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The Regions This Week
May 17, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Eurasia
As China continued to stifle its coal imports from Australia across the first quarter, Mongo- lia and Russia benefited from the developments in March, when they made up 15% and 13% of China’s share of coal imports, respectively. This was in line with earlier reported figures which revealed that Mongolia’s coal exports rose 15% y/y to 7.8mn tonnes in the first quarter.
The sixth largest Russian oil producer Tatneft signed an agreement with Uzbekistan’s state-run oil and gas company on conducting geological exploration in Uzbekistan. Uzbekneftegaz is also negotiating with Tatneft on enhanced oil recovery projects, the chairman of the board of Uzbekneft- egaz, Bakhodirjon Sidikov, said.
Several anti-government protesters were ar- rested in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan while websites and social media apps went dark on May 9 during the cele- bration of the 74th anniversary of the Allied victory against Nazi Germany in WWII. Many protesters are concerned at the lack of genuine opposition candidates in the upcoming June snap presiden- tial election.
A senior Iranian lawmaker said that the security of Gulf states is fragile, referencing explosions near Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates. “The explosions of Fujairah showed that the secu- rity of the south of the Persian Gulf is like glass,” Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, wrote on his Twitter account.
China is willing to work with Armenia on pos- sible aspects of its huge Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for modern trade infrastructure to inject new impetus into regional development cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said during an offi-
cial visit to Beijing paid by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
State-run Uzbek railway operator Uzbekistan Temir Yollari plans to update its fleet of elec- tric locomotives for a total value of $226.14mn, UzDaily news agency reported citing a recently approved government resolution. The ADB will provide a $170mn loan to Uzbekistan, while Uzbekistan will cover the remaining required $56.14mn with its own funds.
Prices of consumer goods and services in Azer- baijan rose 2.4% in the first four months of 2019, compared to the same period of 2018, the State Statistical Committee said. The biggest price rise recorded was for services, up 3.7%, while prices for food, beverages and tobacco products were up by 2.0%, and for non-food products by 1.2%.
Georgian pharmaceutical company PSP Group confirmed it is considering acquiring the network of GEO Hospital clinics. PSP Group has been operating on the Georgian market for 24 years.
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) is providing $10mn of financing to India-based international company Phoenix Fruits to set up greenfield fruit orchards near Almaty, Kazakhstan’s commercial capital.
FDI from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries flowing to Kyrgyzstan amounted to $2.4bn in 2018, up by 3% y/y, Kyrgyz Deputy Minister of Economy Eldar Abakirov said, during the third Kyrgyzstan-China – Analytical Dialogue forum. The SCO is a China-led intergovernmen- tal organisation which also boasts Russia, Uz- bekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as longstanding members, along with India and Pakistan which joined in 2017.