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Central Asia / Siberia
NEWSLINE: Central Asia, Transcaucasia and RussiaRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
First Azerbaijani oil reaches Georgian Black Sea terminal
The first Azerbaijani off-shore Caspian oil to be exported via the western export pipeline via Georgia reached Supsa on 11 March, three months after it was pumped into the pipeline at Baku, AP and Interfax reported. The 812-kilometer pipeline has a throughput capacity of 5 million metric tons annually. Caucasus Press on11 March quoted Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Valerii Chechelashvili as saying that disagreements over financing are delaying a decision on construction of the so-called Main Export Pipeline from Baku to the Turkish terminal at Ceyhan. Chechelashvili added that the precise route of that pipeline through Georgia has not yet been decided and that it may run from Baku to Supsa and from there to Ceyhan. (Liz Fuller)
Foreign companies cut production in Turkmen oilfields
According to London's International Oil Exchange, the U.S.'s Mobil, Britain's Monument Oil, and Ireland's Dragon Oil will cut the volume of work at Turkmen deposits by 50 percent, ITAR-TASS reported on 12 March. The reason is reportedly the high cost of extraction and transportation of the oil from the east coast of the Caspian Sea. The same agency cites London brokers as saying Mobil and Monument want the Turkmen government to change the terms of development at the Garashyzlyk field and offer a more advantageous tax regime. Dragon Oil also wants the terms revised for work at the Chelken field. (Bruce Pannier)
Kazakh environmentalist favors caviar over oil
Ibragim Kushenov, the leader of Kazakhstan's Kaspi Tabigaty environmental organization, told a press conference in Almaty on 10 March that the extraction of oil from the Caspian Sea could cause an environmental disaster, Interfax reported. Kushenov said that under the Law on Specially Protected Territories, adopted in 1997, the northern section of the Caspian Sea and the Ural River have the status of nature preserve, which gives fishing priority over oil extraction. Kushenov pointed out that sturgeon live in the north part of the Caspian and that ''one ton of black caviar produced by the Atyraubalyk company costs an average of $1.2 million on the world market. One ton of oil costs only $60.'' (B.P.)
Iranian official criticizes trans-Caspian project
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi was in Ashgabat on 11 March to attend the Oil and Gas Exhibit-1999, ITAR-TASS reported. Speaking at the exhibit, Majedi said an Iranian pipeline route carrying Turkmen natural gas to Turkey would cost $700 million less than the construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline. The previous day, Majedi had said in Tehran that his country opposes Turkmenistan's plan to lay a natural gas pipeline across the bed of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan. Majedi said ''Iran has a common border with Turkmenistan - it is the best and cheapest route for Turkmen gas.'' Majedi criticized the decision to begin construction of the pipeline before the legal status of the Caspian has been defined. Majedi added that Turkmenistan's ''ignoring of Tehran's rightful misgivings'' was unacceptable. (B.P.)
Kyrgyzstan to reinforce its southern border
First Deputy Defense Minister Major-General Ismail Isakov announced on 11 March that Kyrgyzstan will send additional troops to its borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Interfax reported. Isakov said the situation there ''compels us to come to grips with border reinforcement,'' but he did not elaborate. With regard to the recent decision to withdraw the Kyrgyz battalion from the CIS peacekeeping force in Tajikistan, Isakov said it has ''become economically difficult'' to unilaterally maintain the unit along the Tajik-Afghan border. It is unclear whether the unit that guarded the Tajik-Afghan border will be sent to the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. (B.P.)
Kyrgyz parliament discusses alleged Uzbek encroachment
Lawmakers met behind closed doors on 12 March to discuss claims that Uzbekistan has been advancing its borders into Kyrgyz territory, RFE/RL correspondents in Bishkek reported. Defense Minister General Myrzakan Subanov told parliament that since 1996 Uzbekistan has built 27 new fortified border posts along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border. Also, Uzbekistan has deployed a special unit to guard the Kempirabad reservoir, which straddles the countries' common border. Subanov added that Uzbekistan's national army has 130,000 troops, making it the largest army in CIS Central Asia. The parliament decided to appeal to President Askar Akayev to set up a special commission to investigate the issue. (B.P.)
Globalization and the Great Silk Road
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, in an article published in ''Nezavisimaya gazeta'' on 10 March, wrote about the ''diplomacy of the Silk Road,'' noting that international community supports the revival of the ancient route and that Kyrgyzstan lies at the center of it. But, he said, dynamic development is necessary but is impossible without friendly ties between the countries located on the route. His country foresees development in three directions - toward immediate neighbors, toward Europe, and toward East and Southeast Asia. He said the principles of cooperation and ''equal partnership'' with regard to the new Silk Road should be ''mutual dependence, mutual advantage, and development of long-term perspectives.'' Akayev noted that at the end of the 20th century, ''globalization'' is an indisputable fact. No country, regardless of ''military or economic power,'' can exist in isolation, he commented. (B.P.)
