APRIL 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Highlighting tension in Kyrgyzstan’s mining sector, media reports said that protesters blocking a road in the Talas region of north Kyrgyzstan clashed briefly with police. The protesters were demanding compensation for alleged environmental damage from the mining company.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)
APRIL 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the government’s flagship pension reforms were illegal, triggering a fresh crisis at the top of the Armenian political spectrum.
The ruling was a major blow to the government which has stubbornly stuck to its pension reform agenda despite increasing levels of public discontent. It also appeared to come as a surprise.
The following day Tigran Sargsyan resign as Armenia’s PM, although he did not link his resignation explicitly with the Court’s ruling. There have been perpetual rumours about his health and other job offers.
Later this month, the government also faces a vote of no confidence in parliament. Opinion polls have shown that its popularity has sunk to fresh lows.
And most of this unpopularity stems from the pension reforms.
Thousands have marched against changes which were introduced at the start of the year. The reforms stated that everybody born after Jan. 1 1974 would have to pay 5% of their salary into a state pension fund. The state has promised to match private contributions to the pension fund up to a maximum of $61 per month.
But now the Constitutional Court has ruled that the pension reforms introduced by the government restrict the rights of its citizens.
The problem for Armenia is, similarly to other countries in the former Soviet Union, it simply has to reform its state pension system to pay for its aging population and to compensate for the large grey economy.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)
MARCH 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Several cinemas in Tashkent reportedly screened the new Hollywood film Noah on March 27, the day before its official release in the United States.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A car bomb in Tokmok, northern Kyrgyzstan, killed champion Kyrgyz kick-boxer Ruslan Abasov and injured his wife and child. Media reported that police are investigating links to organised crime gangs. Abasov has won the Eurasian and European kick-boxing championships.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Ashgabat are stopping couples from kissing and holding hands in public, Chronicles of Turkmenistan, an opposition website based in Vienna, reported. Chronicles of Turkmenistan said police were trying to impose a morality code.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Although electronic transactions are growing, Kazakhstan is still a predominantly cash-based society, analysis has shown.
Last year the number of credit and debit cards in circulation grew by 20% in Kazakhstan but the amount of electronic transactions by only 9%.
It feels as if consumers in Kazakhstan still have a mental aversion to using cashless payment models.
Payday for government workers in Kazakhstan is on the 10th day of each month. That’s when the tell-tale queues of people converting their electronic salaries into hard cash form outside branches of Halyk Bank.
It’s also a symbolic illustration of the problem that the Kazakh Central Bank needs to address.
Switching to a more cashless society is important as it is a mark of development. An increased number of electronic transactions in an economy also means that more taxes are paid and the financial system is, generally, more robust.
Alisher, a worker at Eurasia Bank in Almaty, puzzled over the problem.
“Our cards do not carry charges for electronic payments, yet customers refrain from using them,” he said. “Instead they pay withdrawal fees or simply forget that the piece of plastic they are carrying in their wallet is actually an instrument that could save them money and time.”
The problem, though, is not purely the mentality of the consumers. Many shops in Kazakhstan still do not have the right equipment. This is changing, though, and from July 1, new laws will mean that all shops will have to carry card reading machines.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two sets of demonstrators, one supporting Russia and one against Russia, clashed briefly in central Tbilisi. Feelings are running high in Tbilisi which has firmly backed Ukraine’s revolution and US calls for Russia to quit Crimea.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a similar move to Russia’s controversial law of 2013, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament published a draft bill that would outlaw spreading information about gay issues. The bill is currently only published online for public discussion but this is the first step to turning it into law.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Sepp Blatter has spent much of his career as FIFA president fending off allegations of institutional corruption. Even so, Tajikistan must have come as a shock.
Mr Blatter visited Tajikistan as part of a tour of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan which culminated in a meeting of UEFA, Europe’s governing football body, in Astana (March 25-28).
He was greeted off the plane at Dushanbe airport by Rustam Emomali, son of President Emomai Rakhmon and head of the Tajik Football Federation. Mr Emomalii also owns and occasionally plays for FC Istiqlol, who thrashed FC Ravshan 5-0 in the Tajik Super Cup final with Blatter in attendance.
Not everyone is happy with FC Istiqlol’s dominance, though. In 2011 a match between the same two sides triggered a riot when FC Ravshan’s supporters concluded that FC Istiqlol had bought the referee.
Police arrested 20 people and at least 10 people were hospitalised during fighting between the Ravshan Ultras and the security forces.
Memories of a five year civil war (1992-97) limit opposition towards Mr Rakhmon’s presidency, although anger with the president does appear to be growing. One irk is that he directs much foreign investment towards his hometown of Danghara while other parts of the country struggle for electricity.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
APRIL 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek authorities have increased the price of utilities by roughly 10%, media reported. For most of last year, reports from Uzbekistan have documented price rises and inflationary pressures. These have been frustrating parts of Uzbekistan’s population.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)