MARCH 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — PromMashKomplekt, a plant in northern Kazakhstan that manufactures wheels for trains, has said it may have to make redundant 540 employees because of a contract row with a subsidiary of Temir Zholy, the Kazakh national railway, media reported. The row highlights the relatively precarious state of Kazakh industry.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kenes Rakishev, the high-profile son-in-law of Astana mayor Imangali Tasmagambetov, has been appointed director at Kazakhstan Engineering . Kazakhstan Engineering is owned by Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. It mainly works with the ministry of defence to maintain military equipment
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has approved plans to build a new airport outside Almaty to serve as an international hub, media reported. The current airport at Almaty is too small to handle Kazakhstan’s ambitions of becoming a transit point for people flying between Europe and Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to reduce bad loans, Kazakhstan’s Central Bank imposed tighter regulations on its banks’ lending. In a statement, the Central Bank said banks would be banned from lending to people whose repayments would equal half their monthly income. Nearly a third of all 90-day loans in Kazakhstan are overdue.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Acting as a peacemaker, the Aktobe regional government in north-west Kazakhstan stepped in to mediate in a labour dispute at an oil field operated by China’s state-run energy company CNPC.
The move highlights what appears to be Kazakhstan’s preferred policy when strikes are threatened — to appease labour unions rather than antagonise.
Kazakhstan is desperate to avoid a repeat of an oil workers’ strike in the western oil town of Zhanaozen in 2011 which ended in violence that killed at least 15 people.
Kazakh workers at CNPC AktobeMunaiGas say that they are treated unfairly, paid less and live in worse conditions compared to their Chinese counterparts.
This is a not a new complaint and, although China is a key energy client, Kazakhstan has pushed to improve worker conditions at Chinese companies. And this was no exception.
“The Commission recommended that managers improve the system of remuneration and create conditions for the production in accordance with labour laws,” the Aktobe government said in a statement.
Importantly sources in Aktobe said the threatened strike now appears to be on hold.
CNPC AktobeMunaiGas is one of Kazakhstan biggest oil producers, producing around 6m tonnes each year.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Almaty ruled in favour of Kazakhstan’s anti-monopoly commission by upholding an $88m fine against Kcell, majority owned by Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera, for abusing its dominant market position. Kcell introduced an SMS system to alert customers of missed calls. The anti-monopoly commission said this was unfair.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered his military commanders to build up their forces in the south and west of the country to counter any territorial disputes in the Caspian Sea and guard against the spread north of Islamic extremists from Afghanistan, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will increase export duty on oil by 33% to $80 per tonne from April 1 to boost budget revenues, economy minister Yerbolat Dossayev said. Kazakhstan may be using cash raised through the oil export tariff to bolster its economy after devaluing its currency by 20% in February.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s government slapped a $735m fine on the consortium developing the Kashagan Caspian Sea oil field for environmental damage from burning off gas during repairs to a leak. The $50b Kashagan project sprung a gas leak in October, barely a month after production started.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s move into Ukraine has given Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev some major problems.
He is friendly with Russia and its president Vladimir Putin. Kazakhstan is part of the Russia-led Customs Union and various other trade and military groups.
Like Mr Putin, Mr Nazarbayev the sight of protesters in Kiev defeating the riot police would have chilled him.
So, up to this point, Kazakhstan is firmly on the same side as Russia. Where they might differ is on Russia’s invasion of Crimea and its encouragement of an independence referendum. Russia has said it has had to act to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine.
And this is the problem. If Russia legitimises its action to defend Russian speakers in Ukraine, where does it stop?
One of Mr Nazarbayev’s key projects has been to make the country more Kazakh. He has succeed, to a large extent. Kazakh is far more widely spoken than it once was; many Russians who had lived in Kazakhstan have left while Kazakhs living abroad have returned.
But northern Kazakhstan is still majority ethnic Russian and Mr Nazarbayev doesn’t want Russia to give out any wrong ideas. Some prominent Russian figures are already calling for northern Kazakhstan to join with Russia.
In a phone call with Mr Putin on March 10, Mr Nazarbayev’s press service said he had expressed his support for defending minorities in Ukraine. He may have said this through gritted teeth.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)