KABUL (TCA) — Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) says the trade volume between Afghanistan and Iran is increasing but US sanctions on Tehran may affect trade relations between the two neighboring countries, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.

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ASTANA (TCA) — Within the framework of the Astana Economic Forum last week, Saparbek Tuyakbaev, the chairman of Kazakh Invest national company for investment support and promotion, signed memorandums of cooperation with the investment fund Da Vinci Capital, companies ReEN Partners Joint Venture and As Asia, and an agreement with the Kazakh-Slovenian Business Club, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.

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ASTANA (TCA) — A coalition of 26 international press freedom organizations has called on Kazakhstan authorities to review recent civil and criminal actions taken against two popular independent media outlets and revise legislation used to silence the media, RFE/RL reported.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — The modernization of Bishkek’s heat and power plant by a Chinese company has led to a scandal and a corruption case in Kyrgyzstan, which has involved several high-ranking officials. We are republishing this article on the issue, written by Nurjamal Djanibekova, originally published by Eurasianet:

What should a pair of pliers cost?

Questions like these are at the heart of an ongoing parliamentary inquiry in Kyrgyzstan on the recent contentious modernization of a power plant in the capital.

The hearings, which were occasioned by a cataclysmic breakdown at the plant in January, have revived a political scandal that is threatening to engulf a raft of top officials from a previous ruling administration and are raising questions about the nation’s relations with China.

Bishkek thermal power plants, or TETs, as it is known universally in its Russian-language acronym, keeps the city habitable. As well as providing electricity, it also pumps heated water into apartments. The Soviet-built facility dating to the 1960s had long been in need of a spruce-up, however.

It was only in recent years that there was any firm progress on the renovation. China’s government would lend large sums of cash to fund it, but with one catch. Beijing would get to choose who would do the work.

A precedent for this model was set by a project to build the Datka-Kemin high-voltage power line, which joined power grids in the north and south of Kyrgyzstan in 2015. The state-run Exim Bank of China lent $389 million — at 2 percent annual interest to be paid back within 20 years — and the work was done by a company called Tebian Electric Apparatus (TBEA).

When the line was completed, TBEA began to look around for other contracts in Kyrgyzstan’s energy sector, which is how the TETs deal happened.

Lobbying for China?

The parliamentary inquiry on TETs that began on May 10 has a few broad goals. One is to understand specifically how the modernization contract was doled out. Another is whether shortcomings in the work are what caused the breakdown in January that left around 200,000 homes heatless for about five days just as temperatures outside had dropped to almost -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit).

Among the people summoned to give testimony in parliament were the recently fired prime minister, Sapar Isakov, and two former occupants of that office, Jantoro Satybaldiyev and Temir Sariyev. All were somehow involved the TETs reconstruction initiative.

Much of the indignation has centered on the fact that the government not only appears never to have considered alternative contractors to TBEA, but that it even rejected other options out of hand. The contract was not put out for tender. Lawmakers have heard how another Chinese company, China Machinery Engineering Company, or CMEC, had offered to do the same work for $30 million cheaper.

Blame for this is being placed at the feet of Isakov, a 40-year-old whose rapid rise through the ranks ended with an even-more rapid fall last month, when he was fired as premier by lawmakers. In one of his jobs before being appointed prime minister in August 2017, Isakov was the presidential administration’s point-man on foreign investments.

Speaking in parliament, Isakov said it was the Chinese government that had demanded TBEA be exclusively granted the TETs contract and that no credit would be forthcoming otherwise.

“There is a lot of inaccurate information around about [supposed] lobbying for this agreement. The choice of TBEA was the official position from China and we could not change this. They sent three notes to our department informing us of this. My task was to forward this position to the president,” Isakov said.

MPs are not entirely convinced by this explanation and point to other related issues, such as the fact that the loan deal does not designate Kyrgyzstan as a sovereign entity but a private party. Should any legal dispute arise, it will not be resolved at a diplomatic level or in an international tribunal but in a Hong Kong court.

And then there is the matter of Kyrgyzstan’s mounting debt pile, which the TETs loan has done little to resolve. The loan came to $386 million. Within 20 years, Bishkek will have to pay back $480 million, accounting for interest.

“I simply do not want to believe that you could have acted in this way,” said Almaz Toktorov, a member of the Kyrgyzstan party. “Every year, we run a deficit of 20 billion som ($293 million). How are we to pay for this credit?”

