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The Regions This Week
October 13, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eurasia
Turkey and Iran resolved to try and triple annual
bilateral trade to more than $30bn. Relations between Tehran and Ankara have intensified given their mutual opposition to the Iraqi Kurds' move towards independence and support for blockaded Qatar.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev cancelled his planned visit to Russia for a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit, citing the potential for violent riots ahead of the October 15 presidential election summit. Kyrgyzstan’s state security service (GKNB) detained an opposition lawmaker, Kanatbek Isayev, two weeks ahead
of the election for allegedly planning riots and a violent coup.
The Armenian national assembly passed a bill exempting arms imports from Russia from VAT. Armenia has contracted a $200mn loan from Rus- sia to buy weapons from the Russians.
Italy’s Azimut Group bought 20% of Mofid Secu- rities, one of Iran’s largest independent broker- age and financial advisory firms. It thus became the first globally recognised financial institution to buy a significant equity stake in an Iranian finan- cial firm.
Kazakh PM Bakytzhan Sagintayev fired Deputy Energy Minister Aset Magauov and deputy CEO of state energy firm KazMunayGaz Daniyar Ber- libayev for failing to ensure stable fuel supplies after Kazakhstan reported fuel shortages on the domestic market, causing long queues at petrol stations. One of the country's three refineries halt- ed production in September due to maintenance.
The Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance pledged to stay in Iran even if Washington re-imposes substantial sanctions against the country. Renault has seen a resurgence in sales in the Islamic Republic since relaunching in 2016. More than
60 Iranian automotive component companies will work to supply a new Renault-led JV.
Turkmenistan is to invest TMT159bn (€38.9bn) over seven years to get more out of the country’s hydrocarbons sector. The sector accounts for around 90% of the country's exports but has been hit by the oil price slump.
Uzbekistan is to launch a $92mn textile plant
in late 2018. The Central Asian nation, one of
the world’s largest cotton producers, intends to process all of its cotton domestically by 2020. It produces over 3mn tonnes of raw cotton and 1mn tonnes of cotton fibre annually. In 2016, Uzbekistan processed 40% of all cotton produced domesti- cally, compared to only 7% a quarter-century ago.
The IMF upped its 2017 growth projections for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in its latest World Economic Outlook. The former is now expected
to grow by 3.3% (up from 1% in 2016) compared to the previous forecast of 2.5%, while the lat-
ter is projected to reach 3.5% (down from 3.8% in 2016), 0.1 of a percentage point higher than previ- ously predicted.
Russian-made iOS and Android-compatible mobile ride-hailing app Maxim was quietly launched in Iran. A huge number of private ve- hicles and “shared taxis” operate in the country, with Tehran said to have 200,000 official and unof- ficial rides available on any given day.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) resolved that executive power
in Azerbaijan has disproportionate control over state institutions and recommended Baku release detainees "whose detention is reasonably doubt- ful" and allow for more freedom of assembly and extra-parliamentary opposition. Baku officials reacted by saying an orchestrated campaign to malign the country was underway.