October 6, 2014 This is bne's Eurasia daily newsletter, a list of the top stories from the country. You can receive the list as a plain text or html email or as a pdf file. Manage your delivery options here:http://businessneweurope.eu/users/subs.php Eurasia TOP STORY 1. TeliaSonera's Kazakh unit loses two chief officers 2. Kazakhstan expecting oil production decline by 2017 3. Turkmenistan seeking to boost electricity exports to Iran 4. EBRD steps up support for EM, to invest 8.5bn euros in region Eurasia Kazakhstan 5. S&P upgrades outlook on Kazakhstan's Kazakhtelecom 6. Kazakhstan to channel $5.5bn from oil fund to support economy 7. Samruk-Kazynaís transformation will help domestic companies to achieve the best performance - Nazarbayev 8. Samruk-Kazyna transformation programís economic benefit to reach $11bn On the website today 9. Romanian president adds to pressure for Microsoft scandal investigation 10. Russia's online retail revenues to grow by a quarter this year 11. Ruble crosses rubicon of 40 to the dollar Eurasia Macro 12. Central bank says Armenian GDP grows 3.8% in Q3 Eurasia Other Central Asia 13. Projects worth $163m implemented in Uzbek industrial zone 14. Chinese company, employees of which beat Kyrgyz policeman in Bishkek, deprived of license 15. Tajikistan blocks access to 300 websites 16. Tajikistan harvests over 206,000 tonnes of cotton 17. Uzbekistan among World's 50 most populous countries Eurasia Caucasus 18. Human rights abuses in Azerbaijan too blatant to cover up ñ opinions 19. Mistrust growing between banks, people in Armenia 20. Armenia's accession to CU may be signed in Minsk next week 21. Eurasian countries share 97% of Iran’s import 22. Georgia Ready to Begin Reconciliation With Abkhazians, Ossetians 23. Georgia, Moldova to sign new deal Eurasia TOP STORY 1. TeliaSonera's Kazakh unit loses two chief officers Naubet Bisenov in Almaty October 3, 2014 The chief executive and chief financial officer of Kcell, a subsidiary of TeliaSonera of Sweden, have both resigned, following the opening of a probe into some of the contracts of Kazakhstan's largest mobile operator. Kcell said on October 1 that Chief Financial Officer Baurzhan Ayazbayev had resigned, a day after Chief Executive Officer Ali Agan resigned from his post. Agan's resignation was announced on September 12. On September 29, Kcell announced that certain contracts the company had concluded with external suppliers had been made in breach of internal procedures and policies. "In connection with this, the board of directors has opened a probe into these contracts and procedures to conclude them involving internal and external resources," the statement said. Read more here: http://www.bne.eu/content/story/teliasoneras-kazakh-unit-losestwo-chief-officers 2. Kazakhstan expecting oil production decline by 2017 Azernews October 3, 2014 Kazakhstan's bid to become one of the world's top oil producers has been blown off course by the disaster unfolding around the giant offshore Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea, which may not come back on stream until 2017 -- more than 10 years later than initially planned, sources close to the project say. "Kazakh officials admit that until Kashagan finally starts up, oil production will remain stuck at around 1.6 million barrels per day and may even decline as levels drop off at mature onshore fields. The delays leave a big hole in the Kazakh budget, which had been based around abundant oil flows from the 9 billion barrel reservoir," International Oil Daily reported. Read more here: http://www.azernews.az/region/71520.html 3. Turkmenistan seeking to boost electricity exports to Iran Kazinform October 6, 2014 Turkmenistan is seeking to boost electricity exports to Iran. Turkmen Vice Prime Minister Murad Artykov has proposed the Turkmen government a plan, according to which Turkmenistan will increase electricity exports to Iran, Iranís Fars news agency reported on October 5. The Iranian embassy in Ashgabat has confirmed the report. Read more here: http://en.trend.az/iran/business/2319215.html 4. EBRD steps up support for EM, to invest 8.5bn euros in region EBRD October 6, 2014 Sir Suma Chakrabarti delivering his speech to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is responding vigorously in support of emerging countries that are continuing to face persistent economic challenges, EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said. The President told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg the Bank was investing strongly across its countries of operations. He expected the EBRD to deliver financing of €8.5 billion in 2014 in projects that had a clear impact on the people of the region and which changed their lives for the better. The President noted that the countries where the EBRD worked were being negative affected by current geopolitical tensions. Russia was facing stagnation, with the slowdown