news roundup

News Roundup - April 9, 2008

energy:

Reuters: Kazakhstan imposes oil export duty from May

Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s top oil producer, will impose a crude export duty of $109.91 per tonne from May, a move likely to alarm potential newcomers to its energy business…

Forbes: KazMunaiGas EP warns of $800 mln hit from Kazakhstan oil tax

KazMunaiGas Exploration & Production, the Kazakh oil and gas producer, said it is expecting an $800 million hit from the new oil export tax introduced by the government of Kazakhstan…

mineral resources:

Reuters: Kazakhmys asks for “put-up shut-up” from ENRC

Kazakh copper producer Kazakhmys said on Tuesday it had asked UK takeover regulators for a so-called “put-up or shut-up” ruling to force rival Eurasian Natural Resources to make a firm takeover proposal or walk…

Financial Times: Kazakhmys demands ENRC answer

Kazakhmys on Tuesday went to the UK Takeover Panel to ask it to set a deadline by which fellow London-listed, Kazakhstan-based miner ENRC should say if it intended to bid for Kazakhmys…

business and investment:

Interfax: Foreign capital share in banking sector to be rising in 2008, FSA chief

This year we expect the share of the foreign capital in the Kazakhstan’s banking sector to grow, State Agency for Financial Supervision (FSA) chair Elena Bakhmutova said…

Kazinform: Kazakhstan predicts lowering of inflation to 5.5% - 7.5%

Bearing in mind the pursued policy of the well-balanced economic growth by 2013, the inflation rates are believed to drop to 5.5%-7.5%. The Ministry predicts also decline in unemployment from 7.5% in 2009 to 6.5% by 2013…

politics:

Economic Times: India, Kazakhstan to get into projects-specific mode in oil sector

Giving a major boost to their ties, India and Kazakhstan on Tuesday agreed to get into the “projects-specific” mode in various sectors like oil and natural gas and textiles…

Gazeta.KZ: Kazakhstan and India showed willingness to deepen cooperation in oil and gas field

Kazakhstan and India are intended to deepen cooperation in oil and gas field. Such agreement was reached today in the process of meeting of president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev with vice-president of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari…

The Georgian Times: Kazakhstan supports Georgia’s territorial sovereignty

Kazakhstan has become the pioneer to announce officially that lifting sanctions against the separatist in Abkhazia regime was incorrect…

Gazeta.KZ: Akylbek Kurishbayev is appointed as agriculture minister

Akylbek Kurishbayev is appointed as agriculture minister, who worked previously as vice-minister of this minister, agency reports…

Interfax: Almaty businessmen indignant at KNB resort to Nur Otan

Almaty businessmen claiming that officers of the National Security Committee (KNB) illegally prosecute them hope the nationwide council for suppression of corruption within the ruling party Nur Otan will help clinch the conflict…

The Oil and the Glory: The children of the autocrats

Last summer, Timur Kulibayev, Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, was fired from his position atop Samruk, the fund that invests the country’s oil earnings. Then, he vanished from the public eye…

Xinhua: Kazakhstan prime minister kicks off China tour

Kazakhstan Prime Minister Karim Masimov arrived here Wednesday morning, kicking off his four-day official visit to China…

religion:

Forum 18: Heavy sentences on Muslims “to discredit Islam and believers”?

Fifteen Muslims arrested in April 2007, held in pretrial detention for ten months and convicted at a secret trial in the southern city of Shymkent in late February have all been given heavy sentences on allegations of terrorism…

Neweurasia.net: Kazakh police wants cooperation with church

Ministry of Interior has put forward an initiative to involve Islam and Orthodox Christian church representatives in crime prevention activities, elucidation of the population and formation of the healthy life-style patterns…

regional news:

Journal of Turkish Weekly: EU and Central Asia: Tango or twist?

The big event this week would be the high profile meeting of EU and Central Asia in Ashgabat. When the meet ends on 10 April, it would possibly be clear whether it is a troika or triangle, tango or twist…

CNN Money: Major powers play energy tug-of-war in Central Asia

Central Asia is the scene of this powerplay. Europe is maneuvering to satisfy its energy needs while it cuts greenhouse gas emissions. China and India need the region’s reserves to quench their booming economies’ thirst for fuel…

EurasiaNet: Central Asia and Caucasus: Experiencing rapid growth - report

The economies of the post-Soviet Eurasian states are growing faster than Asia as a whole, and are suffering from higher-than-average inflation, according to a new report issued by the Asian Development Bank…

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