Category Archives: Uncategorised

Armenian priest attacked in TBI

JULY 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A crowd of up to 50 people in Tbilisi reportedly attacked and beat an Armenian priest outside an Armenian Cathedral, media said. They reported that the trigger for the attack was an argument over parking. Armenia has called for an immediate investigation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Blair to advise BP on Azerbaijan’s energy

JULY 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it had hired former British PM Tony Blair for its advisory board on how best to export energy from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to Europe. Mr Blair has been an adviser to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev since 2011.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Rakhmon’s hometown bias irritates Tajiks

DANGHARA/Tajikistan JULY 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — To passersby this town of 25,000 people south east of Dushanbe, is indistinguishable from any other poor Tajik settlement.

On one side of the drag running through its centre there is a crowded but limited bazaar, hawking cheap products from China. On the other, the standard array of grocery stores with little to sell and taxi drivers waiting for non-existent customers.

But Danghara is an important part of impoverished Tajikistan’s political vocabulary. The town’s most famous son, Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon, stuffs his government with people from Danghara and its eponymous district.

Making up only 1% of the total population of Tajikistan, Dangharans nevertheless head the ministries of education, health and internal affairs. The first Deputy Prime Minister is also Danghara-born.

“Half of Danghara has already moved to Dushanbe,” said Daler Khalidoev, a courier who lives in the capital but comes from Khujand. “They still smell of the village.”

Since Soviet times, regional divisions have plagued Tajikistan. Back then most of the local elite were plucked from Leninabad region (now Khojand) in the north, now it seems that Dangharans are in favour.

At Mr Rakhmon’s encouragement international organizations have built and equipped Danghara general hospital, one of the best in the country, at a cost of roughly $20m. The newly created Danghara Free Economic Zone 10km outside the city, will host strategic investments such as an Iranian detergent factory worth $1.4b and a Chinese oil refinery that will refine over 1m tonnes of crude per year.

“(It’s) jobs for his people,” said Khalidoev, the courier from Khojand.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Georgia buried Shevardnadze

JULY 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia buried its former president Eduard Shevardnadze with full military honours at his residence outside Tbilisi. Shevardnadze had been the Soviet Union’s foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. Former US Secretary of State James Baker and other high profile foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Tajiks release academic

JULY 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan released on bail Tajik academic Alexander Sodiqov who officials arrested and charged with spying when working for British and Canadian universities in the south of the country. Mr Sodiqov’s arrest triggered international condemnation. As a condition of his bail, Mr Sodiqov has to remain in Dushanbe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Georgian Dream wins Tbilisi

JULY 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian Dream, a political coalition set up in 2012 by Georgia’s richest man Bidzina Ivanishvili, completed its clean sweep of the country’s major political offices by winning a run-off in the Tbilisi mayoral election. Davit Narmania, the Georgian Dream candidate, won with nearly 75% of the vote.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

F1 coming to Azerbaijan

JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan confirmed it would host a Formula 1 Grand Prix race in 2016. Hosting an F1 race is a huge PR success for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who has been looking for ways to promote the country. Next year, Azerbaijan hosts the inaugural European Games.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Finance deals for Azerbaijani banks

JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani finance looks in good shape.

At a local finance level, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has handed a $42m loan to Demirbank earmarked to help smaller businesses raise funds.

At an international level, Citi Group said it is now selling more Azerbaijani debt than at any time since 2008.

Both pieces of news are good general indicators for the Azerbaijani economy. Most analysts agree that the economy is in pretty good shape although domestic consumer lending needs to be tapered.

Bloomberg quoted Citi Group as saying that it had debuted nearly $15m of debt for Kapital Bank having issued $38.5m of debt for the International Bank of Azerbaijan earlier this year.

“Investors are seeking risk in emerging markets as central bank stimulus measures suppress returns on debt issued by companies in developed nations,” Bloomberg wrote.

Even so, the yield on the Azerbaijani bank debt is high at nearly 9%, reflecting the risk involved.

The Demirbank deal is more the culmination of a long term project by the EBRD to improve access to finance for smaller businesses in Azerbaijan. In April AccessBank, another Azerbaijani bank, secured a $60m loan from 16 lenders also for micro-finance.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Turkmen GDP jumps

JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Releasing GDP figures for post-Soviet states inthe first quarter of the year, theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said Turkmenistan’s economy had grown by 10.3%. Gas sales, mainly to China, have boosted Turkmen GDP enormously.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)

Armenia to join CU in October

JULY 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian PM Ovik Abramian confirmed that Armenia would join the Russia- led Customs Union by the end of October. Armenia has been looking to join the Customs Union for some time. Kazakhstan, though, raised concerns about its ongoing so-called “frozen conflict” with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)