Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan agree energy deal

NOV. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan agreed a deal for Astana to meet most of Bishkek’s electricity deficit, albeit at a price greater than Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev would have wanted to pay.

The deal, finalised during a meeting between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Mr Atambayev in Astana, means Kyrgyzstan must pay roughly three times more for the imported electricity than Kyrgyz citizens pay for domestically-produced electricity. Importantly, it also shows Kazakhstan’s political clout in Kyrgyzstan is growing.

An estimated deficit of 2b kilowatt hours (kWh) this year, caused by a shortage of water in its reservoirs, public reaction to shutoffs drove Bishkek and the potential to sign the deal.

Mr Atambayev will be relieved to have made the deal to import 1.4b kWh from Kazakhstan but here are still problems. He will have to make up the shortfall from somewhere else, possibly Turkmenistan, and he will have to finance the extra costs.

Currently the government has suggested modest tariff increases beginning Jan. 1. These are bound to irritate people in Kyrgyzstan.

Other agreements reached by Mr Atambayev and Mr Nazarbayev at the meeting are also indicative and suggested that Kazakhstan maintains significant leverage over its weaker neighbour.

Mr Nazarbayev promised that a fleet of Kyrgyzstan-bound fuel wagons, owned by Russian energy giant Rosneft and held by Kazakh customs officials without explanation since April, would be allowed to cross the two countries’ mutual border. He also pledged a $100 million grant to Kyrgyzstan as the country prepares to enter the Eurasian Economic.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)

Kyrgyzstan becomes ideological battleground

OCT. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an article for a policy website, the US ambassador in Bishkek, Pamela Spratlen, appeared to cement Kyrgyzstan’s place as an ideological sparring ground between Washington and the Kremlin.

In particular, Ms Spratlen, who has been the US ambassador to Kyrgyzstan since April 2011 highlighted the differences between Washington and the Kremlin over Russia’s aim to pull Kyrgyzstan into the Eurasian Economic Union as well as their divergent views over gay rights.

“Another challenge to our efforts to support Kyrgyzstan’s democracy is its growing partnership with Russia,” she wrote on Council of American Ambassadors website, a website for essays written by senior US diplomats. “It remains an unanswered question how Kyrgyzstan can maintain its democratic trajectory while pursuing this partnership.”

Ms Spratlen specifically said the Customs Union, which will become the Eurasian Economic Union next year and grow to include Kyrgyzstan and Armenia alongside Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, was as much about politics as economics.

Legislation passing through Kyrgyzstan’s parliament bears all the hallmarks of Russian political influence. A parliamentary bill forbidding “positive attitudes towards non-traditional sexual orientations” was overwhelmingly endorsed at its first reading last month, echoing a similar bill passed in 2013 in Russia.

Importantly, Ms Spratlen said Kyrgyzstan may be sleep walking into membership of the Eurasian Economic Union because it feels like it has no choice, especially as it is surrounded by more authoritarian countries in Central Asia.

“Both officials and business leaders appear unenthused, but resigned to this choice, seeing a lack of better options,” she wrote.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Kyrgyzstan concerns over EaEU accession

BISHKEK/Kyrgyzstan, NOV 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It would seem to be a done deal. Despite parliamentary opposition from an unlikely cast of nationalists and liberals — as well as serious concerns on the street — Kyrgyzstan appears to be primed to join Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus in the Eurasian Economic Union in 2015.

And, of course, Armenia will accede on the same day.

But accession will be problematic for many Krygyz. The Customs Union, from which the Eurasian Economic Union will emerge, mandates higher tariffs on imports from third countries. China’s share of Kyrgyzstan’s import pie is 55%, dwarfing Russia and Kazakhstan’s combined share of 25%.

Prices for goods from cars to household items will go up significantly. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev has ceded that inflation is likely to jump in the short term after joining the Eurasian Economic Union.

Such price hikes would be hard to swallow anywhere; in a poor country like Kyrgyzstan, they will be punitive. Many people in Bishkek are afraid and everyone from taxi drivers to professionals, is quick to share their concerns.

One Bishkek-based foreign national in the NGO sector underscored this analysis. “Many fear that the lifeblood of Kyrgyzstan’s economy, cheap goods ranging from cars to shower curtains to raw materials imported from China, will either stop flowing due to newly-imposed tariffs or will dramatically rise in price,” he said, preferring to remain anonymous.

Of course, Russia and Kyrgyzstan are bound in many ways. As many as 500,000 Kyrgyz citizens work in Russia, and Russian news media is widely watched in Kyrgyzstan.

There are, of course, silver linings to Kyrgyzstan’s accession. Kyrgyz citizens working in other EEU countries will not need to register with the police for stays of less than 90 nights. Currently, a Kyrgyz citizen staying longer than five nights is compelled to register.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Hundreds of Kyrgyzstanis join IS

NOV. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Acknowledging that hundreds of Kyrgyz citizens have been fighting in Syria for the Islamic State, an extremist Islamic group, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev told Kyrgyzstan’s Security Council he was determined to defeat extremism. He said Kyrgyzstan was at risk of “Arabisation”.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Kazakhstan to export power to Kyrgystan

NOV. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has agreed to export electricity to Kyrgyzstan to help ease its impending power problems. The deal is likely to be finalised later this week when the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan meet. Kyrgyzstan has said low reservoir levels means an electricity shortage this winter.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Gay men want to leave Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Homosexuals in Kyrgyzstan are considering leaving the country when a law banning gay propaganda is adopted, Reuters reported. The so-called anti-gay law is similar to one already adopted by Russia. “The entire atmosphere is getting more threatening,” one man told Reuters.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Inflation to rise in Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev has said inflation will increase in Kyrgyzstan when it joins the Customs Union, which is morphing into the Eurasian Economic Union next year. He also said the country no alternative to joining the Russia-led economic bloc, highlighting the Kremlin’s tightened grip over Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Kyrgyzstan wants Turkmen power

OCT. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz officials flew to Turkmenistan to try to buy more electricity. Kyrgyzstan’s reservoirs are about 25% below capacity and its government has said that it is likely to face a power shortage. Kyrgyzstan has already negotiated to increase power imports from Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Negotiations re-open over Tajik-Kyrgyz border

OCT. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Negotiations over the Tajik-Kyrgyz border have re-opened, media reported. This is important because this year there have been several skirmishes along the border. The issue of the Tajiki-Kyrgyz border is one of the most sensitive in Central Asia and has the potential to destabilise the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Kyrgyzstan threatens NGOs

OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Barely a week after Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed a first reading of a law banning the promotion of gay propaganda, more proposals restricting civil rights have surfaced.

Media reported that Kyrgyzstan wants to restrict NGOs receiving financial support from overseas, forcing groups to submit to tighter auditing and control.

Perhaps most importantly the law is similar to one brought in by Russia in 2012. The anti-gay law was also similar to a law introduced in Russia underlining the increased influence that Russia has over Kyrgyzstan.

The London-based lobby group Institute for War and Peace Reporting wrote: “Many Kyrgyz groups work on civil and political rights, democracy-building, and corruption, and could soon find themselves as beleaguered as their Russian counterparts.”

Kyrgyz officials have defended the new law as essential to monitor groups that could potentially be used to undermine Kyrgyz democracy.

Perhaps, although, similarly to the anti-gay law, the real reason could be Kyrgyzstan’s need to cosy up to Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)