Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

China to close border with Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chinese authorities said they would shut border crossings with Kyrgyzstan for three days at the beginning of October because of a national holiday. It is not uncommon for countries to close off their borders in connection with national holidays, but this decision seems to be tied to worsening security between the two countries. China and Kyrgyzstan blamed on Uyghur separatists an attack to the Chinese embassy in Bishkek in late August. China has not said it will close any other international border during this hoilday.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Kyrgyzstan’s Air Manas launches flight to China

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s Air Manas launched a route from Bishkek to Kashgar, in China’s Xinjiang region, strengthening regional links. Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus owns 49% of Air Manas. The air link to Kashgar will be synchronised with Istanbul-Bishkek connections. The Xinjiang region is synonymous with Uyhgurs. There is a large Uyhgur minotiry living in Bishkek.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)f

Kyrgyzstan receives tax back from Chinese refinery company

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz MP Yekmat Baibakpayev said that the state budget received just over 1b som ($15m) from the China-run Junda refinery, which faced closure this year for evading taxes. Mr Baibakpayev said that the oil refinery, located in the north of the country, owes the government five times as much. The Junda refinery was built by the China Petrol Company for $430m and opened in 2014.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz President falls ill in Istanbul with chest pains

BISHKEK, SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev cancelled a trip to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York because he was feeling unwell and was suffering from chest pains.

Instead, Mr Atambayev diverted his plane to Istanbul where he checked into a hotel and was examined by doctors. Only four hours later Mr Atambayev flew down to Izmir on the Mediterranean coast for a break and to convalesce. He would, his press team said, be back at work by next month.

On Friday, he was reported to have flown to Moscow for more treatment.

In Bishkek, speculation swirled across kitchen tables, bars and shops over the state of the President’s health, his no-show at the UN General Assembly and his unscheduled stopover in Izmir and Istanbul.

Rita Karasartova, an opposition activist, said “While Atambayev is in Turkey, there could be arrests (of opposition activists) here. After the arrests, Atambayev could say he did not know anything about it because he was out of country.”

Other, pro-Atambayev analysts, disagreed.

Mr Atambayev has cut a divisive figure. He has proposed constitutional amendments to hand the PM more power and quarrelled with his predecessor Roza Otunbayeva.

And his health has been the focus of speculation previously. Two years ago he took to walking with a stick. His press team said that he had a knee condition but they couldn’t stop the image of a frail-looking president.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Political tension builds in Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Edil Baisalov, who previously served as chief of staff to ex-Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, said the country’s security services are targeting him and some of his former colleagues and could soon arrest him on trumped up charges. Mr Baisalov’s accusations fit with the worsening political tension between President Almazbek Atambayev and his predecessor.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)f

CIS meeting convenes in Kyrgyz capital

SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Heads of states of CIS countries convened in Bishkek for their annual meeting, a summit that focused on countering both the growing recruitment drive of the IS extremist group in the region and the threat from the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. Notably, this was Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s first visit to Kyrgyzstan since former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled to Belarus after being ousted in a revolution in 2010.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Public dept rises in Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s public debt has soared to $4.1b inching closer to the psychological threshold of 60% of the country’s GDP. The parliamentary committee on budget and finance warned that the debt is growing dangerously. A spokesperson for the ministry of finance said the debt level is still under control. Kyrgyzstan’s economy, like the rest of the region, has been undermined by a fall in the value of its currency.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz security forces foil bomb attacks

SEPT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s National Security Service said it had defused two bombs in a shop in central Bishkek, preventing a terror attack. It didn’t say which group was allegedly behind the bombs. Kyrgyzstan is on high alert after a car bomb was driven through the gates of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek last month in a suicide attack later blamed on militant Uyghurs. The extremist group IS has also publicly stepped up its recruitment drive in Kyrgyzstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz miner names new non-executive chairman

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Martin Andersson, Chaarat Gold’s largest shareholder, became non-executive chairman of the British Virgin Island-registered mining company developing gold projects in Kyrgyzstan. Mr Andersson is the owner of Labro Investments, which holds a 25.2% stake in Chaarat.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Border tension eases between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Border tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have eased since the beginning of the month when the Uzbek army seized a telecoms and radio tower in a disputed area, media reported. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan argue over ownership of the Kasan-Sai reservoir and the Ungar-Too mountain.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)