FEB. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -An autopsy found sedatives in the bloodstream of Rakhat Aliyev, former son-in-law of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was found hanged in his Vienna prison cell last month, Reuters reported quoting an Austrian prosecutor. Austrian officials said Aliyev killed himself. Austria has asked Switzerland for a second autopsy.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
NEW YORK, March 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – — Kanat Beisekeyev is a young photographer from Almaty. At 22, he has already been in search of the American Dream for a couple of years, joining the New York Film Academy and the International Photography Center (IPC).
It’s exciting, but tough.
“New York changed my life, it’s tough here, man!” said Beisekeyev with a twinkle.
As well as chasing the American Dream, Beisekeyev is also a statistic. He is one of thousands of young Kazakhs who migrate in search of better salaries, better work and more political freedom. Many live in London and New York, global metropolitan centres.
And this year, for the first time in a decade, the outflow of migrants from Kazakhstan surpassed the inflow. The socio-demographic imbalance shows a clear brain drain, as those who leave the country are the youngest and the brightest while the incomers are mainly poor ethnic Kazakhs who were brought up in China, Mongolia and other surrounding countries.
Now a teaching assistant, at the IPC, Beisekeyev is in his natural habitat. He talks while he gazes upon award-winning photographs hanging from the walls. Outside, New York City is cold. The thermometer indicates minus 15C, but wind gusts make it feel even colder than Almaty, where Beisekeyev was planning to live his life.
“At some point, I came to the conclusion that Kazakhstan didn’t offer enough challenges,” he said.
Beisekeyev said that life in the United States wasn’t always easy, though. He said that in Kazakhstan he could fill a gallery and people would pay to see his photographs while in New York all he can get are internships or temporary jobs.
“I hope all I’m giving here will come back to me one day,” Beisekeyev muttered.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
MARCH 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Union has identified Central Asia and the South Caucasus as a future source of energy that will, importantly, reduce its reliance on Russia.
In an interview with the FT, Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s vice-president for energy affairs, said that the region could become a major supplier of gas to the EU.
In particular, the EU is looking to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. It has diligently invested time and money building up relations and pipeline infrastructure over the past few years in the region.
Now, as relations with Russia sour over the Kremlin’s support for separatists in Ukraine, the EU is speeding up its search for alternative sources of energy.
And in Central Asia and the South Caucasus it will find a willing partner. The fallout over the drop in Russia’s economy and the collapse in energy prices have been severe and governments are looking for alternative markets. Europe may be bureaucratic but it is stable and reliable.
Turkmenistan’s government was quick to respond positively to the EU’s smoke signals.
It’s a different scenario in countries which don’t produce energy.
Armenia is reliant on Russia’s Gazprom for its energy. It has had to ask for a gas price discount, pulling it more and more under the influence of the Kremlin.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
FEB. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev called an early presidential election for April 26. Pro-Nazarbayev groups have been asking for an election in order to underline his authority as Kazakhstan deals with a tough economic climate.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
MARCH 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kenes Rakishev, a 35-year-old Kazakh businessman who is the son-in-law of the country’s defence minister Imangali Tasmagambetov, became a major shareholder in Kazkommertsbank, one of Kazakhstan’s biggest and most prominent banks.
Last year, in a deal with Kazkommertsbank, Mr Rakishev bought debt-ridden BTA Bank from the government.
Now he has swapped his stake in BTA Bank for a 16% stake in Kazkommertsbank. The manoeuvre is part of the merger of the two banks.
It also dilutes Nurzhan Subkhanberdin’s ownership of Kazkommertsbank. Mr Subkhanberdin is based mainly in London and has previously been linked to Kazakhstan’s opposition.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
MARCH 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The collapse in oil prices forced Max Petroleum, a British-Kazakh oil and gas company, to suspend trading on the London AIM stock exchange.
In a statement, Max Petroleum said it was in negotiations to restructure its debt with Sberbank and other creditors.
