APRIL 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Baku for talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev that focused on boosting trade between the two Caspian Sea allies. No treaties or deals were signed but people at the meeting said that there the rapport between the two men had been good, laying the foundations for stronger ties.
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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)
TBILISI, MARCH 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgians held street parties and hung the Council of Europe’s blue and gold starred flag from their windows as they celebrated being allowed to travel to the European Union’s Schengen Zone without a visa.
Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili, together with students, journalists and state officials, was one of the first to use the new visa-free regime, taking an early morning flight from Tbilisi to Athens for an academic conference on the future of Europe, before flying on to Brussels.
He hailed the start of a new, increasingly close relationship between Georgia and the EU.
“This is an enormous achievement and a great opportunity for Georgian citizens to better acquaint with the European Union, to better learn the values that the European Union stands on,” he was quoted as saying.
Georgia harbours ambitions to join the EU at some point and, although there is no appetite among EU member states to bring Georgia into the Union, relations are growing increasingly close. Last year Georgia and the EU signed an enhanced Association Agreement that allows Georgian companies to export to the EU.
Under the new rules, Georgians are allowed to travel to the EU’s 26- country Schengen Zone without a visa for 90 days. Georgians citizens will still have to carry documents confirming the purpose of their visit to the EU, including a return air ticket, insurance, a bank statement and accommodation bookings.
Still, most people in Tbilisi were excited by the prospect of visa-free travel to the EU. Miranda, travelled to Vienna on March 29. She said that border controls could not have been easier.
“I travelled the very day next after visa liberalisation was put into force,” she said.
“It was as easy as one can imagine. I met other Georgians at the airport who were travelling without visa. They all made it safely as well.”
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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)
APRIL 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — On his first trip to Moscow as Uzbekistan’s president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed investment pledges worth $12b and trade deals worth $3.8b with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The main thrust of the deals was in gas. Mr Mirziyoyev said that Russia had agreed to increase the amount of gas it buys from Uzbekistan, a vital revenue earner for the Uzbek economy.
“The case in point is significant expansion of deliveries of natural gas to Russia on the basis of the five-year contract to be concluded for the first time,” the TASS news agency quoted Mr Mirziyoyev as saying.
The deals bode well for Mr Mirziyoyev who cuts a very different figure on the international scene than his predecessor, Islam Karimov, who died in September after ruling for 25 years. Where Karimov was cagey, aloof and unilateral, Mr Mirziyoyev has shown that he is able to charm regional heads of states and get bilateral deals signed.
Mr Putin, who always had a difficult working relationship with Mr Karimov, appeared happy to see Uzbek-Russian relations blossom.
“We are witnessing our trade and economic ties intensifying, and we have always paid special attention to it,” he was quoted as saying. “It should be noted that in general we keep the trade turnover at a high level. In some positions it grows in a remarkable manner.”
The meeting in Moscow, though, came just two days after an alleged suicide bomber from Central Asia killed at least 14 people on a metro in St Petersburg. Security, cracking down on terrorist recruitment drives in Central Asia and stopping the spread north of the Taliban from Afghanistan, was also high on the agenda.
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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)
MARCH 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In the run-up to the 34th round of bilateral talks in Geneva between Georgia and Russia, the Russian foreign ministry accused its Georgian counterparts of a series of provocative statements designed to undermine the talks. The Geneva talks have been a vital part of the reconciliation process between Russia and Georgia since a war in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)
MARCH 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost investment from the UAE, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan travelled to Dubai to sign various deals. The most significant deal was a visa waiver between Armenia and the UAE. Media reports of Mr Sargsyan’s visit to the UAE said that discussions had focused on expanding bilateral relations, especially in tourism, agriculture and water management.
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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)
TBILISI, MARCH 20/23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — On the eve of visa-free access to the EU’s Schengen Zone for Georgians, interior minister Giorgi Mghebrishvili was in Brussels to meet officials from the EU and NATO to reassure them that Georgia would be a reliable ally.
