Tag Archives: business

Turkmenistan to export flour

DEC. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan plans to sell 200,000 tonnes of flour on the international market, media reported, part of its strategy to diversify its exports away from just oil and gas. Importantly, the sale may also help other Central Asian and South Caucasus countries suppress rising bread prices

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Citroen-Peugeot to build cars in Kazakhstan

DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a reminder of the Kazakh car-making boom over the past few years, French manufacturer Citroen- Peugeot said it had entered into a joint-venture to produce its models at the SaryarkaAvtoProm plant in Kostanay in north Kazakhstan. Many Western car-makers are already producing cars in Kostanay.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Uzbekistan sells aircraft

DEC. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – As part of its modernisation scheme, Uzbekistan Airways has said it wants to sell three Airbus A-310 and three BAE Systems RJ-85 passenger aircrafts, media reported. The combined sale is worth nearly $50m. Uzbekistan Airways has been looking to upgrade its fleet throughout the year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan opened railway to Iran

DEC. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The presidents of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran formally opened a railway line that will connect the three countries. At the event in Ashgabat, the leaders said that the railway line would increase trade between Central Asia and Iran and help ignite a new north-south Silk Road.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Kazakh city to build a ring road

DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan unveiled a project to build a six-lane 66km ring-road around Almaty which they hope will both ease congestion in the city and provide a new financing model for major infrastructure projects.

The FT reported that the number of cars in Almaty has exploded by 50% in the last five years. Anybody walking around its choked-up streets at rush hour will be able to taste the exhaust fumes in the air.

With support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Kazakhstan has launched a plan to raise $680m in what has been dubbed its first internationally-tendered public-private partnership scheme.

Importantly, as the EBRD’s infrastructure chief, Thomas Meier, said the project is a test of Kazakhstan’s attractiveness and in particular law changes made this year. Most important of these was that any disputes concerning infrastructure developments would be settled by international arbitration.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran train to launch

DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani flew to Ashgabat for separate bilateral talks with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as well as for the long-awaited inauguration of a new railway that will connect the three countries.

The inauguration ceremony for the 935km Ozen-Bereket- Gorgan line is due on Dec. 3. It will vastly reduce travel time and, it is hoped, boost north-south trade.

“This route will permit the region’s development and prosperity,” Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was quoted by media as saying. “This event will go down in the history of our countries.”

A statement from Mr Nazarbayev’s office said they thought the railway route would increase trade by three- fold.

Predictions of trade increases generated by the new railway are, by their very nature during this period of economic uncertainty, difficult to gauge. What is more certain, though, is that Central Asia’s links with Iran will improve further.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)

Kyrgyzstan initiates tender for new hydropower stations

NOV. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has invited companies to compete in a tender to build two hydropower stations, hydroworld.com, the industry new website, reported. The projects, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), highlight how important hydropower is to Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)

BP completes Azerbaijani ACG repairs

NOV. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it had completed one-month long planned maintenance work on its Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) on time. Azerbaijan has been pressuring BP to improve output at its ACG fields. ACG has been the main source of its oil revenues although this has flagged.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)

China boosts Tajik gold

DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the first eleven months of this year Tajikistan equalled its top post-independence annual production figure for gold, the country’s Asia-Plus news agency reported.

Like its record cement production figure, posted earlier this year, the increase is due to Chinese investment.

The yield of 3 metric tonnes (mt) is modest by regional standards — neighbouring Uzbekistan produces 90 mt/year and Kyrgyzstan 10-20 mt/year — but it’s still important to Tajikistan, one of the most impoverished countries in the world.

Chinese-Tajik Zeravshan Gold Company is responsible for over two thirds of Tajikistan’s total gold output. And this underlines China’s increasingly tight grip over Tajikistan’s economy. Without China, Tajikistan’s gold and cement industries would be in a far more perilous state.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)

Kazakhstan keen on shale gas?

DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov said Kazakhstan wanted to develop shale gas sites, industry website shaleenergyinsider.com reported. The website quoted Mr Massimov talking at an energy conference. If Mr Massimov acts on his statement it would mark a change in Kazakhstan’s energy policy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)