Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Atambyaev asks Europe for help stopping IS

MARCH 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to European capitals, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev asked the European Union to provide military assistance to help stop the rise of the extremist group IS in Central Asia. IS has targeted Central Asia as a fertile recruitment ground.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Kyrgyzstan says it is on the brink of losing control of measles outbreak

MARCH 16 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has admitted that it is on the brink of losing control of a measles outbreak with up to 250 suspected cases of the disease reported every day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Responding to the outbreak, which has been becoming increasingly aggressive over the past year, Kyrgzstan announced that it would vaccinate 2m people under the age of 20.

WHO laced its statement with thinly disguised criticism of Kyrgyzstan’s late response to the epidemic.

“The outbreak, which began in early 2014, has caused over 11,300 suspected cases to date and continues to increase by 120–to 250 suspected cases every day,” WHO said.

“The country’s decision to initiate the mass immunization campaign comes in the wake of a call on 25 February 2015 by WHO Regional Director for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab for policy-makers, health-care workers and parents to immediately step up vaccination against measles across age groups at risk to stop the outbreaks.”

The measles epidemic and the apparent slow response of the Kyrgyz authorities to deal with it has done damage to Kyrgyzstan’s already tarnished international image.
Bishkek needs its vaccination programme to work.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Garment production drops by 50% in Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Garment production in Kyrgyzstan dropped by 50% in the first two months of the year, media quoted the Kyrgyz national statistics agency as saying. The agency did not say why clothing output had plummeted but it may be linked to the regional economic downturn.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kyrgyz som loses 5% of its value

MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz som has lost nearly 5% of its value against the US dollar this year, media quoted the head of the Central Bank, Tolkunbek Abdygulov, as saying. Mr Abdygulov also said that he wanted to impose strict capital requirements for Kyrgyzstan’s banks
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kyrgyzstan’s stats office receives $2.5m donation

MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s statistics agency said that it had received a donation of $2.5m which it said will help strengthen is systems, vital for measuring the economic and social health of the country, the 24.kg website reported. Akylbek Osmonoliyev, head of the statistics agency, did not say where the funds originated.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kyrgyzstan wants to attract skiers

MARCH 10 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan wants to attract more tourists to its ski resorts, media quoted the deputy tourism minister Aynura Temirbekova as saying. She said that Kyrgyzstan’s relaxation of its visa regime had already given it a boost. Tourism is a sector that western businesses have said Kyrgyzstan could better exploit.
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(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Kyrgyz religious leaders warn against vaccines

MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – Religious leaders in Kyrgyzstan issued a statement saying that it was not un-Islamic to vaccinate children against the measles virus, the Eurasianet website reported. This is important because health experts have blamed fears vaccinations were anti-Islamic for a surge in measles in Kyrgyzstan
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(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Kyrgyzstan-bound FDI dries up

MARCH 6 2015 (The Bulletin) – According to a recent publication by the Kazakhstan/Russia-funded Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), foreign investment in Kyrgyzstan in 2014 measured only $187m, down by 70% from 2013.

In 2013, the Central Asian country received over $623m in foreign direct investment (FDI), mainly from China, Russia, Britain, and Canada.

The EBD said the macroeconomic downturn which began in early 2014 was the main reason for the reduction of foreign activity. The recurring threat of nationalising the gold mine at Kumtor, together with monetary issues and galloping inflation, are also all factors.

The Kyrgyz government has tried to remedy the situation by increasing interest rates above 10% and protecting the national currency, the som, from the financial strains common throughout the region. Although it has performed better than the rouble, the som has lost over 20% against the dollar in the past six months.

FDI is a lifeline for countries like Kyrgyzstan, which rely on remittances from migrant workers abroad and capital injections from foreign investors.
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(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)

Measles surge in Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -Citing Kyrgyzstan as one of the countries worst affected by a surge in measles, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called for a mass vaccination to prevent the disease spreading. WHO said Kyrgyzstan had 7,477 new measles cases since the start of 2014, out of 22,000 recorded in the Europe region.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Kyrgyz parliament vote on gay laws

FEB. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz lawmakers are likely to vote on a bill that will criminalise promoting gay relationships in the next few weeks, the AFP news agency reported. The law is similar to Russian legislation that has attracted worldwide condemnation and, if passed, would possibly isolate Kyrgyzstan further from the West.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)