Fighting organised crime, an issue that nearly scuppered Georgia’s chances of visa-free access to the Schengen zone last year, migration and terrorism dominated the meetings.
Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU’s Commissioner for migration was quoted by media as saying: “Today with the minister we discussed stronger and deeper cooperation in the field of security, fight against organised crime and I can say that I am very happy with the outcome of this excellent discussion.”
After the meetings, Mr Mghebrishvili said Georgia would sign a memorandum of cooperation with EUROPOL, the EU’s crime- fighting intelligence unit.
Georgians will be able to travel to the Schengen Zone without a visa from March 28.
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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)
ALMATY, MARCH 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a high-spirited and carefully choreographed meeting in Astana, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev lauded what they said would be a fruitful and fulfilling partnership between the two neighbours.
The meeting was important as it marks another genuine shift in diplomatic relations for Uzbekistan. Under Mr Mirziyoyev, Uzbek diplomats have been working hard to shake off their difficult image and to repair damage inflicted during the cantankerous 25 year rule of Islam Karimov.
“Kazakhstan wishes our strategic partner, neighbour and brotherly people of Uzbekistan, prosperity and well-being,” the Kazakh presidential website quoted Mr Nazarbayev as saying. “In the future, we look forward to a fruitful relationship in the framework of bilateral contacts.”
The diplomatic and economic relationship between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the most populous and wealthy countries in the region, is vital for Central Asia. If they work in harmony, then the other three coun- tries of the region will also prosper. If they squabble, as has been the case, then economic development will be slow.
This was the two leaders first meeting since September 2016 when Mr Nazarbayev travelled to see Karimov’s grave in Samarkand. Mr Mirziyoyev had then been acting president. He was officially sworn in as Uzbekistan’s second post-Soviet president in December.
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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)
ALMATY, MARCH 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The third of a series of meetings held in Astana to discuss the civil war in Syria broke up without much sustained progress, delegates reported, a blow to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ambitions to establish his capital as a go-to centre for conflict resolution.
The main sticking point for the talks was a boycott by the rebels, they had sent a delegation to the first two rounds. It may also be that the peace talks have broken down irreparably after news on Monday that rebel forces had attacked government held Aleppo.
The talks are organised and run by Turkey, Iran and Russia and have no major Western participation other than at observer level. There is no UN involvement in the Astana talks, although Kazakhstan has been keen to draw parallels.
Despite spending most of the time going over old ground and also lacking a rebel delgation, the Kazakh foreign ministry released a statement lauding the talks as a vital part of the peace-making process in Syria.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan reiterates that the Astana meetings are an integral part of the Geneva process under the UN aegis and regards the results of the third International meeting on Syria in Astana to be a meaningful contribution to the process of political settlement of the Syrian crisis on Geneva platform,” it said.
In a statement released by the Russian foreign ministry, the Kremlin blamed unnamed groups for trying to sabotage the talks, a thinly disguised dig at the rebel factions who dropped out.
Mr Nazarbayev and Russian Pres- ident Vladimir Putin discussed the talks on March 18.
No details of the discussion was given to the media.
The three power-brokers said that they had agreed to reconvene in Astana for Round Four of the peace talks on May 3/4, although this statement was made before news of the March 20 rebel attacks on Aleppo.
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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)
MARCH 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov travelled to Qatar to try to charm its leaders into investing in Turkmenistan. The Turkmen economy is under pressure from sustained low oil and gas prices. In particular Qatar’s state news agency said that Mr Berdymukhamedov was looking for investment in the so-called TAPI gas pipeline that will run from gas fields in Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India, and also for investment in gas processing plants.
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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)
MARCH 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Imangali Tasmagambetov, formerly the mayor of Astana and Almaty and also an ex-defence minister, was sworn in as Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Russia. Mr Tasmagambetov had been considered a potential successor to President Nursultan Nazarbayev but most observers considered his shift to Moscow to be a demotion. Others argued that he needed to spend time with Kazakhstan’s most important ally, Russia, before he could be considered as a successor for President Nazarbayev.
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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)