Asia Times: Kyrgyzstan registers disappointing economic growth



	January 30, 1999	atimes.com

Central Asia / Siberia

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Kyrgyzstan registers disappointing economic growth
Kyrgyzstan's National Statistical Board head Zarylbek Kudabayev told journalists in Bishkek on 27 January that GDP in 1998 increased by 1.8 percent, compared with 1997, but that the increase was due almost entirely to the Kyrgyz-Canadian gold joint-venture, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. Kudabayev said that industrial output amounted to 21.05 billion som (about $700 million), which is equal to a 4.6 percent increase over the previous year. Agricultural output remained at the 1997 level. Annual inflation was 18.4 percent, and the average monthly salary was 825 som ($28). The country's foreign trade deficit increased sharply last year to $290 million. (Liz Fuller)

Tajik president, U.N. envoy discuss peace process
At a meeting in Dushanbe on 27 January, United Nations representative Jan Kubis and Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov agreed on the need to expedite implementation of the 1997 Tajik peace accords, which Kubis termed ''painfully slow,'' Russian agencies reported. Kubis expressed concern at the delay in implementing agreements reached between Rakhmonov and United Tajik Opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri and in disarming opposition and maverick armed formations. He also noted that no headway has been made on drafting amendments to the country's constitution, which the Commission for National Reconciliation has just begun discussing, according to Asia-Plus-Blitz on 27 January. Kubis briefed Rakhmonov on his recent talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Ministry officials about the situation in Tajikistan. (L.F.)

Turkmen president fires agriculture minister
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov sacked Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Kurban Velmuradov during a cabinet meeting on 26 January, Interfax reported on 27 January. Velmuradov's deputy, Kurbanmurad Rozyev, has been named to succeed him. Niyazov criticized unnamed officials in the agricultural sector who, he claimed, ''do not understand . . . the tasks given them'' and still act according to ''obsolete'' and ''Soviet-era'' methods. Niyazov's claims that the country's agriculture is in crisis are difficult to reconcile with official statistics showing a 20 percent increase in agricultural output last year. Interfax reported on 18 January that the Turkmen government has adopted a six-year program for the partial privatization of farms and industrial and construction companies belonging to the agro-industrial complex. Initially, the government will retain a 51 percent stake in those companies. (L.F.)

Armenian opposition deplores murder suspect's immunity
Leading members of the Communist Party of Armenia and the Union for Constitutional Rights have deplored the parliament's 26 January rejection of Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian's demand that former Interior Minister Vano Siradeghian be stripped of his deputy's immunity to facilitate his arrest for suspected incitement to murder (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 26 January 1999). Communist Party leader Sergei Badalian told RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau that his party's seven deputies may boycott parliamentary proceedings. Haig Baboukhanian told Noyan Tapan that the parliament should be dissolved. Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) party leader Vahan Hovanessian had told the party's newspaper ''Hayots ashkhar'' before the 26 January vote that President Robert Kocharian should dissolve the parliament if it failed to lift Siradeghian's immunity. (L.F.)

Retired U.S. diplomats seek Karabakh mediation
Two former senior U.S. diplomats have held talks in Baku and Yerevan with leading officials from Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on the prospects for resuming negotiations on a solution to the Karabakh conflict. They told journalists in Yerevan on 25 January that their mission is intended to support the OSCE Minsk Group's ongoing mediation effort, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. But their talks in Baku and Yerevan did not focus on the most recent OSCE draft peace proposal, which Azerbaijan has rejected. Karabakh President Arkadii Ghukasian told the U.S. diplomats that their country should play ''a decisive role'' in resolving the conflict, ITAR-TASS reported on 27 January. He said the mediators have made ''new proposals'' with ''very serious prospects'' but declined to disclose those proposals on the grounds that they have not yet been presented to Azerbaijan's President Aliev. (L.F.)

Armenian president opposes hike in broadcasting fees
Armenia's President Kocharian has asked the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to reconsider its decision to raises the fees for use of broadcast frequencies by private television and radio stations from 1 January, according to Snark on 25 January, as monitored by the BBC and reported by Groong on 27 January. The ministry has increased the monthly fees from $40 to $1,000 (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 25 January 1999). Kocharian termed the new rates ''unrealistic.'' (L.F.)

IMF approves new loan for Azerbaijan
The IMF has approved a $79 million loan for Azerbaijan to help counter the impact of the Russian financial crisis and falling oil prices, an RFE/RL correspondent in Washington reported on 27 January. In addition, the fund will release $33 million under a three- year ESAF program. The IMF noted that while Azerbaijan's projected 1999 budget deficit is equal to only 3.1 percent of GDP, compared with 10 percent last year, it is still larger than planned. (L.F.)

