Reuters and the Moscow Times reports that Matthias Kollatz-Ahnen, a vice president of the European Investment Bank (the only non-governmental shareholder in the EBRD), said the bank aimed to take a majority stake in EBRD through gradually buying out non-European Union shareholders.
Australia has said that it wishes to sell its stake, and the US has pushed the EBRD to pay a dividend (unprecedented for a development bank), which would have the effect of lowering its available capital.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Reuters/MT: EIB interested in buying out non-EU Shareholders of EBRD
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
FT: Mirow backed to head EBRD
The Financial Times reports that Thomas Mirow, the deputy German finance minister, has the support of the European Union and will probably be named head of the EBRD at their annual meeting in Kiev (Kyiv) this May, replacing the respected Jean Lemierre
Mr Mirow told the Financial Times this week that the EBRD still had a "crucial" role to play, in spite of strong economic growth in eastern Europe.
WSJ: Nizhny Novgorod Development-Third City of Russia?
The Wall Street Journal had a brief piece on a fanciful proposal for Nizhny Novgorod.
It is encouraging to see such projects in the 'provinces' of Russia. Moscow is of course Russia's leading city, and St. Petersburg is firmly the second city. However, there are around 10 cities which could legitimately be considered the 'third city of Russia', based on their populations (all approximately 1.0-1.4 million) and economic viability. Nizhny Novgorod is of course one of these.
Many older Americans will remember Nizhny Novgorod under its Soviet-era name, Gorky, and as the place of internal exile for Andrei Sakharov. Less known is that was also the headquarters of the automotive industry during the Soviet era (GAZ originally built on license from Ford the Model A), and is still an important industrial center.
Although economically impractical for many years, this project is indicative of the power of the Russian economy, and the more prosperous regions, that such thinking is going on today.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
NY Times Book Recommendations on Recent Russian Political and Economic Issues
Stephen Kotkin of The New York Times had a good piece in today's paper summarizing books on current Russian economic and political thought. The article is notable in that it summarizes the positions of many of the leading experts on Russia today, including Dmitri V. Trenin and Anders Aslund. By being aware of the experts' bias, one can read much into their commentary.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
FT: EBRD looks at role in Turkey
Stefan Wagstyl of the Financial Times reports that, as part of the EBRD's push southeast and east, Turkey is the next logical step to expand the EBRD's countries of operation.
The EU, whose members together control about 60 per cent of the EBRD, is due to consider these issues at a finance ministers' meeting next week, which Mr Lemierre is scheduled to attend. Turkey is an EBRD member but has long wanted to join the bank's countries of operation and secure access to finance. But it has run into opposition from some EU members, which preferred the EBRD to focus on the former communist states, especially future members of the bloc.Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Russia's Gazprom gets Kyrgyz gas field licenses
Olga Dzyubenko of Reuters reports that the meeting between Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller and Kyrgyz Prime Miniester Igor Chudinov could result in Gazprom invest about $300 million into Kyrgyzstan.
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Monday, January 7, 2008
Russia Becomes an Issue in US Presidential Campaign
Ellen Wulfhorst of Reuters writes that Hillary Clinton, campaigning, ponders Putin's soul.
One of my biggest concerns for US-Russian relations this year is that Russia can easily become a campaign issue, with candidates criticizing their rivals for not being "strong" enough "against" Russia. At the same time, a similar scenario can easily happen in the Russian campaign. Neither side would benefit from such rhetoric.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
New Kyrgyz Prime Minister, Igor Chudinov
Bruce Pannier of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty wrote a good briefing on Igor Chudinov, the new Prime Minister of Kyrgystan (and the fourth prime minister in a year). Mr. Chudinov, 46, was previously head of Kyrgyzgaz, and trade and industry minister. His appointment sends positive signals to the investment community.
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Update: Iran Believes Turkmen Gas Cut-Off Due to Pricing Dispute
Zahra Hosseinian of Reuters posted an update that quotes Reza Kasaizadeh of Iran's state gas company saying "They believe that, as they increased the price of gas they export to Russia, they should raise the price of gas they export to Iran."
No word from the Turkmen side, except to say that the cut-off is due to technical reasons.
EDF and PricewaterhouseCoopers have won the tender for study of the Kambarata hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan
PennWell's Power Engineering Online reports that Electricite de France and PricewaterhouseCoopers have won the tender for an investment study of the Kambarata-1 and Kambarata-2 hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan.
The project is sponsored by Russia's RAO UES. No word on the ultimate destination for the power generated by the project, but it would make a big increase in Kygyzstan's hydroelectric production.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Turkmenistan lifts 10-year ban on buying and selling foreign currency - International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press reports that Turkmenistan lifts 10-year ban on buying and selling foreign currency. This is another sign that, slowly, Turkmenistan is starting to open up their society.
Sphere: Related Content
Analysis of Central Asia/Caspian Energy Market in 2007
John C.K. Daly of UPI wrote International Security - Energy - Analysis - UPI.com, which summarized the state of Central Asia/Caspian's energy markets.
He contrasted the success of Russia in convincing Turkmenistan to develop additional pipeline capacity through Russia (a move which occured "despite the visit of 16 high-level U.S. negotiators in the wake of Niyazov's death") with Russia's failure to make inroads in the BTC region ("It is notable that no Russian firms are involved in the project and that Western concerns receive 75 percent of BTC's revenues.")
In a Car, a Lesson in Russian-European Trade
Judy Dempsey wrote a good article, In a Car, a Lesson in Russian-European Trade - New York Times. She uses the example of Skoda, a mid-priced car company (based in Czech Republic, now owned by Volkswagon), to illustrate the growth of bi-lateral trade between Russia and its former Eastern European satellites.
I remember many years ago, asking a college professor (around 1980 and the time of imposition of marshal law in Poland) about the integration of Eastern Europe's economies with that of the Soviet Union. He said that, even if the Soviet Union granted full freedom to the countries of Eastern Europe, they still would be dependent on the USSR for their markets and materials. It seems that, during the 1990's, countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Baltics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) did everything they could to distance themselves, economically, from Russia. Now that the economies of Eastern Europe have developed and matured, since they joined NATO and the European Union, they seem to be more attracted to what amounts to their natural markets and trading partners.
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