Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakh President finds new role for C.Bank ex-head

DEC. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Kairat Kelimbetov, ex head of the Kazakh Central Bank, as head of the Astana Financial Centre, media reported. Mr Kelimbetov has kept a low profile since being sacked as head of the CBank in Nov. after two years in the job. The Astana Financial Centre is a state project to promote the Kazakh capital as an international finance centre.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Nazarbayev offers to host Ukraine talks

DEC. 29 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Senior officials, and perhaps even heads of government, from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France have tentatively agreed to meet in Astana for talks later this month on how to resolve the ongoing civil war in Ukraine. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is keen to project Astana as a global centre for conflict disputes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Kazakhstan takes Guantanamo inmates

>>Former Guantanamo Bay inmates accepted as asylum seekers>>

DEC. 31 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has taken charge of five former prisoners from the US’ controversial Guantanamo Bay prison.

The three Yemeni and two Tunisian nationals were flown to Kazakhstan and officially recorded as asylum seekers. It’s unclear, though, if they were transferred to a Kazakh prison or if they are being held elsewhere.

US President Barack Obama has said he is eager to close Guantanamo Bay prison and moving inmates to other countries is considered a politically acceptable way of achieving this.

But it’s also politically sensitive for the countries that agree to take the prisoners. Kazakh officials were eager to explain that the five prisoners, who were alleged to have links to al Qaeda but were never charged with a crime, had chosen to come to Kazakhstan.

In New York Laura Pitter, who analyses the US’ security policies for Human Rights Watch, said: “Accepting them as free men is the correct practice for Kazakhstan. The US has been detaining them unjustly and if Kazakhstan can give them a chance at a new life this should be commended.”

Still, news of the move triggered speculation over what deal had been done between Kazakhstan and the US.
In December, Yerlan Idrissov, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, travelled to Washington for an official visit. Besides security issues, diplomatic talks were focused on economic bottlenecks such as the negotiations for Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

KazKom profit drops on BTA buy

DEC. 11 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Kazkommertsbank posted a drop in profit for the nine months to the end of September 2014 of 10% mainly due to its purchase of BTA Bank which has a large amount of debt, media reported. Analysts said that Kazkommertsbank bought BTA Bank for political rather than business reasons.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Oil shipments from Batumi, Georgia, drop

JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Crude oil and oil product shipments from the Georgian port of Batumi fell by around 22% in 2014 compared to 2013 because of lower than expected exports from Kazakhstan and re-routing through pipelines, a port official told Reuters. Batumi oil terminal is controlled by Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Armenia joins the Eurasian Economic Union

JAN. 1 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — After a year long build up, Armenia joined the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU). The EaEU also includes Kazakhstan and Belarus. Kyrgyzstan will join in May. Critics of the project have said that it is a Kremlin power grab.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Nazarbayev closes in on his enemies

>>Aliyev charged in Austria, Ketebayev arrested in Spain>>

DEC. 30 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his associates have scored two more notable victories over their opponents.

A court in Austria charged Rakhat Aliyev, Mr Nazarbayev’s former son-in-law, with kidnapping and murdering two bankers in 2007 in Kazakhstan. Three days earlier, police in Spain arrested Muratbek Ketebayev, a Kazakh opposition leader linked to the 2011 uprising in the town of Zhanaozen in western Kazakhstan.

Mr Ketebayev was co-founder of the Alga! Party which was close to Mukhtar Ablyazov, for many year’s Mr Nazarbayev’s main opponent until his arrest in France in 2013.

Mr Nazarbayev has been after the extradition of both Mr Aliyev and Mr Ketebayev for years. He wants to avenge what he considers his betrayal by Mr Aliyev in the mid-2000s when he was married to Dariga Nazarbayeva, Mr Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter, and also the uprising at Zhanaozen when police shot dead 15 protesters, triggering the most serious crisis of his presidency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Kyrgyzstan to join Eurasian Economic Union

>>Membership to become political ahead of elections>>

DEC. 23 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan signed a deal that will make it the fifth member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) in May.

At a meeting in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the union, which from Jan. 1 includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia as well as Russia, would benefit from Kyrgyzstan’s membership.

“All the participants of this integration process are already experiencing its real benefits,” media quoted Mr Putin as saying.

“We are convinced that Armenia and Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the Eurasian [Economic] Union meets the key national interests of both countries.”

Many analysts, though, and people on the streets of Bishkek questioned whether there would be any real economic benefit. Instead, they said that Kyrgyzstan had joined the Eurasian Economic Union for political rather than economic reasons.

Kyrgyzstan is, largely reliant on Russia for economic and military support, but its membership of the Eurasian Economic Union is likely to become a political issue later this year in the run up to its parliamentary election, scheduled for October.

In an interview with Russian state-linked newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta before the official signing ceremony, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev waived aside concern.

“When making decisions, we guide solely by economic expediency,” he said.

“This step will revive our industry, strengthen security, open borders with neighbouring countries, improve the standard of living of the people. Entry into this union opens up new opportunities for economic development.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

China to invest in Kazakh potash

DEC. 14 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — China agreed to invest $3.8b into developing Kazakhstan’s potash deposits to produce a mineral that can be used in fertiliser production. The massive investment both underscores China’s interest in Kazakhstan and will also help Kazakhstan diversify its economy away from oil and gas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Nazarbayev reassures on oil price slump

DEC. 22 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — In a televised address, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev said he had a plan to counter falling oil prices even if they fell below $40/barrel. Oil prices have now halved from their height last summer to around $50/barrel. Kazakhstan has been building up a reserve of cash to deal with a slump.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)