Category Archives: Uncategorised

Regional government appeases workers’ dispute in Kazakhstan

MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Acting as a peacemaker, the Aktobe regional government in north-west Kazakhstan stepped in to mediate in a labour dispute at an oil field operated by China’s state-run energy company CNPC.

The move highlights what appears to be Kazakhstan’s preferred policy when strikes are threatened — to appease labour unions rather than antagonise.

Kazakhstan is desperate to avoid a repeat of an oil workers’ strike in the western oil town of Zhanaozen in 2011 which ended in violence that killed at least 15 people.

Kazakh workers at CNPC AktobeMunaiGas say that they are treated unfairly, paid less and live in worse conditions compared to their Chinese counterparts.

This is a not a new complaint and, although China is a key energy client, Kazakhstan has pushed to improve worker conditions at Chinese companies. And this was no exception.

“The Commission recommended that managers improve the system of remuneration and create conditions for the production in accordance with labour laws,” the Aktobe government said in a statement.

Importantly sources in Aktobe said the threatened strike now appears to be on hold.

CNPC AktobeMunaiGas is one of Kazakhstan biggest oil producers, producing around 6m tonnes each year.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

China wants to build pipeline through Tajikistan

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — China’s state-run energy company CNPC set up a firm with Tajikistan’s Tajiktransgas to build a fourth branch of a pipeline pumping gas from Turkmenistan to China. China now dominates energy exports from Central Asia. Tajikistan will received a fee for hosting the pipeline.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Formula One expands into Azerbaijan

MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — If it materialises, it would be quite a publicity coup for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Bernie Ecclestone, the unofficial ringmaster of Formula One, told British newspapers that plans were crystallising to hold a race in Baku in 2015 or 2016.

“We’re going to Azerbaijan,” Mr Ecclestone told British newspapers.

“The people out there [in Azerbaijan] are talking about holding a race in 2015. That may be a bit soon, unless it’s at the end of the season, that’s a possibility. But 2016 is more likely.”

This must be music to Mr Aliyev’s ears. As Azerbaijan has grown increasingly rich on energy wealth, Mr Aliyev has used various sports events and competitions to promote the country.

Next year, Azerbaijan hosts the inaugural European Games, it has placed a bid to hold the summer Olympics and also to stage the European Champions League final.

The glamour of Formula One, though, is unrivalled and Mr Aliyev would no doubt welcome it to Baku. Formula One is also one of the most watched TV sports around the World.

Mr Ecclestone has been trying to broaden the venues of Formula One races over the past few years. India and Malaysia now host their own race and Russia will host a Formula One race this year in Sochi.

If Azerbaijan does host a race in 2016, though, it will become the country with the smallest economy to host a Grand Prix.

Still, this does also come with pitfalls.

Human rights demonstrators in Bahrain targeted their demonstrations around the Formula One race in 2011. They may also take their opportunity in Baku too.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kazakh court fines Kcell

MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Almaty ruled in favour of Kazakhstan’s anti-monopoly commission by upholding an $88m fine against Kcell, majority owned by Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera, for abusing its dominant market position. Kcell introduced an SMS system to alert customers of missed calls. The anti-monopoly commission said this was unfair.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Georgia’s fire-fighters go on strike

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s fire-fighters have been striking over their chief who they say is corrupt, media reported. The fire-fighters say they have lost their bonuses to their supervisors.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Uzbek president rules on bureaucrats’ foreign trips

MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov has passed a decree which stated that he had to give permission for the top 25 ranked officials in the government to go on overseas trips, media reported. The decree is not designed to save money, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported, but to safeguard state secrets.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Vimpelcom expands its share in the Uzbek market

MARCH 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Beeline Uzbekistan, Vimpelcom’s subsidiary, saw its revenue grow by 11% in 2013 to $175m, it said during its annual results presentation.

The company also boosted its customer numbers by 3% in 2013 to 10.5m partly because MTS’s subsidiary, Uzdunrobita, had been chased out of Uzbekistan in 2012. This is a smaller jump than you may have imagined but most of the switch over of customers from Uzdunrobita to Beeline happened in Q4 2012.

Most importantly from the presentation was the statistic that data usage rose significantly in Uzbekistan last year.

Beeline reported a 61% jump in mobile data revenue. This is mainly internet surfing on mobile phones. What this means is that the Uzbek mobile consumer is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Beeline is one of two mobile providers in Uzbekistan. Ucell, owned by Swedish-Finnish mobile operator TeliaSonera, has a similar number of customers.

Both Beeline and Ucell will have watched the MTS saga apprehensively. For now, though, Uzbekistan is a good market.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Armenia relaxes visa regime for Iraq

MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia has relaxed it visa regime for Iraq, less than a month after opening a consulate in the Kurdish part of the country, media reported. On bad terms with its neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia has been strengthening economic and civil relations with Iran and Iraq.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kazakhstan builds up military forces

MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered his military commanders to build up their forces in the south and west of the country to counter any territorial disputes in the Caspian Sea and guard against the spread north of Islamic extremists from Afghanistan, media reported.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kazakhstan increases oil export duty

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will increase export duty on oil by 33% to $80 per tonne from April 1 to boost budget revenues, economy minister Yerbolat Dossayev said. Kazakhstan may be using cash raised through the oil export tariff to bolster its economy after devaluing its currency by 20% in February.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)