NOV. 18 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A joint venture headed by US carmaker General Motors (GM) opened an engine assembly plant in Tashkent, local media reported. The opening comes a few weeks after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Uzbekistan. The joint venture also owns a car assembly factory in Andijan, east Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 66, published on Nov. 23 2011)
NOV. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Islamabad, Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov agreed a deal with Pakistan for the price of gas for a proposed pipeline running from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, Pakistan and on to India, Turkmenistan’s state newspaper reported. The deal is seen as vital for pushing the so-called TAPI pipeline forward.
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(News report from Issue No. 65, published on Nov. 16 2011)
NOV. 8 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s upgraded Kazakhstan’s sovereign debt rating to BBB+, one notch above Russia. The upgrade is a significant boost to Kazakhstan’s political and business elite. Standard & Poor’s highlighted Kazakhstan’s projected increase in oil exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 64, published on Nov. 8 2011)
NOV. 3 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a conference in Ashgabat, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said he supported building a pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Europe, media reported. Mr Berdymukhamedov’s statement is a boost for the EU-back Nabucco pipeline which wants to secure gas from Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 64, published on Nov. 8 2011)
OCT. 25 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – After two years of negotiations, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a deal which will allow gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to flow to Europe through the Turkish pipeline system. The deal will reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian gas and will open up the so-called southern energy corridor.
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(News report from Issue No. 63, published on Nov. 1 2011)
OCT. 26 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh independent internet TV channel Stan TV said four men armed with baseball bats and a gun attacked two of its journalists in western Kazakhstan. The journalists had been reporting on the stand-off between oil workers and a subsidiary of the state oil and gas company Kazmunaigas.
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(News report from Issue No. 63, published on Nov. 1 2011)
OCT. 24 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around a third of the 450 workers at Armenia’s nuclear power station stopped work for three days over a pay dispute, triggering safety concerns at the plant. They returned to work after the government agreed a 10% pay rise. The Soviet-era Metsamor nuclear plant produces around 40% of Armenia’s power.
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(News report from Issue No. 62, published on Oct. 25 2011)
OCT. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank launched a money laundering investigation into the bank of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili two weeks after he pledged to set up an opposition party. Police seized millions of dollars from Mr Ivanishvili’s Cartu Bank. He said the raid was politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 62, published on Oct. 25 2011)
OCT. 13 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Continuing the EU’s diplomatic drive to win Turkmenistan’s support for its proposed Nabucco pipeline project, Austrian President Heinz Fischer visited Ashgabat. He hinted the EU would pay more than Russia or China for Turkmen gas that Nabucco considers essential for its success.
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(News report from Issue No. 61, published on Oct. 18 2011)
OCT. 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan sold cotton worth $550m at its annual cotton fair, local media reported, despite increasing scrutiny over allegations it uses children to pick the harvest. This is roughly the same amount as last year. Local media reported that none of the companies that signed deals at the fair in Tashkent were from Europe or the US.
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(News report from Issue No. 61, published on Oct. 18 2011)