having a knock on impact on other eastern European and central Asian countries. Ukraine’s economy was contracting sharply. “The EBRD is reacting to these economic challenges,” Sir Suma told the Assembly. The Bank was ramping up its support for Ukraine, boosting its investments, including returning to the public sector. Elsewhere the EBRD was assessing how it could provide additional support. Read more here: http://www.ebrd.com/pages/news/press/2014/141002a.shtml Eurasia Kazakhstan 5. S&P upgrades outlook on Kazakhstan's Kazakhtelecom Kazinform October 3, 2014 Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Kazakhstan's Kazakhtelecom JSC to positive and affirmed the 'BB' long-term corporate credit rating, the rating agency reported. The national scale rating on Kazakhtelecom was raised to 'kzA+' from 'kzA'. Read more here: http://inform.kz/eng/article/2703142 6. Kazakhstan to channel $5.5bn from oil fund to support economy Kazinform July , 2014 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has decreed to allocate KZT1,000bn from the National to support the economy. The money will be divided into two tranches of KZT500bn. Read more here: http://inform.kz/eng/article/2644605 7. Samruk-Kazynaís transformation will help domestic companies to achieve the best performance - Nazarbayev Kazinform October 6, 2014 Transformation Program of "Samruk-Kazyna" JSC aims at bringing domestic companies to the world's best performance, this has been stated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev opening the forum of Samruk-Kazyna's transformation. Nursultan Nazarbayev said that at present there are some companies including "Kaz Munay Gas", "Air Astana" and "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" which performance is close to the best, at least among CIS. Read more here: http://inform.kz/eng/article/2703543 8. Samruk-Kazyna transformation programís economic benefit to reach $11bn Kazinform October 6, 2014 The economic effect of the transformation program of "Samruk-Kazyna" is estimated at USD 11 billion, the press service of the company reports. Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev is expected to participate in a forum on Samruk-Kazyna JSC's transformation in Astana today. The transformation program was developed by the Foundation in collaboration with international consultants. It aims to become one of the key tools for achieving the goal set out in "Kazakhstan2050" Strategy on entering the top 30 developed countries. Read more here: http://inform.kz/eng/article/2703494 On the website today 9. Romanian president adds to pressure for Microsoft scandal investigation Clare Nuttall in Bucharest October 6, 2014 Romanian President Traian Basescu has given his support to an investigation into former ministers who are suspected of siphoning off funds when buying software for schools. The investigation is being held back by rules giving immunity to parliament members, since four of the nine minsters under suspicion are serving MPs. Romania's outgoing president said October 3 that he had given his approval for prosecutors to open a criminal investigation against five former ministers suspected in the case. ìI think this case should be investigated as quickly as possible to its conclusion,î Basescu said in ahttp://www.presidency.ro/?_RID=det&tb=date&id=15255&_PRID=lazistatement</ a> on the presidential website. ì[F]rom my point of view the investigation can continue, and I think any delay is harmful to the credibility of Parliament.î Read more here: http://www.bne.eu/content/story/romanian-president-addspressure-microsoft-scandal-investigation 10. Russia's online retail revenues to grow by a quarter this year bne October 6, 2014 Russian online retail revenues will grow by more than a quarter (28%) this year to RUB700bn, according a report from the Internet Commerce Companies Association (AKIT), reports PRIME. Russia's internet is the most dynamic part of the economy by far and currently the only part growing strongly. Russians have taken to the internet like fish to salt water as the internet has solved one of Russia's historically most difficult problems: the fact that the country is so enormous. Perhaps it is unsurprising that already the biggest users of e-commerce services are those people who live in remote regions such as Siberia. Unencumbered by distance, the internet allows retailers based anywhere in the country to reach everybody else ñ the 143m people in Russia and some 300m Russian-speaking people ñ at the click of a mouse button. Russia already leads the rest of Europe in terms of the absolute number of people online, some 70m at the last count. Read more here: http://www.bne.eu/content/story/russias-online-retail-revenuesgrow-quarter-year 11. Ruble crosses rubicon of 40 to the dollar bne October 6, 2014 The value of the dollar topped the psychologically important mark of 40 rubles at the opening of trading on the