Clare Nuttall in Astana
November 15, 2013

Kazakhstan is planning a major push to capture a larger share of the transit trade between Europe and China. State railways operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) is spearheading the project, part of modernisation plans that will see as much as $60bn spent on Kazakhstan’s transport and logistics infrastructure.

At present just 60,000 tonnes of freight carried between China and Europe goes through Kazakhstan each year, which is just 0.05% of the more than 100m tonnes total. By 2020, annual trade between China and Europe is expected to grow by 1.5-times to reach $1 trillion, with Astana aiming to have 8% of that transported through Kazakhstan, according to Kanat Alpysbayev, KTZ’s vice president of logistics.

The Kazakh government launched the New Silk Way project in 2013 with the aim of reviving trans-continental trading routes and establishing Kazakhstan as a transit hub, especially between China and Europe. One of the first steps taken was to merge air and marine transport infrastructure into KTZ – expanding what is already Kazakhstan’s largest company into a vast conglomerate spanning rail, air and sea transport. In total, over $60bn will be invested into modernisation of Kazakhstan’s transport and logistics infrastructure, KTZ’s president, Askar Mamin, told the New Silk Way forum in Astana on November 7.

While Kazakhstan represents a more direct route between China and Europe, KTZ is competing with both cheaper sea freight carriers and a northern rail route via Russia. “Kazakhstan’s geographic location alone is not enough. All of the relevant competencies need to be concentrated together to provide a logistics service, and KTZ was chosen as the backbone for this,” Alpysbayev said in an interview with bne. “It’s very important to provide a one-window service, combining railway, port operation and marine operation. This isn’t only a consolidation of assets; it’s bringing new competencies and changing people’s mindsets, as we make the transition from a railway business to a logistics business.”

Existing lines

KTZ already operates container trains on the Chengdu-Lodz and Chongqing-Duisburg routes, which take 13 and 16 days respectively, compared to up to 45 days by sea. “The price by rail is higher than for sea freight, but we are working specifically with companies that produce high value added products such as computers, which allows them to use rail to get their goods from China to Europe,” says Alpysbayev.

A partial shift in Chinese manufacturing away from the coastal cities to Xinjiang, around 2,000 kilometres closer to European markets, is also benefiting Kazakhstan, which borders western China. According to Alpysbayev, the company is “very positive about the development of Kazakhstan as a transit hub because of drivers such as the Chinese government policy to develop western China. Beijing wants to invest over $1 trillion in development of the Xinjiang region, which borders Kazakhstan.”

Hewlett-Packard, for example, has started to move some of its plants from coastal china to Xinjiang, where laptops and inkjet printers are now produced, the company’s senior vice president, Tony Prophet, told the New Silk Way forum. HP has also switched from air to rail transport, working with KTZ to transport its goods to Europe.

Most of Kazakhstan’s recent investments into new railway lines have been to reorient the network on an east-west axis, since the railway Kazakhstan inherited from the Soviet Union ran mainly from north to south. Today, while Kazakhstan also wants to be part of international north-south routes, the majority of transport is between China and Europe.

In 2012, Kazakhstan’s second rail connection with China, the Almaty-Korgos line, started operation; this was followed in 2013 with the launch of construction on the Zhezkazgan-Beineu line, which will reduce the distance travelled from the Dostyk border crossing with China to the port of Aktau by 800 km.

A sea change

In addition to building new railways, KTZ’s plans now include investment into ports, airports and logistics facilities. There are plans to invest around $160m to expand the port of Aktau on Kazakhstan’s Caspian coast, opening up a second route to Europe. While the sea crossing makes this more complex than the land route, it gives a much faster journey time to Turkey and Southeast Europe.

Landlocked Kazakhstan is also investing in sea terminals abroad. During his visit to Kazakhstan in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the go-ahead for Kazakhstan to build a $100m terminal at the Yellow Sea port of Lianyungang, with construction due to start in 2014. Kazakhstan already has a presence on the Black Sea through state oil company KazMunaiGas’ terminal at Batumi, and KTZ is looking at various options to develop its activities on the Baltic coast.

Eleven airports in cities including Astana (though not Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty) are also being placed under KTZ’s control, and the company is working with international firms including Lufthansa Consulting, Swissport and Zurich Airport to develop the air transport sector. Growth of up to 500% in passenger traffic and an even larger increase in cargo transportation are being targeted by 2030. However, the first step will be getting Kazakhstani airlines off the EU’s air safety blacklist – a major obstacle to development of the sector.

