Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Nazarbayev to travel to Iran in show of support

APRIL 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev will visit Tehran later this year, signalling Kazakhstan’s eagerness to embrace Iran after the United States agreed to relax sanctions imposed on it.

Yerlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, made the announcement at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Astana.

“We expect the visit of President Nazarbayev to Iran and we hope that this visit will contribute to the development of our relations,” he said.

Mr Zarif was visiting Kazakhstan less than two weeks after agreeing a deal with the US in Lausanne, Switzerland, that could scrap sanctions on Iran in return for extra American oversight of the Iranian nuclear programme.

The US has said Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian use only.

Mr Nazarbayev has visited Iran previously. He was one of the few international leaders to attend the inauguration of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani in 2013.

For Kazakhstan, Iran is an important consumer market, particularly for grain and steel products. Kazakhstan exports its products to Iran by ship across the Caspian Sea.

At the press conference in Astana, Mr Idrissov also said Kazakhstan supported Iran’s potential membership of the Russia and China-ed Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), an economic-security organisation focused on Central Asia.

Iran is already an observer member of the SCO. Russia has also said that it supports SCO membership for Tehran, a proposition that will alarm NATO and the US.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 227, published on April 15 2015)

Erdogan flies to Astana

APRIL 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan flew to Astana for a state visit. He is due to hold talks with Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev on Thursday which have been billed as important. Turkey is an influential regional power.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 227, published on April 15 2015)

Kazakhstan murder trial starts in Vienna

APRIL 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – An ex-Kazakh spy chief and a member of the presidential guard went on trial in Vienna accused of murdering two bankers in 2007 (April 14). The chief suspect in the case, Rakhat Aliyev, former son-in-law of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, was found hanged in his prison earlier this year.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 227, published on April 15 2015)

Mortgage holders protest in Kazakhstan

APRIL 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a rare anti-government protest in Kazakhstan, dozens of homeowners demonstrated in Astana about the extra pressure they are under to meet US dollar denominated mortgage repayments, media reported. The Central Bank cut the value of the tenge by about 20% this year and is under pressure to do so again as the rouble remains low.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 227, published on April 15 2015)

Floods hit central Kazakhstan

APRIL 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A rise in snowmelt, triggered by an increase in temperatures, has caused rivers to burst their banks, media reported. The Karaganda oblast’s emergency department said nearly 2,000 homes had been flooded.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 227, published on April 15 2015)

EBRD gives loan to Kazakhstan’s Temir Zholy

APRIL 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has agreed to give Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the Kazakh national rail company, a loan of $200m to restructure its debt, media reported. Temir Zholy has been upgrading rapidly over the past few years.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 227, published on April 15 2015)

Kulibayev criticises Kazakh Central Bank

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Timur Kulibayev, one of Kazakhstan’s richest men and son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, criticised the Central Bank’s handling of the growing economic fallout, a rare show of dissent by a senior member of the Kazakh elite.

At a business forum in Almaty, Mr Kulibayev said he was “not satisfied with the work of the Central Bank”, specifically with regards to the lack of liquidity.

“How can entrepreneurs get access to liquidity?” he said. “How can lending become more affordable? When we travel to the regions, these are the questions we are asked.”

The fallout from a slide in the value of the Russian rouble and a drop in the price of oil has hurt economies in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, piling pressure on its leaders and businesses. Mr Kulibayev owns Halyk Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s biggest banks.

Once feted as a leader–-in-waiting, Mr Kulibayev has become increasingly out-spoken and isolated.

The National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (NCE), a powerful organisation which he heads, has repeatedly criticised the Central Bank’s support for the national currency despite devaluation pressure.

Last month, Umut Shayakhmetova, the CEO of Halyk Bank also said in an interview that the Central Bank was hurting the economy by not allowing the currency to free-float.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

US/UK military exercise begins in Kazakhstan

APRIL 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – British and US soldiers have flown to Kazakhstan to take part in the Steppe Eagle annual military exercise. The exercise is routine but it is still a useful reminder that although Kazakhstan is close to Russia, it has also cultivated close ties with NATO forces.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Shell to buy BG, including Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak

APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A proposed $70b takeover of BG by Royal Dutch Shell will have implications for Kazakhstan’s energy sector. BG is a major shareholder in, and the operator of, the Karachaganak oil and gas project in north Kazakhstan. This will pass to Shell if the deal goes through.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Kazakh wealth fund loses value

APRIL 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund has spent $8b, or 10% of its total, over the past nine months supporting the tenge currency against devaluation pressure, media reported quoting official statistics. The size of the drop gives a good indication on the severity of the economic downturn.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)