JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – US fast food giant McDonalds will open its first store in Kazakhstan this year in Astana, media reported quoting city officials. Last year McDonalds said it had agreed a franchise deal with businessman Kairat Bornabayev.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
TBILISI, JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian state regulators approved a price increase for electricity, a rise that will irritate consumers and also the power companies who said the rise was not enough to cover the cost of production.
Electricity prices have become a major political issue across Central Asia and the South Caucasus because falling local currencies have forced up the cost of imports needed to fuel power stations.
In Armenia, thousands of people have protested for weeks about a sharp increase in electricity prices.
Perhaps mindful of the political fallout, Georgia’s regulators tried to limit price increases. The price rises appear to vary enormously between 2% and 30% depending on consumers’ overall annual use.
Zurab Gelenidze, CFO of Georgian Industrial Group, said the price rises were not enough. “The sustainability of the entire system will become questionable,” he told media.
Also reacting to the price rises, PM Irakli Garibashvili said the government would give out subsidies to some lower income families.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Astana, the Kazakh airline part-owned by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and BAE Systems, said that profit was $8.3m in the first half of the year compared to a $36.5m loss in the same period in 2014. The main driver of the increased profit was the cheaper price of jet fuel.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – General Motor’s subsidiary, GM Uzbekistan, and Uzavtosanoat said they will build a second car plant in Uzbekistan, according to Ruslan Batyrov, head of media at Uzavtosanoat. The two companies already own a car plant near Andijan, eastern Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
TBILISI/Georgia, JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US fast-food chain Wendy’s has just opened its sixth restaurant in Georgia, Dunkin’ Donuts its eighth. Despite a general economic downturn, the fast-food scene in Georgia has exploded over the past year or so.
The lone McDonald’s in central Tbilisi had since the 1990s been the only US fast-food restaurant in the country. Now locals can choose between Wendy’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Burger King, KFC, Subway and Domino’s Pizza.
And Georgians, whose culture hinges around long meals with friends and family, have turned the fast-food sector into a social scene of their own.
The fast food restaurants in Tbilisi are often filled with women dressed in high heels and their best dresses, men in buttoned-up shirts, young children in their Sunday clothes and teenagers sporting the latest fashion.
“We come here every Saturday,” Nitsa, 13, said as she started to tuck into her burger at a Wendy’s restaurant in central Tbilisi. “We like the food a lot, but we also just love to sit here and talk for hours.”
Families come for a day out and young couples for a romantic dinner. Most are also looking for a change from Georgian food.
Tamuna Mosidze, who was pregnant, had another reason for choosing to eat in one of McDonald’s fast-food restaurants.
“It’s the best service in town and you know the ingredients are quality,” she said.
And the US fast-food restaurants appear to have noticed this distinctive Georgian feel about their restaurants.
Sophie Chogovadze, head Marketing Wendy’s and Dunkin Donuts, said: “We wanted to make it about the experience, to make it more than just tasty food.”
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s foreign minister Rashid Meredov will travel to Afghanistan for talks with his Uzbek counterpart, media reported. Turkmenistan has become increasingly worried about the build up of Taliban forces on its borders. It also has an interest in stability in Afghanistan because of the proposed TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to Pakistan and India.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan hopes to complete construction of is 300km East- West gas pipeline by the end of the year, local media reported quoting government officials. The pipeline is important because it will pump gas from Turkmenistan’s fields in the east to the Caspian Sea for shipment to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Japanese officials said they want to invest in the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi on the western shores of Turkmenistan. The port is currently being expanded and could become a major hub.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The value of car imports to Georgia slumped by 26%, in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2014, data from the statistics agency showed, more evidence that an economic slowdown across the region is hitting Georgian consumers. Overall, imports in H1 2015 were down 9% compared to H1 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BISHKEK — Dozens of people protested in central Bishkek against proposed changes to labour laws which they say will reduce the rights of temporary workers.
The main proposed changes focus on making it easier for foreign companies to hire and fire workers.
The government has argued that it needs to update labour laws to crackdown on the “shadow economy” where employers hire people for short periods but do not pay tax.
Protesters said the amendments would help foreign companies dodge paying social security and over-time.
The mood at the protest, which wound its way through central Bishkek under a cloudless blue sky, was angry but calm.
“We are against slavery,” one of the protesters’ banners said.
Many of the protesters were representatives of workers’ unions attached to mines, including the Kumtor mine in the east of the country owned by Toronto-based Centerra Gold. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest industrial asset.
After the protest, the government said they would set up a working group to look at the demonstrators’ concerns.
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(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)