MARCH 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — PromMashKomplekt, a plant in northern Kazakhstan that manufactures wheels for trains, has said it may have to make redundant 540 employees because of a contract row with a subsidiary of Temir Zholy, the Kazakh national railway, media reported. The row highlights the relatively precarious state of Kazakh industry.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — If it materialises, it would be quite a publicity coup for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Bernie Ecclestone, the unofficial ringmaster of Formula One, told British newspapers that plans were crystallising to hold a race in Baku in 2015 or 2016.
“We’re going to Azerbaijan,” Mr Ecclestone told British newspapers.
“The people out there [in Azerbaijan] are talking about holding a race in 2015. That may be a bit soon, unless it’s at the end of the season, that’s a possibility. But 2016 is more likely.”
This must be music to Mr Aliyev’s ears. As Azerbaijan has grown increasingly rich on energy wealth, Mr Aliyev has used various sports events and competitions to promote the country.
Next year, Azerbaijan hosts the inaugural European Games, it has placed a bid to hold the summer Olympics and also to stage the European Champions League final.
The glamour of Formula One, though, is unrivalled and Mr Aliyev would no doubt welcome it to Baku. Formula One is also one of the most watched TV sports around the World.
Mr Ecclestone has been trying to broaden the venues of Formula One races over the past few years. India and Malaysia now host their own race and Russia will host a Formula One race this year in Sochi.
If Azerbaijan does host a race in 2016, though, it will become the country with the smallest economy to host a Grand Prix.
Still, this does also come with pitfalls.
Human rights demonstrators in Bahrain targeted their demonstrations around the Formula One race in 2011. They may also take their opportunity in Baku too.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s fire-fighters have been striking over their chief who they say is corrupt, media reported. The fire-fighters say they have lost their bonuses to their supervisors.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s government slapped a $735m fine on the consortium developing the Kashagan Caspian Sea oil field for environmental damage from burning off gas during repairs to a leak. The $50b Kashagan project sprung a gas leak in October, barely a month after production started.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to distance themselves from Russian culture, or perhaps just seeking to please their leader, Tajikistan’s interior minister and communications chief have ditched the -ov from their names, media reported. President Emomali Rakhmon dropped his -ov in 2007.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The weakening of the Kyrgyz som fuelled economic uncertainty just as winter was thawing — the most dangerous time of the year for any government in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan has experienced two violent revolutions since 2005, both in the spring.
According to the Kyrgyz Central Bank the som has lost 10% of its value against the US dollar this year.
The Central Bank blamed external politico-economic factors for the fall of the Kyrgyz som — mainly Kazakhstan’s sudden decision to devalue its own currency on Feb. 11 by 20% and the Russian rouble’s drop after Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. It also said, though, that speculators had panicked people on March 3 by selling US dollars for 59 soms, 5 soms above the official exchange rate.
Although the Central Bank declared the som crisis over on March 4, confidence in the currency is thin.
“The dollar affects everything,” said Habib Tursun as he sold milk from his brother’s farm to Bishkek residents out of his car boot. Although Mr Tursun’s operation doesn’t involve imports, except for petrol, his family save in dollars. To counter the fall in the som, he said that he had added 3 soms onto the price of a litre of milk, now 38 soms.
“Our milk is still cheaper than in the shops. If their prices are rising, why shouldn’t ours?” he said.
Prices for a number of imported products have risen 10-20%, according to local media.
This inflation may increase dissatisfaction with President Almazbek Atambayev and his government. It could also force the government to delay planned energy tariff rises and reduce the value of important remittances from migrants in Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ecology department in the Mangistau regional government issued Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of Kazakh state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas, a fine of $1.8b for environmental damage. Ozenmunaigas refuted the claim. Environmental fines are sometimes used to pressure companies.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s an unusual but, apparently, mutually beneficial deal. For the second year, Azerbaijan has agreed to sponsor the shirts of Spanish football team Atletico Madrid.
The new deal, for an unspecified amount, will mean that Atletico Madrid’s shirts carry the slogan “Azerbaijan: Land of Fire” until June 2015.
“In just one year, we have been able to project the image of Azerbaijan for the world and promote bilateral relations between our countries,” said Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo at a press conference.
It’s a relatively unusual approach for a sovereign state to sponsor a football team but Azerbaijan seems happy with the deal. The Qatar Foundation, run by the wife of Qatar’s ruler, sponsors Barcelona.
But, as is often the case with Azerbaijan, its sponsorship of Atletico Madrid has been mired by recent controversy.
Some Atletico Madrid players were encouraged to make youtube clips commemorating an alleged massacre by Armenian forces in 1992. A plan was also reportedly hatched by Azerbaijani officials for Atletico Madrid players to wear black armbands too. This was later scrapped.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-government rallies in Kazakhstan are rare, making a planned demonstration in central Almaty an ideal opportunity to gauge the public’s appetite for protest.
If you blinked, you would have missed it. It felt like that, anyway.
Around two dozen protesters, out-numbered by plainclothed police, gathered under a statue of Abai, Kazakhstan’s national poet, in a square in central Almaty.
Passers-by hurried on with barely a glance at the gathering. The normally ever-present uniformed police hadn’t bothered to monitor the protest.
There was, frankly, a lack of momentum.
One of the protesters shuffled his feet and said that people were afraid to turning up because of the fear of being arrested.
Certainly the authorities in Kazakhstan don’t tolerate dissent, they arrested several bloggers last month after they protested, but, even so, this was a poor turnout.
Yerlan Kaliyev, an opposition activist acting as a figurehead, tried to inject substance into the rally by referencing Abai, the poet.
He said: “His call to be wary of rich people is more than one hundred years old but could be directly applied to the current situation in our country.”
The protesters agreed with Mr Kaliyev.
They mixed political slogans with poetry recitals for about an hour. Then they all went home.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan is not known as a global football powerhouse but Sepp Blatter, the president of the game’s global governing body FIFA, is due to visit for two days on March 24/25, media reported. During his visit, Mr Blatter will watch a local football match.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)