MAY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The chairman of Azerbaijan’s state energy company Rovnag Abdullayev said the country could produce up to 40b cubic metres of gas a year, state- linked media reported. This would propel Azerbaijan into the top tier of global producers.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia has negotiated a reduced price for gas from Russia’s Gazprom but the government will not pass this saving on to consumers, energy minister, Yervand Zakharyan, said. Instead, Mr Zakharyan said, consumers will pay the same price.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 11/12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) laid the groundwork for more collaboration in the financial sector with a couple of deals.
At a meeting in the UAE, the Dubai International Financial Centre and the Kazakh Central Bank agreed to exchange expertise and coordinate strategies, while Nasdaq Dubai and the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) inked an agreement to link their financial instruments.
Luca Anceschi, professor of Central Asian Studies at Glasgow University said: “These new financial links between Almaty and Dubai open another avenue besides construction and trade in non-state sectors.”
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – KT, the second largest South Korean mobile network, said that it had won a $110m contract to build an advanced electricity metering system. The project is in partnership with the Asian Development Bank. The plan is to install 1m metres in Uzbekistan’s three biggest cities by 2017.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The National Statistics Committee of Kyrgyzstan said foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 37% in the first four months of 2015, figures which highlight the current difficult economic climate.
This marks the second year of decreasing FDI in Kyrgyzstan after a jump in 2013. Most of the loss this year can be attributed to the construction sector, impacted by economic sanctions and crisis in Russia, and to the mining sector, due to the Kumtor gold mine stalemate.
Alex Nice, Central Asia analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said: “Economic and political uncertainty may have depressed foreign investment and of course relatively weak gold prices may also depress new investment in Kumtor, the biggest source of FDI.”
With the fall in remittances from migrant workers abroad and low GDP growth for the next couple of years, Kyrgyzstan needs to improve its business climate in order to attract more, rather than less foreign investors interest.
But as the head of the Association for Foreign Investment, Kairat Itibayev, told media, infrastructure in Kyrgyzstan needs improving.
“Businessmen from Turkey, for example, lament that there is a lack of storage space, unstable electricity, and unusable roads,” he said.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev said the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union had a strong future despite current trade problems. Mr Nazarbayev made the comments after meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Kazakhstan and Russia have erected trade barriers over the past few months.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
MAY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it will give a syndicated loan for the second phase development of the Caspian Sea Shah Deniz gas project. EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said on a visit to Baku that the size and timeframe were undecided.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Germany’s Kaltenberg beer, which traces its roots back to the Bavarian royal family, will open a brewery in Georgia. It may have a reputation as a wine-making country but Georgia is also a major consumer of beer.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Investment Bank, the EU’s institution for giving long-term funding, opened an office in Tbilisi. The office will serve the whole of the South Caucasus and underlines the EU’s commitment to the region. It also announced a $40m loan to the Bank of Georgia to fund small sized projects.
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund said its assets had dropped by 5% in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2014. Azerbaijan’s government is trying to push its way through a regional economic downturn and has said it will dip into its reserves to support various projects.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)