OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan skipped a meeting in Bishkek to discuss details of a dam Kyrgyzstan intends to build across the Naryn River, Kyrgyz media reported. Kyrgyzstan’s plans to build a dam upstream of Uzbekistan have strained already tense relations between the two countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan signed deals to export 680,000 tonnes of cotton fibre at its annual trade fair in Tashkent, a similar amount to last year, Uzbek state media reported. Western companies have boycotted Uzbek cotton over concerns it uses child labour but China and other countries, such as Bangladesh, have increased purchases.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s state-owned energy company Uzbekneftegaz has denied reports that households across the country are facing a shortage of gas supplies, local media reported. People living in rural areas of Uzbekistan have previously talked of gas shortages to a Conway Bulletin correspondent.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan have started an investigation into alleged tax irregularities at Unitel, a local subsidiary of Russian telecoms operator VimpelCom, the company reported. Last year VimpelCom’s Russian rival MTS, quit operations in Uzbekistan after a similar audit was carried out.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)
OCT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia lifted a ban on fruit imports from Georgia, a further sign of improving relations. In 2006, Russia banned fruit from Georgia, officially because of poor hygiene. Most analysts, though, said the ban was in retaliation for the expulsion from Tbilisi of four soldiers for spying.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)
OCT. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A gas leak halted output at the Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea for the second time in the past few weeks, media reported. Production facilities at Kashagan cost $50b and took 13 years to build. The oil field started production in September and is key to Kazakhstan’s export aspirations.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)
OCT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bulat Utemuratov, a confident of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed a preliminary agreement to buy Temirbank and Alliance Bank from the Kazakh government. The Kazakh government bailed out the banks during the 2009 global financial crisis. It owns 67% of Alliance Bank and 79.9% of Temirbank.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 2013)
OCT. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish telecoms operator TeliaSonera demoted an executive for his role in deals made in 2007 to secure an Uzbek 3G licence. Tero Kivisaari was demoted from head of the company’s mobile division. Investigators allege TeliaSonera indirectly paid Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the Uzbek president, for the 3G licence.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tax revenues from Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector increased by 11.3% in the first nine months of 2013, Azerbaijani minister for economic development Shahin Mustafayev said according to media reports. International economists have said it is vital Azerbaijan develops its non-oil sector.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A consortium of energy companies led by the state-owned Uzbekneftegaz will invest around $200m exploring south and east Uzbekistan for oil, media reported. The reports said that China’s CNPC, the Czech Republic’s ERIELL Corporation and Tethys Petroleum, registered in Guernsey, will also be involved in the project.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)