Tag Archives: Armenia

Iran talks up trade deals with the EEAU

JULY 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Iranian diplomats are talking up a trade agreement with the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEAU) which they hope will create a series of free trade zones that will spur joint projects. The EEAU includes Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Media reported that a group of 40 Iranian businessmen had flown to Bishkek to look at potential investments in Kyrgyzstan.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Power cut strikes Yerevan

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JULY 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — A power cut hit a large part of Yerevan, a blackout that analysts linked to a heatwave that has triggered heavy use of air conditioning units and fans. Analysts have said that Armenia needs to do more to increase its electricity production to meet a surge in demand linked to a rise in living standards. It is over-reliant on the Soviet-era Metsamor nuclear power station to generate power. The 45-year-old power plant was supposed to be decommissioned in 2017/18. Instead, its lifespan has now been extended until 2027.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Skirmishes intensify between Azerbaijan and Armenia

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JULY 20 2021 (The Bulletin) — Militaries of both Azerbaijan and Armenia reported that skirmishes along their shared borders had intensified. Some reports even said that heavy weapons had been brought up from the rear. Analysts said that the visit to Moscow by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev may have sparked off the intensified skirmishes. With the help of Turkey, Azerbaijan defeated Armenia in a war last year for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Putin wants more aviation cooperation with Central Asia

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JULY 20 2021 (The Bulletin) — In a clear pitch for Russia’s aviation business, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin said that he wanted to deepen Russia’s cooperation in the aviation sector with other member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Mr Putin was speaking at the opening of the MAKS 2021, air show in Zhukovsky, Russia. The EAEU includes Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Armenian opposition MPs to take up seats in parliament

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JULY 19 2021 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s opposition MPs, with the exception of former president Robert Kocharyan, said that they would take their seats in parliament, diverting a potential constitutional crisis. Opposition groups in Georgia declined to take their seats after an election last year which they said was fraudulent. Analysts had worried that the opposition in Armenia would do the same. Nikol Pashinyan won a majority in the election last month. Mr Kocharyan, whose party now holds 29 of 107 seats in parliament, said that his status as a former President precluded him from taking up an MPs position.

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— This story was published in issue 493 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 22 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Interview: Gold-plated resilience in tough times

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>> Despite a war in Armenia and a coup in Kyrgyzstan in 2020, Artem Volynets, the CEO of Chaarat Gold, says that Central Asia and the South Caucasus are good places to do business

JUNE 16 2021 (The Bulletin) — A global pandemic meant a tough 2020 for most people but for Artem Volynets, the CEO of AIM-listed gold miner Chaarat Gold, it was just one issue that he had to deal with. He also had to navigate a war and a coup.

“Yes, it was a complicated time,” he told The Bulletin over lunch in central London, flashing a pearl-white, relaxed, smile.

“But in many ways it made us stronger as a company.”

Chaarat Gold is the owner of the Kapan gold mine in southeast Armenia and two gold concessions in Kyrgyzstan, Tulkubash and Kyzyltash. In 2020, Armenia lost a war to Azerbaijan for the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and in Kyrgyzstan, a coup in October overthrew the government.

Volynets said that a third of his 1,000- person workforce at the Soviet-era Kapan gold
mine was called up for active duty.

“Even so, if anything our reputation in the region was strengthened by the war,” he said.
“We were the ones paying the taxes, keeping production going and jobs open.”

Chaarat Gold bought the Kapan mine from Russia’s Polymetal in 2019 for $55m, a deal that Volynets said had proved to be good value.

He dodged discussing criticism of Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan for allegedly dragging his feet over clearing protesters who have blocked access to another foreign-owned gold mine at Amulsar, but he was keen to discuss the expropriation in Kyrgyzstan of the Kumtor gold mine, the biggest in the country, from its Toronto-based owners, Centerra Gold.

Western investors in Bishkek have now described Kyrgyzstan as an “investment pariah” but Volynets was more circumspect.

“It’s very much an isolated incident that has to do with one particular foreign investor and one particular project,” he said. “We have been assured that we have no problems.”

Still, the noise around the expropriation of Kumtor has made life more difficult for Volynets and Chaarat Gold. Last month it said that raising finance for its Tulkubash project had slowed and that its first gold production was now delayed by a year to the second half of 2023.

In 2018, Chaarat Gold had offered to buy Kumtor, but Centerra Gold had turned down the offer.
“We’re not interested in it any more but we are still looking around at other FSU projects,” Volynets said.

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— This story was published in issue 488 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Vaccine uptake in Armenia is minimal, say nurses

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JUNE 16 2021 (The Bulletin) — Nurses administering vaccinations against the coronavirus on a Yerevan shopping street told The Bulletin that around 45,000 people across the country had been given a vaccine but that most of these were foreigners. Armenia has one of the lowest uptakes for the coronavirus vaccine in the world. It has set up points around towns and cities where anybody can have a vaccine, an offer, it seems, that has been mainly taken up by visitors.

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— This story was published in issue 48 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Erdogan flaunts his power in Central Asia and the South Caucasus

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BAKU/JUNE 15 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed off the influence he has built up in the region by visiting a town captured by Azerbaijan in a war against Armenia last year and by hosting Kyrgyz Pres. Sadyr Japarov for only his second visit to a foreign leader outside Central Asia since grabbing power in October.

With Azerbaijani Pres. Ilham Aliyev by his side Mr Erdogan toured Shusha, Azerbaijan’s biggest trophy from its victory over Armenia for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, in what some analysts described as a victory lap.

Turkey helped Azerbaijan in the war, supplying drones and military advisers. In return, it now has a permanent military presence in Azerbaijan and can count on Baku’s staunch loyalty.

“We call on everyone, who has an influence on the region, to see the facts, acknowledge the Azerbaijani people’s victory and look to the future,” Mr Erdogan said after signing the ‘Shusha Declaration’ with Mr Aliyev. Armenia criticised his visit to Shusha as provocative.

On June 9, Mr Japarov, the Kyrgyz president, had flown to Ankara to meet with Mr Erdogan. Other than two meetings with Russia’s Pres. Vladimir Putin, this was his first trip outside Central Asia since taking power last year. At their meeting, the two leaders talked up relations and the threat from Gulenists, followers of an exiled cleric that Mr Erdogan blames for a failed coup in 2016.

There was no mention, though, of Orhan Inandi, a Kyrgyz-Turkish Gulenist businessman and educator who disappeared in Bishkek in May. His wife has said that Turkish security forces abducted him and are holding him in the Turkish embassy in Bishkek.

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— This story was published in issue 48 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Armenia raises interest rate to highest level since Dec. 2016

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YEREVAN/JUNE 15 2021 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank said that the economy had rebounded faster than expected from both losing a war against Azerbaijan and also from the coronavirus pandemic, giving PM Nikol Pashinyan a boost ahead of a tight election.

The Central Bank also raised interest rates by half a percentage point to 6.5%, its highest level since 2016, strengthening the Armenian dram against the US dollar.

“Gross demand is recovering faster than expected, mainly due to the rapid growth of global demand, increased remittances, the high growth rate of private consumption, while private investment activity remains weak,” the Central Bank said in its statement.

Armenians vote in a parliamentary election on June 20. Polls put Mr Pashinyan ahead of his main contender, former president Robert Kocharyan, but they have also suggested that he may not win a majority.

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— This story was published in issue 48 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Transcaucasian trekking trail opens in Armenia

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YEREVAN/JUNE 14 2021 (The Bulletin) — The 832km Armenia section of the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT) officially opened, a hiking route that its founders hope will boost tourism and interest in the Armenian countryside.

The route runs north to south and, according to its founders, rewards hikers with beautiful views over Armenia’s rugged landscape which is dotted with monasteries.

“This marks the first country section in the international TCT. The Armenia trail will connect to Georgia, eventually taking hikers all the way to the Greater Caucasus,” Meagan Neal, one of the founders wrote in a blog post. “The Armenia route is part ancient trails, part newly built trails, part Soviet jeep tracks, and part open terrain.”

The Georgia section is, according to the TCT website, coming along, while work on the Azerbaijan section has barely started. Tourism makes up a far smaller part of Armenia’s economy compared to Georgia.

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— This story was published in issue 48 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021