Category Archives: Uncategorised

Turkmenistan buys Boeing aircrafts

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s aviation sector received a boost when the national carrier took delivery of its first Boeing 777 passenger plane and also opened a new terminal at Ashgabat international airport, media reported.

The Boeing is the first of two on order for Turkmenistan Airlines. Turkmenistan has pledged to boost both its international and domestic air services.

Turkmenistan’s Boeing 777-200LR is a long-range plane that can carry between 315 and 450 passengers, depending on the seating arrangements.

The specific 200LR model entered service in 2006 and was a longer range version of previous Boeing 777 models. In 2006 it had the longest range of any commercial passenger plane and was dubbed the “Worldliner” because it could, theoretically, connect any two airports.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Utility prices rise in Uzbekistan

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek authorities have increased the price of utilities by roughly 10%, media reported. For most of last year, reports from Uzbekistan have documented price rises and inflationary pressures. These have been frustrating parts of Uzbekistan’s population.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Armenia votes against Ukraine

MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia firmly staked out its position on international affairs when it voted against a motion in the UN General Assembly to reaffirm the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

It was join by a dubious list of 10 other countries that also voted against the motion which asked for Crimea to be restored to Ukraine after the de facto annexation last month by Russia.

The list is telling. Armenia now, it appears, keeps company with a range of countries variously described as eccentric, awkward and anti-capitalist. It includes North Korea, Zimbabwe, Cuba and Syria.

For Armenia, this feels like a watershed. It has increasingly leaned towards Russia over the past few years. Moscow gives Armenia much financial and military support. And it needs both. Armenia is wedged between two enemies — Turkey and Azerbaijan and needs as many allies as it can gather.

Last year Armenia turned its back on further EU integration in favour of the Russia-led Customs Union.

But Central Asian countries have also chosen a pro-Russia agenda. Yet they were able to abstain from voting during the Ukraine UN Assembly debate.

If there was ever any doubt on where Armenia’s loyalty lies, there isn’t any more. Armenia’s UN Assembly vote underlines its trajectory.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Kazakhstan increases pipeline exports

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) that runs from Atyrau in western Kazakhstan, north of the Caspian Sea into Russia and on to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk expanded by 24% in March from a year earlier after a successful capacity upgrade.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Flood kills five in Kazakhstan

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A dam in central Kazakhstan burst, flooding downstream villages and killing five people. The accident underlines the need to improve Kazakhstan’s Soviet built infrastructure.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Azerbaijan doubles tourism figures

MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has doubled its tourist numbers since 2003, media reported quoting the ministry of culture. It said that last year 2.3m tourists visited Azerbaijan, slightly down from 2012, when Azerbaijan hosted the Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijan wants to hit 5m tourists a year.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Azerbaijan invests into internet infrastructure

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan plans to invest about $500m into its broadband infrastructure over the next few years, media reported quoting the Azerbaijani minister for communications Ali Abbasov. It remains to be seen if Azerbaijan will follow through on this proclamation.

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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Wire transfer ban may hit remittances to Uzbekistan

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s Central Bank ordered commercial banks to stop taking wire transfers from Russia’s Zolotaya Korona, threatening the country’s remittances lifeline.

Remittances are crucial to Uzbekistan. According to the World Bank, remittances from Russia account for roughly 16% of Uzbekistan’s GDP.

This figure, although, large still underplays the importance of remittances to the Uzbek economy.

They are an essential lifeblood to the much of the population, feeding entire families and beating away poverty.

It makes the unexplained announcement by the Uzbek Central Bank all the more puzzling. Zolotaya Korona, which means Golden Crown, is the most popular system for Uzbeks working in Russia to wire cash home.

Forcing users onto another system, creates an additional barrier.

A couple of days after issuing the ban, the Uzbek Central Bank said it banned Zolotaya Korona because it thought that it was in poor financial health.

Officials at Zolotaya Korona, which is based in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, have declined to comment on the Uzbek Central Bank’s decision.

In January, around a dozen Azerbaijani banks cut their links to Zolotaya Korona. They said that deals with the Russian company just weren’t profitable enough.

In 2012, Armenia’s Central Bank banned Zolotaya Korona from operating there because it was stopping some people using its services.

Whatever the reason for the Uzbek Central Bank’s sudden ban on Zolotaya Korona, the poor in Uzbekistan will suffer.

(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Tuvalu snubs Russia for Georgia

MARCH 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ahead of the UN Assembly vote on Ukraine, the Pacific nation of Tuvalu dealt Russia a blow by cutting ties and setting up relations with Georgia. Tuvalu had been one of the few countries to recognise the Russia-sponsored Georgian breakaway states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent in 2008.

(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)

Azerbaijan buys office block in South Korea

APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state oil fund bought an office block in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, for $447m, underlining its intent to continue a global shopping spree it started a couple of years ago.

The 25-story Pine Avenue Tower A is Azerbaijan’s first property purchase in the Asia Pacific region.

It follows high profile buys in London, Paris and Moscow in 2012.

Increasingly wealthy, Azerbaijan’s oil fund is worth about $34b. Azerbaijan has openly invested in property, currencies and equities in a drive to build growth and assets for future generations.

“This is a large transaction and shows our belief in the continued strength of major Asian real estate markets which have shown stable returns historically,” Shahmar Movsumov, director of the oil fund, said in a statement.

Critics of the Azerbaijani authorities, though, have said that the oil fund is being wasted on prestige projects. The oil fund expects to spend about $1b on real estate in Asia and Australia this year.

(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)