JAN. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – It may, at times, feel slow, but Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is opening up Turkmenistan. Media reported that he has instructed one of his ministers to study entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for Turkmenistan, which has a reputation for being one of the most closed and repressive countries in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 121, published on Jan. 25 2013)
JAN. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s autocratic president, sacked the head of the state’s natural gas company in a government reshuffle, media reported. Gas is Turkmenistan’s biggest income earner. Sahatmyrad Mammedov had headed Turkmengaz for less than a year.
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(News report from Issue No. 120, published on Jan. 18 2013)
JAN. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s autocratic president, sacked the head of the state’s natural gas company in a government reshuffle, media reported. Gas is Turkmenistan’s biggest income earner. Sahatmyrad Mammedov had headed Turkmengaz for less than a year.
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(News report from Issue No. 120, published on Jan. 18 2013)
DEC. 19 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s official Fars news agency reported that senior energy officials had visited their Turkmen counterparts in Ashgabat to discuss increasing gas imports from Turkmenistan. Despite occasional rows over payments, Turkmenistan has steadily increased gas exports to Iran over the past few years. The Fars report may be a sign that more is to come.
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(News report from Issue No. 118, published on Dec. 28 2012)
DEC. 7 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – It is dry, that’s for sure, but Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index is also a decent benchmark of how countries are dealing with corruption in their systems — an issue that foreign investors, local businessmen, politicians and economists follow closely.
The 2012 edition makes for interesting reading on Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
Topping the table for the region is, again, Georgia at 51st place in the 176 country list. Armenia is next at 105th position, alongside the likes of the Philippines and Mexico.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan occupy 133 position with Russia and then follows Kyrgyzstan (154) and Tajikistan (157). Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan prop up the table in 170th position. Behind them lie only Somalia, North Korea, Sudan, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
And the big changes from last year? Well, Georgia continues to rise through the ranks, it was placed in 64th position last year, and Armenia has also jumped forward, from 129th in 2011. Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan have also improved their rankings, slightly.
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have remained fairly consistent.
By comparison, though, the biggest faller from the Central Asia and South Caucasus region was Kazakhstan which fell 13 places in the rankings from 120th position in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 116, published on Dec. 7 2012)
DEC. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US has increased by 700% the amount it spends in Central Asia buying supplies for its forces in Afghanistan, data supplied by Pentagon and published by Eurasianet showed. The biggest beneficiary of the total $1.3b expenditure over the past fiscal year was Turkmenistan with an $820m income.
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(News report from Issue No. 116, published on Dec. 7 2012)
NOV. 26 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Touted as an emerging superpower, India has still appeared sluggish in exerting its influence over Central Asia.
India’s moves in the region had been either incremental, such as talks with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on military cooperation, or long term, such as the TAPI pipeline which will, if everything goes to plan, pump gas from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan and Pakistan to India.
This week, though, India took a giant leap forward in cementing real influence in the region. US energy company ConocoPhillips said it intended to sell its 8.4% stake in the Kashagan oil field development project not to Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas but to India’s state-run ONGC.
This is significant as KazMunaiGas would have had the first option to buy the stake. Instead, KazMunaiGas appears to have stood aside to allow ONGC in, although this could still change. It’s going to cost ONGC a reported $5b but with it comes significant influence. Kashagan is Kazakhstan’s most high-profile and prestigious energy project.
Websites have also reported that India wants to invest directly into Turkmenistan’s gas fields. If confirmed, this would be more evidence of India’s stirring ambition in the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)
NOV. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov flew to Yerevan for talks with his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan. Media reported that the talks were to concentrate on bilateral cooperation. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said Turkmenistan may agree to supply Armenia with electricity via Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)
NOV. 22 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media quoted Sahatmurad Mamedov, chairman of state energy company Turkmengaz, denying that Turkmenistan had cut gas supplies to Iran because of a pricing dispute, as reported last week by Iranian media. Instead Mr Mamedov said gas had been stopped to fix the pipeline and that the flow had now re-started.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
NOV. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Turkmen official told Reuters that production at the world’s second largest gas field, Galkynysh, would begin next year. Galkynysh was confirmed as the world’s second largest gas field last year and, when production begins, will cement Turkmenistan’s status as one of the region’s most important energy producers.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)