KTZ already has a management agreement for the Port of Aktau and the Korgos-Eastern Gate special economic zone on the border with China. Construction of first a logistics zone, then an industrial zone at Korgos is due to start in 2014. On November 7, KTZ signed an agreement with Dubai-based DP World, one of the world’s largest marine terminal operators, to develop both Aktau and Khorgos. Speaking at the New Silk Way forum, DP World’s chairman, Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem, compared the opening up of cross-Kazakhstan routes to the opening of the Panama Canal or Suez Canal.

Meanwhile, in 2014 and 2015, KTZ will build a network of transport logistics centres, with A and B class facilities, across Kazakhstan. These will cover all major cities in Kazakhstan, in some cases working with private sector logistics companies, to meet the country’s pressing need for better logistics facilities.

Source

The second Open Central Asia Book Forum & Literature Festival was held between 7-11^th November 2013 in both London and Cambridge. Following on from the first event, held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2012, the organisers focused on bringing the works of Central Asian authors and illustrators to the UK to give local audiences a taste of the talent that is emanating from the region.

Almost 500 visitors attended 12 events spread over four days, including 2 Central Asian film previews, culture and tourism presentations, publishing roundtables, book readings and launches, award ceremonies and receptions. 15 guest speakers participated in the events, coming from 8 different countries, each with their own expertise and ideas, and they also participated in a Literature Festival on the evening of 8^th November, held at the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centre, allowing festival attendees the chance to hear about their work and meet the authors in person. The guest speakers were:

Similar to 2012, a literature competition was held in which 168 submissions were made across 3 categories (Literature, Translation and Illustration) with the ultimate winner, Abdulla Isa from Azerbaijan, being announced at a celebration dinner on Saturday 9^th November. His book will be published by Hertfordshire Press in 2014.

Open Central Asia Literature Competition 2013 Winners Announced

Rakhat Aliyev won’t be able to get a Maltese passport even through the Individual Investor Program (IIP), Malta Today reports.

Prime-Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat declared this at the recent Parliament session. “The sort of due diligence we will be undertaking for applicants under the IIP would not allow someone like Rakhat Aliyev to get Maltese citizenship,” the Prime-Minister said, touching upon the Malta’s passports sale scheme: the country intends to sell Maltese passports for 650 thousand Euro.

Rakhat Aliyev’s Austrian passport was cancelled by the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Austria. He used to have an alien’s passport of Austria, a document issued for stateless persons residing within their borders and foreign nationals who are unable to obtain a passport from their state of nationality.

Rakhat Aliyev is staying in Malta at present, but it is unclear whether his stay in Malta is legal.

Several cases against Rakhat Aliyev are being investigated. He is accused in money laundering and other crimes in several European Union countries. in 2008 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a number of grave crimes, including kidnapping, treason and plotting a coup d’etat in Kazakhstan. The sentence was given to him in absentia, because Aliyev had been hiding in Austria since spring 2007. After that he has been living in Malta since 2010.

Source

Former Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change and British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Wealden, Charles Hendry, has had a long and distinguished career in politics. He has served both in office and in opposition for over twenty years, taking on a variety of roles, including a long spell in the Energy sector. His experience here is particularly relevant as the UK begins its potential courtship of shale gas and use of fracking technology. He takes a keen interest in bringing young voters into the political arena and in January 2008 he was appointed as a Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of UK Youth Parliament. His most recent appointment, in November 2012, was as the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan where he currently focuses much attention in promoting British business and trade interests in these countries.

OCA: Please tell us a little bit about your background and how you came into UK politics.

Charles Hendry MP: My background was in business, but I had always been interested in politics since childhood. I knew that at some point, I would like to try and become an MP and I was eventually successful in 1992, becoming the MP for the High Peak in Derbyshire. During that Parliament, I was the vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, but in the 1997 election, I lost my seat along with half the Conservative Parliamentary Party. I was very fortunate to be given a ‘second chance’ and became MP for Wealden in 2001. Since then, much of my political activity has focused on energy issues, holding the energy portfolio longer than anyone else – four and a half years in Opposition and two and a half years in Government.

OCA: Since November 2012, you have been the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. What has your role entailed to date and what challenges and opportunities do you see in the coming years for improving British relations with these Central Asian countries?
CH: The role of the Trade Envoys is to develop much closer political relations between the UK and the fast-growing ‘new’ economies. These are countries where there are fantastic opportunities for British businesses, but where we have not seen enough Ministerial contact in the past. There is a real interest in all three countries to do more business with the UK and my role is to help facilitate that process. Following the Prime Minister’s visit to Kazakhstan in July of this year, our relations there are the best they have ever been and there are great business opportunities. More regular contact with the Governments of both Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan is also, I hope, creating much closer working relations.

OCA: How has your former experience as Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change helped your work with these oil and gas rich countries?

