Category Archives: Uncategorised

Uzbekistan backs Kiev against Moscow

MARCH 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — If Georgia’s support for the revolution in Ukraine was no surprise, Uzbekistan’s apparent concern about the territorial integrity of Ukraine is.

Uzbekistan was the first from the block of former Soviet states that you would have bet on supporting Russia to break ranks.

“Events in Ukraine … create a real threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and have caused deep anxiety and concern in Uzbekistan,” the Uzbek foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.

Uzbekistan has a reputation for isolationism. It has awkward relations with its neighbours and has stayed clear of the Russian-led Customs Union.

Even so, Uzbekistan is part of the military orientated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which includes Russia, China and most of Central Asia. Russia is also an important economic partner for Uzbekistan.

For Uzbekistan to issue such a statement criticising the Russian military’s deployment in Ukraine is risky. Uzbekistan’s relations with its former colonial master have been patchy and, after this proclamation, may be even patchier.

Perhaps spurring Uzbekistan on in the background is its current ties to NATO. NATO is paying Uzbekistan handsomely to shift its kit from Afghanistan back home. Uzbekistan, possibly, had one eye on their current benefactors when issuing the statement.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Russia law sends Armenian workers back

MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new law in Russia means 220,000 Armenian workers will shortly have to return home, cutting remittance flows, media quoted demographic analyst Ruben Yeganyan as saying. From Jan. 1, Russia will allow casual labourers to stay only 90 days in a 180-day period. Remittances from Russia are a vital income for many Armenian families.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

ADB approves road project in Azerbaijan

FEB. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to approve a $45m loan next month to finance the reconstruction of road and bridges along the Georgian border, Azerbaijani media reported. The ADB has been instrumental in pushing ahead plans to rebuild Azerbaijan’s Soviet-era infrastructure.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Turkmenistan builds natural gas complex

FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has begun constructing a gas chemical complex on the shores of the Caspian Sea, media reported. Turkmenistan has grown wealthy from natural gas sales over the past few years and is trying to boost its domestic industrial base.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Fuel shortages may occur in Kazakhstan

FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan may experience fuel shortages this year, media quoted Sauat Mynbayev, head of Kazmunaigas, as saying. Kazakhstan’s three oil refineries are being upgrading, reducing their capacity and forcing the authorities to import fuel from Russia. The currency devaluation has made fuel imports expensive.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Student protest new credit system in Azerbaijan

FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly 500 students at Baku University demonstrated against a new credit system which they said was just another way of trying to increase tuition fees, media reported. According to reports, police detained 12 students. Sizeable protests against the authorities in Azerbaijan are relatively rare.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Kazakhstan sponsors Almaty 2022 Olympic bid

FEB. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s delegation at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games in Russia took the chance to plug Almaty for the 2022 event. The Kazakh delegation pledged that they would not spend hugely on new facilities as Sochi had. Almaty is competing against Lviv in Ukraine, Oslo, Beijing and Krakow in Poland.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Experts question Kazakh Central Bank’s ability to control

FEB. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — If the Kazakh Central Bank’s decision to devalue the Kazakh tenge by 20% on Feb. 11 came as a nasty surprise, the admission by Kairat Kelimbetov, the Bank’s chief, that he had only learned of the policy shift the night before came as a frightening shock.

Readers left floods of angry comments on news websites on the apparent ineptitude of Mr Kelimbetov.

“If he didn’t know, it means he doesn’t work at all! What an irresponsible (man),” wrote one user.

The Kazakh Central Bank is supposedly in charge of the country’s monetary policy and the constitution enshrines its independence.

And yet here was the Mr Kelimbetov saying that he’d only been informed about a policy change at the last moment. Many suspect that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in power since 1991, influences monetary policy.

Even so, it was a PR disaster for Mr Kelimbetov, said Eldar Madumarov, an economics professor in Almaty.

“It used to be regarded as the most independent and reliable Central Bank among all post-Soviet countries, including Russia,” he said. “All he’s been saying undermines his credibility.”

The Kazakh President, with approval from the Senate, appoints the Central Bank chief. Mr Kelimbetov took over as head of the Kazakh Central Bank in October last year from Grigory Marchenko, who was considered a steady hand.

Mr Kelimbetov’s reputation appears to be in tatters as Svetlana Dzhalmagambetova, a senator, voiced when she faced him at a Senate hearing on the devaluation.

“We need to know if you lack professionalism or ethics, it’s one of the two,” she said according to reports. “You misled not only the people of Kazakhstan, but also their representatives here in the Parliament.”

(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Kazakhs rally for Ukraine

FEB. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The revolution that swept Viktor Yanukovich from power in Ukraine has reverberated, gently, around the former Soviet Union.

In Almaty, the financial capital of Kazakhstan, roughly two dozen people gathered outside the Ukrainian consulate last week after news emerged that snipers had shot dozens of people in Kiev. They lit candles and sang the Ukrainian national anthem. Social media filled with statements of solidarity and posts that shared the latest news, both in Russian and in Kazakh.

Although analysts have said that the revolution in Ukraine may trigger anti-government demonstrations in other parts of the former Soviet Union, apart from the vigil outside the Ukrainian consulate in Almaty, the reaction on the streets was muted.

This was partly, said political observer Adil Nurmakov of blogbasta.kz, because most legal forms of protest in Kazakhstan had been extinguished.

(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Uzbek portion of Aral Sea dries up

FEB. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Aral Sea, which straddles Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, has not lost as much water as scientists had previously feared, media reported quoting US scientists working at NASA. NASA’s Satellite photos showed that although 90% of the Aral Sea’s surface water has disappeared, much has concentrated in deeper pockets in the northern part of the sea.

(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)