“If current negotiations are unsuccessful, or if other events outside the control of the Company require that the Company ceases trading while such negotiations are ongoing, then the consequences will be negative for all stakeholders in the Company,” the company statement said.
Last month Max Petroleum squarely blamed the slump in global oil prices for its problems which wiped out profit margins and deterred potential investors.
The Max Petroleum’s troubles are a microcosm of the problems facing Kazakhstan-orientated companies trying to weather an economic downturn linked to the oil price drop and the turmoil in Russia’s sanction-hit economy.
Almaty-based confectionery plant Rakhat, which South Korea’s LOTTE bought in 2013/2014 in a multi-million dollar deal, also said that it had had to lay off 500 of its 3,800 workers. It blamed unfair competition from cheaper Russian sweets.
Once feted as one of Kazakhstan’s most famous companies outside the extractive industries, Rakhat is now trying to eke its way out of the economic storm — just like most other Kazakh companies.
Max Petroleum, listed on the LSE since 2005, is a small Kazakhstan oil producer with an output of around 200,000 tonnes of oil a year.
In August 2014, AGR Energy, linked to the prominent Assaubayev family, made a deal to buy 51% of Max Petroleum for £37m ($62m), promising to embark on a significant investment to revitalise the company. The slump in oil prices, though, appears to have deterred AGR Energy from follow through with the deal and the promised investment.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
FEB. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The growing financial crisis in Kazakhstan has now hit the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna.
Umirzak Shukeyev, head of the fund, said the plan was to look to borrow up to $2.5b to refinance its debt.
“If conditions on external markets are attractive enough for us, we will tap foreign markets, although right now we see that the situation in the internal market is more favourable for us to borrow,” he said.
Regardless, Samruk-Kazyna’s insistence that it will need to borrow cash to restructure its debts is an important admission that the financial crisis is growing.
Like its neighbours, the slowdown in Russia’s sanction-hit economy and the drop in the price of oil has hit Kazakhstan hard.
Samruk-Kazyna holds about $100b in assets, roughly half Kazakhstan’s GDP, and manages about 500 companies.
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Various political organisations in Kazakhstan threw their support behind the prospect of an early presidential election, virtually ensuring the vote goes ahead in the next couple of months. Kazakh officials floated the idea earlier this month. They want President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s authority underlined.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
>>Former son-in-law alleged to have committed suicide>>
FEB. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rakhat Aliyev, an opponent and former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, died in prison days before the end of a pre-trial hearing linked to the 2007 murders of two Kazakh bankers.
He was found hanged in the toilet, the only corner of his solitary cell without constant surveillance. The prison administration described his death as a suicide but Aliyev’s lawyer, Klaus Ainedter, cast immediate doubt on this explanation.
“I have significant doubts about this without wanting to blame anyone. I visited him yesterday. There could be no talk whatsoever of danger of suicide,” Mr Ainedter told the local press.
Aliyev had at one time been viewed as a potential successor to Mr Nazarbayev but he fell from grace in 2007 and was forced to flee Kazakhstan before the authorities could arrest him for the murder of the two bankers.
In exile, Aliyev, who had been married to Mr Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter, set himself up as a vocal opponent of his former father-in-law from his bases in Malta and Vienna. He always denied any link to the bankers’ murders.
Last year, Aliyev turned himself in to the authorities in Vienna days before police planned to arrest him. The Austrian authorities had declined to deport Aliyev back to Kazakhstan but they had agreed to try him in Vienna for the murders.
Aliyev’s death rids Mr Nazarbayev of another major opponent. In 2013, French police arrested Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former Kazakh banker and minister, who was also a high profile opponent of Mr Nazarbayev.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan and the US have signed an agreement that will smooth law enforcement issues between the two countries, the US State Department said. In particular the deal, which the US State Department described as an “important step forward”, will help the transfer of evidence between the two countries.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)