Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Improving Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations

OCT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> I hear that the Uzbek government sent high-level delegation to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. Why is this news? Surely this is standard practise?

>> It’s certainly not standard practice for Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Their bilateral relations have been worse than poor over the past few years. This has been most obvious along their shared borders where soldiers and villagers from each side have squared up. At times it has threatened to develop into conflict, a conflict that the rest of the region has always worried would drag in neighbours. Part of the problem was that Uzbekistan blamed Kyrgyzstan for building a network of hydro projects across its rivers, depriving it of the water that it needs to irrigate its important cotton fields. There are also a series of rows over sovereignty around parts of their shared border in and around the Ferghana Valley. Osh, for example, is in Kyrgyzstan but is home to thousands of Uzbeks.

>> That does sound serious. How was this conflict avoided?

>> Essentially it appears that the death in September of Uzbek president Islam Karimov has been the key to improving bilateral Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations. He had a reputation for being a cantankerous, intransigent man who preferred to keep relations with his neighbours cool. Karimov had been in power since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan’s interna- tional relations have been notably cool during this period. The new guy, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, appears to be taking a different tack. Since he was installed as acting president, relations with Kyrgyzstan have improved markedly.

>> So, what specifically has improved?

>> There have been platitudes and visits from either side, handshakes and warm words. This may not sound like a great deal but it is. Impression is every- thing in this instance. The image of Kyrgyz and Uzbek government officials shaking hands and standing together for photo-ops in the Ferghana valley is invaluable for maintaining the peace and reducing tension. The deals and finer details will come later. It’s also important that these get-togethers have been happening around Osh and other towns and cities in the Ferghana Valley. This is the most tense and most ethnically diverse part of Central Asia. Using the Ferghana Valley as the backdrop adds extra weight to these gestures of friendship.

>> Got it. So this is the beginning of something good. What happens next?

>> It’s likely that Mirziyoyev will be confirmed as Uzbekistan’s permanent president at an election in December. If he is committed to improving relations with Kyrgyzstan, this will be a good thing for stability. Central Asia needs Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to be on good terms. We’re also due a meeting between Mirziy- oyev and Almazbek Atambayev, the Kyrgyz president. When this does happen, and it’ll probably be next year as both hold votes in December – Uzbekistan a presi- dential election and Kyrgyzstan a referendum on changing the constitution – we’ll get a better idea of just how far Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations have come.

>> And what is motivating this thaw in relations?

>> It’s not 100% clear. Mirziyoyev may have decided, along with the other Uzbek power brokers, that post- Karimov Uzbekistan needs to set out on a different foreign policy course and that making allies with neighbours and opening up to investors is the right tactics. Of course, the charm offensive may also just be a short-term gimmick ahead of the December election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Uzbek government sends delegation to Osh

BISHKEK, OCT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A high-ranking Uzbek government delegation visited Osh in Kyrgyzstan for a groundbreaking meeting which highlighted both improving relations between the two neighbours and the charm offensive that Uzbekistan’s president-in-waiting, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has laid on since Islam Karimov died in September.

Uzbek delegations have also travelled to Tajikistan and China since Mr Mirziyoyev was appointed acting president. His press office has also said that he has spent time talking to Turkmen president Kurbangly Berdymukhamedov.

This friendly foreign policy approach is in marked contrast to the stance that Karimov took when he was president. He preferred to keep a distance from his neighbours, often souring relations.

The most remarkable change has been towards Kyrgyzstan where border rows had threatened to tip into war.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

EBRD to funnel Kyrgyzstan MicroCredit Company

OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed a deal with Kyrgyzstan’s First MicroCredit Company to funnel $1m to households in the south of the country for projects to improve their energy and water efficiency. Projects that will qualify for EBRD funding include installing energy efficient windows, doors and water pumps.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Kyrgyzstan-based Centerra completes deal

OCT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan-focused miner Centerra Gold said it completed the acquisition of Thompson Creek, a Canadian miner, in exchange for 8% of its shares. Centerra said that the deal is consistent with its diversification efforts. Under the Centerra brand, Thompson Creek will continue its operations in British Columbia. The Kyrgyz government owns a minority stake in Centerra and had opposed the transaction because it said it would have diluted its shareholding in Centerra.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Comment: Russia eyes entry into the West’s CASA-1000, says Kilner

OCT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — It appears as if Pakistan is losing confidence in the West’s headline power transmission project in Central Asia — CASA-1000. It’s been talking to Russia and Turkmenistan about covering an anticipated shortfall in electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, undermining a core pillar of the project.

