JUNE 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif flew to Tajikistan for a two day trip that is seen as vital in pushing through joint energy projects. One proposal is the CASA-1000 project which would allow Pakistan to import electricity from Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)
JUNE 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a year-long pilot project starting on July 15, Kazakhstan will drop visa requirements for citizens staying for up to 15 days from 10 countries, media reported. These countries are the United States, the Netherlands, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, and Japan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)
JUNE 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Iran will sign a deal improving post and information technology connections, media reported, an important step for improving relations between the two neighbours. Azerbaijan-Iran relations have improved with the election last year of Hassan Rouhani as Iranian president.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)
JUNE 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – South Korean president Park Geun-hye started a six day trip to Central Asia by visiting Tashkent.
There Ms Guen-hye pledged to increase cooperation in gas and solar power sector.
This was just the first stage in an important Central Asia trip for the South Korean leader. Ms Guen-hye now travels to Astana and then to Ashgabat laying down a serious marker in the region.
Central Asia is a natural region for South Korea to look to carve out an overseas trade foothold. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ensured that this was the case.
In the 1930s, worried about their loyalty, Stalin moved hundreds of thousands of Koreans living in the east of the Soviet Union to Central Asia. Most settled around Tashkent or Almaty.
Now both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have large Korean minorities. Many ethnic Koreans are involved in business and some in politics. There are Korean restaurants in cities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and transport links with Seoul are well-established.
Ms Geun-hye is looking to leverage these ties to ensure that South Korea is able to tap into the region’s energy reserves as well as putting Korean companies in a good position to do business.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)
JUNE 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian president Giorgi Margveleshvili flew to Kiev for the inauguration of the new Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, underling Georgia’s support for Ukraine’s fight against pro-Russia separatists. Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili was also at the ceremony.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 188, published on June 11 2014)
JUNE 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s PM Djoomart Otorbayev said the country would be a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union by the end of 2014, Itar-Tass news agency reported. Mr Otorbayev’s comments were another indication that Kyrgyzstan is steadily moving towards Russia’s sphere of influence.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 188, published on JUNE 11 2014)
JUNE 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – South Korean president Park Geun-hye will visit Uzbekistan next week as part of a tour of Central Asia that also includes Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, media reported quoting an Uzbek government source. There are large Koran ethnic minorities living in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 188, published on JUNE 11 2014)
JUNE 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A contingent of 140 Georgian soldiers flew to the Central African Republic (CAR) to support an EU military mission, media reported. The deployment to CAR — where Georgia has no historical, cultural, linguistic or diplomatic links — is designed to promote Georgia’s drive to join the EU.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 188, published on June 11 2014)
JUNE 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Turkey plans to increase the amount of gas from Turkmenistan that it transports to Europe, media quoted Turkish President Abdullah Gul as saying at the end of a trip to Ankara by Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. Turkmenistan has become a major gas producer over the past few years.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 188, published on JUNE 11 2014)
JUNE 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Malaysia’s PM Datuk Razak visited Ashgabat for talks with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on how to develop Islamic banking in the Central Asian state.
This is significant because Malaysia is the home of Islamic banking and also because it shows that Turkmenistan may be serious about developing out another section of its economy. Turkmenistan’s new found international status is built on gas exports.
Mr Razak also clearly had an agenda for boosting the presence of Malaysia’s state-owned energy company Petronas in Turkmenistan. Mr Razak said that Petronas had already invested about $8b in Turkmenistan’s energy sector.
“The Turkmenistan President is keen that Malaysia becomes a partner in all areas. This is because his confidence in Malaysia is very high,” Mr Razak said before flying back to Malaysia. “Malaysia has become a priority nation for Turkmenistan.”
Maybe but currently trade outside the oil and gas sector between Malaysia and Turkmenistan is light. Media reported that bilateral trade amounted to just $33m last year and that only 940 Malaysian tourists visited Turkmenistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 188, published on June 11 2014)