CH: I was specifically interested in taking on the Trade Envoy role to these three countries as I had had more contact with them than any other Minister in recent years. I had visited Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and had also met visiting Ministers from Turkmenistan, so they seemed to me to be the countries where I could help make a difference. Energy is clearly at the heart of the business relationship, but we are determined to help spread this much more widely into the many other areas where we can work together.

OCA: You recently asked a parliamentary question about shale gas and some of the environmental claims being falsely made. What are your views on the shale revolution taking place not only in the US, but also potentially in the UK and maybe one day in Central Asia with recent potential finds in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan?
CH: We cannot ignore the importance of shale gas in the US, which is now one of the country’s main economic drivers. Shale gas is a global game changer, especially as it is clear that gas will be a key energy source for many years to come. Every country will be bound to be looking at understanding how great its resources are and whether they are economically retrievable. There are real differences between the potential in the US and the UK, and UK Government has rightly put in place measures which will encourage businesses to look at the shale potential in the UK, but we are absolutely clear that it needs the toughest environmental and safety protection standards in place for it to go forward.

OCA: Have you managed to visit much of Central Asia in your new role? And if so, what are your impressions of the country and its people?

CH: I find it a completely fascinating region and I have found the welcome incredibly warm wherever I have gone. So far, my visits have all been to the main centres of business and government, but I am very keen to have the chance to see more of each country. I am passionate about encouraging more British businesspeople and visitors to go to each country, as I am sure they will share my fascination and excitement about all there is on offer to see and do.

OCA: Central Asia can often prove difficult for outsiders to really understand as there is often a lack of clear and accurate information. What role can publications such as Open Central Asia magazine play in bringing the cultures, traditions and opportunities to European countries?

CH: This is a really critical point. Many people cannot understand Central Asia simply because they have never visited, and people often have a nervousness about going to countries with very different histories and cultures. We need to help people understand the opportunities and all there is to see in Central Asia; publications like Open Central Asia have a central role in doing this. Then we need to get more people onto planes to go and visit for themselves. That is when the real change will happen – again Open Central Asia can really help to bring this about.

Silk Road Media, Hertfordshire Press and Open Central Asia Magazine regret to announce that Anastacia Lee has left our organisation as of 1st September 2013 in order to pursue other interests.

We would like to thank Anastacia for all her hard work over the last 7 years where she oversaw our Central Asian operations, spending considerable time building brand awareness and sales in the region. Her strong character and determination brought great value to our many projects, ensuring delivery through her management of local teams and her many interesting ideas. Although Anastacia has left our organisation, and will no longer represent the Silk Road Media, Hertfordshire Press and Open Central Asia brands, she will continue to work as a consultant for our Uzbek projects.
We wish Anastacia all the best for her future work and family and thank her again for her contribution to our organisation. If you would like to send your comments and wishes to Anastacia, please forward to publisher@ocamagazine.com as we are collecting these and will forward on.
Anastacia’s replacement is Guljamal Pirenova, who will be responsible for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and we hope that you will join us in welcoming her to the team and in continuing to build the visions of Silk Road Media, Hertfordshire Press and Open Central Asia in the years to come. Guljamal’s e-mail address is: assistant.kg@ocamagazine.com

SRM/OCA/HP Team

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Silk Road Media, Hertfordshire Press и Open Central Asia Magazine с сожалением сообщает что начиная с первого сентября Анастасия Ли покинула нашу организацию, в связи с изменившимися обстоятельствами.
Мы благодарим Анастасию за плодотворную работу на протяжении всех семи лет, что она была с нами, вела наши дела в Центральной Азии, и уделяла значительное время становлению бренда и росту продаж в регионе. Ее сильный характер и природная решимость придавали большую значимость многим нашим проектам, помогая поддерживать командных дух и воплощать в жизнь интересные идеи.
Хотя Анастасия покинула нашу организацию и больше не представляет бренды Silk Road Media, Hertfordshire Press и Open Central Asia, она продолжит работу как консультант в наших проектах в Узбекистане.
Мы желаем Анастасии самого лучшего будущего в дальнейшей планах и снова благодарим за неоценимый вклад в работу нашей организации. Если вы хотите выразить свои пожелания Анастасии, вы можете прислать их на электронный адрес: publisher@ocamagazine.com мы перенаправим все письма ей.
Анастасию заменит другой наш сотрудник Гулжамал Пиренова, которая будет ответственна за деятельность нашей организации в Кыргызской Республике и в Республике Казахстан. Мы приветствуем ее в нашей команде и надеемся что вы продолжите поддерживать Silk Road Media, Hertfordshire Press и Open Central Asia в ближайшие годы. Электронный адрес Гулжамал Пиреновой assistant.kg@ocamagazine.com

С наилучшими пожеланиями,
Команда SRM/OCA/HP