SEPT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has approved a bill that will increase customs duties on sausages, fruit, vegetable, softs drinks and fruit juice and come into force on Oct. 1. Mr Berdymukhamedov has said he wants a policy of import substitution.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
SEPT. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Members of Turkmenistan’s Council of Elders, an advisory body chaired by President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, have urged the government to charge people for using gas and water, media reported.
Free gas and water for people has been a cornerstone of society in Turkmenistan. Charging for it would be a major policy switch and may indicate that the economic turmoil that has has hit the region in the past year has had a heavy impact on Turkmenistan.
“Our people have, for many years, enjoyed unprecedented and unparalleled benefits, such as free water and gas. Given that today the standard of living has increased significantly, I believe it is time to abolish these benefits and introduce a fee,” official media quoted Gozel
Saparmyradova, a physics teacher and a member of the council, as saying.
She was backed up by Khudainazar Atageldiyev, described as a caterer.
“The new amendments to the Constitution will contribute to the development of the non-public sector of the economy,” he said.
Mr Berdymukhamedov was present at the meeting and had earlier delivered a speech in which he had showcased entrepreneurship in Turkmenistan. He didn’t mention the perilous state of the country’s economics nor charging for utilities.
But Mr Berdymukhamedov has previously used the Council of Elders to leak out policy changes and he may be considering charging for gas and water.
What impact this has on the population remains to be seen.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)
AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov visited Kabul and signed a series of deals with his Afghan counterparts, highlighting just how important he views improved relations between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
The bilateral deals were not particularly ground-breaking — two leaders agreed to share financial data more readily as well as improve improve cooperation in the energy and tech sectors — but the trip itself was important.
Although he is beginning to travel more and more, Mr Berdymukhamedov is not a particularly keen traveller so a high- profile meeting with Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in Kabul is eye-catching.
Mr Berdymukhamedov is worried about the northward march of the Taliban and stability in general in the country.
Earlier this year, reports surfaced which said that Turkmen soldiershadpositioned themselves inside Afghan territory after a series of attacks on their border posts by the Taliban.
Afghanistan is also now a partner in the so-called TAPI gas pipeline project which is planned to run from fields in the east of Turkmenistan to India.
Without stability in Afghanistan and a strong central government the project is likely to remain just a pipe dream.
Expect more Kabul-bound trips by Mr Berdymukhamedov.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Kyrgyzstan quoted reports from north Turkmenistan which said long queues were forming at petrol stations after rumours emerged that prices were going to rise. Petrol prices have risen across Central Asia because of a sharp fall in the value of local currencies.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
AUG. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a government meeting, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his ministers to investigate how they could pursue a more aggressive import substitution policy. This is a policy that Turkmenistan’s neighbours have also talked of introducing.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – According to reports from Turkmenistan the government has banned the import of cars with engines below 1,300cc. Since 2010, Turkmenistan has banned the import of cars with engines above 3,500cc.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
SEPT. 1/3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting just how important China has become to Central Asia, four out of five of the region’s leaders travelled to Beijing to watch a military parade designed to mark the 70th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II.
Trips to Beijing have become a regular part of the diplomatic land- scape for the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. China now regards the region almost as its personal backyard, seemingly striking bilateral deals and agreements through the Shanghai Cooperation OrganisatPion (SCO) at will.
And this week appears to have been no different. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Beijing a few days early to sign off on a handful of deals. On his website, akorda.kz, Mr Nazarbayev said that the deals, spanning a range of sectors, had been worth $23b.
“We have actively cooperated with China for more than 20 years, mainly in the energy sector and in extracting other raw materials,” he said.
“Yesterday during our constructive talks with President Xi Jinping we agreed to create 45 joint facilities, and agreements were signed on 25 of them worth a total of $23b.”
The details of these deals were vague but they covered a range of sectors from tourism to hydropower.
Mr Nazarbayev also congratulated Chinese President Xi on winning the 2022 Winter Olympic Games for Beijing in July ahead of Almaty.
Following on a few days behind him were the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Only Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s president, was missing. Also present were other leaders from neighbouring countries including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and South Korea’s Park Geun-hye.
With an economic downturn linked to Russia and a collapse in the price of oil, China has become an even more important driver of economic development in Central Asia and the SouthCaucasus.
At the end of last month, Kyrgyzstan officially opened a new power line funded by China that will improve electricity transit from the south of the country, where its hydro- power stations are sited, to the north and when Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov flew into Beijing its official media said bilateral trade had tripled in six years to around $5b.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
AUG. 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov travelled to Kabul to meet with Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, an important signifier that he wants to play a greater role in improving his neighbour’s stability. Turkmenistan has developed a handful of high profile projects with Afghanistan, including the TAPI pipeline that will pump gas to India.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)
AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Turkmenistan have stopped a prominent horse breeder who has fallen out of favour with senior officials from leaving the country, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. HRW said that Geldy Kyarizov and his family were barred from boarding a flight to Moscow where he was hoping to receive medical treatment.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)
AUG. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have picked Turkmengaz, the Turkmen national gas company, to lead the construction of the so-called TAPI pipeline which, they hope, will pump gas from Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 242, published on Aug. 7 2015)