Kazakhstan
News Bulletin
Released weekly by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan
February 26, 2003 Vol. 1, No.11
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In this issue:
Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to Create Single Economic Space
Feb. 23 Celebrated as Macho Day in East Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan Debates Handling Radioactive Waste, Building Nuclear Power Plant
Kazakhstan to Approve Caspian Offshore Development by March 20
Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to Create Single Economic Space
Economy the Underlying Basis For the Move, Nazarbayev Says
Presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine announced Feb. 23 in Moscow plans to boost economic links between the four nations by establishing the Single Economic Space, or a free trade zone.
In the statement read out from the Kremlin by Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma, the leaders said the move was motivated by "the desire to raise the standard of living in the region and by the need for sustainable development."
All four countries already belong to myriad organizations established over the past decade to promote integration in the former Soviet Union. But those organizations have been largely ineffective, said President Nursultan Nazarbayev, adding that last year Kazakhstan's trade with Russia and Ukraine saw declines.
"I hope this is a completely new breakthrough in our relations. The heart of the matter is in the tariffs and trade," Nazarbayev said. "For the first time in history we begin integrating not from the political top down, but from the foundation up."
In their declaration, the four
leaders said that an agreement
to form the free trade zone would
be ready by September 2003. By
that time, their governments
should have negotiated common
economic policies, harmonized
legislation and created an
interstate commission on trade
and tariffs, the statement said.
"Through the legislation we
will give the commission a
mandate and it will independently
regulate tariffs and trade," From right to left: Presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev,
Nazarbayev declared. Vladimir Putin, Leonid Kuchma and Alexander
Russia's PresidentLukashenko in Moscow, February 23, 2003. Picture
Vladimir Putin said that the by Khabar TV.
interstate group to prepare the draft agreement would be based in Kiev and headed by an official from Kazakhstan.
The leaders said the ultimate objective of the work would be to establish the Regional Cooperation Organization.
Putin said that other interested members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of former Soviet republics, would be welcome to join.
Because of President Nazarbayev's long-stated initiatives on economic integration, the announcement was not unexpected among Kazakhstan's experts, who believe the new formation will be economical in nature.
"The bloc is being created for purely economical considerations," said Dr. Maulen Ashimbayev, head of Kazakhstan's Institute for Strategic Studies in Almaty, in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta of Russia. He said the 11-year-old Collective Security Treaty within the CIS provided enough potential to take care of political and security issues.
"Oil production and transportation to Europe would be the main issue on the agenda," said Ashimbayev, but the nations will need "to expand mutual trade and industry development."
The four presidents made the statement after the two days of meetings in Moscow and after laying the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Kremlin wall to commemorate the Feb. 23, formerly the Soviet Army Day.
Feb. 23 Celebrated as Macho Day in East Kazakhstan
Soviet Army Holiday Has Old and New Adherents, Meaning
The men of Lisakovsk, a medium-sized town in east Kazakhstan, showed their best during a week-long celebration culminating last Sunday as the city marked for the first time ever the Macho Day while people throughout the former Soviet Union commemorated Feb. 23 in their own ways.
The festivities in Lisakovsk included competitions in weightlifting, tug-of-war, and arm-wrestling, crowned with congratulations from excited spectators, mostly women. In the run-up to the Sunday fun, the town's men featured in programs on local TV and radio, and private celebrations for war veterans and their descendants. Interestingly enough, Lisakovsk has been getting quite a reputation for new fancy celebrations of late, with such holidays as the Jazz Festival, the Beer Day and the Town's Day Carnival recently added to the roster of local notable dates.
Although Feb. 23 is no longer an official holiday in Kazakhstan, which celebrates its own Army Day on May 7, the holiday still reverberates quite strongly with many people, old, who honor the traditions of the past, and young, who are happy to have another occasion to celebrate.
According to the polls conducted by Comcon-Eurasia Company on the streets of Almaty, more than 75 percent of the 1.5 million city residents also marked the day.
Kazakhstan Debates Handling Radioactive Waste, Building Nuclear Power Plant
The issues of how to get rid of the radioactive waste and whether to build a new nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan were at the heart of intense public debates these days, prompted in part by the announcement last week that Kazakhstan and Russia may jointly build such a plant.
