SEPT. 23 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has applied to join the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan customs union, Bloomberg quoted Russian first deputy PM Igor Shuvalov as saying. Kyrgyzstan has hinted throughout the year it wants to join the union which some analysts say is a Russian ploy to pull in its former Soviet neighbours.
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(News report from Issue No. 58, published on Sept. 27 2011)
SEPT. 22 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan signed a bilateral trade agreement with the US, media reported, taking it a step closer to WTO membership. The key aspect of the deal allows easier access to the Kazakh market for US service providers, especially in the energy industry. Kazakhstan first applied for WTO membership in 1996.
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(News report from Issue No. 58, published on Sept. 27 2011)
SEPT. 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s parliament passed a draft law that restricts Muslims’ right to worship in the workplace and requires missionaries of all religions to register with the authorities every year. The draft law is part of a raft of new legislation in Kazakhstan to try and clampdown on militant Islam.
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(News report from Issue No. 58, published on Sept. 27 2011)
SEPT. 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Silk Road is back in vogue, at least at the UN’s General Assembly last week.
On the sidelines of the meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and foreign ministers from Europe, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia were busy plotting a revival of the ancient trading route.
Media reports said the US sees the Silk Road as a way of boosting economic activity in Afghanistan from 2014 when NATO forces pull out of the country.
But if the Silk Road, which has always been a concept rather than a single physical route, is going to return to its glory days it requires a stable, prosperous and open Central Asia through which trade can flow.
Kazakhstan, with its anticipated economic growth of around 7% a year and increasingly open markets, is perhaps the only Central Asian state which fits that description. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are relatively closed and instability plagues Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Of course, a modern day trading system already straddles Central Asia. Lorries carry goods from China to Russia and on to Europe and pipelines pump oil from the Caspian to Western markets. It may not be the Silk Road with Afghanistan at its core that the US envisages, but it is a start.
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(News report from Issue No. 058, published on Sept. 27 2011)
SEPT. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Russia-lead security organisation involving most Central Asia states and Armenia started a week of military manoeuvres. Russia’s most senior general, Nikolai Makarov, told the Vedemosti newspaper that stopping any potential Arab Spring-style uprising was one of the main aims of the manoeuvres by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
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(News report from Issue No. 57, published on Sept. 19 2011)
SEPT. 16 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – According to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kashagan oil project in the Caspian Sea is back on schedule. On a trip to West Kazakhstan, he said Kashagan will produce oil next year as planned, local media reported. Kashagan is crucial to Kazakh plans to join the world’s top five oil producers by 2018 but rumours have been circulated that it had been delayed.
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(News report from Issue No. 57, published on Sept. 19 2011)
SEPT. 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underlining Kazakhstan’s increasing prominence in global economic affairs, President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to France for a meeting with French President Nikolas Sarkozy. No major deals were signed at the meeting but the leaders promised closer cooperation and flights between Paris and Astana.
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(News report from Issue No. 57, published on Sept. 19 2011)
SEPT. 8 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – US publisher Forbes said it would start producing a Kazakh edition of its magazine, a nod to the country’s growing reputation in international investment circles. This will be the third Forbes title in the former Soviet Union after Russia and Ukraine. Forbes did not say when the first issue would be published.
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(News report from Issue No. 56, published on Sept. 12 2011)
AUG. 31 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh police arrested 22 people in Atyrau on the Caspian Sea for plotting terrorist acts, officials said. The arrests marked an escalation in Kazakhstan’s clampdown on militant Islamists. The next day, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said extremists were a threat to the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 55, published on Sept. 6 2011)
SEPT. 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with Russian state newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Kyrgyz PM Almazbek Atambayev again said Kyrgyzstan was ready to join the Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus customs union. Many observers say the union is a Russian attempt to increase its influence over its neighbours.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 55, published on Sept. 6 2011)