Proponents of the modernization are exasperated by such arguments, reasoning that the loan was offered at highly preferential terms and that the government would not otherwise have been able to afford urgently needed work. Satybaldiyev, the former prime minister who signed the modernization deal with TBEA in 2013, said that his government actually managed to negotiate $10 million off the initial estimate.

Inefficiencies

Nurlan Omurkul uulu, who headed the TETs from January 2017 until his dismissal following the plant breakdown this year, takes issue with irregularities in the preparation for the renovation and with how money was spent.

“There was no project design as such before the modernization. The design was developed in parallel [with the modernization work], which is something that the Chinese company got permission to do from the government. The personnel that was responsible for overseeing the work could not do it to absolute satisfaction, because they had no documents to use as reference,” Omurkul uulu told Eurasianet.

Omurkul uulu has emerged as perhaps the most persistent gadfly of the modernization’s defenders. Immediately after he was fired, he caused considerable outcry by going public with documents showing the exact amounts TBEA paid for various items and services. There were pliers bought for more than $600 and fire extinguishers costing $1,600.

“We only learned about the prices after the TETs was inaugurated on December 27, 2017,” he said. “We told the management at Electrical Stations that the prices were high, and they told us not to worry about the financial side of things and to stick to the technical work.”

Electrical Stations is a company one notch higher up from TETs in the hierarchy managing Kyrgyzstan’s power-generating facilities and runs several similar plants across the country. When Omurkul uulu first raised the outcry about the budget breakdown, the company was sanguine, saying the final cost was justified by all the high-tech specifications.

“For $386 million, we get video cameras for use at high temperatures in the power plants’ boiler rooms. For $386 million, we get pliers suitable for industrial use. The entire project cost $386 million,” Electrical Stations said in a statement.

Human error

So why did the plant break down?

Officials at the time insisted it had nothing to do with the renovation. That project consisted in part of replacing eight old boilers with two new ones. Another eight old aging boilers remained in place, however. When the malfunction occurred, six old boilers and one of the new boilers were knocked offline, dramatically limiting operational capacity. Water pumped out of the facility dropped from its normal 80 degrees Celsius to around half that temperature.

Omurkul uulu said that TBEA failed to build an additional chemical unit for pre-processing water to be pumped through the boilers, as required. The absence of that unit meant water was not coursing through the system at the required levels and that this may have been the cause of the malfunction, he said.

“I have kept seven or eight letters and meeting memorandums where it is specifically stated that we need to build a chemical unit. But they only began to build it in the summer before the accident happened, and now, for some unknown reason, they have halted construction,” Omurkul uulu said.

Omurkul uulu’s replacement, Alexei Voropayev, quickly toed the government line, insisting that the whole episode was down to “human error.”

Firings, detentions and blame

A number of people, including several top officials at Electrical Stations, were detained in the wake of the plant breakdown. They face charges of embezzling funds allocated for the 2017-18 heating season. But MPs are demanding that prosecutors, the State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, and the Audit Chamber investigate further.

And this is where the whole affair is becoming intensely political. Many of the former members of the elite seemingly in the potential crosshairs are individuals that have at one time or another served under former president Almazbek Atambayev, who ended his only permitted term in November. The former president and his successor, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, are long-time associates and ostensibly allies, although a decided chill has descended between the pair in recent weeks. This disaccord stems in large part from Jeenbekov’s relentless efforts to root out Atambayev’s stay-behind cronies, whom the incumbent appears to see as a check on his authority.

Isakov, the point-man on foreign investments under Atambayev, has twice been summoned by the GKNB for questioning over the TETs affair. He has not been charged with any offense. After his second session of questioning, on May 14, he told reporters cryptically that he had while in office “shielded” Jeenbekov, who was himself prime minister until August, when he declared his run for the presidency.

“If we are to be entirely fair, they should question everybody who signed agreement documents. And that includes everybody who approved the ratification immediately in three readings. And those who were not scrupulously vetting the implementation process, putting proper controls in place,” Isakov said.

According to former MP Omurbek Abdyrakhmanov, who was one of only seven legislators to oppose the TBEA deal in 2013, it is his former colleagues who are the biggest culprits.

