In this issue:
Senate Leader Visits Washington to Promote Stronger Ties
Parliament Approves Anti-Extremism Bills
Government Cuts Red Tape, Literally
OECD Raises Kazakhstan’s Export Risks Rating
Kazakh Concerts at Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall “A Success”
First International Arbitration Court Opens in Kazakhstan
International Arbitration Court --- Khalykaralyk Arbitrage Soty
folk song --- halyk an
Senate Leader Visits Washington to Promote Stronger Ties
Nurtai Abykayev, Chairman of Kazakhstan’s Senate, visited Washington, DC, last week for talks with his counterparts promoting interparliamentary ties between the two countries and to speak at the 53th annual National Prayer Breakfast events.
Chairman Abykayev met Senators Bill Frist (R-TN)
and Harry Reid (D-NV), Majority and Minority
Leaders of the Senate, Senator Richard Lugar
(R-IN), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT),
Chairman of the Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee’s Communications
Subcommittee.
On the House side, Chairman Abykayev met
with Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), ranking member
of the House International Relations Committee,
and Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), member of the same
committee and Co-Chairman of the U.S.-
Kazakhstan Interparliamentary Friendship Group.
Discussions focused on ways to strengthen
relations and strategic partnership the two nations
are enjoying over a wide range of issues, including
nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
trade, and investment cooperation.
Chairman Abykayev, who also serves as head of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions,
also made a presentation at an
international luncheon of some
3,000 U.S. and foreign dignitaries,
which traditionally takes place a
day before the National Prayer
Breakfast.
Abykayev’s message about
Kazakhstan’s efforts to share its
experience of religious harmony
found a very receptive audience.
These efforts include the
continued promotion of the
agenda of the Congress of
Religions. At its first meeting in
Astana in 2003, the Congress,
with more than 120 delegates
from 17 of the world’s religions
in attendance, soundly
condemned terrorism in the
name of faith and pledged to strengthen dialogue and mutual understanding. More recently, the secretariat of the Congress met in Kazakhstan in the fall of 2004, discussing new areas for cooperation and plans for the 2006 Congress which will be held in Kazakhstan.
Parliament Approves Anti-Extremism Bills
Members of Kazakhstan’s Majilis (lower house of Parliament) approved two bills designed to counter extremism on February 9. The Majilis vote approved the incorporation of earlier corrections by the Senate and the bills will be sent to the President for signature. The two bills are “On countering extremism” and “On introduction of changes to some legislation on countering extremism.”
Valikhan Kalizhanov, a member of the Majilis’s International Relations, Defense and Security Committee, said these bills, when signed into law, will provide a mechanism under which foreign or international organizations working in Kazakhstan and other countries “will be recognized as extremist” by court decision and “at the request of a prosecutor.” The organizations determined as “extremist” by the courts, and persons convicted for extremist activities, will be monitored by state bodies in charge of keeping special registries.
The second bill introduces specific amendments to existing laws “in order to define responsibility for extremist activity,” Kalizhanov explained. The amendments will provide for a ban on the establishment of any religious association with goals and actions aimed at establishing religious supremacy, spreading religious hatred through violence or calls for violence, propaganda of religious extremism as well as “conducting acts aimed at using inter-religious differences for political gains.”
Kalizhanov said the new bills do not contradict Kazakhstan’s Constitution.
Government Cuts Red Tape, Literally
The Government of Kazakhstan completed its review of several thousand documents it and its agencies have issued since independence in 1991. Many were found redundant and some inappropriately regulated business activities.
Thirty-four thousand documents were subject to review, including more than 10,000 government resolutions, 1,000 ministerial regulations and 22,000 decisions by local governors, mayors and assemblies.
The review resulted in the February 8 Government decision abolishing more than 350 of its own resolutions and 60 ministerial regulations.
According to the Government’s press service, the majority of abolished documents are either outdated or redundant in light of later decisions. The Government also abolished orders of certain agencies who overstepped their authority in regulating small and medium sized businesses.
OECD Raises Kazakhstan’s Export Risks Rating
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has upgraded Kazakhstan’s country export risks rating, moving it from the 5th to the 4th group of risks.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, the upgrade “reflects the Government’s successes in reforming the economy, improving the investment climate as well as Kazakhstan’s international business reputation.”
The ratings from OECD are used by export credit guarantee agencies of the world’s most developed countries in determining their support for projects in other countries. The 30-member OECD has issued such ratings since its inception in 1960.
Kazakhstan’s rating was upgraded last in the fall of 2003, when the country was moved from the 6th group to the 5th group of risks. The upgrade led to growth in the number of economic projects in Kazakhstan supported through the U.S. Ex-Im Bank and other export credit guarantee agencies of the Western countries.
Kazakh Concerts at Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall “A Success”
Concerts by two orchestras from Kazakhstan,
the Kazakh State Kurmangazy Orchestra of
Folk Instruments and the Kazakh State
Chamber Orchestra “Academy of Soloists”
were “fabulous successes”, according to
hundreds of listeners in Washington and New
York.
At right is a picture of the concert at the
Kennedy Center, showing Bekbolat Tleukhan
whose solo singing and dombra playing left
many in the audience “blown away.”
For additional information about the concert
programs, Kazakh music and more pictures from the performances please click here.
First International Arbitration Court Opens in Kazakhstan
The first International Arbitration Court opened in Kazakhstan on February 8, as officials announced in Almaty that Kazakhstan was moving ahead with implementing recently singed laws “On Arbitration” and “On international commercial arbitration.”
The Kazakhstan International Arbitration Court (KIAC) will be a permanent arbitration court which reviews contentious issues arising from treaty obligations under both the laws of the Republic and the norms of law selected by competing parties. The dispute is heard based on KIAC rules and regulations, developed using the best available experience of international and foreign arbitration courts.
The KIAC will include well-known Kazakh scientists and civil law experts as well as representatives of leading international law firms. Professor Maidan Suleimenov has become the first KIAC Chairman.
Suleimenov said the new court will help solve such problems as corruption and lack of professionalism of judges, undue delays and pressure on the parties, which still occur in the regular judicial system: “The corruption within KIAC is brought down to zero because we have respected people and professionals never spotted in shady deals as arbiters.”
The KIAC is the only arbitration court in Kazakhstan providing services in accordance with arbitration regulations adopted by the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in 1976. The UN General Assembly also recommends using this regulation for settling international trade disputes as acceptable for countries with different legal, social and economic systems.
Kazakh officials used statistics showing that Stockholm’s arbitration court, one of the busiest international arbitration courts, reviewed cases worth 250 million dollars in 2004, of which 4 cases worth 30 million dollars in total were from Kazakhstan.
Dmitrii Vetlugin, KIAC’s Executive Director, believes “the establishment of such a court in Kazakhstan will give our businesspeople an opportunity to both solve their issues for smaller fees inside the home country and contribute to our economy.”
Things to Watch:
- Nauryz, the traditional spring festival, taking place on the spring equinox, will take place across Kazakhstan on March 22.
________________________________________________________________________________
News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the USA and Canada
(Compiled from own sources and agency reports)
Contact person: Roman Vassilenko
1401 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036
Tel.: 202 232 5488, ext. 104, Fax: 202 232 5845
