MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Astana detained 20 people demonstrating against the proposed Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), two days before Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan planned to sign it into existence. The EEU is designed to replace the Customs Union. Some analysts have said that it will morph from an economic club into a political group.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
May 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Rugby Board (IRB) has accepted Uzbekistan’s rugby association as a full member, media reported. Rugby is in its infancy in Uzbekistan but the IRB has said that it is committed to spread it across Asia. Neighbouring Kazakhstan is already an IRB member.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, the second largest bank in Kazakhstan, said its profit in the first three months of the year had almost doubled. Importantly, Halyk said much of this profit increase was due to a fall in the amount of poor loans on its books, an issue Kazakh banks have been grappling with since the 2008/9 economic crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In 2013, Kazakhstan convicted 31 policemen of using torture, media reported.
This is an important statistic as it shows that the Kazakh authorities are not just paying lip service to the idea of reducing the use of torture by the security forces to obtain confessions, a routine criticism of Central Asian states by human rights groups.
The deputy prosecutor of Kazakhstan, Zhakyp Asanov, said that the number of investigations against Kazakh police in the past five years had increased tenfold. This, he said, underlined Kazakhstan’s commitment to improving human rights.
“We react to reports of torture immediately and take all required measures to investigate the report,” Mr Asanov said. Of course these actions are welcome and there are signs that this more humane approach to detainees is taking shape in Kazakhstan.
Earlier this year, a Kazakh court upheld a compensation claim ordered against the police for the torture of a man held in detention in March 2007.
That said, there is a lot more to do. Torture as a method to extract confessions from detainees is still fairly routine in Kazakhstan, rather than being isolated incidences, as Mr Asanov’s figures tend to suggest. Prison conditions are also considered poor.
In a report in 2013, Amnesty International said it “accused the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, of pulling the wool over the eyes of the international community in his government’s promise to eradicate torture and fully investigate the lethal force by police.”
Its report described torture as rife in Kazakh detention centres.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin)- The consortium of companies developing the giant Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will have to replace the entire pipeline system, Kazakhstan’s oil and gas minister Uzakbai Karabalin said. The massive rebuild may delay the re-start of Kashagan beyond 2015.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin)- In 2020, Kazakhstan will probably introduce a new pension scheme that will deduct 5% of an employee’s wages and automatically place it in a government plan, the labour ministry told the Tengrinews website.
Employers will match this employee contribution.
It appears that these planned reforms haven’t been announced more widely and loudly because of a very real fear of upsetting people.
The risk for Kazakhstan is fairly obvious. In Armenia a similar plan triggered widespread demonstrations. The problem is that Kazakhstan and other former Soviet States need to reform and update their pension schemes.
Last year, the Kazakh labour sacked its ministers because of backlash over trying to make women retire at the same age as men.
Persuading Kazakhs to accept the latest plan is also likely to be a serious challenge for the Kazakh government.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, the second largest bank in Kazakhstan, said its profit in the first three months of the year had almost doubled. Importantly, Halyk said much of this profit increase was due to a fall in the amount of poor loans on its books, an issue Kazakh banks have been grappling with since the 2008/9 economic crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
ASTANA /Kazakhstan, May 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — As a spectacle it was quite brilliant.
This was theatre with former British PM Tony Blair playing the lead role. He may now be very grey but Blair has lost none of his aura. Make no mistake, at this year’s Astana Economic Forum he was the star attraction.
Blair’s role was a short one. He appeared for around two hours on Thursday afternoon, the second day of the three-day annual event (May 21 – 23).
He spoke twice for about three or four minutes from his white armchair in the middle of the main stage during a debate by 21 leaders or former leaders
Blair said that international organisations such as the UN needed to keep up with the shifting power dynamics of the global economy. He also said that Britain should remain in Europe.
These utterances may have been forgettable, and they were, but that wasn’t really the point of Blair’s appearance. He was there not for his wit and wisdom, he was there because he was paid to be there.
Blair has worked for Kazakhstan for nearly three years as a consultant. News reports have said his company earns around $15m a year for this service, although his office has always been tight-lipped on the details. His contract also appears to include a clause which says he must attend the Astana Economic Forum, one of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s pet projects.
Blair far out-ranked the other men, and the one woman, on the stage for this session.
He sat next to Kazakh PM Karim Massimov who also played a starring role. They referred to each other, rather touchingly, by their first names and shared the odd joke while other speakers were talking.
It was, as one wit in the audience, said: “The Tony and Karim Show.”
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s upper house of parliament ratified a joint air defence agreement with Russia media reported. The deal further binds Russia and Kazakhstan’s militaries. Russia already had a similar deal in place with Belarus and has been working on a deal incorporating Armenia.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a state visit to China, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Kazakhstan would boost oil exports to China. China has become Kazakhstan’s biggest energy client. It is looking for more and more energy supplies and has been consolidating its stranglehold.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)