Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Extremists are increasing, says Kyrgyz police

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz police said in a statement that they have identified around 4,000 extremists in the country, more than double the previous census they had published in September 2015. Most of the individuals that the police classified as extremists belong to the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic party. A word of caution, though. Countries in Central Asia have a record of inflating the number of extremists and terrorists, which they use as a scapegoat to crackdown on opposition.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Russia’s Gazprom to invest in Kyrgyzstan

JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev said that state-owned gas company Gazprom will invest around $1.5b in Kyrgyzstan’s energy infrastructure and that it will cancel export duty on oil and oil products. Mr Medvedev made the statement while in Bishkek on an official visit. Oil and petroleum products make up 51.9% of Kyrgyz imports from Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Kyrgyz Prosecutor imposes ban on Centerra manager’s travel

JUNE 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian miner Centerra Gold said Kyrgyzstan’s Prosecutor has imposed a temporary ban on travel for some unnamed managers at the Centerra-controlled Kumtor Gold Company. The Kyrgyz government has not commented. Last week Centerra said that it had started arbitration proceedings against the Kyrgyz government in Stockholm for hindering its business in various ways.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Kyrgyz court opens lawsuit against Atambayev

JUNE 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kyrgyz court opened a lawsuit against President Almazbek Atambayev, lodged by human rights activists Tolekan Ismailova and Aziza Abdyrasulova, whom Mr Atambayev had called “saboteurs” in May. Ms Ismailova and Ms Abdyrasulova want Mr Atambayev to publicly apologise and pay 2m soms ($29,300) in damages.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Centerra sues Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold, the Toronto-listed company that owns the Kumtor gold mine in east Kyrgyzstan, lodged arbitration proceedings against the Kyrgyz government, pushing their already-strained relationship to breaking-point.

The company laid out three areas for its litigation challenge. It said it would challenge both an environmental claim against it and a charge by the Kyrgyz prosecutor that a $200m dividend paid in 2013 was illegal. Centerra also said it suspected that a delay in gaining official approval for its 2016 mining plan was designed to frustrate it for political reasons.

“The company will continue to contest all of the claims in international arbitration in accordance with the 2009 Restated Investment Agreement,” Centerra said in a statement.

It filed the arbitration case with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, a favoured destination for dispute resolution for projects in Central Asia. Earlier this year, the Stockholm court ruled in favour of an Estonian building company against the Kazakh foreign ministry.

Centerra’s reference to the 2009 agreement refers to the renegotiation of the contract. This boosted Kyrgyzstan’s share in Centerra to 32% from just under 16%. Centerra, in turn, fully owns the Kumtor Gold Company that operates the mine.

Kyrgyzstan is the largest share- holder in Centerra but has said that it wants to take a larger, more direct stake in the country’s biggest industrial unit.

And it appears to have been applying pressure on Centerra to force the issue. In March, Kyrgyz police raided the Kumtor Gold offices in Bishkek, looking for evidence of wrongdoing.

And a court in Bishkek has also been slapping down fines against Kumtor Gold over environmental damage and the government has delayed signing off on 2016 production plans.

This appears to be the start of a showdown in Kyrgyzstan’s mining sector. Once proceedings begin, lawyers and prosecutors, managers and ministers will confront each other in a legal battle that will ultimately decide control of the Kumtor mine and Kyrgyzstan’s economic output. Kumtor generates around a tenth of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP.

Investors also appeared to cheer the arbitration move by Centerra Gold’ pushing its share price up by 1.6% the day after the announcement to 6.86 Canadian dollars.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Stock market: Centerra Gold

JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold shares in Toronto usually closely follow the ups and downs of spot gold prices, but a recent escalation of the spat with the Kyrgyz government has altered this trend.

Investors welcomed the strong verbal reaction by the company to a raid in a Centerra-owned office in Bishkek at the end of April and gave the stock a boost in the first weeks of May.

Since then, though, a number of environmental fines have dented confidence. It’s been a rocky ride with the share price bouncing around depending on the various statements issued by each side. At the start of the week, as this graph shows, Centerra’s share price rose on news that it would start arbitration proceedings against the Kyrgyz government.

Decreasing gold prices, as the graph shows, now add to the mix and with a legal battle with Kyrgyzstan on the horizon, analysts have become increasingly pessimistic on Centerra’s target price.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

EEU holds meeting in Kazakh capital

MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Astana, leaders of the Russia-backed Eurasian Economic Union delayed the establishment of a single energy market to 2025. Previously, the EEU’s plan was to roll out a barrier-free single market for oil and gas by 2024. The parties did not comment on the reasons for the delay.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kazakhstan lifts ban on potato import from Kyrgyzstan

JUNE 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev lifted a ban on the import of potatoes from Kyrgyzstan after meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev in Astana. Kazakh authorities had banned Kyrgyz potatoes in early May due to an outbreak of Globod- era rostochiensis, a pest. The Kazakh regulatory agency said it will continue to monitor the presence of the pest in the following months.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kyrgyzstan’s interior minister resigns

BISHKEK, MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Melis Turganbayev, considered a major power broker in Kyrgyzstan, quit as interior minister saying that he needed a break.

The move, though, surprised observers who said that Mr Turganbayev may already be plotting a return to frontline politics, possibly at next year’s presidential election.

In an interview with the Kremlin- backed Sputnik news after his resignation, Mr Turganbayev said that there were no political reasons for his resignation and backed his nominated successor, Kashkar Junushaliev, previously the Bishkek police chief.

“He is an experienced officer and a good guy, who will continue my work on reforms in interior affairs,” he said.

Mr Turganbayev had been interior minister since October 2014.

Mars Sariyev, a political scientist in Bishkek, said President Atambayev may be manoeuvring his ministers to balance power and it may have suited him to remove Mr Turganbayev who had built up a large powerbase.

“I think that this step has been taken in favour of certain political groups ahead of the presidential elections,” he said.

The interior ministry is one of the most powerful institutions in Kyrgyzstan. It is essentially responsible for stability in the country and controls several of Kyrgyzstan’s armed forces.

On the streets of Bishkek, there was both pleasure at Mr Turganbayev’s resignation and apathy.

Sergei, 47, said that Mr Turganbayev’s resignation was of little consequence.“Unfortunately, new politicians here do not really bring any positive changes,” he said. “It does not really affect our lives.”

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kyrgyzstan to pay high price for electricity

JUNE 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz government is under pressure to justify paying relatively high prices to Kazakhstan for electricity. Dastan Dzhumabekov, an MP in the ruling government coalition, asked Alibek Kaliyev, head of the National Energy Holding, to clarify why Kyrgyzstan accepted paying 9 tenge ($0.026) per kWh to Kazakhstan, while Kazakhstan charges Russia only 5 tenge ($0.014) per kWh. Mr Kaliyev was unable to give a clear answer which MPs said was illogical given Kyrgyzstan’s membership of the Eurasian Economic Union.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)