Tag Archives: business

Italian company wins Heydar Aliyev refinery update project

FEB. 3 2021 (The Bulletin) — Italian engineering company Maire Tecnimont said that it had won a tender in Azerbaijan to modernise part of the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery outside Baku. It said that the new project is worth $160m and will take up to three years to complete. Azerbaijan, like its neighbours, is investing in power generation and refining capabilities, creating opportunities for Western contractors.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Coca-Cola to build new bottling plant in Azerbaijan

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BAKU/FEB. 2 2021 (The Bulletin) — Coca-Cola will build a new $30m bottling plant in Azerbaijan, a sign of confidence in a quick recovery from an economic downturn linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Media reports said that the new bottling plant will be built in either Ismayilli region or Gabala region and will create more than 100 jobs, adding to the, roughly, 300 people that Azerbaijan Coca-Cola Bottlers already employs.

Turkey’s Coca-Cola Icecek, which also has operations in Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, owns Azerbaijan Coca-Cola Bottlers. The Turkish company that produces the Efes beer owns 50% of Coca-Cola Icecek and the Coca-Cola company in Atlanta also owns a 20% stake.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Uzbekistan is making progress on eradicating forced labour, says ILO

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FEB. 2 2021 (The Bulletin) — The International Labour Organisation (ILO), part of the UN, said that Uzbekistan was continuing to make good progress in eradicating forced labour in its cotton sector. The statement is important for Uzbekistan as its government has tried to persuade Western companies to lift a ban on products made using Uzbek cotton, a key export. The ban was imposed during Islam Karimov’s time as president. He died in 2016.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Kazatomprom says will reduce output in 2021

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FEB. 1 2021 (The Bulletin) — In production guidance for 2021, Kazakh uranium producer Kazatomprom said that it would continue to reduce output in line with a plan put forward in 2018 to boost uranium prices. It also said that its output had been hit by the coronavirus pandemic and that it had been forced to suspend production at two sites in Turkestan, south Kazakhstan. Kazatomprom has a listing on the London Stock Exchange and is the world’s biggest uranium miner.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Georgia to lift ban on international flights from Feb. 1

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JAN. 22 2021 (The Bulletin) — Georgia will lift a ban on international flights, imposed to try to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, from Feb. 1, media quoted Georgian economy minister Natia Turnava as saying. Tourism has become a major part of the Georgian economy over the decade and the banning of flights into Georgia for a year has hit it hard. Georgia has started to slowly lift its strict coronavirus restrictions.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Fire destroys top Georgian restaurant in Central Asia

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BISHKEK/JAN. 22 2021 (The Bulletin) — A late-night fire destroyed the Pur Pur Georgian restaurant in central Bishkek, considered by many to be the best Georgian restaurant in Central Asia.

Nobody was hurt in the blaze at the site just off Bishkek’s Philharmomic Square. Police have said that they are investigating the cause of the fire and have declined to comment on speculation of arson.

Pur Pur became a favourite venue for Bishkek-based diplomats wanting to wine and dine contacts and also a favoured hang-out for Central Asia’s small and thirsty foreign press corps. The Lonely Plant guidebook described the shabby-chic Pur Pur as serving “perhaps the best Georgian food this side of the Caspian” with tables groaning under “gigantic khachipuri and flowing decanters of house wine”.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Georgia to reopen shops from Feb. 1

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JAN. 22 2021 (The Bulletin) –Georgia’s government said that after a compulsory coronavirus lockdown, shops will be allowed to reopen from Feb. 1 and that a month later, on March 1, schools and public transport will restart operations. Georgia had been praised for its tough initial lockdown but had to redouble efforts in the autumn after a far worse-than-expected second wave.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Coronavirus hits Georgian banks

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TBILISI/JAN. 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Profit at Georgia’s 15 commercial banks fell by nearly 90% last year, the Central Bank said, reflecting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its economy.

It said that it expected profits at the banks to be 100m lari ($30.3m) in 2020 compared to 950m lari in 2019.

Medical experts praised Georgia for its initial hard and fast response to the coronavirus, although economists also said that this had a tough impact on its economy.

And the assessment of banks’ profit drop was given only a couple of days before Fitch, the ratings agency, downgraded the so-called support ratings of TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia and Liberty Bank to 5 from 4 because their liabilities are now larger than the Central Bank’s reserves.

The support rating is a measure of the ability of the Central Bank to prop up commercial banks, if needed.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan agree deal to develop Caspian Sea oil block

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BAKU/JAN. 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan agreed to jointly develop an oil block in the middle of the Caspian Sea, ending a 30-year feud that has slowed energy development in the region.

Analysts said that the deal to develop the Dostyk block was the most significant for the Caspian Sea energy industry since plans to exploit the giant Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector were put into action in the 1990s.

After watching, on a video screen, the Azerbaijani and Turkmen foreign ministers sign the deal in Ashgabat, Turkmen Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov described the agreement as “historic”.

“This is a truly significant event in the life of our countries and peoples,” he said. “It is aimed at strengthening our friendship and cooperation.”

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have argued about the ownership of the Dostyk block which lies, roughly, in the middle of the Caspian Sea. The Dostyk block neighbours the Chirag and Azeri fields which Azerbaijan has exploited, with the help of BP, and used to anchor a major oil export business.

As well as developing the Turkmen and Azerbaijani oil industries, analysts said that the development of the Dostyk field should also accelerate plans for a trans-Caspian Sea pipeline that would connect to pipelines running to Turkey and Europe.

This is a potential game-changer for Turkmenistan, which holds the world’s fourth -argest gas reserves but is largely reliant on Russia and China for sales.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Chaarat says beats 2020 output expectations

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JAN. 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — London-based Chaarat Gold said that it had exceeded production expectations at its Kapan mine in Armenia. In a media interview, Chaarat CEO Artem Volynets said that despite a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and a coup in Kyrgyzstan that could have destabilised its Kyrgyz operations, Chaarat had had a decent year.

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— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin