Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan falls in corruption rankings

DEC. 7 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – It is dry, that’s for sure, but Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index is also a decent benchmark of how countries are dealing with corruption in their systems — an issue that foreign investors, local businessmen, politicians and economists follow closely.

The 2012 edition makes for interesting reading on Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Topping the table for the region is, again, Georgia at 51st place in the 176 country list. Armenia is next at 105th position, alongside the likes of the Philippines and Mexico.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan occupy 133 position with Russia and then follows Kyrgyzstan (154) and Tajikistan (157). Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan prop up the table in 170th position. Behind them lie only Somalia, North Korea, Sudan, Afghanistan and Myanmar.

And the big changes from last year? Well, Georgia continues to rise through the ranks, it was placed in 64th position last year, and Armenia has also jumped forward, from 129th in 2011. Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan have also improved their rankings, slightly.

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have remained fairly consistent.

By comparison, though, the biggest faller from the Central Asia and South Caucasus region was Kazakhstan which fell 13 places in the rankings from 120th position in 2011.

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(News report from Issue No. 116, published on Dec. 7 2012)

TeliaSonera sells stake in Kazakhstan’s Kcell on the LSE

DEC. 11 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Swedish telecoms company TeliaSonera earned $525m from the sale of its 25% stake in Kcell, Kazakhstan’s largest mobile operator, in an IPO in London. This is slightly lower than some analysts had anticipated when TeliaSonera announced the sale last month.

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(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)

Kazakhstan’s Kazmunaigas stands aside India’s oil deal

NOV. 26 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Touted as an emerging superpower, India has still appeared sluggish in exerting its influence over Central Asia.

India’s moves in the region had been either incremental, such as talks with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on military cooperation, or long term, such as the TAPI pipeline which will, if everything goes to plan, pump gas from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan and Pakistan to India.

This week, though, India took a giant leap forward in cementing real influence in the region. US energy company ConocoPhillips said it intended to sell its 8.4% stake in the Kashagan oil field development project not to Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas but to India’s state-run ONGC.

This is significant as KazMunaiGas would have had the first option to buy the stake. Instead, KazMunaiGas appears to have stood aside to allow ONGC in, although this could still change. It’s going to cost ONGC a reported $5b but with it comes significant influence. Kashagan is Kazakhstan’s most high-profile and prestigious energy project.

Websites have also reported that India wants to invest directly into Turkmenistan’s gas fields. If confirmed, this would be more evidence of India’s stirring ambition in the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)

Ashton visits Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan

NOV. 26-30 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy representative, completed a whirlwind tour of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. On her travels she met with opposition leaders as well as the heads of states. Her office said she discussed bilateral cooperation as well as human rights.

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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)

Kazakh police raids media

NOV. 21 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In their latest effort to close opposition media, the Kazakh authorities asked the courts to label TV station K+ and the Respublika and Vzglyad newspapers as extremist and ban them. This year, in the wake of riots in the west of the country, the authorities have cracked down on media it views as troublesome.

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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)

Japan shows interest for Kazakh rare metals

Nov. 11 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Central Asia has increasingly become an economic battlefield with neighbouring nations competing for influence. China, Russia, the EU and the US all have major interests in the region. Now Japan has made a relatively bold move.

At a meeting in Tokyo with officials from the five Central Asia states, Japan’s foreign minister, Koichiro Gemba, pledged to invest $700m in the region.

Mr Gemba was vague on detail. He said that Japan’s main aim was to promote regional stability which would help promote peace in neighbouring Afghanistan.

He might be right of course, but no doubt Japan also has its eye on the region’s abundance of natural resources, in particular Kazakhstan’s supply of rare earth metals. These metals are needed in hi-tech industries, just the sort that sustains Japan’s economy.

Many countries have been vigorously searching for supplies of rare earths since China, which had produced around 90% of the world’s supply, said in 2010 it would reduce exports.

Earlier this month a joint Japanese-Kazakh plant opened in northern Kazakhstan producing rare earths. Japan is its main market. Japan’s pledge to invest $700m in Central Asia is likely to be connected to accessing the region’s natural resources.

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(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)

Kazakhstan’s Kcell plans stock exchanges

NOV. 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kcell, Kazakhstan’s biggest mobile operator, plans to list on stock exchanges in London and Almaty by the end of 2012, media quoted sources as saying. Swedish mobile operator TeliaSonera is the main shareholder in Kcell.

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(News report from Issue No. 112, published on Nov. 9 2012)

Kazakhstan GDP growth slows

OCT. 23 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s economy will only grow by 5.4% this year because of poor demand for its metals, the Kazakh minister for economic development, Erbolet Dosayev, said according to media reports. The Kazakh government had earlier hoped for economic growth in 2012 of around 7%.

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(News report from Issue No. 110, published on Oct. 26 2012)

Kazakh court jails dissident

OCT. 8 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kazakh court convicted Vladimir Kozlov, a vocal opposition activist, of calling for a revolution and inciting social discord, and jailed him for 7.5 years. The sentence is linked to a deadly riot in Zhanaozen last year. The US government said the authorities were using the criminal justice system to silence its critics.

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(News report from Issue No. 108, published on Oct. 12 2012)

ConocoPhillips sells its Kazakh oil fields

OCT. 2 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – US energy company ConocoPhillips will sell its stake in the Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan’s energy minister Sauat Mynbayev, told reporters. The sale gives the Kazakh government the chance to buy a larger stake in the giant oil field.

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(News report from Issue No. 107, published on Oct. 5 2012)