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The Regions This Week
February 23, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 10
Eurasia
Iran warned it may abandon its nuclear accord with world powers if the Trump administration continues to frighten off international banks and foreign investors from doing business with the Islamic Republic. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is not benefiting suffi- ciently from the lifting of crippling economic sanc- tions that the agreement delivered. Iran “cannot remain in a deal in which there is no benefit for us,” he said.
Kazakh mining company Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is reportedly planning to spin off and list some of its assets to help repay debt. Rothschild and Russian investment firm VTB Capital are said to be working on a plan to use the ferrochrome and energy assets of ERG (formerly ENRC) to pay off debt. VTB and Russia’s Sberbank were owed $5.8bn by ERG as of July 2016.
A leaked audio recording revealed Uzbek
Finance Minister Jamshid Qochqorov showing his “eagerness” to purge his ministry of "incompetent" old-guard "rats" on behalf of reform-minded President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The president has been targeting loyalists of the previous autocratic regime under the late Islam Karimov and surrounding himself with allies. "I'll carry out the president's order even if my blood comes out of my mouth," Qochqorov can be heard saying.
Kyrgyz lawmaker Damirbek Asylbek-uulu, arrest- ed by the Kazakh authorities over alleged illegal smuggling, "has nothing to do with the charges he is facing", Kyrgyz parliamentary members of the "Kyrgyzstan" party said in a statement.
Mongolia slipped to 103rd in Transparency Inter- national's Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 from 87th in 2016.
All 66 people on board an Aseman Airlines plane died when it crashed into Dena mountain in central Iran. The 20-year-old twin-propeller ATR
plane had been grounded on several previous oc- casions due to various faults.
The Turkmen government said construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline was all set to enter its Afghan stage.
Kazakhstan’s top copper miner KAZ Minerals is looking at potentially buying a majority stake
in the Baimskaya project. Baimskaya Mining Company, part of the Millhouse investment com- pany owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abram- ovich, is in charge of the development of deposits said to have tier-one copper asset potential.
Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Armenian national security service (NSS) chief Georgi Kutonyan, os- tensibly to strengthen the fight against terrorism and transnational crime.
TBC Bank, Georgia's largest lender, posted
a 35.1% y/y gain in underlying net profit to GEL369.2mn (€121.5mn) in 2017. The bank's stock, listed on the London Stock Exchange, deliv- ered an underlying return on equity of 21.4%.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadine- jad demanded “free” parliamentary and presi- dential elections and the dismissal of the coun- try’s judiciary chief in a Twitter outburst aimed
at the supreme leader. Ahmadinejad‘s 2009 re- election prompted huge unrest over vote rigging allegedly organised by his backers.
Tajikistan’s foreign debt surged 26.1% y/y to $2.9bn in 2017. The country's debt-to-GDP ratio moved up to 40.3%.
Uzbekistan‘s UZTRADE signed a $5mn contract to export melons to Europe on the sidelines of the Fruit Logistica 2018 international exhibition in Berlin.