“This was a scam from the get-go. This company worked the MPs, brought them over to China. Our MPs went there, toured Hong Kong, stayed in five-star hotels, received presents,” Abdyrakhmanov said. “Anywhere else in the world you would call this bribery. So criminal cases should be filed against the deputies. But now these MPs are making themselves out to be clean and pure. So why did they go and ratify this deal?”

BISHKEK (TCA) — The Publisher’s note: Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Central Asia was the scene of intense geopolitical struggle and the Great Game between the British and Russian Empires, and later between the Soviet Union and the West, over Afghanistan and neighboring territories. Into the 21st century, Central Asia has become the area of a renewed geopolitical interest, dubbed the New Great Game, largely based on the region’s hydrocarbon and mineral wealth. On top of that, the region now is perhaps the most important node in the implementation of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative through which Beijing aims to get direct access to Western markets. Every week thousands of news appears in the world’s printed and online media and many of them may escape the attention of busy readers. At The Times of Central Asia, we strongly believe that more information can better contribute to peaceful development and better knowledge of this unique region. So we are presenting this Weekly Digest which compiles what other media have reported on Central Asia over the past week.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan’s Small Lenders Suffer Financial Crunch

Kazakhstan’s troubled banking sector remains heavily reliant on state support

May 11 — “Kazakhstan’s Single Pension Fund (ENPF) could lend cash again to bail out small banks faced with a liquidity crisis, another indication that the financial sector’s malaise can only be cured with state intervention.” READ MORE: https://thediplomat.com/2018/05/kazakhstans-small-lenders-suffer-financial-crunch/

Kazakhstan suggests connecting Black and Caspian seas by a ship canal

Kazakhstan seeks to become a key transit country for transport flows between Europe and Asia

May 14 — “Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has called the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union to discuss a project of connecting the Black and Caspian seas by a navigable canal.” READ MORE: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2018/05/14/kazakhstan-suggests-connecting-black-and-caspian-seas-by-a-ship-canal

Second Kazakhstan Competitiveness Forum focuses on Kazakh-US economic cooperation

U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan says that since President Nazarbayev’s visit to Washington, DC, he witnessed a steady stream of American companies interested in doing business and investing in Kazakhstan

May 17 — “Kazakh and U.S. government officials and business executives discussed May 16 the implementation of commercial agreements reached during President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s January 2018 official visit to the United States and increasing trade and investment cooperation during the Second Kazakhstan Competitiveness Forum.” READ MORE: https://astanatimes.com/2018/05/second-kazakhstan-competitiveness-forum-focuses-on-kazakh-us-economic-cooperation/

Kazakhstan Plans IPO of World’s Largest Uranium Miner

The government of Kazakhstan has hired Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., to offer shares in state-owned KazAtomProm in London or Hong Kong

May 17 — “Kazakhstan plans to sell at least 25% of the world’s largest uranium miner this year, the centerpiece of an effort to open up the economy of the former Soviet republic sandwiched between China and Russia.” READ MORE: https://www.wsj.com/articles/kazakhstan-plans-ipo-of-worlds-largest-uranium-miner-1526567873

Kazakhstan’s hunt for supporters of tycoon Ablyazov gets absurd and goes abroad

Despite government persecution, the protest moods in Kazakhstan are gaining momentum

May 18 — ““As usual, there were more police on the scene than protesters,” a journalist living in a provincial town recently told Global Voices of one of the freedom of speech pickets that rippled across Kazakhstan but were immediately shut down by authorities. “It’s a sad state of affairs,” said the journalist, who wished to remain anonymous.” READ MORE: https://globalvoices.org/2018/05/18/kazakhstans-hunt-for-supporters-of-tycoon-ablyazov-gets-absurd-and-goes-abroad/

KYRGYZSTAN

Former Kyrgyz President Otunbayeva: Road to Democracy Not a Straight Path

Former president on the challenges of building a parliamentary democracy from scratch in Kyrgyzstan and on establishing a system of checks and balances

May 11 — “‘We’ve been infected by freedom,’ shares Dr. Roza Otunbayeva, who led the opposition faction in Kyrgyzstan during the 2010 revolution and became head of the interim government of the Kyrgyz Republic.” READ MORE: https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/graduate-initiative-russian-studies/girs-news/former-kyrgyz-president

Kyrgyzstan marks 25th anniversary of national currency

The Kyrgyz som is the most stable currency in Central Asia, having seen the lowest devaluation against the US dollar in recent years compared to other national currencies in the region