Moscow exchange on October 6, a new historic low in the ongoing slide of the ruble. The dollar exchange rate jumped by 5 kopecks to hit 40.0535 rubles. The ruble exchange rate had already come under heavy pressure on October 3, with the Central Bank (CBR) believed to have spent at least $700m supporting the currency. The ruble dropped from RUB44.40 to RUB44.50 against the dual currency Euro-dollar basket used by the central bank to control the value of the ruble, prompting the central bank to raise the upper limit of the trading corridor by 10 kopecks to Rub44.5 on October 6, for the first time since May. "We believe that the strong move in the exchange rate last week was due to the lack of FX sellers, exacerbated by rumours of capital controls that were reignited last week," wrote Alfa Bank's Dmitry Dolgin. "The thin market renders the exchange rate vulnerable to any negative news flow, global or local, despite the current account surplus, which we believe to be high due to falling imports," he added. Read more here: http://www.bne.eu/content/story/ruble-crosses-rubicon-40-dollar Eurasia Macro 12. Central bank says Armenian GDP grows 3.8% in Q3 ARKA October 3, 2014 TArmeniaís Central Bank estimated the economic growth as of late September at 3.8 percent attributing it to what it described as ësome economic recovery.î According to a regulatorís press release, this estimation was made at a meeting of its Board on Sept. 23. †The economic growth at the end of the second quarter was 2.6 percent. "The acceleration of economic growth in the third quarter was largely contributed by a larger-than-expected growth in the agricultural sector amid passivity in the industrial sector from the beginning of the year", the press release says. Read more here: http://arka.am/en/news/economy/central_bank_says_armenian_gdp_grows_3_8_pe rcent_in_third_quarter/ Eurasia Other Central Asia 13. Projects worth $163m implemented in Uzbek industrial zone Uzdaily October 6, 2014 Committee of international affairs and inter-parliamentary relations of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan organized a roundtable ìDevelopment of investment cooperation at special industrial zone ìAngrenî on 2 October 2014. Representatives of Oliy Majlis, Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade, directorate of SIZ Angren, Center for logistics ìAngrenî, ministries and departments participated in the roundtable. Read more here: http://www.uzdaily.com/articles-id-29477.htm 14. Chinese company, employees of which beat Kyrgyz policeman in Bishkek, deprived of license Kabar October 5, 2014 The Chinese company, 10 employees of which on 1 October beat policeman in Bishkek, has been deprived of license to employ foreigners. The Ministry of Labour, Youth and Migration in Kyrgyzstan reports. "On October 3, 2014 an interdepartmental commission to issue permits to involve foreign labor force at the initiative of the 10th Main Directorate of Ministry of Internal Affairs has withdrawn permission of ´Zhuo Yueª Investment Company LLC to hire foreign labor. Read more here: http://kabar.kg/eng/society/full/11090 15. Tajikistan blocks access to 300 websites AKIpress October 6, 2014 About 300 websites were blocked in Tajikistan over the past days, local media reported. It was reported that the northern region of Tajikistan left without access to the Internet on Sunday, it was available in only two providers via ADSL-modem; Internet via mobile 3G-modem was completely unavailable. Read more here: http://www.akipress.com/news:549000/ 16. Tajikistan harvests over 206,000 tonnes of cotton AKIpress October 4, 2014 Cotton growers of Tajikistan have harvested 206,364 tons of raw cotton as of October 3, the Ministry of Agriculture reports. The collected amount comprises 50 percent of the preliminary forecast of 408,000 tons of raw cotton this year. Read more here: http://www.akipress.com/news:548965/ 17. Uzbekistan among World's 50 most populous countries AKIpress October 6, 2014 Uzbekistan is among the top 50 most populous countries in the world, according to the Uzbek State Statistics Committee. Uzbekistan holds 42nd place with population of 30.5 million, the East Time reports. According to the State Statistics Committee, 51% of population (15.55 million people) of Uzbekistan is living in cities and 49% (14.937 million people) in rural areas. The density of population makes up 67.9 persons per square kilometer as of January 1, 2014. Read more here: http://www.akipress.com/news:549012/ Eurasia Caucasus 18. Human rights abuses in Azerbaijan too blatant to cover up ñ opinions Tert.am October 6, 2014 The United Statesí concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in Azerbaijan is linked to the new wave of abuses by that countryís ruling regime, says an Armenian political analyst. ìThe situation has become gruesome to such a dgree that it has caused not only different US politicians but also