Tag Archives: international relations

Kazakhstan tries to balance all sides over Ukraine

SEPT. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan is having to play a precarious balancing game to keep competing interests in and around Ukraine happy, Kazakh foreign minister Erlan Idrissov said in an interview with Reuters in New York.

Mr Idrissov was in the United States to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry to reaffirm the two countries’ friendly ties.

The complexity of Kazakhstan’s position is not just down to its geographically position but also because of its membership of the Kremlin-led Customs Union.

“We as a matter of principle support an independent, sovereign, forward-looking, advancing politically and economically Ukraine. That is the core of our policy towards Ukraine,” Mr Idrissov said in the interview.

“We take no sides.”

The United States and the EU have imposed economic sanctions on Russia which has slowed its economy and triggered a knock-on effect on neighbouring Central Asia. Russian economic growth powers Central Asian economies.

Mr Idrissov underlined the impact of sanctions on Kazakhstan. “The crisis prevents the entire area from focusing on economic development and delivering well-being to the population,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Iran eyes Tajikistan’s water

SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – There is only one natural resource Tajikistan is indisputably rich in. Water.

With the fresh water reservoirs close to Tehran running low, Iran is trying to work out how to import Tajikistan’s spare water, opening up a tantalising export prospect for Central Asia’s poorest country.

Iranian officials have previously touted the idea of pumping water from Tajikistan to Iran.

According to RFE/RL’s Tajik service, as of 2004 Tehran was prepared to invest $3b in an ambitious pipeline to send water from Tajikistan’s Lake Sarez to Khorasan province in Iran.

The pipeline, which could transit a billion cubic metres of water annually, would also have to travel at least 500 km across Afghanistan.

It’s expensive but when Iranian officials visited Dushanbe they again brought up the prospect, Bloomberg quoted Iran’s Mehr news agency as reporting.

With Iran’s liquidity hampered by UN sanctions, it is no surprise that now that the talk is of a water for oil swap. Tajikistan depends mostly on Russia for its petrol supplies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Georgia and Russia resume flights

SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Regular air flights between Russia and Georgia have resumed for the first time since they were suspended in August 2008 when the two neighbours fought a brief war, media reported. The resumption of direct flights is a significant milestone in improving relations between Georgia and Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Armenia to join CU soon

SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia will join the Russia-led Customs Union on Oct. 9, Leonid Slutsky, head of Russian State Duma Committee on CIS told Interfax news agency. Armenia has previously said that it is aiming to join the Customs Union sometime this year although it has not set a date.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Qatar to set up Islamic Banking in Tajikistan

SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A delegation from Qatar visited Tajikistan promising various investments, including setting up an Islamic bank, media reported. Islamic banking has previously been discussed in Central Asia, especially in Kazakhstan. Qatar is looking to spread its influence across the Islamic World, including Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

SCO meeting in Tajikistan disappoints observers

SEPT.13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Other than providing a forum for bilateral get-togethers and photoshoots it is difficult to see what makes the Shanghai Cooperation multilateral.

To much fanfare, the six members plus observers of the organisation met in Dushanbe, releasing what can only be described as a nondescript Dushanbe Declaration at the closing of the summit.

Containing both Russia and China, the SCO remains the most notable intergovernmental organisation in the region but places no binds on members, several of whom have significant bilateral tensions with one another.

Outcomes of the 13th summit are open to interpretation. The Dushanbe declaration’s blanket statement supporting “continued negotiations” to achieve peace in Ukraine was presented by Russian media as support for Moscow’s controversial policies in the civil war, despite the organisation’s general opposition to separatism.

Neither Pakistan, who Beijing favours as a member, or India, who Russia favours, were admitted to the club, although this may happen in the SCO’s 14th summit held in Ufa, Russia, next year. Islamabad and New Delhi’s rivalry may add further complication within the organisation’s disunited membership.

One big disappointment was that bilateral meetings in the summit’s backdrop failed to resolve Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s border conflict, or the long-standing tensions between Dushanbe and Tashkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)

Opinion poll in Armenia backs Customs Union membership

SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An opinion poll in Armenia has highlighted support for joining the Russia-led Customs Union, despite sanctions against Kremlin-linked companies that have triggered a negative knock-on effect on the Armenian economy.

The poll carried out by Gallup last month showed that 60% of people in Yerevan still favoured joining the Customs Union later this year, media reported.

Aram Havasardyan, Gallup’s representative in Armenia, said that this was a slight drop from the 70% who favoured membership of the Customs Union in 2013.

Clearly support for Russia has held up in Armenia despite the sanctions against Russia imposed on it by the US and the EU because of its meddling in Ukraine. This is important for President Serzh Sargsyan who has been pushing for membership.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)

Tajikistan to receive more investment

SEPT. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – China will boost its total investment in Tajikistan to $3b within four years, a massive amount for the country, media reported quoting the Tajik presidential press service. Tajikistan’s entire annual GDP is roughly $3b. The leaders of Tajikistan and China met after the SCO summit in Dushanbe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)

Israeli defence minister visits Azerbaijan

SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon visited Baku for a two day trip aimed at bolster military ties and trade.

This was the first trip by an Israeli defence minister to Azerbaijan for 22 years, media reported.

“I’m happy to be hosted here in the first historic visit by an Israeli defense minister to Azerbaijan,” Mr Ya’alon said.

“We have bilateral strategic relations and cooperation in different areas.”

Azerbaijan has become an unlikely ally for Israel over the past few years. For Azerbaijan the attraction is two-fold. It wants to buy military equipment that Israel produces to bolster its own military and it wants Israel as an energy client.

For Israel, the attraction is mainly military. A couple of years ago it emerged that Israel had drawn up contingency plans to set up a forward airbase in Azerbaijan if war ever broke out with Iran. Israel and Iran are sworn enemies. Azerbaijan lies next to Iran.

Last month Iranian media said that Iran had shot down an Israeli drone that had taken off from an airbase in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s situation has grown slightly more complicated over the past year as ties with Iran have improved. Its links with Israel, though, appear solid.

Turkmenistan names envoy to Bishkek

SEPT. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan named its first ambassador to Kyrgyzstan as Batyr Niyazliev, media reported. Under president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan has adopted a more open international outlook.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)