May 13 — “A quarter of a century ago, on May 10, 1993, Kyrgyzstan was among the first CIS countries to introduce its own currency. The correctness of this historic decision has been confirmed by time. The Kyrgyz som has proved its independence and consistency despite the periodic shocks of the economy, Chairman of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic (NBKR) Tolkunbek Abdygulov said on May 7 at a meeting commemorating the 25th anniversary of the national currency.” READ MORE: https://timesca.com/index.php/news/19735-kyrgyzstan-marks-25th-anniversary-of-national-currency

First Kyrgyz electric car to be presented in few days

Electric cars will be assembled in Bishkek from imported components

May 18 — “The first Kyrgyz electric car will be presented on May 25. Guarantee Fund OJSC reported. Within the framework of the Year of Development of Regions, the company will support the project on the creation and development of electric vehicles production in Kyrgyzstan. The Guarantee Fund noted that this project is a response to the requirements of environmental friendliness and produciability of transport.” READ MORE: https://24.kg/english/84866__First_Kyrgyz_electric_car_to_be_presented_in_few_days/

Kyrgyzstan: MPs want to strip former president’s immunity

The move represents a remarkable turn of events that takes place against the backdrop of a behind-the-scenes tussle between ex-President Atambayev and incumbent President Jeenbekov

May 18 — “Members of parliament in Kyrgyzstan have embarked on an initiative to strip former president Almazbek Atambayev of immunity. The initiator of the proposal put before parliament on May 17, Iskhak Masaliyev, says the intention is to require Atambayev to face investigation over a contentious and costly project to overhaul a thermal power plant in Bishkek.” READ MORE: https://eurasianet.org/s/kyrgyzstan-mps-want-to-strip-former-presidents-immunity

TAJIKISTAN

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan resume bus connection after 26-year break

The Uzbek president is re-establishing ties with neighboring Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan, which also includes reestablishment of transport communication

May 15 — “Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have resumed regular bus connection between the two countries since May 15, Russian RIA Novosti reported citing the Uzbek Agency for Road Transport (Uzavtotrans). The bus connection between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan was discontinued in 1992 with the outbreak of the civil war in Tajikistan.” READ MORE: https://www.azernews.az/region/131994.html

Tajikistan: Saudis to acquire stake in troubled bank

Saudi Arabia’s interest in Tajikistan’s banking sector is largely caused by the intention to squeeze out Iran from the Central Asian country

May 15 — “An investment fund from Saudi Arabia has agreed to buy a controlling stake in a troubled bank in Tajikistan, throwing a lifeline to the country’s wrecked banking system. Tojiksodirotbank announced on its official website on May 14 that the deal for Saudi Investment Group to acquire a 51 percent stake in the Dushanbe-based lender has been agreed in principle. It is unclear when the acquisition will formally occur and on what terms.” READ MORE: https://timesca.com/index.php/news/19745-tajikistan-saudis-to-acquire-stake-in-troubled-bank

Tajikistan Faces Epidemic Of Childhood Malnutrition

Poverty remains high in Tajikistan, as a large number of Tajik people goes abroad, mainly to Russia, to earn their living

May 17 — “A recent UN report finds that Tajikistan has the highest rate of malnutrition in the former Soviet states. One in four Tajik children suffers from stunted growth resulting from an inadequate diet.” READ MORE: https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-hunger-malnutrition/29232753.html

TURKMENISTAN

“In depth”: pertaining to work, goals and opportunities for Turkmen human rights activists

Chronicles of Turkmenistan’s interview with Chairperson of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights on the human rights situation in the country

May 12 — “On 7 May 2018 at a hearing of the UN Human Rights Council Turkmenistan officials reported on the human rights situation in Turkmenistan. Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Hadjiyev denied most accusations of violations. Among other things the head of the Turkmen delegation said that there is no Internet censorship in Turkmenistan and that access to information websites is not restricted.” READ MORE: https://en.hronikatm.com/2018/05/in-depth-pertaining-to-work-goals-and-opportunities-for-turkmen-human-rights-activists/

Turkmenistan: Fast and furious. And broke

As Turkmenistan is experiencing an economic downturn, its President keeps surprising local mass-media audiences

May 15 — “Readers of the habitually tedious Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper were greeted with an initially candid-seeming op-ed last week. Is the country facing challenges? the unsigned author asks rhetorically. Why, yes it is. And is there a solution? Yes, there is: President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.” READ MORE: https://eurasianet.org/s/turkmenistan-fast-and-furious-and-broke

