Tag Archives: business

Uzbekistan says it wants foreign investment

NOV. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government said it wanted foreign investors to buy stakes in state-owned enterprises, part of a privatisation plan it said was designed to bring expertise into some of its biggest companies.

Deputy PM Rustam Azimov made the statement at an investment forum in Tashkent.

“[The plan is] to attract strategic investors who are able to bring new technology and equipment (and) organise the production of modern and competitive products,” Reuters quoted Mr Azimov as saying.

He cherry-picked three companies, seemingly as a teaser to pique foreign investor interest. These were cement maker Kizilkumcement, chemical producer Ferganaazot and electronics plant Foton.

For foreign investors, though, Uzbekistan has always been a complicated to do business in. It holds a high level of natural resources, mainly gold, gas and cotton, but is riddled through with corruption and intrigue. Western companies have previously had their assets taken by the Uzbek state too.

It remains to be seen if Uzbekistan is serious about opening up to foreign investors — and also whether these investors are Western, Korean, Chinese, Russia or from elsewhere.

The Uzbek government does need to raise funds though to deal with the current economic malaise.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Coca-Cola halts Uzbekistan plant?

NOV. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Coca-Cola Ichimligi may have suspended its operations in Uzbekistan, according to a report published by US-funded RFE/RL. Tashkent residents said Coca-Cola products have disappeared from shops. Coca-Cola Ichimligi is reportedly linked to Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Pres. Islam Karimov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

EGT grows in Georgia

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bulgarian manufacturer Euro Games Technology reported positive growth in Georgia, where it expanded its product line to several casinos. EGT, which manufactures slot machines and roulettes, said most of its machines operate at casinos in Batumi, a resort town on theGeorgian Black Sea coast. The company said it grew its market share from 25% in 2014 to 33% this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Korea-Uzbek business to boost

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – South Korea wants to boost further its investments in Uzbekistan, local media reported quoting government officials. South Korea and Uzbekistan have developed close relations over the past few years. There are thousands of ethnic Koreans living in Uzbekistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Azerbaijan plans wind farm

OCT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Agency for Renewable Energy said it is developing a 200 megawatt wind farm in the Caspian Sea, to help diversify the country’s energy supply. The project will cost around 450-500m manat (around $450m). Azerbaijan, which has only minor renewable energy production, wants to reach a capacity of 2 gigawatt by the end of the decade.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Eurasian Dev Bank to give Armenia $300m crisis loan

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Almaty-based Eurasian Development Bank is close to agreeing a deal to lend the Armenian government $300m to help it through the economic malaise enveloping the Central Asia and South Caucasus region.

If it is agreed, the first $100m is due at the end of this year with the outstanding $200m handed over by the end of 2017.

Like other countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Armenia has been trying to deal with the fallout of the drop in oil prices and a recession in Russia which have combined to tip the entire region into an economic depression.

“Current macroeconomic actions have been agreed with the Armenian government,” Dmitry Pankin, the EDB CEO, told the Armenpress news agency.

“The project has been approved by the expert council and is now being considered by the Eurasian Stabilisation and Development Fund. After the official decision, the final conditions will be agreed upon.”

The Eurasian Development Bank is an overtly political organisation. It’s membership mirrors the membership of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union — Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia — with the addition of Tajikistan.

It was set up before the Eurasian Economic Union to give the trade bloc extra weight.

It also acts as a kind of sweetener. Armenia is reliant on Russia for economic and political support. It joined the Eurasian Economic Union at the start of this year under duress from Russia but can now access cheap loans to keep its economy running.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Armenia lifts poultry ban

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian authorities lifted a ban on imports of poultry meat and by-products from three US states — Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In May, Armenia’s Food Safety Service had banned poultry imports from 13 US states, following an outbreak of avian influenza in the US. Armenia lifted the ban for 10 US states in July.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Tajikistan reports on transparency in mining sector

OCT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), an intergovernmental organisation set up to improve transparency in mining and oil sectors, published its first report on Tajikistan which the authors said shone some light on the murky Tajik extractive sector.

Anti-corruption lobby groups have previously criticised the Tajik government for siphoning off cash from its metals sector and while the report was considered a step forward for transparency in Tajikistan, there were still many blank spots.

And the authors of the report made this clear.

“Three of the 14 companies in the EITI Report are partially state owned. Considerable details related to these companies are missing from the report due to the currently weak government systems for recording all company payments,” they wrote in the EITI report.

Tajikistan had been supposed to present its first report to the EITI in February, a deadline it missed.

A presentation on the report will be made in Dushanbe on Nov. 25.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Ukraine wants Turkmenistan flights

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukraine’s ministry of infrastructure said it plans to hold negotiations with authorities in Turkmenistan to resume air traffic and boost commercial links between the two countries. In early September, Ukraine International Airlines postponed the launch of a Kiev-Ashgabat connection due to disagreements between the aviation authorities.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Norway police arrests Ex-VimpelCom CEO over Uzbek bribes

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Norway arrested Jo Lunder, the former CEO of Russian telecoms company VimpelCom, in connection with alleged bribe paying in Uzbekistan, further damaging the reputation of foreign telecoms companies operating in Central Asia.

A few days earlier, Norway’s industry minister, Monica Maeland, sacked Svein Aaser as Telenor’s chairman over the corruption probe. She said that Telenor had been handling an internal investigation into the case badly.

“I no longer have confidence in Telenor’s chairman,” Ms Maeland said in a statement.

VimpelCom is alleged to have paid millions of dollars in bribes to Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of President Islam Karimov, for mobile licences in Uzbekistan. Swedish TeliaSonera is also being investigated for bribe-paying.

In October, Telenor said it wanted to sell its 33% stake in VimpelCom, effectively cutting the company’s operations in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)