MAY 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underlining Turkmenistan’s growing status, Turkmen foreign minister Rashid Meredov met with his Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts for what was dubbed as the first of regular tri-lateral talks. Energy featured on the agenda. Over the past 5 years Turkmenistan has become a regional energy super-power.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan Airlines may pull out of a deal to buy two Boeing Dreamliners, media reported. Reports said Azerbaijan Airlines had been due to take the first Dreamliner in June or July this year but that it was having second thoughts. Boeing has not commented.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has confirmed that it will send 12 more heavy tanks to Azerbaijan, media reported, part of a major arms deal between the two countries. The deal will cause consternation in Armenia, which views Russia as its main ally and Azerbaijan as its biggest foe.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The consortium of companies developing the second phase of the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea handed out another major contract.
This time it was a $735m contract to build two sections of a pipeline that will pump gas to Europe. This is an important project both for Azerbaijan and for Europe which is looking to reduce its dependency on Russia for energy.
A joint bid by Azeri firm Azfen and Amsterdam-based Saipem Contracting Netherlands BV won the contract to build a 428km pipeline between Azerbaijan and Georgia and a second 59km pipeline in Georgia.
Earlier this year the BP-led consortium developing Shah Deniz II, as the second phase of the development is known, handed out contracts worth billions of dollars, including also to Saipem, an Italian oil and gas services company.
And there promises to be plenty more multi-million- dollar contracts. Shah Deniz II is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the world. Its entire cost is estimated at $28b.
Reuters quoted Gordon Birrell, BP’s president for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey region as saying that the development of the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion was on schedule.
Most of the contracts are due for completion by 2017, with first gas scheduled for a year later.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Industrial production in Azerbaijan increased by 5.1% in the first 4 months of the year, the state stats committee reported. The data is more good news for Azerbaijan’s economy. Last month, the Central Bank cut interest rates to its lowest level for three years.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 18/19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev travelled to Hanoi for his first trip to Vietnam. While there he signed various agreements with his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang to deepen bi- lateral relations. Like Azerbaijan, Vietnam is also developing its off-shore energy industry.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The day after Azerbaijan assumed the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, a court in Baku sentenced an opposition journalist to eight years in prison for holding illegal weapons.
The Council of Europe is the European body, covering 47 countries, that supposedly spreads Europe’s ideals of human rights and democratic elections to wider Europe.
No matter that Azerbaijan has been heavily criticised over the past few years for crushing dissent and locking up troublesome journalists. It was its turn to head the group. The chairmanship rotates in alphabetical order every six months.
Parviz Hasimli, the now imprisoned activist, was just the latest opposition reporter to be sent to prison. There have been many before him. In most cases the defendants, with good reason, have said that the charges are politically motivated.
Azerbaijan has said that it will use its presidency of the Council of Europe to fight corruption and human rights.
This sound good but could well be a hollow promise. Corruption and human rights appear to be worsening in Azerbaijan.
Instead, for Azerbaijan, its chairmanship is useful as a smokescreen.
For many of Azerbaijan’s critics, its leadership of the Council of Europe, supposed to uphold human rights across the continent, is an insult.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s gas export volume is set to fall by nearly 10% this year because of a decline in sales to Russia, a senior SOCAR official told Reuters. SOCAR is the Azerbaijani state energy company. This is important as gas is a major currency earner for Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
MAY 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – French president Francois Hollande started his tour of the South Caucasus in Baku. He discussed strengthening business and political ties. Human Rights Watch said Mr Hollande should have pressed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hard on rights abuses.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
MAY 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The day after Atletico Madrid beat London-based Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League semi-final Iranian newspaper Jam-e Jam published photos of the victorious team but with Azerbaijan, the team sponsor, edited out of the front of their shirts, BBC reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)