New project of Amul – Hazar 2018 rally in the racing world is presented in Russia

The race will take place from September 11–15, 2018, with 1500 kilometres of the route to run across Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan

May 17 — “Moscow hosted the presentation of Amul – Hazar 2018 International Rally organized in Turkmenistan by the initiative of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. New project in the racing world was presented to wide public and mass media in prestigious business complex – the Centre of International Commerce, in the Club Complex of Crowne Plaza Moscow.” READ MORE: http://www.turkmenistan.gov.tm/_eng/?id=10596

The conference on the role of Turkmenistan in the world integration processes held in Tbilisi

The year 2018 was declared to be held in Turkmenistan under the motto “Turkmenistan is the heart of the Great Silk Road”, as the country seeks to become a transport and transit hub in Eurasia

May 17 — “The conference “Turkmenistan is the heart of the Great Silk Road” was organized at the Georgian National Academy of Sciences with the assistance of the Embassy of Turkmenistan on May 16. The forum brought together the representatives of the diplomatic missions and international organisations accredited in Georgia, scientists, the youth and journalists.” READ MORE: http://www.turkmenistan.gov.tm/_eng/?id=10593

UZBEKISTAN

Some 2,000 Uzbeks Forcibly Relocated From Andijon’s Historic Center

Dozens of old houses are being pulled down in the neighborhood to make way for tower blocks of new apartments that will be sold to affluent Uzbeks

May 13 — “Shahzoda Yunusova and her relatives own a house on state-owned land in the historic center of the Uzbek city of Andijon, where the family has lived for decades. In line with a centuries-old Uzbek custom, the family has added a new room to their house whenever space was short and a son was married — giving the newlywed couple a chance to live separately, but stay close to home.” READ MORE: https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-2000-forcibly-relocated-from-andijon-historic-center/29224260.html

Uzbekistan Grants First Ever Accreditation to a VOA Journalist

Uzbekistan is opening up to the world, including in the mass-media sphere

May 14 — “For the first time since the VOA Uzbek language service went on air in 1972, a VOA journalist received accreditation from the Republic of Uzbekistan to work as foreign media correspondent inside that country.” READ MORE: https://www.insidevoa.com/a/uzbekistan-grants-first-ever-accreditation-to-a-voa-journalist/4392962.html

Uzbekistan: Reforms on the Right Path

The Diplomat’s exclusive interview with Uzbekistan’s Minister of Justice about progress in Uzbekistan, human rights protection, and how a government should interact with its people

May 16 — “Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is scheduled to visit Washington, DC, from May 15 to 17, the first Uzbek president to do so since Islam Karimov in 2002. The visit occurs at a particularly dynamic time for Uzbekistan, which has undergone a bevy of reforms over the past year and a half.” READ MORE: https://thediplomat.com/2018/05/uzbekistan-reforms-on-the-right-path/

Tashkent syndrome: is Uzbekistan getting a free pass?

As Uzbekistan is pursuing economic and political reforms aimed at liberalizing the tightly-controlled country, there are different viewpoints as to whether Tashkent’s intentions are genuine and the ongoing changes irreversible

May 17 — “What is the right bar against which to measure the seriousness of Uzbekistan’s commitment to ushering in the rule of law and basic freedoms? Token giveaways and promises? Or genuine, deep and irreversible reforms?” READ MORE: https://timesca.com/index.php/news/19755-tashkent-syndrome-is-uzbekistan-getting-a-free-pass

AFGHANISTAN

The Great Russian involvement in Afghanistan

In recent years, Russia has taken efforts to increase its economic role in Afghanistan’s reconstruction, as stability in this country is important for Moscow’s interests in neighboring Central Asian countries

May 11 — “For the last 8 years Russia has been spending millions of dollars internationally in order to improve its public diplomacy. Afghanistan has become a model of public diplomacy throughout the early 20th century.” READ MORE: https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2018/05/11/the-great-russian-involvement-in-afghanistan/

Afghanistan As It Once Was: The Photographs Of William Podlich

Photos from the late 1960s show how Afghanistan looked like before the almost 40 years of war and destruction triggerred by the Soviet invasion and continued with the rise of the Taliban and the ongoing America’s longest war in this country

