MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It may not sound like much but it is, in fact, important. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met on the sidelines of a summit on nuclear security in the Hague between March 24/25, media reported quoting the OSCE. Azerbaijan and Armenia are still officially at war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Members of the political party of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused his enemies of trying to kidnap one of his allies. Nugzar Tsiklauri, an MP for the United National Movement party, said eight men tried to force him into a car after a night out. The political scene in Georgia is strained.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Ashgabat are stopping couples from kissing and holding hands in public, Chronicles of Turkmenistan, an opposition website based in Vienna, reported. Chronicles of Turkmenistan said police were trying to impose a morality code.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev will visit Tehran on April 9 on a trip that marks just how far Azerbaijani- Iranian relations have improved.
Iranian state media announced the news by quoting Iran’s ambassador in Baku, Mohsen Pakayeen.
Although relations between the neighbours are still strained, they have improved immeasurably since Hassan Rouhani took over as Iran’s president last summer. He is credited with bringing a far friendlier, more collegiate attitude to foreign relations compared with his more awkward predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Previously, Azerbaijan and Iran had traded accusations of spying and had accused each other of breaking various border protocols.
In March 2013, the Azerbaijani authorities arrested 22 Iranian citizens for allegedly planning to attack Israeli and American targets in Baku.
Now the talk is of cultural exchanges and bilateral business deals.
In January the two leaders met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, a meeting that reportedly helped set events in motion for Mr Aliyev’s trip to Tehran later this month.
For Mr Aliyev, improving relations with Iran comes with some pitfalls. Over the past few years his government has striven hard to boost relations with Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy.
Iran imports energy from Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan imports arms from Israel. Mr Aliyev will have to tread carefully on his trip to Baku to both continue to mend relations with Iran while also remembering his alliance with Israel.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh police arrested Valery Shevelyov, a director at Kazakh nuclear agency Kazatomprom, and his deputy, Serik Abdrazakov, for corruption. In 2009, Kazakhstan jailed Mukhtar Dzhakishev, then head of Kazatomprom and an opposition figurehead, for 14 years for corruption.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Although electronic transactions are growing, Kazakhstan is still a predominantly cash-based society, analysis has shown.
Last year the number of credit and debit cards in circulation grew by 20% in Kazakhstan but the amount of electronic transactions by only 9%.
It feels as if consumers in Kazakhstan still have a mental aversion to using cashless payment models.
Payday for government workers in Kazakhstan is on the 10th day of each month. That’s when the tell-tale queues of people converting their electronic salaries into hard cash form outside branches of Halyk Bank.
It’s also a symbolic illustration of the problem that the Kazakh Central Bank needs to address.
Switching to a more cashless society is important as it is a mark of development. An increased number of electronic transactions in an economy also means that more taxes are paid and the financial system is, generally, more robust.
Alisher, a worker at Eurasia Bank in Almaty, puzzled over the problem.
“Our cards do not carry charges for electronic payments, yet customers refrain from using them,” he said. “Instead they pay withdrawal fees or simply forget that the piece of plastic they are carrying in their wallet is actually an instrument that could save them money and time.”
The problem, though, is not purely the mentality of the consumers. Many shops in Kazakhstan still do not have the right equipment. This is changing, though, and from July 1, new laws will mean that all shops will have to carry card reading machines.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two sets of demonstrators, one supporting Russia and one against Russia, clashed briefly in central Tbilisi. Feelings are running high in Tbilisi which has firmly backed Ukraine’s revolution and US calls for Russia to quit Crimea.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — After a meeting of the Chinese and Tajik defence ministers in Dushanbe, China pledged to help boost Tajikistan’s military, media reported. China has ramped up its support to Tajikistan over the past couple of years. It has built roads, dug mines and helped upgrade the Tajik military.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The grey economy in Armenia generates roughly 40% of GDP, media quoted human rights activist Karen Andreasyan as saying. Mr Adreasyan said that the high proportion of GDP generated by the grey economy creates problems in tax and customs areas.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s still unclear if Russia’s de facto annexation of Crimea has given Georgia’s drive to become part of NATO any real impetus.
Certainly, the Georgian government was hoping that this was the case. But the signals have been mixed.
At a meeting in Brussels, US President Barack Obama said that neither Georgia or Ukraine would join NATO soon.
“Neither Ukraine nor Georgia are currently on a path to NATO membership,” he said. “There has not been any immediate plans for expansion of NATO’s membership.”
This will have hurt Georgia’s government. It has been a keen supporter of NATO missions, including to Afghanistan. On as TV interview the following day, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili summed up the disappointment.
“Of course it was not a statement that caused much of our delight,” he said.
A week later, though, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was preparing to make a speech in which he will pledge more support for Georgia.
These are difficult, and confusing, times for aspirant-NATO members.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)