MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran wants to transport Turkmen gas to a port on the Persian Gulf before shipping on to other clients, Hamidreza Araqi, head of the National Iranian Gas Company told Iran’s state news agency in an interview. Turkmenistan has become an increasingly important regional energy hub over the last few years.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s move into Ukraine has given Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev some major problems.
He is friendly with Russia and its president Vladimir Putin. Kazakhstan is part of the Russia-led Customs Union and various other trade and military groups.
Like Mr Putin, Mr Nazarbayev the sight of protesters in Kiev defeating the riot police would have chilled him.
So, up to this point, Kazakhstan is firmly on the same side as Russia. Where they might differ is on Russia’s invasion of Crimea and its encouragement of an independence referendum. Russia has said it has had to act to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine.
And this is the problem. If Russia legitimises its action to defend Russian speakers in Ukraine, where does it stop?
One of Mr Nazarbayev’s key projects has been to make the country more Kazakh. He has succeed, to a large extent. Kazakh is far more widely spoken than it once was; many Russians who had lived in Kazakhstan have left while Kazakhs living abroad have returned.
But northern Kazakhstan is still majority ethnic Russian and Mr Nazarbayev doesn’t want Russia to give out any wrong ideas. Some prominent Russian figures are already calling for northern Kazakhstan to join with Russia.
In a phone call with Mr Putin on March 10, Mr Nazarbayev’s press service said he had expressed his support for defending minorities in Ukraine. He may have said this through gritted teeth.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A meeting between Georgia’s special representative on Russia, Zurab Abashidze, and the Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin has been postponed for the second time this month. Mr Abashidze and Mr Karasin were due to discuss bilateral ties. Georgia has said it supports the revolution in Ukraine, angering Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to distance themselves from Russian culture, or perhaps just seeking to please their leader, Tajikistan’s interior minister and communications chief have ditched the -ov from their names, media reported. President Emomali Rakhmon dropped his -ov in 2007.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan wants to impose harsher penalties on people who break its anti-terrorism laws, media quoted the head of the Azerbaijani parliament’s security committee, Ziyafat Asgarov, as saying. Azerbaijani officials have said they are worried about radicalised Islamists returning to Azerbaijan from Syria’s civil war.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The weakening of the Kyrgyz som fuelled economic uncertainty just as winter was thawing — the most dangerous time of the year for any government in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan has experienced two violent revolutions since 2005, both in the spring.
According to the Kyrgyz Central Bank the som has lost 10% of its value against the US dollar this year.
The Central Bank blamed external politico-economic factors for the fall of the Kyrgyz som — mainly Kazakhstan’s sudden decision to devalue its own currency on Feb. 11 by 20% and the Russian rouble’s drop after Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. It also said, though, that speculators had panicked people on March 3 by selling US dollars for 59 soms, 5 soms above the official exchange rate.
Although the Central Bank declared the som crisis over on March 4, confidence in the currency is thin.
“The dollar affects everything,” said Habib Tursun as he sold milk from his brother’s farm to Bishkek residents out of his car boot. Although Mr Tursun’s operation doesn’t involve imports, except for petrol, his family save in dollars. To counter the fall in the som, he said that he had added 3 soms onto the price of a litre of milk, now 38 soms.
“Our milk is still cheaper than in the shops. If their prices are rising, why shouldn’t ours?” he said.
Prices for a number of imported products have risen 10-20%, according to local media.
This inflation may increase dissatisfaction with President Almazbek Atambayev and his government. It could also force the government to delay planned energy tariff rises and reduce the value of important remittances from migrants in Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Predictions on how Armenia will perform economically over the next year don’t make pretty reading.
First, deputy economy minister Vahram Avanesyan was blunt about the impact of a downturn in the Russian economy on Armenia.
In particular he said that the drop by 10% of Russia’s rouble currency would affect the value of remittances to Armenia and also exports from Armenia.
“The first potential security risk is decline in real value of private transfers, the second is lower revenues of Armenian exporters to Russia,” media quoted Mr Avanesyan as saying.
The economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus are closely linked to the fortunes of Russia. Remittance flows are particularly strong from Russia out to these peripheries of the former Soviet Union.
Armenia, though, is probably more vulnerable than most. Russian companies are bank rolling most of the country’s commerce and Russia’s state-owned companies are large investors.
Shortly after Mr Avanesyan’s assessment the IMF released its forecasts for the Armenian economy.
It said that growth would hit 4.3% in 2014 but that inflation would rise to 5%.
In line with other currencies in the region, Armenia’s dram also weakened earlier this month with the rouble. On March 3, it dropped from 350 drams to the dollar to 400 drams.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Underling Tajikistan’s authoritarian instinct, police arrested the lawyer of jailed opposition leader Zaid Saidov, media reported. Fakhriddin Zokirov, the lawyer who represented Sadiov last year in his corruption case, is accused of forging documents and theft.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The United States’ Federal Aviation Administration handed Azerbaijan a category 1 ranking, allowing Azerbaijani aircraft to fly to the US. The decision is an important boost for Azerbaijan’s aviation industry. It had previously been banned from flying to the US.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan issued a forceful statement on Ukraine which said emphatically that ousted president Viktor Yanukovych was no longer the country’s leader. Instead it said: “The only source of power in any country is its people.” Kyrgyzstan has ousted two presidents in revolutions since 2005.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)