DEC. 18 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with Reuters, Georgian PM Georgy Margvelashvili said
that the downturn in the Russian economy had hit Georgia’s alcohol and water exports hardest. Russia allowed imports of water and wine from Georgia last year after a ban in 2006.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
NOV. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The falling value of the Russian rouble is hitting vital wine exports to Russia, the head of the Armenian wine-making union, Avag Harutyunyan, told media. Russia is the biggest market for Armenian wine and brandy. Mr Harutyunyan said that Armenia would export 30% less wine this year than last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
AUG. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Coca-Cola has re-started drinks production in Uzbekistan a year after manufacturing stopped, media reported.
This is significant in the internal Uzbek power struggle and may show that after a turbulent 12 months Uzbekistan’s politics are calming.
Coca-Cola production in Uzbekistan had been closely associated with Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, through her company Zeromax which also owned several other major Uzbek companies.
Over the past year or so, though, the influence of Ms Karimova has waned. She is now under house arrest in Tashkent and her closest associates have been jailed for various economic crimes.
Information coming out of Uzbekistan is scant but analysts have said that Ms Karimova’s rivals moved to weaken her before she could set herself up as the heir apparent to her father.
In any case, Coca-Cola products had virtually disappeared from supermarket shelves in Uzbekistan this year. It appears now that control of Coca-Cola has been handed over to Ms Karimova’s rivals, marking their ascendency as well as the return of Coca-Cola’s soft drinks.
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(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
MAY 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has temporarily banned alcohol imports from Italy, France, Scotland, Belarus and Russia because some of the labelling does not meet requirements laid out by the Customs Union, media reported. It’s unclear exactly what guidelines the alcohol importers have failed to hit.
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(News report from Issue No. 184, published on May 14 2014)
JAN. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Quoting a source at the Tashkent Prosecutor’s office, the AFP news agency said that in December police arrested two managers at the Coca-Cola joint venture in Uzbekistan for stealing millions of dollars. The story has not been confirmed by Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola owns 42.9% of the joint venture.
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(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)
DEC. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Demand from Russia has doubled Georgia’s wine exports, media reported quoting the Georgian agriculture ministry. Russia lifted a ban on importing Georgian wine this year. Relations between the neighbours had dipped to breaking point under Georgia’ former President Mikheil Saakashvili but have since recovered.
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
AUG. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Irish Distillers, a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard, has lost the rights to the Jameson whiskey brand name in Uzbekistan, RFE/RL reported. A local company owns the Jameson brand name through a 2008 patent, the court ruled. Western companies have previously struggled to defend intellectual property in Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
AUG. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Kyrgyzstan uncovered an illegal pipeline pumping vodka into the country from neighbouring Kazakhstan, media reported. The discovery of the pipeline under the river Chu, which separates the two countries, highlights Central Asia’s entrenched smuggling networks and thirst for hard alcohol.
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(News report from Issue No. 148, published on Aug. 19 2013)
BAKU, JULY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Three Azeri men — a psychologist, a photographer, and a software engineer — sat at a café in central Baku. As always, they ordered tea with jam.
Jam is an important part of the tea drinking tradition in Azerbaijan but, like Baku itself, this tradition is changing.
The waiter served the tea and then proffered the three men a plate of nuts and dried fruit. He then added a plate heaped with pastries and another with a tower of miniature Kit Kat bars.
The psychologist shook his head vigorously.
“Ludicrous,” said the software engineer. “It used to be different. You would just choose a type of fruit jam to eat with the tea.”
Tea in Azerbaijan is encased in tradition. Served in an armudu, a pear-shaped glass designed to keep the liquid hot for as long as possible, tea is shared between friends in cafés and served to guests upon arrival in homes.
But excess and bombast, by-products of oil wealth, are everywhere in Baku. Some say that the evolution of the tea service is just another expression of the showy development of Baku. Others, that it simply marks the development of tradition.
The software engineer had another theory. “It’s for tourists,””he said. “Or children.”
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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)
JUNE 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhs drink 5.9 litres of vodka per person each year, the fifth highest in the world, the Economist magazine reported. Russians drink the most vodka with annual consumption of 13.9 litres per person. The high volume of vodka drunk in Kazakhstan reflects increased personal wealth and drinking habits.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)