President Barack Obama to make calls for blacklisting countries like Azerbaijan as an autocratic country,î Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan told Tert.am, commenting on the recent statements by the United States and the Council of Europeís Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). Read more here: http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/10/06/qaxaqagetner/ 19. Mistrust growing between banks, people in Armenia Azernews October 3, 2014 The ongoing economic crisis in Armenia has taken its toll on the banking system of the country. This has created a serious problem for the banks of the former Soviet state. Armenia's Central Bank has ruled out the possibility of reducing the interest rates for loans. Bank's Deputy President Nerses Yeritsyan said they could not decide on such a measure unless the population is ready to invest at lower rates. Read more here: http://www.azernews.az/aggression/71521.html 20. Armenia's accession to CU may be signed in Minsk next week BelTA October 6, 2014 The agreement on the accession of Armenia to the Customs Union (CU) may be signed in Minsk next week, BelTA learned from member of the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergei Rumas on 2 October. Read more here: http://eng.belta.by/all_news/politics/Agreement-on-Armeniasaccession-to-CU-may-be-signed-in-Minsk-nextweek_i_76163.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co 21. Eurasian countries share 97% of Iran’s import Azernews October 6, 2014 The Eurasian countries shared 96.98% of Iran's imports during the first six months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22). Tehran imported some 13.133m metric tons of goods, worth $20.271bn from Asian countries during that period, said the Iranian Customs Administration's latest monthly report released on Oct. 2. The report said the mentioned amount is 43.19 and 33.42% more in terms of volume and value respectively, compared the 6-month period of last year. The European countries exported over 5.178m metric tons of goods, worth $4.962bn to Iran. Read more here: http://www.azernews.az/region/71568.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twit terfeed 22. Georgia Ready to Begin Reconciliation With Abkhazians, Ossetians RIA Novosti October 6, 2014 Georgia wants to begin the process of "real" reconciliation with Abkhazians and Ossetians, said the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, commenting on the decision by Abkhazian President Raul Khadjimba to close five crossing points on border with Georgia. "Yesterday a new initiative has been voiced by de-facto authorities of Abkhazia. In that respect I would like to note, that since we came to power, we have voiced our intention and readiness to begin the process of real reconciliation with our Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers," Garibashvili told reporters. He has referred to the Abkhazian initiative as "unwise" and noted that such a step might worsen the lives of the locals. On Friday Raul Khadjimba said that the border with Georgia must be strengthened and that only one crossing point should continue functioning. In May 2013 Abkhazia added five additional crossing points to its main crossing point via the bridge across the Ingur River. The people of Gali district are allowed to cross the border, upon showing their Abkhazian or old Soviet passports, or equivalent documents. Abkhazia broke away from Georgia, following an ethnically tinged war in 1992-1993, just after the Soviet Union collapsed. In the first half of August 2008, after the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, South Ossetia and Abkhazia appealed to Russia to recognize their independence from Georgia. On August 26, 2008, Russia's then-President Dmitry Medvedev, taking into account the free will of the South Ossetian and Abkhazian peoples and guided by the UN Charter, the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States, the 1975 OSCE Helsinki Final Act and other fundamental international documents, signed the executive orders on the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In response to Russia's decision to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia severed diplomatic relations with Moscow and declared the two Caucasian republics occupied territories. Early in September Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said Georgia plans to return the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by peaceful means. 23. Georgia, Moldova to sign new deal AzerNews October 6, 2014 Georgia, Moldova to sign agreement on readmission of persons residing without permission as Georgian Interior Minister Alexander Chikaidze is on his first official visit to Moldova, the Georgian ministry reported. The visit will last until October 7. Read more here: http://www.azernews.az/region/71566.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twit terfeed