Category Archives: Uncategorised

Enagas partners with Azerbaijan on TAP pipeline

SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Spanish natural gas provider Enagas bought a 16% stake in the TAP pipeline that will pump gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to central Europe.

The purchase of the shares, a 10% stake from France’s Total and a 6% stake from Germany’s E.ON underline how important European countries consider the project to be.

Belgium’s Fluxys also increased its stake to 19%. The other shareholders in TAP are BP, Norway’s Statoil and Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR all with 20% of the project. Swiss energy company Axpo also owns 5% of TAP.

Reuters quoted Kjetil Tungland, TAP’s managing director.

“The TAP joint venture has always been open to new strategic partners,” he said.

“Enagas … will help to enhance TAP’s strategic position as a truly European project that will transport a new source of gas to the continent’s energy markets.”

The pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2018. European countries consider it an essential piece of infrastructure development to diversify their gas deliveries away from Russia, through which most of its gas was being delivered.

The plan is for TAP to run 870km from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea to the Turkey-Greece border. There it will connected to another pipeline called TANAP which will pump the gas through the Balkans and across to Italy. From Italy the gas can be re-distributed across Europe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

EBRD sells Bank of Georgia stake

SEPT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sold its 5% stake in Bank of Georgia.

The sale ends the EBRD’s mission to support Bank of Georgia after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. It took control of the stake in 2012 after a financial aid package put together in December 2008 was converted into shares.

“The EBRD’s role in supporting Bank of Georgia in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis is now complete,” Reuters quoted Nick Tesseyman, the EBRD MD, as saying.

“The EBRD will continue to provide debt financing to Bank of Georgia going forward as part of our continued support to the Georgian financial sector.”

The Bank of Georgia is publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange.

In many ways the sale of the EBRD’s 5% stake in Bank of Georgia is a success for Georgia as a country. The EBRD would not have sold its stake if it didn’t think that the bank was stable enough and if there wasn’t enough investor interest in Georgia and its finance industry.

Bank of Georgia CEO Irakli Gilauri acknowledged this.

“This transaction illustrates the depth of support for the bank from international investors and signals increasing investor interest in Georgia’s capital market,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Kazakh grain harvest drops

SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s grain harvest is likely to top 17m tonne this year, media quoted the Kazakh agriculture ministry as saying. This is slightly down on 2013 but is more or less in line with early predictions. Grain has become an important commodity for Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

EBRD invests in Kazakh railway company

SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to lend Kazakhstan’s railway company $165m as part of its upgrade plan, media reported. This is important because it shows that Kazakhstan continues to attract investment despite declining economic growth rate predictions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Uzbekistan uses doctors to pick cotton

SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Doctors and nurses are being forced to work in fields picking the cotton harvest this year, various media have reported quoting human rights workers. Uzbekistan has come under increased criticism for using forced labour to pick its cotton harvest each year. The Uzbek government has not responded.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Greece and Armenia to boost ties

SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Yerevan, Greece’s president Karolos Papoulias and Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan agreed to expand economic relations.

The statement was short on detail and mainly forgettable, if it wasn’t for the timing. The visit by President Papoulias to Armenia comes less than a month after Greece’s parliament agreed to make denial of the alleged genocide by Ottoman Turks against the Armenians a crime.

For Armenia, persuading Greece to take this line was a major success. Some countries, such as France, do formally recognise the Armenian genocide but Greece is only the third country to make it illegal to deny that the genocide took place.

Switzerland and Slovakia have also made it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide. France is considering a similar law.

Turkey denies genocide and says instead that Armenians died in fighting between the two sides towards the end of the First World War.

Relations between Armenia and Turkey and are still strained and the border between the two neighbours is closed.

Of course, relations between Turkey and Greece are also strained making a deal between Armenia and Greece natural.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Manas closure hits Kyrgyz economy

SEPT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The closure of the US airbase at Manas outside Bishkek earlier this year is already having a knock-on effect on the local economy, the eurasianet.org website reported. It its story, eurasianet.org reported that around 2,000 Kyrgyz truck drivers were now out of a job because of the closure.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Azerbaijani visit to Turkmenistan

SEPT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Ashgabat, the head of the Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev met with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, media reported. The visit was rare for a senior Azerbaijani official and, perhaps, indicates the improved relations between the two Caspian Sea states.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Azerbaijan’s President highlights Caspian military

SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Attending a meeting of the heads of the five Caspian Sea littoral stares, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called on the military balance around the sea to be balanced, media reported. The Caspian Sea has been the focus of heated arguments over ownership.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Tajik President to visit east

SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomalii Rakhmon will visit the city of Khorog in the east of the country for the first time since fighting between local forces and government soldiers in 2012, officials said.

The visit is, officially, part of countrywide tour by Mr Rakhmon but his trip to Khorog will also be seen as a show of strength in the troublesome area. Few would have been surprised if Mr Rakhmon had chalked the city off his tour. It remains a bastion of anti-government opposition where armed groups opposed to the regime in Dushanbe enjoy support from the local population, mostly ethnic Pamiris that have felt shortchanged ever since Mr Rakhmon’s political faction claimed victory in a five year civil war.

For much of the country’s first two decades of independence, Khorog was relatively stable. But a military operation launched by the government against local powerbrokers in July 2012 shattered the calm in the city. Both government and opposition forces suffered heavy losses.

In May this year, another smaller scale operation saw government agents kill three Khorog residents suspected of drug-smuggling, triggering two days of rioting.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)