At the Feb. 24 Parliament session and the Feb. 25 Government meeting, Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik argued in favor of both importing foreign low-level radioactive waste and using the revenues to pay for the clean-up, and the construction of a new nuclear plant to satisfy the projected sky-rocketing growth in demand for cheap electricity.
"At the current annual rate of 440 million tenge ($1=T152.6 as of Feb. 26), we will be able to get rid of the waste in [as little as] 300 years," Shkolnik said at the Cabinet session, arguing for the need to spend as much as $1.154 billion to clean up the waste in 10 years time. The huge amounts of radioactive waste accumulated in Kazakhstan both through industrial processes and the 40 years of nuclear testing in Semipalatinsk.
Shkolnik said the money could be earned by importing law-radiation waste. His stance seemed to gain support among the ministers for health, finance, industry and environment, Khabar TV reported. The ministers argued that with existing technologies such operations can be both safe and beneficial to ridding Kazakhstan of its own radioactive waste and improving healthcare, particularly in the Semipalatinsk area.
Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov threw a note of caution and said the government needs "to focus not only on the financial feasibility of importing low- and medium-level radioactive waste."
"Attention should also be paid to environmental safety and issues related to the country's reputation," he noted, adding that Kazakhstan itself may potentially afford to spend $1billion for these purposes during the next decade. He said there's a need to conduct thorough expertise, together with the international experts, to assess its requirements and capabilities before making a determination. Currently, the members of Parliament are increasingly questioning the merits of potential importation of foreign radioactive waste.
The debates on the nuclear power plant were no less sharp in the Parliament, where legislators, mindful of Chernobyl and Semipalatinsk legacies, questioned the safety and the need for such a plant, while Shkolnik said Kazakhstan needed it for a variety of reasons.
"Kazakhstan needs nuclear plant from the environmental standpoint, from the point of its social development, its existing raw material and scientific potential," Shkolnik said in the Parliament. He was referring to ecologically cleaner operations of nuclear plants compared to coal-fired ones, expected growth in electricity demand by "dozens of times over the 10 years" in Kazakhstan, as well as its world's largest uranium reserves and an existing nuclear fuel producing plant.
He said the government hasn't made the final decision on how to proceed with this issue, and only after that will it likely "hold an international tender for the construction of the plant."
Karatai Turysov, chairman of the Majilis Economy Committee, suggested the people are not in for of such proposals. "Why are they against it? Because they do not see that the government is doing enough to ensure nuclear safety."
After talks with President Nazarbayev in Moscow last week, Russia's President Putin announced the two countries would work jointly to build a nuclear power plant near Lake Balkhash in southeastern Kazakhstan. Shkolnik said no formal agreement has been signed.
Kazakhstan to Approve Caspian Offshore Development by March 20
Kazakhstan intends to have the program for developing energy resources in its section of offshore Caspian shelf by March 20, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Vladimir Shkolnik said in Astana Feb. 24, Kazakhstan Today news agency reported.
A working group is due to finalize the program by March 5 and submit it to the Government for approval "by March 20", Shkolnik said noting that "[oil] reserves in the Kazakhstan's Caspian shelf total several dozen billion barrels."
Earlier reports said the Government was planning to auction off up to 120 new prospective blocks in the Caspian under the new program later this year. New business opportunities draw a lot of interest in the industry following the discovery of giant Kashagan oil field with proven recoverable reserves of 7 to 9 billion barrels in June 2002. This made Kashagan, whose potential reserves are widely expected to be several times higher, the largest oil find in the world for the past 30 years.
According to recently released statistical figures, 47.2 million tons of oil and gas condensate (just under one million barrels per day) were produced in Kazakhstan by both local and foreign operators in 2002, 18.2% more than in 2001. In a recent interview Economy and Budget Planning Minister Kairat Kelimbetov said the Government expected the production to grow to 52.7 million tons (around 1.05 million barrels per day) this year, 56.0 million in 2004 and 61.2 million in 2005.
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News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the USA and Canada
(Compiled from own sources and various agencies' reports)
Contact persons: Roman Vassilenko, Aibek Nurbalin
Tel.: (202) 232- 5488 ext. 104, 115, Fax: (202) 232- 5845
