What Foreign Investors in Kazakhstan Should Know:

Interview with Arlan Yerzhanov of the GRATA Law Firm (Part II)

In December, I sat down with Arlan Yerzhanov, a Partner and the Representative in the United States for GRATA Law Firm.  GRATA, a Kazakh law firm, is not only the largest law firm in Central Asia (and an office in Baku, too) but is unique in its Western reach, with lawyers in London and New York City.  In January, my column published the first part of the interview, discussing the dynamics of foreign participation in Kazakhstan in 2010 and what foreign investors need to know.  This is the continuation of our interview, focusing on what employers need to know about hiring and terminating workers in Kazakhstan.   Keep Reading »

In November 2009, a new mobile service provider officially launched its services in Armenia.  That new provider, France-Telecom’s Orange, had, just a year prior, won the bid to become Armenia’s third wireless service provider.  At the time of the bid tender, many analysts held two views: First, the Armenian telecommunications market was saturated.  Second, an overhaul of the market’s dynamics and competitiveness was long overdue.  The addition of Orange is proving both of those views to be technically accurate, although a deeper analysis is necessary to understand what the introduction of Orange really means for Armenia and what it says about opportunities for investors in the telecommunications market. Keep Reading »

Tajikistan has some of the greatest hydropower potential of any country in the world, although this potential is largely untapped.  Tajikistan has tapped only approximately three percent of its hydropower capacity, which is estimated to be 527 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually.[1] The potential lies in the Amudarya watershed with the Vakhsh River as its most important tributary.  The Tajikistan government seeks to exploit this natural resource not only to support its own domestic economy but also as a major export to its neighbors in Central and South Asia.  Keep Reading »