Kazakhstan
News Bulletin
Released weekly by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan
March 5, 2003 Vol. 1, No.12
________________________________
In this issue:
Central Asia Is "Muslim Firewall to Expansion of Extremism", Jewish Leader Says
Citing Secularism, Government Rejects Bill to Institutionalize Religious Holidays
Ombudsman says almost 200 petitions received, acted upon
President Nazarbayev Calls for Closer Economic Ties with U.S.
IMF forecasts 2003 GDP growth in Kazakhstan of 7%-8%
Central Asia Is "Muslim Firewall to Expansion of Extremism", Jewish Leader Says
The moderate Islamic cultures of Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations represent a "Muslim firewall to the expansion of the extremism that we see in the Middle East", Mortimer Zuckerman, the chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, said on NBC lately.
Zuckerman, who headed the delegation of the American and Israeli Jewish leaders for the International Conference on Peace and Harmony in Kazakhstan last month (see Kazakhstan News bulletin, February 13), spoke on the NBC's McLaughlin Group Show Feb. 22.
He said the U.S. public tends to "oversimplify the problem" of trends within Islam and its relations with the West, thinking of it purely along the lines of Arab Muslim world.
"I was in Kazakhstan. And that is an indication of how we oversimplify the problem, because the Central Asian Republics, along with Indonesia and Turkey, represent moderate Muslim countries," Zuckerman noted. "There are 130 million Muslims there, and they were there at a conference to do one thing, to say we're opposed to militant extremism, we're opposed to terrorism, and we want to have a dialogue of civilizations, by which they meant a dialogue with the Christian and Jewish communities."
He acknowledged that this does not represent the Arab Muslim world, but said it represents "the Central Asian Muslim world, that's a Muslim firewall to the expansion of the extremism that we see in the Middle East." He said it was "good to have them on our side and to know that the governments there are really helping out."
Citing Secularism, Government Rejects Bill to Institutionalize Religious Holidays
The Government is opposed to the idea of institutionalizing religious holidays as the state holidays because it would violate the Constitutional principle of separation of religion and state, and would also require additional budget spending, Kazakh Information Agency reported March 4.
The ministers' position was expressed in a written opinion on the bill, introduced earlier this year by Majilis deputies Alimpiada Cherkashina and Amangeldy Aitaly. The bill would have institutionalized two Muslim and two Christian Orthodox holidays as the state ones. The two legislators, an ethnic Russian and an ethnic Kazakh, proceeded from the assumption that the overwhelming majority of the population follows Islam and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Experts believe the government's stance is a recognition of an extraordinary religious and ethnic diversity of the population, encompassing more than 100 ethnic groups who follow the teachings of 46 different confessions, including Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Buddhism and others.
At a March 4 news conference, Cherkashina said she and her cosponsor would still defend the bill.
Ombudsman says almost 200 petitions received, acted upon
Experts Call on Office to "Deliver Results"
Bolat Baikadamov, Kazakhstan's first Human Rights Ombudsman, said his office received more than 180 petitions since he was approved in this position by the Parliament in September 2002, Khabar TV reported last week. Baikadamov said his office, supported by the new National Human Rights Center, had already prepared its recommendations to the state authorities in response to these petitions.
The Ombudsman and Fikret Akcura, UN Development Program coordinator in Kazakhstan, spoke to journalists after their meeting in Astana Feb. 21.
"With the establishment of the Ombudsman, Kazakhstan acquired an institution that can explain what rights the people of Kazakhstan have and how these rights can be protected," Akcura said. "By doing this, Kazakhstan got the international recognition. Now, the Ombudsman needs to deliver results."
President Nazarbayev Calls for Closer Economic Ties with U.S.
Says Iraq Should Demonstrate Good Will Toward UN Inspectors
President Nursultan Nazarbayev received U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Larry Napper in Astana Feb. 28 to discuss bilateral political and economic cooperation in the context of the agreements reached by the two nations' presidents at a December 2001 meeting in Washington, DC, kazpravda.kz reported.
Nazarbayev discussed ways to promote bilateral cooperation in the energy development. He underscored the need to put the Houston Initiative into practice as quickly as possible. In 2001, Nursultan Nazarbayev and George W. Bush agreed to initiate this program aimed at promoting the development of small and medium-sized business partnerships between Kazakhstan and the USA in order to help strengthen the republic's growing middle class. In October 2002, the program was officially launched with the U.S. and Kazakhstan providing $11 million and $5 million respectively as the seed money.
Speaking of Iraq, Nazarbayev underlined the importance of multiparty approaches to solving the problem. He said that as a nation that voluntarily renounced the nuclear weapons, Kazakhstan stands for nonproliferation of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, and believes Iraq has to demonstrate the good will and sincerity toward the UN inspectors.
IMF forecasts 2003 GDP growth in Kazakhstan of 7%-8%
The International Monetary Fund forecasts GDP growth in Kazakhstan of 7%-8% in 2003, Peter Keller, chief of the Eastern Division of the IMF European II Department, told the press in Astana March 3, Interfax and khabar.kz reported. GDP growth totaled 9.5% in 2002.
"There has clearly been a progress, and the international organizations take note of that," Keller said. Higher oil prices in 2003 will encourage economic development in Kazakhstan and attract investors. About 90% of foreign investment go into the oil sector, the IMF reported. Kazakhstan's Economy Ministry forecasts 2003 year-on-year GDP growth at 6-7%.
* * *
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