May 12 — “The Kabul in William Podlich’s photographs is an almost unrecognizable place — a bustling capital of modern cars, green parks, and nattily attired men and women, many wearing Western dress. A place where women — Afghans and foreigners — could freely walk the streets. A peaceful place where tourists, unconcerned for their safety, could take buses to the major historic sites in the country or across the border to Pakistan.” READ MORE: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-as-it-once-was-the-photographs-of-william-podlich/29222700.html

How the World Bank Mismanaged the Reconstruction of Afghanistan

The World Bank’s problems in Afghanistan often stem from providing donor funds to programs in areas where the security dangers are so high that on-the-ground inspections are not possible, a report finds

May 17 — “U.S. government investigators have found far-reaching mismanagement by the World Bank in its capacity as the administrator of the largest multi-country official fund to assist the Afghan government with its social expenditures and to reconstruct the country.” READ MORE: https://www.theglobalist.com/afghanistan-corruption-world-bank-reconstruction/

My week with John ‘Mick’ Nicholson, Trump’s top general in Afghanistan

Reporter shadows US General Nicholson in Afghanistan as he pursues the Trump administration’s new counter-insurgency strategy in the war-torn country

May 17 — “When I moved to Afghanistan in 2010, soldiers in uniforms from all over the world were fighting and dying there in a war with no end. Packs of journalists, NGOs and an army of civilian nation builders clogged the roads, bars and restaurants. As I was heading back eight years on I wondered, would much have changed?” READ MORE: https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/asia/2018/05/week-john-mick-nicholson-trump-top-general-afghanistan-180516124657753.html

WORLD

Across China: Xinjiang firms eye stronger growth in Central Asia

More companies from China’s western Xinjiang province now enter the lucrative and profitable markets in neighboring Central Asian countries

May 14 — “With a roar, the large turbines of a four-story-tall seed-drying machine swirl into life. Each minute, it processes more than a tonne of seeds.
This is one of China’s most productive seed-drying machines, owned by Join Hope Seeds Co. Ltd., based in Changji, in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.” READ MORE: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-05/14/c_137178240.htm

A decade of China-Europe trains

As China is reviving the new rail Silk Road for the transportation of its goods to Europe, Kazakhstan is well-situated to become a key transit hub along this route

May 14 — “Almost ten years ago, a historical moment in rail transport occurred when on October 6, 2008 a train arrived in Hamburg, Germany, 17 days after departing from Xiangtan in China’s Hunan province. While the service was at the time considered as too inconsistent and too slow to gain any real market appeal, China persisted with various train routes across Eurasia with regular service established in 2012.” READ MORE: https://timesca.com/index.php/news/26-opinion-head/19740-a-decade-of-china-europe-trains

PROCESSES AND MECHANISMS FOR MULTILATERAL INTERACTION IN CENTRAL ASIA AT THE PRESENT STAGE

Director of Alternativa Center for Current Research (Kazakhstan) analyzes the existing vectors of Central Asia’s multilateral cooperation with the world’s leading powers

May 17 — “The current year may mark an important step for Central Asian countries – constantly vacillating between rapprochement and disunity – toward the former. It is essential that they do so if there is to be a collective response to present-day global and regional challenges. There are also mutually beneficial economic, transport, logistical, cultural, humanitarian, and other projects to be implemented.” READ MORE: http://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/processes-and-mechanisms-for-Central-Asia/

BISHKEK (TCA) — There are about 100 thousand Kyrgyz labor migrants in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan’s State Migration Service says. Some of them work legally in the regions closer to Kyrgyzstan — the South-Kazakhstan, Karaganda and Almaty oblasts and Almaty city.

Host state for migrants

The problems faced by labor migrants in Kazakhstan including the absence of labor contracts and difficulties with the registration and obtaining of permits were discussed during a teleconference in Bishkek earlier this month.

Citizens of Kyrgyzstan can stay in Kazakhstan for a month without registration. Within a pilot project, migration services of the two countries established a Migration Services Center in Astana which showed good results, and such centers will be created in all regional centers of Kazakhstan by the end of the year.

When it comes to migration, Central Asian states are traditionally known as donor countries, whose migrants mainly look for jobs in Russia. The exception is Kazakhstan, which in recent years has become a host state for migrants, changing the economic balance in the region.

