DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will drop visa regulations for citizens of 34 OSCE member states by the end of 2014, media quoted a spokesman for Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying. The spokesman didn’t specify which of the OSCE’s 57 member states would be given visa-free status.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
NOV. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has introduced new regulation that, in theory, makes it harder to launder money and finance terrorism, media reported. Under the new rules, individual transactions of over $4,000 trigger a red flag, a tenth of the previous amount.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s upper house of parliament passed a so-called luxury tax that will increase excise duty on cigarettes and alcohol. The increase in excise duty is designed to bring prices of hard alcohol and cigarettes in Kazakhstan in line with Russia and Belarus, its Customs Unions partners.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost the country’s population, Azerbaijani lawmakers are considering state-sponsored fertility treatment, media reported. According to one media outlet, under the proposed scheme women may become eligible for state-sponsored fertility treatment after a year of unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant.
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
OCT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia signed into law an agreement with the Uzbek government that it hopes will defend Russian businesses in Uzbekistan.
The statement on the Russian government website was vague but also unequivocal. It said simply that the agreement would boost investments between Russia and Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan has developed a reputation for being a notoriously difficult country for private companies to operate in. Businesses talk of intimidation from the authorities, police raids and unscheduled tax inspections.
Earlier this year Russian mobile operator MTS closed down its Uzbek subsidiary after a series of run-ins with the authorities.
This month VimpelCom, MTS’s main Russian rival, also complained of unscheduled tax inspections by the authorities in Tashkent.
So, the ratification by Russia’s government of an agreement with Uzbekistan to promote and protect each other’s business interests is, at least, timely. Time will tell just how useful it is too.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Momentum is building inside Kazakhstan’s parliament to pass a law that restricts homosexuals. Homosexuality has been legal since 1998 in Kazakhstan but a handful of lawmakers want to reverse this. Earlier this year Russia banned so-called homosexual propaganda.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Where Russia goes, Kazakhstan often follows. This mantra is certainly true of economic and international affairs and now it appears to extend to social law-making.
Kazakh parliamentarians have been making speeches and canvassing support to bring in a law similar to the one passed by Russia earlier this year that banned so-called homosexual propaganda from being taught at schools.
The Russian law triggered an international outcry and calls to boycott Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.
But a group of reactionary parliamentarians in Kazakhstan have seized on the Russian experience as their chance to push through a similar law.
Bakhytbek Smagul, a member of the lower house of the Kazakh parliament for President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ruling Nur Otan party, has been leading the drive to ban so-called homosexual propaganda in Kazakhstan.
And he has built support, despite homosexuality being legalised in Kazakhstan since 1998.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
SEPT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — From summer 2014 Kazakhstan will drop visa requirements for tourists from some EU countries, media quoted Kazakh deputy foreign minister Rapil Zhoshybayev as saying. Mr Zhoshybayev said visa-free regulations were likely to cover countries, such as Croatia, where Kazakh citizens can travel to without a visa.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s parliament will debate a proposal to ban homosexual nightclubs and gay rights marches, local media quoted MPs as saying. The proposal follows a law brought in by Russia earlier this year that bans homosexual “propaganda”. Russia’s ban triggered an international outcry and accusations of homophobia.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Until July farmers from around the world had eyed up Georgia as good place to move to, buy a patch of land and start farming.
On July 17, though, President Mikheil Saakashvili signed a decree passed by parliament that places a moratorium on foreigners owning land.
Mr Saakashvili had, it has to be said, been against the decree but he was powerless to resist parliament which is now controlled by an opposition coalition led by PM Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Mr Ivanishvili’s government has proved their populist touch once more.
The previous government of Mr Saakashvili’s United National Movement had suspended a law banning foreigners from owning land unless they were part of a Georgia-registered business. They said that foreigners’ expertise was needed to boost productivity and efficiency.
They also actively encouraged some groups, such as Boer farmers from South Africa to migrate to Georgia. Other groups also arrived, such as Punjabi Indians.
This, though, triggered a backlash. Local people protested earlier in the year under the banner: “Georgian land for Georgians”. Once again politics and business in Georgia appear intimately entwined.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)