Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan creates new, symbolic holding

MAY 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — It certainly sounds grand. Baiterek, the name for the new Kazakh national holding company, means earth-tree, a mythological tree connecting the inner Earth, the human-inhabited surface of the planet and the heavens.

On May 27, the Kazakh government said it planned to set up a new company, Baiterek, to hold some of the nation’s assets. It’s still, though, not entirely clear what specific role Baiterek will play.

According to media reports, Baiterek will hold stakes in various national companies and work with foreign investors on innovation projects.

Names are important in Kazakhstan and the symbolism of calling the new company Baiterek is difficult to miss.

Baiterek also holds greater resonance in Kazakhstan as the name for the tower at the centre of Astana, a symbol of a growing, proud nation.

Baiterek, the holding company not the tower, is probably one to watch.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

Steel output drops in Kazakhstan

MAY 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Due to Western sanctions against Iran and a sluggish world economy, steel production, an important part of Kazakhstan’s economy, continued to drop in the first four months of 2013, media reported quoting official data. Kazakhstan produced 22% less steel between Jan. and April 2013 compared to the same period in 2012.

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(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

Kazakhstan waits for decision on Kashagan stake

MAY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government will make a final decision on whether to buy the 8.2% stake in the Kashagan Caspian Sea oil field by July 2, energy minister Sauat Mynbayev said. ConocoPhillips, the US oil company, is selling the stake which could fetch up to $5b. Both India and China have expressed interest in a deal.

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(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

Oil output increases in Western Kazakhstan

MAY 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazmunaigas, the Kazakh state oil and gas company, will increase output at its Uzen oil field in the west of the country, keeping to a pledge made after deadly riots in 2011, the company’s deputy CEO, Daniyar Berlibayev, told Reuters. Falling production at Uzen and job losses were partly blamed for the 2011 riot.

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(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

Kazakhstan funds fight against radical Islam

MAY 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Since the bombing of the Boston marathon in April, radical Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus has attracted increased scrutiny.

The two Tsarnaev brothers who allegedly planted the bombs were of Chechen ethnicity but part raised in Kyrgyzstan.

Central Asia has been combating extremists for years but the potential export of radicalism is relatively new.

One of the regions considered most vulnerable to radical Islamic ideas is western Kazakhstan which has a large population of poor and relatively disenfranchised young men.

The trial of six men accused of plotting to attack targets in Astana opened last week, and on May 21 the trial of another eight men accused of links with radical Islamic groups started in Atyrau on the Caspian Sea.

Now, media have reported that the Kazakh authorities have announced that another 200b tenge (roughly $13m) would be spent on combating the growth of Islamic extremism in the west of the country.

A lack of opportunities is just one of the issues driving young men in the west of Kazakhstan to extremists but Nurdaulet Suindikov, the government official who announced the funding increase, said security, rather than welfare and jobs, would be the focus of the extra spending.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

Kazakhstan’s Kcell announces new CEO

MAY 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish telecoms giant TeliaSonera has replaced the CEO of Kcell, its Kazakh subsidiary.

Ali Agan will replace Veysel Aral, who has moved to head TeliaSonera’s Eurasia business division, as CEO. Mr Agan immediately said he wanted to develop 4G coverage in Kazakhstan, a strategy backed up later by the TeliaSonera CEO.

Kcell is the biggest mobile operator in Kazakhstan with 13.5m subscribers, a market share of 45%.

Mr Agan is a TeliaSonera insider. He has headed up TeliaSonera’s Uzbek unit, Ucell, since September last year and before that had been CEO of Azercell, the Azerbaijani unit.

TeliaSonera has been caught up in a corruption investigation in Uzbekistan since last year, focused on indirectly paying Uzbek officials for a 3G licence. The focus of the investigation does not include Mr Agan.

The day after announcing the new head of Kcell, Reuters reported that the CEO of TeliaSonera, Per-Arne Blomquist, told Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev how the company planned to roll out 4G coverage.

So far only Kazakhtelecom, the state-owned fixed line monopoly, has opened a 4G network in Kazakhstan. It opened the service in Astana and Almaty last year for its mobile brand Altel, the smallest Kazakh mobile operator.

Mr Blomquist said TeliaSonera had invested $2b into infrastructure in Kazakhstan in the past 15 years.

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

Tesco to expand in Kazakhstan and the Caucasus

MAY 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Consumer markets in Central Asia and the South Caucasus region are maturing, as Tesco, the British supermarket chain, has realised.

Or at least, consumer markets in some of the region’s countries are maturing.

Tesco’s clothing department, which trades under the brand name F&F, announced that it planned to open various franchise stores across the Middle East, Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Specifically it said that F&F would open a store in Astana, the Kazakh capital by the end of June, to be followed by stores in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

These will be opened through franchise agreements with Saudi Arabia-based Al Hokair and Dubai-based Futtaim.

The deal and Tesco’s intention to expand across Central Asia and the South Caucasus is important as it acts as further evidence that consumer demand in these markets is changing.

Long associated with the luxury market, Western high street brands have moved into Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, over the past couple of years and now, with the arrival of Tesco, it appears that discount brands are following.

(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

Journalist detention spurs criticism in Kazakhstan

MAY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Kazakh officials of illegally detaining Aleksandr Kharlamov, a journalist, holding him in a psychiatric unit and falsely accusing him of inciting religious discord. HRW said Mr Kharlamov, from north-east Kazakhstan, was detained in mid-March.

(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

UK pays military transit through Kazakhstan

MAY 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Britain will pay Kazakhstan between $300,000 and $400,000 a year to shift military equipment across its territory, media quoted Kazakh deputy foreign minister Aleksei Volkov as saying. NATO members have been agreeing deals with Central Asian states to help pull military equipment out of Afghanistan.

(News report from Issue No. 136, published on May 27 2013)

Kazakh presidents attends military parade

MAY 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Wearing camouflaged military uniform, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev took the salute at the largest parade by Kazakhstan’s military. Increasingly wealthy, Kazakhstan wants to show off its military might. Over 7,000 soldiers, 400 vehicles and 80 aircraft paraded in front of Mr Nazarbayev at a military base.

(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)