APRIL 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved an $80m loan earmarked for the electrification of a 145km stretch of railway in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley. Uzbekistan has been attracting more lending and investment from international financial institutions since Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as president in September last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)
APRIL 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A train carrying whisky, baby food and vitamins left a depot in southern England at the start of an 18-day journey through Central Asia to China.
This modern-day ‘Silk Road’ odyssey is part of China’s push to promote freight transport by rail between East Asia and Europe.
At its heart, the 11,000km route relies upon a stable Central Asia with modern infrastructure and it shows just how important the region has become as a transport hub. The ‘Silk Road’ train will travel through Europe into Russia and then dip down into Kazakhstan before crossing into western China and terminating in Yiwu on the eastern coast Xubin Feng, the head of Yiwu Timex Investment Company, underlined the importance of the train.
“Restoring the ancient Silk Road as a means by which China, North Europe and now the UK can exchange goods is an important and exciting initiative,” he said.
The project is part of China’s drive to promote its so-called ‘One Belt, One Road’ programme. Three months ago, the first freight train arrived from China to Britain and several other European capitals have already been linked up to China by rail.
And this ‘One Belt, One Road’ policy is important for Central Asia, and in particular Kazakhstan, as it plays a vital, and potentially lucrative, stagepost role.
Kazakhstan has started to leverage its position as a link between Europe and East Asia and, as well as promoting its rail infrastructure, it has also promoted itself as a refuelling pitstop for airlines crossing to Asia.
Also, this year, the first train from Kazakhstan headed through China to Vietnam, opening up another route.
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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)
ALMATY, APRIL 12 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — GE Transportation, a division of US engineering giant GE, bought a 50% stake in Kazakh train maker Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty for an undisclosed amount.
The deal could be one of the biggest investments by a Western company in a Kazakh engineering company outside the extractive industries this year.
In a press release Jamie Miller, the GE Transportation CEO, as saying: “Kazakhstan has a strategic plan for its railroad to support economic growth and increased regional trade, and today’s announcement underscores GE’s commitment to working with KTZ to ensure that Kazakhstan’s rail infrastructure remains modern and reliable.”
For Kazakhstan the deal will likely be a relief, although the amount that GE Transportation paid for its 50% stake has not been released. It has been trying to attract more Western investment into industries outside the oil, gas and mining sectors. Its railway sector is one area in which it has been investing heavily.
Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty was set up in 2009 by Kazakh railway company Temir Zholy and Russia’s Transmashholding. It is Central Asia and the South Caucasus’ biggest manufacturer of locomotive trains and exports across the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)
APRIL 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s investment minister Zhenis Kasymbek said that a new airport terminal and a new railway station will open in mid-May, less than a month before Astana opens its EXPO-2017 exhibition. Media quoted Mr Kasymbek as saying that after it has been complete, Astana airport will be able to process 7.5m passengers every year. The EXPO-2017 exhibition is being touted as the biggest international festival held by Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said that he wants to use it to showcase modern day Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)f
MARCH 29 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail route, considered a vital piece of infrastructure linking the Caspian Sea to Europe, will officially opened in June, media reported by quoting Turkey’s minister of transport, Ahmet Arslan. The route has been severely delayed. It is primarily designed for goods transport but will also carry passenger sleeper trains.
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(News report from Issue No. 323, published on April 6 2017)
MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to boost trade along the so- called North-South Transport Corridor between Russia and India, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran agreed to cut rail tariffs by 50%, media reported. The three countries met in Moscow to discuss developments, including a new bridge over the Astara river that joins Azerbaijan’s and Iran’s railway. The North-South Corridor is considered an important component for boosting regional trade.
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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)
MARCH 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kazakh factory producing trains has delivered 10 locomotives to Azerbaijan, media reported. The Trend news agency said that Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty had also sent locomotives to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Turkmenistan. This is important for Kazakhstan as it is trying to boost its manufacturing sector. Azerbaijan is, itself, trying to boost its role as a pivot for global trade and has said it will buy more trains if it can secure a north-south trade route between India and Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 321, published on March 20 2017)
MARCH 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The first cargo train crossed a new bridge over the River Astarachy, the border between Azerbaijan and Iran, media reported. This is the only railway link between Azerbaijan and Iran and is important because it signifies just how relations between neighbours have improved. The bridge is also vital if a plan to build a north-south trade corridor from India to Russia is to be turned into reality.
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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)
FEB. 15 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has ordered 50 locomotives from French rail manufacturer Alstom for 276m euros, media reported quoting an Azerbaijani railways spokesperson. The loan for the locomotives was supplied by a consortium of French and British banks. The new locomotives will run along the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway that will be completed later this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 317, published on Feb.17 2017)
FEB. 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Serbia has agreed to sell its 90.64% stake in railway construction and maintenance firm ZGOP to Kazakhstan’s Zhol Zhondeushi for 3.63m euros, media reported. ZGOP is based in the Serbian city of Novi Sad and employs 290 people and has outstanding debts of $8.2m. In 2012, Zhol Zhondeushi made headlines after it emerged that it had been sold by ENRC to one of the company’s nephew’s for an inflated price.
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(News report from Issue No. 316, published on Feb. 10 2017)