JAN. 1 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has slashed its subsidies for petrol, despite a large drop in the cost of oil, media reported. Officials in Turkmenistan have previously said that they are looking to reduce various government subsidies. Reducing subsidies, especially for petrol, can generate resentment.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan plans to sell 200,000 tonnes of flour on the international market, media reported, part of its strategy to diversify its exports away from just oil and gas. Importantly, the sale may also help other Central Asian and South Caucasus countries suppress rising bread prices
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in India arrested three women, two from Turkmenistan and one from Uzbekistan, for being sex workers, the Times of India newspaper reported.
The newspaper reported that the number of women arrested from Central Asia who have been sex workers has increased over the past few years.
One of the Turkmen girls arrested said she had moved to Delhi four years ago to work as a translator but that sex work was far better paid. She said that she had been sent to work in different cities in India by middlemen.
India has become something of a magnet for women who end up either in the sex trade or adult slavery and Central Asia is a particularly strong recruiting ground.
“Experts estimate that millions of women and children are victims of sex trafficking in India,” a US State Department report this year said.
“A large number of Nepali, Afghan, and Bangladeshi females the majority of whom are children aged nine to 14 years old and women and girls from China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, the Philippines, and Uganda are
also subjected to sex trafficking in India.”
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The presidents of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran formally opened a railway line that will connect the three countries. At the event in Ashgabat, the leaders said that the railway line would increase trade between Central Asia and Iran and help ignite a new north-south Silk Road.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
DEC. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In talks ahead of a ceremony to mark the inauguration of a train line running from Kazakhstan to Iran via Turkmenistan, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev urged his Turkmen counterpart, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, to join the CIS Free Trade zone. Mr Berdymuakhamedov has been opening Turkmenistan to global trade.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan held municipal elections on Nov. 23 which, according to a blog post on the US-fund Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website, failed to generate much interest. The blog reported that although official turnout was 92.76%, it was difficult to find people who had voted.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A new railway running from Kazakhstan, through Turkmenistan to Iran will open on Dec. 3, Iran’s minister for urban development, Abbas Akhoundi, said. The route is an important part of a new north-south Silk Road. Turkmenistan wants to encourage trade across its territories.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani media reported on yet another trip to Ashgabat by the head of Socar, Azerbaijan’s oil and gas company, Rovnag Abdullayev.
Mr Abdullayev was in Ashgabat for the opening of major gas conference. It’s an important time for Azerbaijan- Turkmenistan relations because Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has agreed to sign up to a new pipeline running from Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, to Europe.
Visits by Mr Abdullayev to Ashgabat may appear fairly routine but each trip brings the two countries closer together.
Europe sees Turkmen gas as critical for reducing its reliance on Russian energy and considers the pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to central Europe to be the easiest way to supply the gas.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian energy company ENI said it had signed a deal with Turkmenistan to extend its operations in the country.
The deal is important for ENI because it has been criticised for its operations in Kazakhstan, particularly its running of the delayed and over budget Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. By extending its presence in Turkmenistan, something that the company has been working on all year, ENI underlines its commitment to Central Asia.
At a signing ceremony alongside Italian PM Matteo Renzi, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that ENI had agreed a deal to extend one onshore production sharing agreement and three offshore exploration areas.
“We have come to a conclusion that there must be an active investment ideology present in our countries’ relations,” he said without giving any more terms of the deals.
China is Turkmenistan’s main gas client but Europe is also becoming more important. Earlier this month it signed a deal with a consortium building a pipeline from Baku to central Europe. This pipeline will deliver Turkmen gas to central Europe for the first time.
Turkmenistan is estimated to hold the world’s fourth largest gas reserves.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have set up a company to develop the so called TAPI gas pipeline that they plan to build, media reported. Establishing a company is another step towards building the 1,800km pipeline. All four countries own an equal share in the company.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)