Tag Archives: international relations

Kyrgyzstan to join Eurasian Economic Union

>>Membership to become political ahead of elections>>

DEC. 23 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan signed a deal that will make it the fifth member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) in May.

At a meeting in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the union, which from Jan. 1 includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia as well as Russia, would benefit from Kyrgyzstan’s membership.

“All the participants of this integration process are already experiencing its real benefits,” media quoted Mr Putin as saying.

“We are convinced that Armenia and Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the Eurasian [Economic] Union meets the key national interests of both countries.”

Many analysts, though, and people on the streets of Bishkek questioned whether there would be any real economic benefit. Instead, they said that Kyrgyzstan had joined the Eurasian Economic Union for political rather than economic reasons.

Kyrgyzstan is, largely reliant on Russia for economic and military support, but its membership of the Eurasian Economic Union is likely to become a political issue later this year in the run up to its parliamentary election, scheduled for October.

In an interview with Russian state-linked newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta before the official signing ceremony, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev waived aside concern.

“When making decisions, we guide solely by economic expediency,” he said.

“This step will revive our industry, strengthen security, open borders with neighbouring countries, improve the standard of living of the people. Entry into this union opens up new opportunities for economic development.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

China to invest in Kazakh potash

DEC. 14 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — China agreed to invest $3.8b into developing Kazakhstan’s potash deposits to produce a mineral that can be used in fertiliser production. The massive investment both underscores China’s interest in Kazakhstan and will also help Kazakhstan diversify its economy away from oil and gas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Uzbekistan restarts gas to Kyrgyzstan

>>Re-starting gas supplies could improve relations>>

DEC. 30 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has restarted gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan, ending an eight-month embargo.

This is significant as Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan relations had seemingly been drifting from bad to worse over border rows, water management and energy issues. Analysts had identified the cross-border tension as potentially destabilising to the whole region.

Media quoted Tahir Alimov, deputy director in Osh for Gazprom Kyrgyzstan, as saying that the gas started
flowing once again from Uzbekistan at 3am on Dec. 30. The resumption of gas supplies will be a major boon to Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev.

Kyrgyzstan has been negotiating with other countries across Central Asia to make up for the shortfall in Uzbek deliveries but, realistically, Kyrgyz officials were always going to fall short of making up for the lack of Uzbek gas.

Uzbekistan had switched off the gas supply to Kyrgyzstan in April when the current deal expired. Uzbekistan said that Kyrgyzstan didn’t want to negotiate a new deal.

Kyrgyzstan said that Uzbekistan wanted too high a price. At the same time Russia’s Gazprom completed a deal to buy Kyrgyzstan’s gas company and it seems that it, and not the Kyrgyz government, was able to negotiate a new deal.

Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg said that Uzbekistan and a Switzerland-based Gazprom-owned company had renegotiated the deal.

Perhaps, Gazprom has acted as a peace-maker.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Azerbaijan raids Radio Free Europe

>>US criticises yet another crackdown on civil liberties>>

DEC. 28 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan continued its crackdown on the media in the run up to New Year when it raided the office of US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Officials pulled RFE/RL off the air and detained a handful of its journalists. They said that the raid was
part of a criminal investigation although they refused to elaborate.

Earlier in December Azerbaijani officials arrested an employee of the local language RFE/RL service for allegedly working for a foreign security service. Also, one of the radio station’s star journalists, Khadija Ismayilova, is currently being held in pre-trial detention. She is accused of coaxing a man into suicide.

For the past couple of years, the authorities in Azerbaijan have been mounting an increasingly aggressive
campaign against the remnants of its free-speaking media and other more liberal minded sections of its civil society. Newspaper editors have been imprisoned, anti-government activists locked up and NGOs backed by Western powers threatened.

And this belligerent attitude towards Western values has now severely strained relations with the US and Europe.

The US issued a strongly worded statement criticising the raid on RFE/RL.