In 2016, the influx of labor migrants to Kazakhstan doubled compared to 2000 and continues to grow. Many labor migrants from neighboring Central Asian states consider Kazakhstan more attractive than Russia. According to the International Organization for Migration in Almaty, the total amount of labor migrants in Kazakhstan in 2017 was two million people, mainly from neighboring countries.

As a result, Kazakhstan is increasing its economic influence in the region. However, the situation may change when the Russian economy improves.

At the same time, the economies of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are dependent on remittances from labor migrants. According to the latest data, the amount of remittances from Russia is almost 37% of Tajikistan’s GDP.

Vulnerable migrants

Women and children are still the most vulnerable migrants, says a report that monitored the implementation of the law of the Kyrgyz Republic on state support of compatriots abroad, which was recently discussed by the Kyrgyz Parliament.

Women migrants experience serious difficulties with reproductive health. Women who have given birth to a child in a foreign state experience much more difficulties than their compatriots who gave birth to children in their homeland. Their children are also vulnerable, the report says.

The legal status of migrants is important in obtaining access to medical services. If migrants have not entered into labor contracts with their employers and accordingly do not have social protection, they do not have access to medical services.

Authorities of Kyrgyzstan should provide support to socially unprotected categories of compatriots on the basis of international treaties and in accordance with the legislation of the country.

However, control over the implementation of the law showed that the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of Kyrgyzstan does not consider compatriots abroad to be beneficiaries of social protection services, the report says.

Law execution

The Law “On state policy to support compatriots abroad”, adopted five years ago, remains valid but its legal regulation is outdated and requires improvement, MPs told a press conference in Bishkek. A parliamentary working group carried out a research in Russia from June to December 2017.

More than a million Kyrgyz citizens are now abroad looking for job, and some of them have accepted the citizenship of other states, the WG said. The Kyrgyz State should render more effective assistance to labor migrants who independently solve the problems of their home villages, without asking for help from the State.

Labor migrants should travel abroad legally prepared, knowing the legislation of the host country, their rights and duties. Vulnerable groups including girls, women and children need legal and social assistance from the government of Kyrgyzstan, the MPs stressed.

Blacklisted migrants

In 2017, more than 10.7 thousand Kyrgyzstan citizens were banned to re-enter Russia for three years, the State Migration Service of Kyrgyzstan said.

The main violation committed by Kyrgyz citizens was that they did not register as migrants. Currently, the blacklist of the Russian Federal Migration Service includes 72,000 Kyrgyz citizens who are prohibited from entering the country.

The State Migration Service of Kyrgyzstan recommended Kyrgyz citizens to comply with two basic rules: first, to carefully study the rules of registration for migrants, and secondly, to properly observe labor contracts.

Russian citizenship

Since Kyrgyzstan’s independence, more than 570 thousand Kyrgyz citizens have accepted Russian citizenship.

After Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union in 2015, the interest in changing citizenship has significantly decreased. Earlier, from 15,000 to 20,000 Kyrgyz citizens accepted Russian citizenship annually. In 2017, only 8.7 thousand accepted it.

After Kyrgyzstan joined the EEU, migrants should be registered only if they reside in Russia for more than 30 days. Therefore, the number of people who entered and left became greater as most of the people stay in Russia for less than 30 days.

In 2017, Russia issued 7.7 thousand permits for temporary residence to Kyrgyzstan citizens.

Remittances of labor migrants

Labor export is among the most effective means of supporting the economy of Kyrgyzstan, analysts say. Last year, labor migrants transferred $2.48 billion (about 40% of the country’s GDP) to Kyrgyzstan, more than 90% of which from Russia.

There is an opinion that any labor migrant who transfers money to his country becomes an investor in its economy. There are no studies on real contributions of labor migrants to the Kyrgyz economy but it is known that most of the money transferred was spent not for starting production facilities and creating jobs but on family needs.

The next generation of migrants may lose contact with Kyrgyzstan, MP Aida Kasymalieva believes. Children of migrants forget the Kyrgyz language and do not consider themselves to be Kyrgyz.

According to experts, the current generation still sends money and takes care of relatives back home, but the next generation, which has grown up in other countries and have foreign citizenship, will no longer come home and send money to their home country. Their bridge with Kyrgyzstan can disappear, the MP concluded.

It is necessary to increase the financial literacy of local citizens, experts say. To attract migrants’ money into Kyrgyzstan’s economic projects, the Government should create attractive investment conditions for them including incentives to open production in the country.