JUNE 13 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev officially kicked off construction of a fruit farm in the Andijan region of the Ferghana Valley, highlighting a drive by the authorities to increase exports to neighbours. Media reported that the 615-hectare project will cost $24m and be operational by the end of the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)
JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan appeared to be grooming Costa Rica as an ally by calling for bilateral ties between the two countries, which lie thousands of miles apart and have no natural connections. Costa Rican media reported that the two countries “chancellors” had met and exchanged pleasantries. Reports said that the Azerbaijan Petroleum Fund was interested in boosting investments in Costa Rica and that Costa Rica was going to open an embassy in Baku.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
YEREVAN, JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s government plans to sell 47 state-owned properties, including post offices, Yerevan’s bus station and a football stadium, to raise an estimated $75m.
Armenia, like the rest of the region, has been trying to pull out of an economic downturn linked to a drop in oil prices and a recession in Russia. The data this year has showed an improvement but the government still needs to raise more cash, giving foreign investors the chance to buy into property in Armenia.
The head of the state property management department, Arman Sahakyan, said the government had tried and failed to privatise half the properties in 2006/7.
“The companies that will be put up for privatisation, are not managed effectively, they face problems, that’s why we included them in the list in order to ensure their effective management,” he was quoted by media as saying.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Shanghai’s Stock Exchange said that it had agreed a deal to buy 25.1% of Astana’s planned new bourse. The Astana Stock Exchange is planned to open by the end of the year as the centrepiece of a new Astana International Financial Centre. It wants to attract foreign companies and has already said that its national companies — Air Astana, Kazmunaigas and Kazatompom — will list part of their companies on the Astana Stock Exchange.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Railway container services linking China with Iran via Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan are due to begin this month after the sides agreed various deals in May, the Railway Gazette reported. It said that the 10,300km journey would take around 14 days rather than 40 days by sea.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
JUNE 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — Following the trend for centres dedicated to increasing trade and boosting logistics across the Central Asia and South Caucasus region, Azerbaijan said that it was going to create a tax-free zone at its Caspian Sea port of Alyat. Governments in Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been rushing to position themselves as the natural link between Asia and Europe. Taleh Ziyadov, director general of Baku International Sea Trade Port said he wanted to create a “five star hub” at Alyat, which is 65km from Baku.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
TBILISI, JUNE 12 2017 (The Bulletin) — Georgia’s first home-grown and home-processed olive oil is now being sold across the country, the culmination of a Turkish-inspired ambition.
In an interview with The Bulletin, George Svanidze, Georgia Olive CEO, said that he had always wanted to return from Turkey, where he lived, to develop a business in Georgia.
“We, the diaspora, wanted to bring something good, new investments to Georgia,” he said. “Our Turkish partners have three generation experience in olive oil production, so we decided to bring back this culture to our country.”
And it is this entrepreneurship, this ability to assimilate knowledge abroad and bring it home that makes the Georgian economy resilient and open, analysts have said. It has recovered quicker than its neighbours from a sharp economic downturn over the past three years.
Mr Svanidze said that he and his partners planted their first olive trees in Georgia in 2010. Since then, with the help of a government sponsored scheme called Produce in Georgia, the olive grove has grown to around 350 hectares – roughly the size of 350 rugby pitches. They have now set up a processing plant near the village of Sakobo in Kakheti.
And Mr Svanidze said that the soil quality in Georgia was superior to Italy, Turkey and Greece, the three main traditional makers of olive oil.
“We have such high-quality olives that we produce 1 litre of olive oil from 3.5kg of olives,” he said, comparing this to the usual 5kg needed.
Part of the challenge is tapping into the domestic market. Not many people cook, or eat, with olive oil, preferring to use cheaper oils from nuts.
Zura, the director of a wine shop, said as well as being more expensive, olive oil was too pungent for local palates. “I know Europeans really love it, but it’s no good for our kitchen. The taste is too strong,” he said.
But Mr Svanidze has heard this all before. “First we will take the Georgian market, after that the Trans-Caucasus market and afterwards we will export to Europe and Asia,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Georgia’s government said that it plans to build two new logistics hubs, one at Kutaisi and one outside Tbilisi, in an effort to brand itself as a transit hub between Asia and Europe. Economy minister Giorgi Gakharai said the Tbilisi hub would cost $82m to build and the Kutaisi hub would cost $72m. This year Georgia signed a free trade agreement with China which it said it would use to promote itself as a trading bridge between China and the rest of the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
JUNE 8 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan plans to close gas production for a month at the Shah Deniz offshore in August to fix a faulty export pipe, Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister Mariam Valishvili told Reuters in an interview. Shah Deniz is operated by BP, although it has not commented on Ms Valishili’s comments. It exports its gas via a pipeline that runs through Georgia and Turkey. Shah Deniz 1 has been producing gas since 2006. Shah Deniz II is due to come onstream by the end of 2019 and form the basis of a new flow of gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
TASHKENT, JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Looking to give the Uzbek car-making sector a boost, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev unveiled a series of investments and tax cuts specifically aimed at boosting production and job numbers.
The uzdaily.uz website reported that on June 1, Mr Mirziyoyev had signed into law an investment scheme worth $800m for Uzavtosanoat. It reported that it was hoped that production would jump by 300% and the number of people employ would also surge accordingly.
The Uzbek auto sector has been heavily hit by a collapse in the Russian car market. Data released in April showed that the number of cars produced in Uzbekistan had halved in 2016 to around 92,000. This year, though, there are signs that the the Uzbek car making sector is beginning to rebound.
French carmaker PSA, which owns the Peugeot and Citron brands, has signed a deal to assemble 16,000 cars in Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)