DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev flew to Kuwait to open Kyrgyzstan’s new embassy. Mr Atambayev wants to boost ties with the Gulf states. He clearly considers this important as, with budgets under pressure, he has prioritised extending Kyrgyzstan’s diplomatic reach over other issues.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Commission said that Georgia had passed its benchmark test required for it to be eligible for a visa-free treaty with the EU, a major step towards the Georgian government’s key foreign policy objective of integrating more closely with the West.
It’s now expected that the European Parliament will vote sometime in the first half of next year on whether to formally allow Georgians visa-free entry to the Schengen region.
The Schengen region is named after the town in Luxembourg where EU members states struck a deal to ease travel requirements. Britain and Ireland, both EU members, declined to sign up to the deal. Norway, Ice- land, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are non-EU members who have signed up to the agreement.
And Georgia’s leaders appeared confident the European Parliament would vote to allow them easier access to Europe.
PM Irakli Garibashvili called it a historic day.
“Our country has confirmed once again that we are frontrunners among EU’s Eastern Partnership countries,” he said. “In response, Europe tells us that it is open for Georgian citizens.”
If the European Parliament did vote to allow Georgians visa-free entry it could irritate Russia which is sensitive about former Soviet states moving towards the West.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan and China completed a currency swap deal which they had arranged earlier in the year. Under the deal, China will give Tajikistan 3b yuan (around $470m) in exchange for the equivalent in Tajik somoni. The two sides said the deal would facilitate bilateral trade but it is also a way for China to give Tajikistan some hard currency.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Swedish court sentenced Yury Zhukovsky, an Uzbek national, to 18 years in prison for the attempted murder of dissident Obid-kori Nazarov in February 2012, in a case that intensified attention on Uzbekistan’s human rights record.
The prosecutor in the trial accused the Uzbek government of ordering the murder of Mr Nazarov who had fled Uzbekistan to Sweden in 2006. He had been a popular cleric who preached against the government.
The judge, though, said that it was not possible to rule on who may have ordered the murder.
Zhukovsky was caught on CCTV camera in a shop in the remote northern town of Stromsund hours before Mr Nazarov was shot in the head with a revolver. Mr Nazarov survived the attempted murder but has been left with brain damage.
Human rights groups have criticised Uzbekistan record. They have said that the government pursues its enemies abroad.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a business forum in Beijing, Kazakh and Chinese officials said they reached agreements worth $10b that will increase cooperation between state-owned companies. One of the deals involved the sale of 51% of KMG International, a subsidiary of Kazmunaigas, to a Chinese energy company.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Bern to discuss peace plans for the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, their first meeting since 2014. There was no sign of any tangible progress from the Bern talks.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – South Korea opened its first embassy in Georgia, highlighting Georgia’s increased prominence on the world stage and also, perhaps, South Korea’s rising interest in the South Caucasus. S.Korea also gave Georgia’s foreign ministry computer equipment worth $100,000.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The trial has started of Valery Permyakov, a Russian conscript accused of killing seven members of the same family in January. The murders shocked Armenia and strained relations with Russia. Russia keeps a major military base in Armenia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – After visiting Ashgabat for talks with Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he would buy 200,000 tonnes of wheat from Turkmenistan for the 2015-16 season. The deal would make Turkmenistan one of the main exporters of wheat to Afghanistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan talked with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. The talks had been planned earlier in the year but their timing was important as Mr Erdogan is trying to build support for Turkey in its row with Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)