Monday, July 11, 2011

Eurasian News This Week

China-Russia-Mongolia - Mongolia has announced the winners of a long-fought contest to develop part of Tavan Tolgoi, one of the largest coking coal deposits in the world. Chinese coal miner Shenhua will own the lion’s share of the venture with a 40 per cent stake. A Russian-Mongolian consortium will own a further 36 per cent. Peabody, the biggest US coal miner, will have 24 per cent. The decision underscores the challenges for Mongolia as it seeks to balance ties between larger neighbours China and Russia while developing its vast resources.

China-Russia - Bilateral ties between China and Russia have reached a new height thanks to a treaty signed 10 years ago, Assistant Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said Monday. The cooperation between the two countries is extremely conducive to building a multipolar world and a fairer international order, and benefits world peace and stability, according to the assistant foreign minister.

China-Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyzstan is one of China’s main Central Asian partners, Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Wang Kaiwen told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 7. Kyrgyz-Chinese co-operation peaked in 2008, he said, adding that bilateral trade exceeded US $9 billion (410 billion KGS) that year. Trade decreased after 2008 and started to grow again only in the first half of 2011, he remarked. Top-level talks on a Chinese-Kyrgyz-Uzbek railway continue, he said. Construction will cost about US $2 billion (91 billion KGS), and the three are discussing whether a joint venture or a foreign firm should build the railway, Wang added.

China-Kazakhstan - As China became Kazakhstan’s leading economic and investment partner in 2010, concern about the threat of those ties with China grew. One factor that is contributing to the so-called fears about China is its ties to the fossil fuel industry. “China is entering into Kazakhstan’s oil business very skilfully and progressively, not just into refining and mining, but also into pipeline transport,” Almaty Public Antimonopoly Commission Chairman Peter Svoik said. “China not only has (oil) fields but also its own pipes crossing Kazakhstan’s territory.”

Caspian Pipeline Consortium - Construction has begun on a project to increase the capacity of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC)’s main oil pipeline, CASPIONET reported July 5. The project is meant to raise annual capacity to 67m tonnes from 28m tonnes by 2015. The CPC is a multi-national consortium for transporting oil from the Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak oil fields to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, Russia.


Articles referred to in this post:

"中俄争世界最大未开采煤矿开发权 可能联合中标" (China and Russia compete for Mongolia coal)

"中国获最大煤矿40%股权" (China aquires 40% stake in largest coal mine)

"外交部部長助理:中俄關係達到前所未有的高水平" (Chinese official: bilateral ties between China and Russia have reached a new height)

"Китайский посол: Кыргызстан - ключевой партнер" (Chinese envoy: Kyrgyzstan - China's key partner)

"Казахско-китайское экономическое партнерство вызывает обеспокоенность" (Kazakh-Chinese business partnership elicits concern)

"Казахстан увеличит экспорт нефти по КТК" (Kazakhstan to increase CPC oil exports)

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