SEPT. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – China will boost its total investment in Tajikistan to $3b within four years, a massive amount for the country, media reported quoting the Tajik presidential press service. Tajikistan’s entire annual GDP is roughly $3b. The leaders of Tajikistan and China met after the SCO summit in Dushanbe.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek president Islam Karimov is due in Dushanbe for the first time since 2008 for the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The two-day SCO meeting is due to begin on Sept. 11. This meeting is particularly important because of strained relations between the neighbours.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
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.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)
JULY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Dushanbe on Sept. 12/13 during a meeting of the shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the China and Russia led Central Asia military alliance. Tajikistan has close cultural and economic ties with Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
MARCH 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — If Georgia’s support for the revolution in Ukraine was no surprise, Uzbekistan’s apparent concern about the territorial integrity of Ukraine is.
Uzbekistan was the first from the block of former Soviet states that you would have bet on supporting Russia to break ranks.
“Events in Ukraine … create a real threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and have caused deep anxiety and concern in Uzbekistan,” the Uzbek foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
Uzbekistan has a reputation for isolationism. It has awkward relations with its neighbours and has stayed clear of the Russian-led Customs Union.
Even so, Uzbekistan is part of the military orientated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which includes Russia, China and most of Central Asia. Russia is also an important economic partner for Uzbekistan.
For Uzbekistan to issue such a statement criticising the Russian military’s deployment in Ukraine is risky. Uzbekistan’s relations with its former colonial master have been patchy and, after this proclamation, may be even patchier.
Perhaps spurring Uzbekistan on in the background is its current ties to NATO. NATO is paying Uzbekistan handsomely to shift its kit from Afghanistan back home. Uzbekistan, possibly, had one eye on their current benefactors when issuing the statement.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The leaders of Russia, China and the Central Asian states except Turkmenistan met in Bishkek for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The SCO, described by some as a counterbalance to NATO, agreed to support Russia on blocking a US attack on Syria after a suspected chemical weapons attack.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
AUG. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, will meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the first time on Sept. 13 in Bishkek on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Russia and China led Central Asia-focused group, Iranian media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 148, published on Aug. 19 2013)
APRIL 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkey signed up to become a so-called dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group led by China and Russia that includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Belarus and Sri Lanka already hold the same status with the SCO but Turkey is a NATO member and that makes its partnership more important. Analysts have often described the SCO as a potential Chinese and Russian-led military rival to NATO.
This analysis of the SCO, though, is too simplistic. The SCO is more than just a security group. It is also a financing organisation and a forum for inter-governmental conversation and debate.
Turkey, too, has deep economic, historical, cultural and linguistic ties with Central Asia, the focus of the SCO’s activities. Turkish senior governments ministers often visit the Central Asia capitals and it is only natural that Turkey should look to become a member in the region’s main security grouping.
Turkey’s interest in the SCO and its promotion as a dialogue partner should be welcomed by all, including NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)
DEC. 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – PMs of members of the Russia, China lead Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which focuses on Central Asia, met in Bishkek. China’s Wen Jiabao also met privately with Kyrgyz PM, Zhantoro Satybaldiyev. They discussed China’s future investment in Kyrgyzstan, and a potential trans Central Asia pipeline.
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(News report from Issue No. 116, published on Dec. 7 2012)
JUNE 6 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – China had a gift for its Central Asia partners who attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Beijing on June 7.
It had set up a new $10b fund through its Export-Import Bank to loan to its neighbours. Of course there are strings attached and the fund will buy China yet more impact in the region.
It already has a huge amount of clout, much of the region’s energy resources heads east and rarely a week passes without new deal being announced, but China still clearly wants more from Central Asia.
The first big deal announced by China from its new fund was a $1.1b loan to help pay for a refit of its refinery near Atyrau in western Kazakhstan, media reported.
Reuters published figures that showed just how deeply China has invested over the past few years. According to Kazakhstan, China has invested $15b into the country since 1991, a tenth of all foreign investment. Roughly $10b of that, though, has come since 2008 and now, according to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev about 20% of all its energy exports will flow to China.
The rest of Central Asia has also seen a massive boost in Chinese investments over the past few years, a trend that looks set to continue.
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(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)