Tag Archives: international relations

Armenia to drop cognac branding on brandy exports

YEREVAN/JUNE 10 2021 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s government agreed to stop marketing its premium brandy products to Europe as cognac from 2032, part of a trade deal that it signed with the EU four years ago.

The announcement that Armenia would finally drop using the cognac brand came 10 days after PM Nikol Pashinyan had been in Paris meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron to lockdown France’s support for Armenia over its ongoing border rows with Azerbaijan.

France, a key ally of Armenia, has been pushing for the cognac title to be used only by brandy produced in its Cognac region. In return for dropping the term cognac, the EU promised to spend 3m euro helping Armenia build up a new brand for its brandy exports to Europe.

The TASS news agency quoted Armenia’s deputy PM Mger Grigoryan as saying that a new brand for Armenian brandy had not yet been decided upon.

“I am not ready to disclose such details so far because major market players have no consensus so far,” He said.

Armenia had appeared to drag its feet over imposing a ban on the cognac branding after signing an Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the EU in 2017 that improves trade relations and enforces European standards.

EU law protects regional names on European food and drink products, although Armenia will still be able to market its brandy as cognac in Cyrillic on bottles sold to Russia, its main export market. The EU struck a similar deal with Moldova in 2014 when it agreed to drop using the cognac term too. Premium Moldovan brandy is now called Divin.

Brandy is an important part of Armenia’s branding and it is famed across the former Soviet Union. Its most famous producer is the Yerevan Brandy Company which markets its products under the Ararat brand and is owned by France’s Pernod Ricard.

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— This story was published in issue 48 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 16 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

China to build Belt and Road terminal in Kyrgyzstan

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BISHKEK/JUNE 7 2021 (The Bulletin) — China signed a deal to finance the development of a $100m industrial sector in Kyrgyzstan a few days after Pres. Xi Jinping telephoned Kazakh Pres. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to talk up the prospect of deeper relations.

The industrial sector deal highlights China’s status as Kyrgyzstan’s biggest financial backer and cements the importance of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for Central Asia.

According to press reports, “investors” from China will pay $20m initially to develop the Silk Way Industrial Park with subsequent payments pushing up total investment to $100m.

The 70 hectare site on the border with Kazakhstan, 30km from Manas International Airport, is considered by China to be a key part of its BRI project to boost East-West trade. The BRI hinges on building infrastructure across the region which has allowed China to increase its influence. In May, China said that it would boost aid to Kyrgyzstan and this week media reported that, in a phone call, Chinese Pres. Xi told Kazakh Pres. Tokayev that relations needed to “advance in the right direction”.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Abducted eductionalist held in Turkish embassy in Bishkek, says wife

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JUNE 6 2021 (The Bulletin) — Orhan Inandi, the Turkish educator and opposition figure, is being held captive at the Turkish embassy in Bishkek, his wife, Reyhan, said in a Twitter video. Mr Inandi disappeared on May 31 in an apparent abduction. His supporters have said that Turkish security forces kidnapped him. Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames supporters of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen for a failed coup attempt in 2016 and has vowed to track them down. Mr Inandi, who holds Turkish and Kyrgyz citizenship, is head of the Gulenist network of schools and universities in Kyrgyzstan.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Landmine kills Azerbaijani reporters in Nagorno-Karabkakh

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JUNE 4 2021 (The Bulletin) — A landmine blew up and killed two Azerbaijani journalists and a local official in Nagorno-Karabakh. The men were travelling in a truck when it hit the mine. Four other people were injured. Azerbaijan has blamed Armenia for the deaths because it said that it had not handed over maps showing areas that it had mined during a war for control of Nagorno-Karabakh last year.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Uzbekistan has applied to join EDB, says adviser

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ALMATY/JUNE 4 2021 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has applied to join the Almaty-based intergovernmental Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) which is closely linked to the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Media quoted Grigory Marchenko, a former Kazakh Central Bank chief and now an adviser to the EDB, as saying that the Uzbek government had now made a formal membership application. Mr Marchenko has previously said that the EDB would welcome an application by Uzbekistan.

Applying to join the EDB pushes along Uzbekistan’s potential membership of the EAEU and, with it, potentially deeper regional economic integration. Uzbek Pres. Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said that Uzbekistan should join the EAEU, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus as its members.

The EDB was set up in 2006, nine years before the EAEU. With the addition of Tajikistan, the EDB’s members mirror the EAEU.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Lukoil expects to be named Dostluk operator

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JUNE 3 2021 (The Bulletin) — Lukoil expects to be named as the operator of the Caspian Sea’s Dostluk oil field which Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan said earlier this year that they want to exploit, the TASS news agency quoted Lukoil chairman Vagit Alekperov as saying. Dostluk sits midway between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan and had been the focus of a long-running row between the two countries.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Tajikistan’s Rakhmon signs weapons deal with Pakistan

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JUNE 3 2021 (The Bulletin) — On a trip to Pakistan to meet with PM Imran Khan, media reported that Tajik Pres. Emomali Rakhmon had signed a deal to buy arms. The deal could potentially irritate India, a regional rival to Pakistan, which sees Tajikistan as an entry point into Central Asia. India has been trying to make up ground in Central Asia, where China dominates.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Nazarbayev “frees” Belarusian protesters

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ALMATY/JUNE 2 2021 (The Bulletin) — Belarus freed three anti-government protesters after an intervention from former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, the spokesperson of Belarusian Pres. Aleksandr Lukashenko said, a few days before Kazakhstan also declined to join Russia-led sanctions against the West.

The three ethnic Polish Belarusian citizens — Irena Biernacka, Maria Tishkovska and Anna Panisheva — were freed on June 2 and sent to Poland. They had been in prison since March when they were arrested for spreading Nazi propaganda. Two other leaders of the Polish minority in Belarus are still in prison.

When asked why they had been released, Natalia Ejsmont, the Belarusian spokesperson, said: “Do you remember the talks between the Belarusian President and the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev? They took place in April, and it was then that the freeing of activists of the Union of Poles in Belarus was discussed. (Nazarbayev) asked for their release.” Mr Nazarbayev has not commented.

Pres. Lukashenko has cracked down hard on protesters since an election last year which his opponents said was rigged. Thousands have been imprisoned on charges that they say are arbitrary. Allegations of abuse and torture against the Belarusian security services are common.

News of the apparent intervention by Mr Nazarbayev, who likes to play the elder statesman in the former Soviet Union, came a few days before the Kazakh government declined to take part in Russia-organised sanctions against the West. The sanctions, which the Kremlin had expected the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to back, were designed as retaliation against Western sanctions against Belarus after it forced a passenger jet flying from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk so that it could arrest a dissident journalist.

Explaining its decision not to back the sanctions, Kazakhstan said that it “takes the position that processes within the EAEU are purely economic.” Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are EAEU members.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Azerbaijan and Armenia trade more accusations over border violations

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JUNE 2 2021 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan said that 40 Armenian soldiers had crossed into its territory but that they had been forced to retreat, an accusation that was immediately denied by Armenia. It wasn’t clear if there had been any combat. Both sides have accused the other of violating borders. Armenia has also said that Azerbaijani forces had captured its soldiers. Azerbaijan defeated Armenia in a war last year for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

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— This story was published in issue 487 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on June 9 2021

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Armenia plans major military exercise

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MARCH 12 (The Bulletin) — Risking a rise in tension with its neighbour and enemy Azerbaijan, Armenia said that it would hold a major military exercise on March 16-20. The military exercise will involve 7,500 soldiers, reports said. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six week war last year for control of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian army was defeated and has been accused of being underprepared.

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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021