In 2014 the US also withdrew its long-running Peace Corps programme. Although this was described as routine, observers said it was likely linked to worsening relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

European parliament ratifies Georgia deal

DEC. 18 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Parliament in Strasbourg ratified an associated deal with Georgia which deepens economic integration. The deal is important to Georgia because it moves it closer to its aim of joining the EU. At the same time the breakaway region of South Ossetia announced it wanted a stronger union with Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

CIS mission to observe Uzbek election

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) said it had dispatched its mission to observe parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan later this month. The OSCE, Europe’s election and democracy watchdog, has already said it is going to send a limited mission because it expects the vote to be fixed.

ENDS

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

Azerbaijan receives grant from China

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – China has given Azerbaijan a grant of around $4.5m to boost economic relations between the two countries, media reported. China has expanded its economic and diplomatic reach across the South Caucasus significantly over the past few years.

ENDS

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

Kyrgyzstan and the Eurasian Union

DEC. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Alongside Armenia, Kyrgyzstan will finally join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in 2015 despite few analysts deeming it ready or suited to full membership.

Bishkek will sign accession documents on Dec. 23, although it could be May before it adopts the protectionist taxes slapped on goods from outside the union, Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev told journalists.

Eurasian Economic Union officials have even said they will allow Chinese goods “for domestic consumption” to enter Kyrgyzstan according to pre-existing Kyrgyz tariffs for an unspecified period of time, a concession that suggests other members view Kyrgyzstan’s membership as symbolic.

Kyrgyzstan first agreed in 2010 to enter a trade bloc with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan — the current members of the Customs Union which will morph into the Eurasian Economic Union next year — so it has been a long wait.

But Kyrgyzstan has an economy a tenth the size of Belarus’, an unresolved row over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine, its single largest industrial unit, and worries about rising inflation. This makes it a potential weak link.

Arkady Gladilov, editor of local analytical website polit.kg noted that Kyrgyzstan has had three prime ministers in the time it has been committed to joining the bloc. He said the government may have been dragging its feet over Eurasian Economic Union accession.

“Russia is facing a difficult time with sanctions, and Kyrgyzstan’s own picture is far from rosy. If I were them, I would probably do the same in their position,” he told the Conway Bulletin.

ENDS

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

Putin flies to Uzbekistan for talks

DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an effort to shore up support in the former Soviet Union, Russian president Vladimir Putin flew to Uzbekistan, where he will offer the carrot of improved economic ties and debt cancellation.

Russian media said that Mr Putin will write off Uzbekistan’s $890m debt and also look to increase both energy imports from Uzbekistan and the import of agriculture machinery.

Uzbekistan and Russia have a lukewarm relationship. Uzbek president Islam Karimov is famously coy about his dealings with other former Soviet states. He has kept Uzbekistan away from the Kremlin-led Customs Union, which will morph into the Eurasian Economic Union next year, but is a keen member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security-economy group that is led by Beijing and Moscow.

With NATO and the West withdrawing from Afghanistan and Central Asia, perhaps Mr Karimov has decided to ally himself closer to Russia. Russia, under pressure in the West, needs all the friends it can currently muster.

Another area that Russia and Uzbekistan have been working on is labour migrants.

In November, the two countries agreed to draft a bilateral agreement to regulate Uzbek labour migrants’ economic activities in Russia.

The Uzbek authorities have previously preferred to play down labour migration but the reality is that remittances and labour migration have become a major part of Uzbekistan’s economy. In 2013, estimates said that 3m Uzbeks worked in Russia, sending home a total of $6.5b.

ENDS

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

Russia boosts its airbase in Kyrgyzstan

DEC. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia increased the number of military planes at its base outside Bishkek, the eurasianet.org website reported. Quoting Russian media, eurasianet.org said Russia had moved five SU-25SM ground attack jets to Kant, the airbase. The US quit its airbase outside Bishkek earlier this year.

ENDS

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