Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Forbes names Kazakh billionaire richest in Central Asia

MARCH 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bulat Utemuratov, the Kazakh billionaire, is still ranked as the richest person in the Central Asia/South Caucasus region, according to the Forbes 2017 list. Mr Utemuratov was ranked at 896th richest person in the world, ahead of Vladimir Kim, Timur Kulibayev and Dinara Nazarbayeva. Mr Utemuratov is estimated to have a net worth of $2.3b, mainly from banking and other smaller ventures. Mr Kim is the official owner of copper producer Kazakhmys and Mr Kulibayev and Ms Nazarbayeva, the youngest daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and her husband, co-own Halyk Bank. They all have a net worth of $2.1b.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Swedish fashion brand H&M opens first store in Kazakhstan

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ALMATY, MARCH 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Confounding the sluggish economic outlook, Swedish fashion retailer H&M opened its first shop in Kazakhstan in one of Almaty’s biggest shopping malls, Mega Alma-Ata.

Young Kazakh fashionistas had been waiting since July last year when H&M said it was going to open the store, to start shopping at one of the most recognisable global high street brands.

Azamat, a civil servant, was walking with H&M bags through the Mega mall.

“It is very well-known brand, I have heard of it. And here is the only shop that has opened in Kazakhstan, in Almaty, so I came here and I’m glad,” she said.

Gaukhar, a student, reflected on other high-profile openings over the past couple of years. “I saw many people came to the opening, it was a bit wild. Just like the first months of Starbucks here,” she said.

Kazakhstan has developed something of a reputation as shopping Mecca in Central Asia. Ten years ago there were few international brands in Kazakhstan, now a European shopper would feel at home browsing the shops of Almaty’s main streets or a shopping mall in Astana.

Kazakhstan’s economy has been in limp mode since mid-2014. The tenge has halved in value and people’s living standards have fallen, but Aigerim Karimova, marketing specialist at the Mega shopping mall said that H&M’s entry into the Kazakh market showed that the economy had turned a corner.

“The very fact that H&M has entered the Kazakh market is already a modest victory,” she told said.

And the head of H&M’s business programme in Central Asia, Milena Yershova said in July that the company will be aggressive.

“H&M opens large stores which offers customers choice,” she said.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

LSE de-lists Kazakhstan focused oil producer

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MARCH 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tethys Petroleum the Canada- based, Kazakhstan-focused oil producer applied to de-list its shares from the London Stock Exchange. In a statement it said that it was too expensive and of little benefit to maintain its listing on both the London and Toronto Stock Exchanges. It will maintain its listing on Toronto’s Stock Exchange. The de-listing is planned for May 2.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Roxi wants merger in Kazakhstan

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MARCH 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Roxi Petroleum said that it was trying to merge with Switzerland-based Baverstock to create a new company called Caspian Sunrise. Under the offered deal, Baverstock which already owns 10.45% of Roxi, would take control of an additional 41% stake in the new company. The new company’s main asset is the BNG contract area in Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

EIU ranks Kazakh city as the cheapest

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MARCH 21 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial centre, as the cheapest major city in the world to work in as an expat in its annual cost of living survey. It said that although inflation was rising, prices hadn’t yet caught up with a 50% devaluation in the tenge in 2015. The EIU said that a packet of 20 cigarettes cost $1.02 and a loaf of bread cost 90 cents. In Singapore, which the EIU said was the most expensive major city in the world, a packet of cigarettes costs $9.63 and a loaf of bread costs $3.55.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Uzbek president travels to Astana to meet Nazarbayev

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ALMATY, MARCH 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a high-spirited and carefully choreographed meeting in Astana, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev lauded what they said would be a fruitful and fulfilling partnership between the two neighbours.

The meeting was important as it marks another genuine shift in diplomatic relations for Uzbekistan. Under Mr Mirziyoyev, Uzbek diplomats have been working hard to shake off their difficult image and to repair damage inflicted during the cantankerous 25 year rule of Islam Karimov.

“Kazakhstan wishes our strategic partner, neighbour and brotherly people of Uzbekistan, prosperity and well-being,” the Kazakh presidential website quoted Mr Nazarbayev as saying. “In the future, we look forward to a fruitful relationship in the framework of bilateral contacts.”

The diplomatic and economic relationship between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the most populous and wealthy countries in the region, is vital for Central Asia. If they work in harmony, then the other three coun- tries of the region will also prosper. If they squabble, as has been the case, then economic development will be slow.

This was the two leaders first meeting since September 2016 when Mr Nazarbayev travelled to see Karimov’s grave in Samarkand. Mr Mirziyoyev had then been acting president. He was officially sworn in as Uzbekistan’s second post-Soviet president in December.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Fruit exports to Kazakhstan to increase

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MARCH 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan is looking to boost the value of its fruit exports to Kazakhstan by 30% to $410m this year, media reported quoting Uzbekzokovaktovholding, the state- linked holding company. The 2017 target is an indication of the improved relations between Uzbekistan and its neighbours since Pres. Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over from Islam Karimov in September.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

OnePlus to push out smartphone to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

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MARCH 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has signed a deal with FSU-wide distributor Marvel to push its 3T model into the Kazakh and Kyrgyz markets, media reported. OnePlus has only been building smartphones since 2013 but it has already attracted rave reviews. The deal, which should push the 3T onto the shop floors of mobile handset retailers, reflects the prominence of China in Central Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)

Third Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan breakup without progress

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ALMATY, MARCH 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The third of a series of meetings held in Astana to discuss the civil war in Syria broke up without much sustained progress, delegates reported, a blow to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ambitions to establish his capital as a go-to centre for conflict resolution.

The main sticking point for the talks was a boycott by the rebels, they had sent a delegation to the first two rounds. It may also be that the peace talks have broken down irreparably after news on Monday that rebel forces had attacked government held Aleppo.

The talks are organised and run by Turkey, Iran and Russia and have no major Western participation other than at observer level. There is no UN involvement in the Astana talks, although Kazakhstan has been keen to draw parallels.

Despite spending most of the time going over old ground and also lacking a rebel delgation, the Kazakh foreign ministry released a statement lauding the talks as a vital part of the peace-making process in Syria.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan reiterates that the Astana meetings are an integral part of the Geneva process under the UN aegis and regards the results of the third International meeting on Syria in Astana to be a meaningful contribution to the process of political settlement of the Syrian crisis on Geneva platform,” it said.

In a statement released by the Russian foreign ministry, the Kremlin blamed unnamed groups for trying to sabotage the talks, a thinly disguised dig at the rebel factions who dropped out.

Mr Nazarbayev and Russian Pres- ident Vladimir Putin discussed the talks on March 18.

No details of the discussion was given to the media.

The three power-brokers said that they had agreed to reconvene in Astana for Round Four of the peace talks on May 3/4, although this statement was made before news of the March 20 rebel attacks on Aleppo.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)

Kazakh opposition trial starts in absentia

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MARCH 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Almaty began the trial in absentia of fugitive billionaire and self-styled Kazakh opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov, potentially setting Kazakhstan on a collision course with France which has refused to extradite him. The former head of BTA Bank is accused of embezzling billions of dollars. He fled to Britain after the collapse of BTA Bank in 2008/9 and then to France where he was arrested in 2013. Last year, a judge in Paris ruled against his extradition because of concerns that he would be tortured.

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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)