Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan to relax registration rules

DEC. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan is due to relax a rule introduced last month that had required foreign tourists to register at a local OVIR, an interior ministry unit, if they planned to stay in the country for more than five days, the Eurasianet website reported. It said that the Kyrgyz government would publish on Dec. 19 a list of 90 countries whose citizens needed to register within 30 days of arriving in the country. Tourist companies had complained that the rules introduced in November would be unworkable.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 309, published on Dec. 16 2016)

Kyrgyz President says Russia should leave Kant

DEC. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a press conference, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev said that Russia would have to quit its air base at Kant near Bishkek. He didn’t elaborate or give any details but he did say that he wanted all foreign military to quit Kyrgyzstan. Russia has signed a deal with Kyrgyzstan to operate from Kant until 2032. It started operations at Kant in 2003. The US quit its airbase outside Bishkek in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Tajik and Kyrgyz military fire shots

NOV. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shots have been fired by Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards on their shared border, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The border is one of the most tense in Central Asia. RFE/RL said that nobody had been injured in the fighting and that it wasn’t clear if the shots had been fired into the air as warnings or had been aimed at security personnel.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

PepsiCo plans expansion in Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — US giant food, snacks and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo will expand its production line to produce 2.5 tonnes of cottage cheese annually at its factory in Bishkek. PepsiCo entered the Kyrgyz market in 2010, after buying a 66% stake in Russian dairy producer Wimm-Bill- Dann for $3.8b. It produces its cottage cheese under the Merry Milkman brand.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Trump boosts copper, companies in Central Asia benefit

NOV. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Copper prices have gained around 12% to a 16-month high of $2.67/lb, since the election of Donald Trump as US president-elect, showing the power of his words.

Trump’s plan to invest $1 trillion in overhauling ageing infrastructure across the United States gave a boost to the global market price of copper, a key element for large construction projects.

Companies in Central Asia that focus on copper production, chiefly Central Asia Metals and KAZ Minerals in Kazakhstan, also benefited from the Trump effect on copper prices.

Both companies saw their share prices soar in the London Stock Exchange by around 20 – 25% in the past two weeks, a sign that the commodity slump could timidly start to reverse.

Central Asia Metals seized the opportunity to acquire a new deposit in Kazakhstan this week, which showed just how bullish the market has become.

Zak Mir, an analyst for the Proactive Investor website, said that Central Asia Metals’ stock price, which is already at its historical high, is on track to reach 240p/share within the next few months. This would be almost double this year’s low of 124p/share.

It’s been a roller coaster year for commodity companies in the region and this doesn’t look like changing.

Despite the uncertainty, the metals market might well reverse their downward trend before oil prices start growing again, marking an important split between the two sectors.

The Central Asian and South Caucasus region has been badly hit by the fall in commodity prices in the last two years. Any sign of recovery is good news.

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