CASA-1000 is the World Bank funded project that will, when it is built in 2018, send electricity generated by hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to consumers in Pakistan via Afghanistan.

The $1.2b project was supposed to spearhead what Hillary Clinton, when she was US Secretary of State, had described as a new north-south Silk Road. The West has disengaged from Central Asia to a large extent since the drawdown of it militaries from Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014, making new projects like CASA-1000 so important. The aim was to empower Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, tie both Pakistan and Afghanistan into a wider Central Asian economic sphere and restore confidence in the West’s commitment to the region.

But it may not be going to plan.

Leaders from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan gathered earlier this year to mark the start of CASA-1000’s construction. They shook hands and smiled. Now it seems that Russian and Turkmen leaders should also have been there.

Pakistan has, openly, been courting both Russia and Turkmenistan as back up energy suppliers. Its leaders appear to doubt the ability of both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to produce enough power during the freezing winters when their domestic demand spikes and water levels in their reservoirs, which feed the hydropower plants, fall.

There are also question marks over whether the Soviet-era infrastructure that both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are relying upon can cope with the demands of CASA-1000. The World Bank has promised funds to both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to boost power production but it may not be enough and it may come too late, in any case.

Russia has already told Pakistan that it will happily feed its power into CASA-1000 to make up the shortfall but, and this is the point, this would undermine the ethos of the project.

With Russia riding to the rescue, CASA-1000 risks making the West’s strategy in Central Asia look muddled.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kyrgyz MPs push back referendum

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — MPs in Kyrgyzstan voted to push back a referendum on changing the country’s constitution to Dec. 11 from an earlier date of Dec. 4. One of the reasons give for pushing back the referendum was to find the original document. This was supposed to have been kept in the President’s office but could not be found. The referendum focuses on strengthening the power of the PM.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan sign bilateral deals

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Tashkent, the foreign ministers of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan signed a deal to extend bilateral relations. Although vague in detail, the agreement is important because it underlines the improving ties between the two neighbours. For most of the year tension along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border has been rising. Since the death of Uzbek president Islam Karimov in September, though, dialogue between the two sides has improved markedly.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

US & UK embassies warn of attacks in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, OCT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US and British embassies in Kyrgyzstan issued a warning that a terror attack was likely, barely six weeks after a car bomb was rammed into the Chinese embassy.

The warning will frustrate the Kyrgyz authorities who recognise the damage it will do to the country’s reputation as both a place to do business and as a tourist destination. Local media quoted the Kyrgyz National Security Committee as saying that they had no information on potential terror attacks.

In a statement, though, the US embassy said a terror attack was likely. “The US embassy has received information indicating the possibility of terrorist attacks, which may potentially involve kidnapping and hostage taking, targeted against local authorities and foreign diplomats during the month of October,” it said.

The warning didn’t give any specifics on who posed the threat or where the information came from but Kyrgyzstan, and other countries in Central Asia, have been dealing with a recruitment drive by the extremist IS group and other affiliated Islamic radical groups which want to destabilise the region. The separatist Uyghur group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, was also blamed for the car bomb against the Chinese embassy on Aug. 30. Only the driver of the car bomb was killed.

Kyrgyzstan has been marketing itself to Western tourists as the Switzerland of Central Asia, with snow- capped mountains and Alpine lakes. It also wants to attract more foreign investors. In 2012 Kyrgyzstan became the first country in the region to scrap visas for citizens of most Western countries.

Warnings of potential terror attacks and hostage-taking, though, will dent these drives to attract tourists and business.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Kyrgyz President supports Georgians

OCT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – During an official trip to Tbilisi, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said that he supported Georgia’s territorial integrity. By voicing support for Georgian rule over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which claimed independence after a brief war in 2008, Mr Atambayev was effectively condemning Russia’s support for the rebels.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Radisson Blue to build in Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel Group said that its first Radisson Blu hotel in Kyrgyzstan will open in 2019. Rezidor has teamed up with local LLC Stability to build the hotel in central Bishkek. The Radisson Blu is Rezidor’s high-end hotel brand. In Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Radisson Blu hotels already operate in Astana, Tashkent, Yerevan and Tbilisi.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 299, published on Oct. 7 2016)