Former Azerbaijan president's trial again adjourned
The trial of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party chairman Abulfaz Elchibey resumed on 27 January but was adjourned until 2 February at the request of the defense lawyers, who object that the preliminary investigation was not objective and that the prosecution's case contains numerous irregularities, AP and Turan reported. Elchibey is charged with insulting the honor and dignity of President Aliev by claiming that he was instrumental in establishing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 16 November 1998 and 26 January 1999). On 26 January, a Baku district court handed down two- year suspended sentences on five members of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party for participating in an unsanctioned demonstration in Baku on 12 September and for resisting arrest. Some police witnesses for the prosecution failed positively to identify the accused as having participated in the demonstration, while others denied that the men had resisted arrest. LF

Georgia wins full membership of Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 27 January voted unanimously to admit Georgia to full membership within three to six months. That decision is conditional on implementation of judicial reform, a tougher crackdown on corruption, and progress in repatriating to Georgia the Meskhetians deported by Stalin to Central Asia in 1944, according to Interfax. In addition, Tbilisi must draw up within two years a constitutional framework that allows autonomy for Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Addressing the assembly in Strasbourg, Georgian parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania urged its members also to admit Armenia and Azerbaijan to full membership in order to promote closer regional cooperation. (L.F.)

Yeltsin makes cameo TV appearance . . .
President Boris Yeltsin will likely remain hospitalized until the end of the week and then convalesce at home, presidential spokesman Dmitrii Yakushkin told reporters on 27 January. Yeltsin made a 10- second silent appearance on Russian Television, sitting in a chair in his hospital as he met briefly with Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov. Yakushkin denied that any rift had occurred between the two men as a result of Prime Minister Primakov's letter to the Duma suggesting a political cease- fire (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 27 January 1999). (Julie A. Corwin)

. . . As speculation swirls around Primakov
Nevertheless, the Russian press continued to speculate that the Kremlin was taken by surprise and Prime Minister Primakov is seeking to expand his power. ''Tribuna'' reported on 28 January that ''well-informed and reliable sources'' said that Yeltsin's daughter's first reaction to news of Primakov's initiative was that Yeltsin would ''fire Primakov on the spot.'' The previous day, ''Nezavisimaya gazeta'' reported that ''its sources in the inner presidential circle argue that the president did not know anything about Primakov's intention to approach the Duma.'' Both ''Nezavisimaya gazeta'' and ''Kommersant-Daily'' conclude that Prime Minister Primakov's real motive for suggesting the political accord is that he has decided to run for president next year. (J.A.C.)

Inflation races ahead of forecast
Inflation in January will likely reach almost 8 percent, according to Russia's State Statistics Committee on 28 January. The government based its 1999 budget on an assumed annual inflation rate of 30 percent. However, an 8 percent monthly rate would be the equivalent of more than 150 percent annually, according to AFP. (J.A.C.)

Kremlin increases control over state companies
President Yeltsin has ordered Prime Minister Primakov and chief of the presidential administration Nikolai Bordyuzha to increase control over the selection of state representatives to the boards of director of companies in which the controlling share is owned by the state, ''Vremya MN'' reported on 26 January. ''A high-ranking state official from the presidential administration'' told the newspaper that when controversies regarding privatization and tax payments dogged Gazprom, Svyazinvest, and Purneftegaz last summer, ''it became clear that the role of the state within the structures of the largest companies and control over their activities should be strengthened.'' According to the source, at the time the state had no levers to affect policy at these companies. Meanwhile, according to ''Kommersant-Daily,'' Svyazinvest posted heavy losses in 1998 of 4 billion rubles ($176 million), in part because the devalued ruble made purchases of foreign equipment more expensive. (J.A.C.)

Chechnya's neighbors want stronger fences
The Federation Council asked President Yeltsin to declare a state of emergency in Stavropol Oblast on 27 January so that local law enforcement agencies are better able to cope with the region's rising crime, Interfax reported. The upper house blames the region's situation on its proximity to Chechnya and the presence there of refugees and forced migrants numbering almost 400,000. ''Segodnya'' reported the previous day that residents of the village of Kurskaya in Stavropol Oblast blocked roads leading to Chechnya, demanding that the status of the border with Chechnya be upgraded to that of national one. During the past year, five people from Kurskii Raion were taken hostage and ''local agricultural enterprises are constantly being pillaged,'' Russian Television reported. (J.A.C.)

Short life of Vladivostok's city duma ends
The Leninsk District Court in Vladivostok has dissolved the city assembly, some of whose members were improperly elected on 17 January, Interfax reported on 27 January. The court also revoked all the assembly's decisions, including its adoption of a new city charter and appointment of former mayor Viktor Cherepkov as the city's new mayor (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 26 January 1999). (J.A.C.)

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