In this issue:
New Party Intends to Fight for Fair Election and Turning Kazakhstan into Social State
Muslims Celebrate Kurban Ait, Pray for Peace
Kazakhstan Seeks WTO Membership in 2005-06, Says PM
Gov't Seeks Double GDP Growth by 2010, If Not Earlier
SAY IT IN KAZAKH:
I work at a company. --- Men kompaniyada zhumys isteimin.
New Party Intends to Fight for Fair Election and Turning Kazakhstan into Social State
Seeks to Win Half of Parliament Seats in October
A newly formed political party Asar (All Together) intends to fight for holding open and fair elections, for a significant increase of social benefits based on solid economic calculations, as well as to implement real deeds aimed at improving people's lives.
The party announced these plans at its first
congress in Almaty on January 31. More than
700 delegates from all regions of Kazakhstan
participated. Asar was registered in December
2003, becoming the ninth political party in
Kazakhstan.
The congress' delegates made a public call
to sign a nation-wide charter "For Fair
Election" which will require from all political
parties to prevent deception of voters and
refrain from giving unrealistic promises.
Asar proposes establishing regional
observation groups from representatives of
all political parties to oversee both election
campaigns and elections themselves.
The party builds its political platform on the
Kazakhstan-2030 strategy, which was
adopted in 1997 and seeks to turn
Kazakhstan into a highly developed and
prosperous state, not dependent on energy
resources. The party intends to promote
sharp increases in social payments based
on sound economic calculations.
Dariga Nazarbayeva, the leader of Asar, said: "Children, elder people and the disabled need social protection the most. Our party's priority is to further improve pension system, introduce free public transportation for retired people, increase social benefits for utility and healthcare payments, as well as for buying medicines. Our party stands for introducing regular benefits for children under the age of 3, and obligatory child benefits for children under the age of 18."
She added: "Our party doesn't give empty promises. We can count money and know how to find it."
This year Asar plans to launch a nation-wide campaign called Public Accountability. It will establish volunteer-staffed bureaus in all regions to receive complaints and proposals from citizens and to resolve issues with local officials.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev sent a message to Asar, saying that he expects "Asar, as it declares, to become a party of real deeds, a party of the future that puts into practice modern ideas of economic development, social justice, democracy and international cooperation."
Asar declared its commitment to a practical and constructive dialog with other political parties, including as part of the Permanent Conference on Democratization.
At the same time, the party's leader announced its readiness to fight for votes during the upcoming election and win at least half of the seats.
"It's a bold and ambitious statement, but why create a party, if you don't have ambitious goals," Ms. Nazarbayeva said.
Some facts point to the party's potential. At its registration in December the party had 77,000 members. At its congress last week the party announced its membership grew to 170,000, predominantly young people. Just before the congress, 11 independents in the Senate and the Majilis, including 8 senators and 3 majilismen, created Asar's parliamentary faction.
Muslims Celebrate Kurban Ait, Pray for Peace
Muslims of Kazakhstan celebrated Kurban Ait (Eid Al-Adha, or "Celebration of Sacrifice"), one of the holiest Muslim holidays on Monday February 2.
Ethnic Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Uighurs, Tartars, Turks, and Chechens, and people of other ethnic groups, making up the two-thirds Muslim majority of Kazakhstan's 15 million population, marked the day with prayers and calls for peace with people of other religions. The holiday is celebrated with morning prayers followed by feasting and acts and philanthropy.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev prayed in the largest mosque in Astana and addressed the people of the country: "Numbers of believers have been growing in recent years. More and more people begin to share principles of spirituality and tolerance. New mosques, churches and temples are built. At the same time, the people of Kazakhstan are able to preserve unity and harmony."
Kazakhstan has seen a revival of religious freedoms since 1991 coupled with notable tolerance amongst followers of various religions. In December 2003, the U.S. State Department named Kazakhstan one of only two countries where the situation with religious freedoms improved markedly.
