Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Tajikistan prepares to host SCO

SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in Dushanbe on Sept. 11 – 12.

Russia and China lead the SCO, a group that has regional security and economic development at its core. The other members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The summit is expected to focus on deepening security ties and the possibility of expanding the organisation to include Afghanistan, India, Mongolia and Pakistan by next year. On Aug. 24, the SCO held its largest ever joint military drills to date in China’s Inner Mongolia province.

With Russia accused of arming rebels in Ukraine and the US-led NATO planning to enlarge by including Australia as a member, enlargement of the SCO would come at a sensitive time. As the only regional organisation to include both Russia and China, the SCO’s profile has grown over the years. Moscow and Beijing appear, though, to have different views on the future of the group.

In Bishkek this summer, China promoted its Silk Road Economic belt concept. This concept, focused on infrastructure investment and trade protection, seems to run counter to Russia’s own Eurasian integration efforts via the protectionist, China-exclusive Eurasian Economic Union.

The Kremlin has also reportedly persistently blocked the development of an SCO bank, preferring the organisation to focus on security matters, where it is closer to parity with China.

Both are said to be cautious towards any expansion that might dilute their respective influences, but acknowledge the need for the SCO to grow in order to relevant.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Anti-mining protests in Kyrgyzstan

AUG. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In two separate demonstrations, hundreds of protesters in Kyrgyzstan blocked roads to try and stop production at an iron ore mine and an oil refinery, media reported. In both cases, the protesters claimed the sites were damaging the environment, a well-used tactic by protesters wanting to stop industrial production.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

China builds cement factory in Kyrgyzstan

AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – China has started work on building a new cement factory in Kyrgyzstan, underlining its commitment to Central Asia. The cement factory will be the biggest in Kyrgyzstan and will cost $70m. China has assumed an increasingly tight grip on Central Asia’s economies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Fuel supplies fall in Tajikistan

SEPT. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan is on the brink of a Russian-fuelled petrol crisis according to independent news outlet Avesta.tj.

Unnamed sources told Avesta.tj that a collective of 25 Tajik fuel importers had written to President Emomali Rakhmon to tell him that he needed to buy extra fuel supplies to avoid potentially destructive price hikes. The problem, they said, was export restrictions at the Russian refineries where Tajikistan gets its fuel.

The letter said that supplies of A-92 petrol, imported from Russia, and other types of fuel, may be exhausted by mid-September unless he intervenes to ensure previous levels of supply. Apparently the letter attributes the restrictions to parallel shortages in energy rich Russia. Kyrgyzstan is also hurting. Petrol prices in Tajikistan’s northern neighbour have risen by 13.8% in some parts of the country over an eight month period.

Officially, according to the head of the Kyrgyz Oil Traders association, the reason for the restrictions is that multiple refineries in Russia are undergoing repairs simultaneously.

Unofficially, it’s more likely that sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine are biting.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Kyrgyzstan prepares CU laws

AUG. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev approved a long list of bills and laws to be passed through parliament in order for Kyrgyzstan to become a member of the Russia-led Customs Union this year. The list is further evidence that Kyrgyzstan is committed to joining the group.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Kyrgyz nation-building film aims for Oscars

SEPT. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On Independence Day, people in Bishkek crammed into cinemas to watch a film geared towards nation-building.

The film’s organisers think the film has a shot at the Best Foreign Film Category at the Oscars. Kurmandjan Datka, Queen of the Mountains received $1.5m from the threadbare republican budget and was part-organised by nationalist MP, Zhyldyz Zholdosheva.

The Kyrgyz-language picture, telling the story of a female clan ruler during the time of the Russian empire, was generally well received, although one viewer, 21-year old Maxat Dukenbayev, said it was some way short of Nomad, a Kazakh state-made epic with 25 times Kurmanjan Datka’s budget and featuring B-List Hollywood actors.

“That didn’t come close to an Oscar,” he said, standing outside Bishkek’s October Cinema.

Not that Nomad did either.

Still, Zholdosheva, who gained a reputation as an outspoken nationalist in the aftermath of ethnic violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in 2010 declared herself ready to win an Oscar.

Elsewhere, on a grassy stretch outside Bishkek’s Panfilov Park, scores of Kyrgyz families grilled skewered kebabs and took in national beer.

Kyrgyz films celebrating its independence, seemingly, are not for everyone.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

Two Tajiks die in dispute with Kyrgyzstan

AUG. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Two Tajiks — a civilian and a soldier — died in a shootout with Kyrgyz forces on the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border, the most serious violence along the disputed boundary this year. The row between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan threatens to destabilise the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)

Free speech case to be heard in Kyrgyzstan

AUG. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – For human rights workers and freedom of speech activists, these are increasingly worrying times in Kyrgyzstan.

Once considered a bastion of political and social pluralism, Kyrgyzstan appears to be retarding. Earlier this year politicians prepared the ground to implement harsh anti-gay laws, now reports have emerged that say the intelligence services are prosecuting two journalists for alleged defamation.

Eurasianet reported that Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (GKNB) has demanded damages of nearly $20,000 from Shorukh Saipov, a journalist who writes for the independent Fergana News website.

In an article in May, Mr Saipov said that the GKNB was extorting money from Muslims by threatening to prosecute them for extremism. The GKNB has said that the article deliberately tried to tarnish its reputation, charges that Fergana News has denied.

Highlighting the pressure on the media in Kyrgyzstan, Mr Saipov’s brother, also a journalist, was murdered in the southern city of Osh in 2007. His killers were never found.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)

Russia lifts restrictions on Kyrgyz food imports

AUG. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps trying to woo Kyrgyzstan into the embrace of the Customs Union, Russia agreed to lift restrictions on the import of Kyrgyz agriculture products, media reported. The restrictions were imposed over food safety fears. Kyrgyzstan has applied to join the Russia-led Customs Union later this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)

Russia gives Kyrgyzstan $500m

AUG.12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has agreed to give Kyrgyzstan $500m to prepare for joining the Customs Union. Kyrgyzstan is hoping to join the Customs Union, which will morph into the Eurasian Economic Union, later this year. Belarus and Kazakhstan are already members.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 195, published on Aug. 13 2014)