MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan wants to increase its meat and poultry exports to neighbouring countries over the next three years, media reported quoting agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov. Mr Mamytbekob said that meat exports increased by 300% in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Defence minister from CSTO member states flew into Dushanbe for their annual meeting, set to begin on June 4. The Collective Security Treaty Organisation includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Oil output at Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan’s biggest oil producer, rose by 4.4% in Q1 compared to the same period in 2014, Reuters reported quoting its director-general Tim Miller. Chevron owns 50% of Tengizchevroil, ExxonMobil owns 25%, Kazmunaigas owns 20% and Lukoil owns 5%.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Asim Thabit Abdullah al- Khalaqi, a former inmate of the US’ Guantanamo Bay prison, died in Kazakhstan of kidney failure, media reported. The US released Mr Khalaqi, a Yemeni national who spent 11 years in Guantanamo Bay, six months ago with a handful of other inmates. They were resettled in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – With oil prices around $60-$65 per barrel, Kazakhstan’s economy will grow by 3% this year, Kairat Kelimbetov, the Kazakh Central Bank chief, told Reuters. His estimate was roughly double the estimate of the IMF.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court blocked a bill that would have banned so-called gay propaganda, only a few days after Olympic athletes said it contradicted the spirit of the Olympic Games.
In their letter to the International Olympic Committee, the athletes criticised he law, similar to one brought in by Russia in 2013, and asked the Games’ governing body to pressure Kazakhstan into reconsidering the law.
The strategy now appears to have worked.
As ever, timing is everything. Kazakhstan is competing with Beijing to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. A decision is due in July and Kazakhstan would have been very keen to avoid any negative publicity surrounding its bid in the run-up to that announcement.
According to media reports, the Constitutional Council rejected the bill because if considered it vague and legally incorrect.
That, though, may not be the end of it. The promoter of the bill, MP Aldan Smayyl, said amendments to the current draft will be made and the bill will be submitted to the Parliament again soon.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s parliament, the Majilis, approved a decree on the delimitation of the Caspian Sea bed with Kazakhstan an important step, to smoothing out the ongoing row between the countries which ring the Caspian Sea on how to divide up its potential hydrocarbon riches.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The growth of the consumer loan market in Kazakhstan has stalled, media reported quoting a rankings website, another sign of the economic slowdown. Data from ranking.kz showed that year-on-year consumer credit grew by 7% to end-March, down from 45% the year before and 48% the year before that.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Wearing a black scarf wrapped around his head and cradling a sniper rifle, Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, Tajikistan’s paramilitary police chief, appeared in a video for IS to confirm that he had defected to the extremist group.
Colonel Khalimov’s defection is a major blow to Tajikistan and a major victory for IS. It has targeted Central Asia as a prime recruiting ground and has released videos showing Central Asian recruits training and also of a Kazakh boy shooting dead Russian captives.
In the slickly-made 12 minute video, 40-year-old Colonel Khalimov explained that he had defected from Tajikistan because of the authorities’ crackdown on Islamic dress and prayers.
He called on other Tajiks to join him in Syria and described Americans as pigs.
“Listen, you dogs, President and ministers, if only you knew how many of our boys, our brothers are here, waiting, eager to return to Tajikistan to establish sharia law,” he said.
At the end of the video, Colonel Khalimov shows off his skills as a trained sniper by shooting a ripe tomato.
Colonel Khalimov has been missing since late April and rumours had been flying around Dushanbe that he had headed to Syria to join IS.
And he is high-profile recruit for IS. As head of Tajikistan’s paramilitary police force, Colonel Khalimov wielded large powers and responsibilities.
His defection poses more problems for Central Asian states which say they are already struggling to fight against the IS recruitment drive.
The International Crisis Group has estimated that there are 4,000 men from Central Asia fighting for IS in Syria.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officials in Kazakhstan said 127,000 saiga antelopes out of a herd of 300,000 had now died from an outbreak of a respiratory disease. Kazakhstan has the largest herd of the endangered saiga antelopes.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)