Kyrgyz currency slides . . .
Kyrgyzstan's national currency, the som, was trading on 11 March at 32.7 to $1, RFE/RL correspondents in Bishkek reported. The som was exchanged at 30.5 to $1 at the start of March. (B.P.)
. . . While gold production dwindles
Kyrgyzstan's biggest gold company, Kyrgyzaltyn, said gold production dropped in the first two months of 1999, Interfax reported on 11 March. The company noted an 8.3 percent drop, compared with the same period last year. The major reason is a decrease in production at the country's largest mining project, Kumtor. The Kumtor Gold Company, in which Canada's Cameco Corp. is a partner, reported a 9.4 percent decline in production in January-February. Kumtor produced 19.2 tons of gold in 1998, up 25 percent on the previous year. Kyrgyzaltyn reported it produced 21.311 tons of gold last year. (B.P.)
Former Azeri Speaker denies planning assassination
In a statement summarized on 11 March by Turan, Rasul Guliev rejects allegations by Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry that he enlisted the advice of a former CIA employee to plan the assassination of former Azerbaijani President Abulfaz Elchibey (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 3 and 8 March 1999). Guliev termed the charges part of ''a series of threats and intimidation'' directed against the Azerbaijani opposition as a whole. He added that he and Elchibey are ''united in [their] refusal to recognize the results'' of the 1998 presidential poll, in which incumbent Heidar Aliev was re-elected for a second term. Guliev and Elchibey were among five prominent opposition leaders who boycotted the poll. (L.F.)
Russia needs IMF agreement, says Primakov
Shortly before new talks started with the IMF mission in Moscow on 12 March, Russian Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov told reporters that Russia ''needs an agreement with the IMF, but that does not mean that this will be the main pillar of support for the domestic economy.'' Primakov also called for stronger central control over local spending. Meanwhile, sources at the IMF told RFE/RL's Washington bureau that Russia will have to get an amended budget through the State Duma if there is to be any chance of reopening the fund's lending programs. The Duma, however, is likely to oppose such an effort. Ekho Moskvy reported that legislators passed in the third reading a bill reducing value-added tax as of 1 July just one day after Prime Minister Primakov asked legislators to refrain from making any decision on when the cut would take effect. (Julie A. Corwin)
U.S. food aid arrives in Russia
The first batch of U.S. food assistance - 48 containers of green-pea seeds intended for farmers in the northern and central areas of Russia - arrived in St. Petersburg on 11 March, ITAR-TASS reported. According to ''Trud'' the same day, a special Russian government decree lays out how the food will be distributed to each federation subject. For example, Moscow will receive 360,000 tons of wheat, 10,000 tons of rice, and 40,000 tons of beef. Most of the food assistance from the U.S. and EU will go to Komi Republic, Primorskii and Khabarovsk Krais, and Kemerovo, Kamchatka, and Smolensk Oblasts, the newspaper reported. (J.A.C.)
Moscow suggests barter to reduce foreign debt
Deputy Finance Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told ITAR-TASS on 12 March that Russia wants to pay off part of its foreign debt with goods. According to Kasyanov, the government of Italy has already expressed ''a general interest in the plan,'' while similar proposals were discussed with the German government during Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's visit to Moscow and during the meeting of deputy finance ministers of G-7 and G-25 countries in Bonn on 11 March. Kasyanov added that ''the talk is not about raw materials. We want Russian equipment to be bought.'' (J.A.C.)
Shares rise with oil prices, IMF talks
Russian share prices on 11 March rose to their highest level since the onset of the economic crisis last August, with the benchmark RTS index soaring 7.55 percent. Analysts suggest the increase is due to optimism about upcoming IMF talks and upward trends in oil prices, the ''Moscow Times'' reported on 12 March. According to the newspaper, the market's regulator, the Federal Securities Commission, is facing new legal challenges to its authority. On 11 March, a Moscow court ruled that the commission exceeded its powers when it ruled last August to ban the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange from trading in derivatives. Next week, the Moscow Central Stock Exchange will appeal to the Supreme Court, asking it to declare all the commission's rulings since 1 July 1996 invalid because they were not published in an official newspaper, as required by a 1996 presidential decree. (J.A.C.)
Confusion over CIS chief's status
Boris Berezovskii told Interfax on 11 March that reports he has resigned as CIS executive secretary are ''a lie and a provocation.'' Earlier that day, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus Press quoted the Georgian presidential press service as stating that President Yeltsin had informed his Georgian counterpart, Eduard Shevardnadze, the previous day that Berezovskii submitted his resignation on 9 March. Berezovskii said that he merely requested Yeltsin's permission to take a vacation. He added that only the Council of CIS Heads of State , which appointed him as executive secretary, is empowered to remove him from that post. (L.F.)
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March 16, 1999
