Tag Archives: international relations

SCO leaders gather in Uzbekistan for summit

JUNE 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan gathered in Tashkent to kick-start the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), together with their colleagues from Russia and China and Uzbek host, President Islam Karimov. The members are set to vote on June 24 to begin the membership process for India and Pakistan, currently observer countries.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Armenia to export electricity to Iran

JUNE 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s state-owned power distributor Electro Power Systems Operator said it will export around 1b kWh of electricity to Iran in 2016 from itsHradzan and Yerevan thermal power plants. Armenia and Iran have signed an agreement on the exchange of Iranian gas for Armenia’s electricity.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Uzbekistan closes borders for SCO summit

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government ordered the closure of land borders for ten days to try to insulate the country from potential Islamic militant attacks ahead of a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) heads of states, scheduled for next week.

Leaders from Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan will join Uzbek President Islam Karimov at the annual SCO summit in Tashkent on June 23/24.

Uzbekistan has emphasised its efforts in combating terrorism, one of the pillars of the SCO, and wants to demonstrate its ability to become a safe haven of peace in Central Asia.

Analysts said that closing its border crossing checkpoints is a way of demonstrating control over its territory and its capacity to fence off potential terrorists from abroad.

The authorities dismissed earlier rumours that Tashkent would be closed off during the summit.

“There will be enhanced security checks, but the city will operate in normal mode,” the Uzbek ministry of interior said in a statement.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, the Tashkent city administration ordered a clean-up of the capital. Reports said that hundreds of satellite dishes were removed from houses on Prospekt Kosmonavtov,a main road in Tashkent which runs down to Mr Karimov’s official residence.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

EEU plans single electricity market, say energy ministers after meeting in Tajikistan

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Eurasian Economic Union, a trade bloc led by Russia but also involving Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia plans to set up a unified electricity market by 2019, EEU members’ energy ministers said after a meeting in Dushanbe. Tajikistan aspires to be part of the EEU, which critics have said is a Kremlin project to extend its control.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Tajikistan responds to EU

DUSHANBE, JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A group of Tajik academics launched a staunch defence of the government’s crackdown on the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) after the European Parliament passed a resolution criticising it.

The authorities in Tajikistan outlawed the IRPT last year. Last month a court handed the IRPT leaders several years in prison for attempting to organise a coup. In response to the prison sentences, the European Parliament said it was concerned about freedom of expression in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan’s foreign ministry responded by criticising Europe for double standards over terrorism and a group of academics released a statement blaming the IRPT for a civil war in the 1990s and saying that it controlled the European Parliament.

A Dushanbe-based analyst, though, said that like student protests which sprung up this year to promote the government, the authorities were influencing the academics.

“These letters of support are aimed at pleasing the authorities and promoting careers,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Turkmenistan becomes deputy chairman of UN General Assembly

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The UN General Assembly unanimously voted to give Turkmenistan one of the 19 vice-chairs for its 71st session, due to start next September, a PR coup for Turkmenistan’s neutrality policy.

Turkmenistan had already served as vice-chair of the General Assembly in 2007, 2009, and 2013 and it was quick to laud the move as an accolade.

“This is a testament to the international prestige of the Turkmen state, the effectiveness of its foreign policy based on the principles of positive neutrality,” it said on one of its official news websites.

The country’s official neutral policy, though, may be weakening. Security worries in Afghanistan have pushed Turkmenistan. Its army organised a massive military exercise in March, the largest in Turkmenistan’s history.

A representative of Armenia was also elected to serve a deputy chair of the General Assembly.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Merkel links Georgia visa- free access to Ukraine

TBILISI, JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed visa-free access to the EU’s Schengen area for Georgia but linked it to a similar deal for Ukraine.

Ms Merkel’s statement during a meeting with Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili in Berlin could be seen as a boost to Georgia’s aim of gaining visa-free access to the European Union this year but the link to Ukraine is a complication.

It also comes a week after German politicians said they would block Georgia’s application for visa-free access because of links to organised crime.

“I expect that we can agree swiftly on the issue of visa liberalisation for citizens of Georgia,” media quoted Ms Merkel as saying.

One of Georgia’s main foreign policy objectives is to join the EU. Whether or not this is achievable is of secondary importance to most Georgian politicians to just making progress and visa-free Schengen access is considered a major prize.

But, significantly, Ms Merkel also underlined that she linked Georgia’s application to Ukraine’s

“For me, it is significant that Association Agreements between the EU and Georgia and also with Ukraine were signed at the same time,” Reuters quoted Ms Merkel as saying in reference to agreements signed in June 2014. “It is not very easy to explain to one country how things are with another.”

The problem for Georgia is that the European Commission is less likely to grant Ukraine visa-free access. Ukraine has a population of 45m, compared to Georgia’s 4.5m. It is also the focus of a geopolitical struggle with Russia.

Analysts have said that Ms Merkel may deliberately be trying to slow the process.

The flow of migrants from Syria into Germany and Turkey’s drive for visa-free Schengen access have made migration a politically sensitive issue forMs Merkel.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to talk N-K

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev will meet for talks on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in St Petersburg on June 20, a Kremlin spokesman said. Russian president Vladimir Putin will also host the talks. His presence increases the chances that a meaningful deal may be drawn up.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Turkmenistan signs electricity deal with Afghanistan

JUNE 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan and Afghanistan signed a 10-year agreement for the supply of electricity, a sign of enhanced cross-border cooperation for the two countries’ power sectors. State-owned Turkmenenergo and Afghanistan’s DABS extended the current agreement to the end of 2017 and signed a new agreement, which will last until the end of 2027. Turkmenistan aims to export electricity to Tajikistan and Pakistan via Afghanistan. It holds ambitions to turn itself into a regional power generation hub.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Germany against Georgia’s visa-free access to the EU

JUNE 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ambassadors representing Germany, France and Italy at the European Union gave the strongest indication yet that Georgia would fail to win visa-free travel to Europe this year after they voted against the motion at a meeting in Brussels.

Perhaps reflecting wider concerns about allowing more migrants from Syria, Turkey and other countries to enter Europe, German politicians said they were against Georgia being given visa-free access because of worries over crime.

“Georgian asylum seekers are more heavily involved in organised crime than any other group of foreigners,” Armin Schuster, MP for the ruling CDU party, told the Der Spiegel magazine. This view was reflected at the ambassadors’ meeting.

Failing to win visa-free travel to Europe would be a major blow to the ruling Georgian Dream coalition only four months before what is likely to be a tight parliamentary election. Georgia wants to join the European Union and sees visa-free travel as a major step towards achieving that aim.

Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili told media that he was disappointed about the messages coming out of the European Union.

“Georgia has completed its own part and now it’s up to the European countries to take decision,” he was quoted as saying. “It’s not easy and we understand that, but all these issues, the migration crisis, internal challenges have nothing to do with Georgia’s technical readiness. We are ready institutionally, legislatively.”

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)