FEB. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kaspi Bank’s chairman, Mikhail Lomtadze, said customers withdrew 40b tenge ($216m) from their accounts after SMS messages wrongly claimed the Kazakh bank was going to collapse after the devaluation of the Tenge earlier this month. Mr Lomtadze said this equalled roughly a tenth of all the savings in Kaspi Bank.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan rejected criticism from human rights groups that it violates the right to religious freedom, media reported. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has previously reported that Uzbekistan has arrested more than 200 people since 2012 on religionr-elated charges.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s government has allocated another $280m to the construction of a railway line linking the Ferghana Valley to the rest of the country, media reported.
The loan from the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund to Uzbekistan Railways is to be specifically spent on mining machinery needed for the project.
It’s an ambitious project designed to allow trains to cross — over and under — the mountains straddling the Ferghana Valley with the rest of the country.
It’s also important, not only for reducing journey times, but also politically. Currently the main road linking the Ferghana Valley to the rest of Uzbekistan is often closed during winter because of snow, forcing people to travel through Tajikistan. Uzbekistan’s relations with Tajikistan are strained.
Although the Uzbek government has offered some cash for the project, much of the funding is coming from China. This is revealing. China has becoming increasingly active in Central Asia through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) military alliance and through funding various projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s parliament approved sending roughly 100 Georgian soldiers to the Central African Republic on an international peacekeeping mission due to start next month. Georgia has been eager to curry international favour by sending soldiers on NATO and EU peacekeeping missions.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry has complained to Russia about comments made by politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky who said Central Asia should become a federal Russian region, media reported. Mr Zhirinovsky is known for his outspoken comments and, although relatively high profile, is considered a fringe politician.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was concerned about the Azerbaijani authorities’ harassment of journalist Khadija Ismayilova. Last week, officials in Azerbaijan accused Ms Ismayilova of passing documents on prominent Azerbaijanis to US officials. She has previously uncovered government corruption.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili met US President Barack Obama at the White House on Feb. 24, underlining Georgia’s status as a favoured US ally in the former Soviet Union. Mr Garibashvili took over as Georgian PM in November 2013. Georgia is the most staunchly pro-United States of the former Soviet countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said that four out of six of Tajikistan’s main internet providers have blocked access to its Tajik news site since Feb. 22. Tajikistan has a poor press freedom record and has previously blocked access to international news websites.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor-General accused three associates of President Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, of various financial crimes, including fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. Police arrested Rustam Madumarov, Ms Karimova’s boyfriend, and two friends at her home on Feb. 17.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has banned the sale of Uzbekistan-made GM Daewoo cars, media reported, triggering a potential trade row between the two neighbours.
Officially, Kazakhstan said Customs Union rules stated that imported cars must have at least one front airbag, ABS braking, child safety seat attachment points, daytime running lights and an immobiliser.
Unofficially, the suspicion is that Kazakhstan may be using the Customs Union to protect its own car industry.
The Customs Union has been in existence since 2011. It is led by Russia and so far includes also Kazakhstan and Belarus, although Armenia and Kyrgyzstan plan to join later this year. Uzbekistan has no plans to join.
Its rules and regulations, though, are some-what murky but what we do know is that, by instinct, it is a protectionist organisation.
What is clear is that last year GM-Uzbekistan, which produces its cars at a factory in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan sold around 23,000 of its cheaper car models in Kazakhstan and around three times that many to Russia.
GM took over the Daewoo factory in Uzbekistan in 2008.
Visitors to Shymkent, a city of 600,000 people in Kazakhstan on the border with Uzbekistan, will notice that many of the cars on the roads being driven there are Daewoo.
Both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have been talking up their car industries. Uzbekistan’s main car markets are Russia and Kazakhstan and the GM Daewoo factory is its biggest producer.
Losing Kazakhstan, and Russia, as an export market will be a major blow and have, potentially, far reaching implications.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)