Tag Archives: society

Kazakh President picks up EXPO tips in Italy

JUNE 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Possibly keen to pick up a few handy tips ahead of his own international exhibition in Astana in two years time, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the pavilions of Milan’s EXPO 2015.

Mr Nazarbayev and Italian PM Matteo Renzi toured the exhibition and then sat down for an official meeting where bilateral trade and diplomacy were discussed.

Media later reported that the two men had said they agreed bilateral deals worth $500m, although details were scant. Even so, the deals and the meeting highlighted the close trade and diplomatic links between the two countries.

Italian oil and gas company Eni is one of the biggest investors in Kazakhstan.

Mr Nazarbayev considers EXPO- 2017 in Astana an essential showpiece. He wants to promote Kazakhstan and his role in building the nation at EXPO- 2017.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Remittances to Tajikistan fall sharply

JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – DUSHANBE – Remittances from Tajik workers in Russia to Tajikistan have dropped by 44% this year, the Russian Central Bank said.

This is inline with World Bank projections and highlights the economic problems facing Tajikistan and other countries in Central Asia. Russia’s economy has dipped into recession because of a combination of falling oil prices and economic sanctions imposed by the West in retaliation for the Kremlin’s alleged support for rebels in east Ukraine.

And this recession has hit Tajikistan and other countries in Central Asia hard. Remittances account for roughly half of Tajikistan’s economy.

In Dushanbe, the mood on the streets was glum.

Amirbek Saidbekov, a Dushanbe resident, said life had gotten harder.

“The money they send home has declined by about a half,” he said. “The money my uncle sends is not enough to provide for his family. The life quality of his family has worsened now.”

Shuhrat Murodilloev, a Dushanbe-based political scientist, said the drop in remittance was having a knock-on effect.

“Market employment is falling because of the decreased sales and the unstable Tajik currency,” he said. “Many people have lost their jobs in the market because there is no money coming from Russia.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Azerbaijani athlete fails drug test

JUNE 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Olympic Committee striped Chaltu Beji, an 18- year-old Ethiopia-born athlete competing for Azerbaijan, of victory in the 3,000m steeple-chase at the European Games after she failed a drugs test. The failed drugs test will embarrass Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

NPLs drop in Kazakhstan

JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank said the percentage of non-performing loans held by banks had fallen from a peak of 33% to 13% because of a combination of tax breaks and state financing. It’s unclear exactly how these measures helped to reduce non-performing loans.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Tajik electricity prices may rise

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s economy ministry said that electricity prices may have to rise by 12% this year, media reported. Electricity prices have become an issue in the region because a proposed rise in Armenia has sparked street demonstrations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Anti-government protests gather pace in Armenian capital

JUNE 21-25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — In an often tense standoff with police, thousands of people demonstrated in Yerevan this week against electricity price rises.

A Bulletin correspondent estimated that the protest had swelled to around 8,000 people by Thursday evening, the biggest anti-government demonstration in Armenia for a generation and one that could pose a serious threat to the authorities.

On Tuesday, the second day of the protest, police fired water cannons and detained more than 200 people as they tried to clear Freedom Square in the centre of the city. The assault, though, just appeared to strengthen protesters’ resolve.

“Our demand remains the same and we will not leave Baghramyan Avenue until the illegal decision on electricity price hike will not be annulled,” said Aram Manukyan, an activist.

Hundreds of protesters have camped out overnight since and called for the 17% electricity price rise to be repealed.

This is the third price rise in two years. RAO UES, the Russian company that owns Armenia’s electricity network, said it needed to increase prices because of the fall in the value of the Armenian dram which makes imports expensive.

The price raises are particularly painful because Armenia, like other countries in the region, is having to deal with a drop in its economic prospects.

Protesters had started to gather in central Yerevan on Monday, June 22, in anticipation of parliament approving the electricity price rise two days later.

The next day, police turned their water cannons against the demonstrators and waded into the crowd, detaining people trying to stage a sit-in.

Since then, the crowds of protesters have swelled but been peaceful.

PM Hovik Abrahamyan said that the protests were misguided.

“Blocking one of the major prospects in the city will not lead to any success. I call on the activists to get back to constructive dialogue,” he said.

In 2008, eight people died in Yerevan when soldiers fired on anti-government demonstrators.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Yazidis open temple in Georgia

JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – People of the Yazidi faith opened a new temple in Tbilisi, media reported. The Muslim extremist group IS has been persecuting the Yazidi in Iraq. Media said the Yazidi population in Georgia has fallen to around 6,000 people from 30,000 a few years ago.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Armenia to build north-south motorway

JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament approved a $150m loan from the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) to build a north-south motorway across the country. The EBD is headquartered in Almaty and is bankrolled mainly by Russia and Kazakhstan. It concentrates on member states of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakhstan to join WTO by end of the year

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – After 19 years of negotiations, Kazakhstan will join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) later this year after officially agreeing terms with the economic group.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev was quick to appear on TV to laud the success of the WTO entry .

“The WTO membership opens up new horizons for our econ- omy,” Mr Nazarbayev said on national TV.

Commodities make up most of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade, already carried at very low tariffs.

Tariffs are at the centre of the debate on Kazakhstan’s WTO membership.

It is also part of the Russia-led Customs Union, which morphed into the Eurasian Economic Union this year. This is, essentially, an old-school trade bloc which promotes free trade between members but puts up barriers to non-members. The other members of the Eurasian

Economic Union are Russia, Belarus and Armenia. Kyrgyzstan is on the brink of joining.

Even so, the WTO and Kaza- khstan appear to have found a way around this potential stumbling block, although the details are scant.

Kazakh industrials have also been reticent about joining the WTO.

“Our community is concerned that the accession into the WTO would seriously reduce the protection levels and cause the flooding of cheap goods into our markets, which would kill our production,” Rakhim Oshak- bayev, deputy chairman of the National Chamber of Entrepre- neurs, told Kazakh media.

The terms of the accession remain classified and analysts have questioned this secrecy. When it first applied to join the organisation in 1996, Kazakhstan was a poor country which had just emerged from the ashes of the Soviet Union. Now, the scenario is different.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Briton dies in car crash in Azerbaijan

JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – One British national was killed in a car crash in central Baku, media reported. He had been working on the European Games. At the start of Games a bus crashed into Austrian swimmers in the Olympic Village badly injuring one of them.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)