of economic reforms that paved the way for its accession into the Russia-led Customs Union. Kyrgyzstan wants to join the Customs Union by the end of this year. The Customs Union will morph into the Eurasian Economic Union at the start of 2015.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Vienna found two former senior members of the Austrian Central Bank’s banknote-printing unit guilty of giving Azerbaijani and Syrian officials kickbacks for contracts.
The verdict confirms that corruption is rampant through even the most senior levels of Azerbaijan.
The two former directors, Johannes Miller and Michael Wolf, each received a two year suspended sentence for their part in a conspiracy to pay around $17.5m over six years to Azerbaijani and Syrian officials in exchange for contracts to print the national currency.
According to a Bloomberg report, the two directors had been ordered to find new business around 2005. They drummed up interest from Azerbaijan but only won the contract to print the Central Bank notes after promising to add an extra 20% kickback to senior officials to be paid through offshore companies.
Azerbaijani officials have previously denied taking bribes from the Austrian Central Bank. Now, though, denying the kickbacks appears all but impossible.
As well as a recent crackdown on human rights and opposition figures, Azerbaijan’s international image is scarred by allegations of major corruption.
Evidence in an Austrian court that business would only be done in Azerbaijan by agreeing kickbacks of 20% is likely to harden this image.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s government approved a draft treaty for joining the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, media reported.
The treaty should be signed by Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus at the end of summit this week in Minsk, paving the way for Armenia to join the group by the end of the year.
This is a critical moment in modern Armenian history. Armenia has been pulling away from the EU. By making the final jump into the Eurasian Economic Union, or Customs Union as it is currently known, Armenia will be confirming its pro-Russia allegiance.
The Eurasian Economic Union is mainly an economic union although it brings with it a more pro-Russia general alliance. And with Russia’s involvement in Ukraine that is, currently, a controversial stance.
But Armenia sees itself as having few options. It is surrounded by enemies and needs Russian support to bolster both its economy and military.
Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the Russian parliament’s committee on Eurasian integration, was candid in on the merits of an enlarged Eurasian Economic Union.
“The Eurasian Economic Union will be a powerful regional economic union, which will inevitably expand,” he said according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. “Apart from completely new regional economic architecture, the EEU will certainly become a powerful barrier on the way of those who are today trying to build unipolar world.”
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Armenia has denied rumours that it is facing bankruptcy, media reported. Instead, Air Armenia explained a handful of recent flight cancellations as being linked to technical problems with the aircraft. Air Armenia is a privately owned company mainly flying to Russia. It only started passenger flights last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s inaugural Formula 1 race in 2016 will take place through the streets of Baku, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said.The race is controversial because of Azerbaijan’s crackdown on human rights. For Azerbaijan, though, it represents a great PR coup.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik security forces donned full riot gear for a training exercise in central Dushanbe aimed at dealing with large anti-government crowds.The exercise was designed as a show of force against any anti-government movement that may be planning protests ahead of a parliamentary election in February.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Access to various social media and news websites in Tajikistan was blocked, media and sources reported. The government has not officially said that it blocked the websites. It has previously blocked access to facebook and other sites, though, to prevent opposition groups from rallying support.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh government has backed a plan to expand the Tengizchevroil oil project in the west of the country despite cost estimates running higher than expected, Reuters reported. Tengizchevroil, led by Chevron, is one of Kazakhstan’s most successful oil projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)