Since the country's independence, more than 3,000 religious associations appeared in the country, with 1,500 new mosques, 170 Russian Orthodox churches and more than 30 cathedrals built in the republic. Recently, news reports also said more than a dozen of new synagogues were constructed. Kazakhstan's experience of peaceful coexistence of various religions has been highlighted last year with the first Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, who gathered in Astana in September 2003 to commit themselves to closer dialog and denounce terrorism.
Kazakhstan Seeks WTO Membership in 2005-06, Says PM
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov said Kazakhstan seeks membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006. He made the announcement as a news conference following the Government's session in Astana on February 5.
PM Akhmetov said there are four areas of issues currently under negotiations with WTO.
According to Kazinform news agency, the first issue is linked to Kazakhstan's legislation protecting "Kazakhstan's local content in some extracting industries." The Prime Minister said this issue "is reflected in existing laws on oil, subsoil use and some others", and added that Kazakhstan "will most definitely defend this position."
Another set of problems is linked to agricultural subsidies. "When calculating subsidies, we use the years of 1994-96 as the basis, in other words, we use commonly accepted norms, on which the WTO was based. It means annual subsidies amount to US$ 864 million, and we defend this stance." He added that some countries with priorities in agricultural spheres, such as Australia, the U.S. and some others insist the period from 2002 to 2004 be used as a basis for calculations: "We can understand completely the ideology of such countries, since they realize that Kazakhstan will soon be a serious competitor in grain production and other sectors of agriculture."
A third area is related to excise duties, and the PM said this is an area where Kazakhstan will be ready for an "impartial compromise". Finally, access to telecommunications markets constitutes the fourth area of unresolved issues. The Prime Minister said the Government is in fact stands for "opening this market in Kazakhstan for everybody who is willing to work in it."
Gov't Seeks Double GDP Growth by 2010, If Not Earlier
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov said the Government is confident the country's gross domestic product will double by the year 2010, if not before that.
Speaking at a news conference in Astana on February 5, PM Akhmetov said: "In recent years, the GDP grew by 49 percent, so we have solid grounds to expect the GDP to double by 2010, although I believe it will happen even before that."
The Government plans to radically change the economy's structure by 2015. As of now, extracting industries, including oil and gas and ore production, dominate the industry and account for a sizable share of budget revenues.
PM Akhmetov sees no problems with that. He said: "We shouldn't be scared by the fact that raw materials sector has dominated the economy so far. It is indeed a dominant factor, but it is also a "locomotive" for adjoining industries."
He noted the industrial innovation strategy, adopted last year, is specifically aimed at "redressing the tilt toward oil and gas production, mostly toward processing industries." These industries are export oriented, he added, which is natural when Kazakhstan seeks WTO membership.
Statistical data for 2003 supports PM's positive projections. As announced at the Government session on February 5, the GDP grew 9.1 percent, while inflation reached 6.4 percent year-on-year. Budget deficit amounted to only 1.2 percent of GDP, versus 1.9 percent projected earlier.
The National Bank's gold and foreign currency reserves grew 58 percent to just above US$5 billion by January 1, 2004. By February 1, the reserves grew even further, to US$5.4 billion, "a historic maximum" according to the bank's chief, Anvar Saidenov.
The assets of the National Fund grew 77 percent to reach 529 billion tenge, or roughly US$3.8 billion at current exchange rate of 139.41 tenge per one US dollar. The National Fund accumulates excess tax revenues from oil and gas companies and some other industries.
Things to Watch:
- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw visits Astana on February 5 to meet with President Nazarbayev and other officials and open up British embassy's branch office in Astana.
- Negotiations between Kazakhstan and Agip KCO, an international consortium developing gigantic Kashagan field on the Caspian shelf, are nearing its conclusion at the end of February-early March, PM Akhmetov said. The settlement of outstanding issues will open the way for full-scale exploration of the field, considered the world's largest oil find in 30 years.
____________________________________________________________
News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the USA and Canada
(Compiled from own sources and agenciy reports)
Contact person: Roman Vassilenko
1401 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036
Tel.: (202) 232- 5488 ext. 104, Fax: (202) 232- 5845
