In this issue:
Kazakh Legislators Visit Counterparts in Washington
Semipalatinsk to Receive $60 Million in Government Help
Special Economic Zone to Emerge in South Kazakhstan
U.S. Report Notes Challenges, Encouraging Trends in Kazakhstan’s Fight against Drug Trafficking
Kiwis Watch as Kazakh Athlete Wins Triple Gold
North --- Soltustik; South --- Ontustik; East --- Shygys; West --- Batys
Special Economic Zone --- Anaye ekonomikalyk aimak
Kazakh Legislators Visit Counterparts in Washington
Musiraly Utebayev, Chairman of the Senate
Economics, Finance, and Budget Committee,
and Kenzhegali Sagadiyev, Chairman of the
Majilis (lower house) Finance and Budget
Committee visited Washington this week for
talks with their counterparts on the Senate
Appropriations and House Budget
committees and members of the
U.S.-Kazakhstan Interparliamentary
Friendship Group.
Their discussions centered on ways to
strengthen interparliamentary relations and
Kazakhstan’s plans to move ahead with
extensive political reforms, and its drive to
diversify the economy, particularly in view of the recent state of the nation address by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The Kazakh members of Parliament met Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL), Wayne Allard (R-CO), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Mark Pryor (D-AR). On the House side, they held a meeting of the U.S.-Kazakhstan Interparliamentary Friendship Group with its two cochairmen, Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA) and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL). They also had extensive discussions with representatives Joel Hefley (R-CO), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), and others.
Chairman Sagadiyev called the visit a “very
productive one”, saying: “We saw that the
state of the nation address of President
Nazarbayev has drawn an undeniable
interest from our U.S. counterparts. The
main conclusion I drew is this, the people
in the United States believe in Kazakhstan
and believe Kazakhstan has a great future,
and today are eagerly awaiting the
implementation of ideas from the address
of our President.”
Chairman Utebayev said the two members
were “pleased with the openness, kindness
and depth of knowledge about Kazakhstan”
on behalf of their colleagues in the U.S.
Congress. “Quite a few of them visited
Kazakhstan, some more than once. Our
meetings were very productive and
congenial and we intend to work together to strengthen our ties for the benefit of our two peoples,” he concluded.
Semipalatinsk to Receive $60 Million in Government Help
People of the Semipalatinsk region, which was home to the Soviet Union’s largest nuclear test site and remains Kazakhstan’s largest environmental disaster area, will receive sizeable assistance from the Government of Kazakhstan under a special program now under development.
Aitkul Samakova, Minister of Environment Protection of Kazakhstan, announced the Government’s intentions to spend US$60 million at a March 11 meeting with a delegation of NATO parliamentarians in Astana.
The Minister said the plan will cover three years, from 2005 to 2007. It will be aimed at “solving the problems of [the region around] the test site through measures to improve environmental and economic conditions affecting the quality of life of the people of the region,” she explained.
The Minister also noted support from the European Union and NATO for the region. The EU intends to underwrite a future project by the International Atomic Energy Agency called “Full Radiological Assessment of the Semipalatinsk Test Site.” In its turn, NATO has already launched a project to study the radiological and ecological situations around the villages of Sarzhal and Maiskoe, which were located on the outskirts of the test site and were some of the closest residential areas to almost 500 nuclear explosions.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan shut down the test site in August 1991, even before the Soviet Union collapsed. People of the Semipalatinsk region, however, continue to suffer from radiation related illnesses such as breast cancer and birth defects. While the nationwide cancer rate in Kazakhstan is 193 per 100,000, at Semipalatinsk it soars to 280 per 100,000. Similarly, the number of babies with birth defects in Semipalatinsk is 239 per 100,000 live births, compared to 170 per 100,000 in Kazakhstan as a whole.
Overall, more than 1.5 million people in Kazakhstan have suffered and continue to suffer following the nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk. An area comparable in size with New England and New York State combined was contaminated as a result of the tests.
The United States also is turning its attention to the plight of the people in Semipalatinsk, who were used as unwilling guinea pigs by the Soviets.
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, the Democratic member of the U.S. Congress from American Samoa visited Semipalatinsk in August 2004 and said the United States should work with Kazakhstan to fight the legacy of four decades of Soviet nuclear testing at the site. He called for consideration to be given to having the U.S. provide medical assistance to people suffering in the region from radiation related diseases. The Congressman said he initiated legislation and announced plans to establish a special private foundation in the United States to help with the mission.
Special Economic Zone to Emerge in South Kazakhstan
The Government of Kazakhstan decided to move ahead with the establishment of a special economic zone (SEZ) in South Kazakhstan seeking to promote textile and cotton industries there.
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov approved a plan to build the SEZ which will be known as Ontustik (South). He asked the ministries of economy and budget planning and of finance and the regional governor of the South Kazakhstan oblast (region) to work it out in finer details.
The decision was announced March 11 following a Government meeting in Astana.
The Government’s believes the Ontustik SEZ will help create a cluster of related industries in the region and help overcome dependence on imports of textile products by raising local industries’ competitiveness and quality. According to the plan, new enterprises within the SEZ will be likely freed from corporate taxes.
The south of Kazakhstan is the only region in the country with extensive cotton production and significant processing infrastructure.
U.S. Report Notes Challenges, Encouraging Trends in Kazakhstan’s Fight against Drug Trafficking
The United States Department of State noted both the serious challenges and encouraging trends in Kazakhstan’s fight against drug trafficking in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 2004 issued earlier this month.
The U.S. State Department’s report said “Kazakhstan continues to be a major route for Afghan heroin and opium in transit to Russia and Europe. An Associate Professor of the Academy of National Security estimates that approximately 100-150 tons of Afghanistan’s narcotics will move through Kazakhstan this year. Approximately 30 percent of these drugs will be sold in Kazakhstan.”
It noted more than 19 tons of narcotics were seized in Kazakhstan since the beginning of 2004, 14 percent more than the previous year.
The findings of the State Department’s report came only a few months after the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had issued its report showing soaring production of heroin in Afghanistan in recent years. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of UNODC, said in December 2004, “This year, opium cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by 64 per cent compared to 2003. The illicit heroin yield in Afghanistan in 2004 weighed in at more than 500 tons. Compare this to the worldwide demand for heroin, which is cruising at between 300 – 400 tons.”
This gigantic increase in drug production in Afghanistan and ever growing trafficking routed through Central Asia is having a clear adverse effect on the transit countries, including Kazakhstan. It also dwarfs local drug production, mostly of marijuana.
“Local drug use and its health consequences continue to increase, but local crime connected to drug use seems to have dropped. Kazakhstan continues to take steps to control drug related crimes within its own borders, but official corruption complicates efforts to improve controls over drug trafficking,” the State Department report said.
Kazakhstan is in the fourth year of its five year National Program for Combating Narcotics, although officials admit it will take much longer to defeat the drug threat.
In March 2004, President Nazarbayev signed a decree establishing the Committee on Combating and Controlling Narcotics within the Ministry of the Interior, an institution similar to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Government annually conducts Operation Poppy, working to eradicate domestic production of narcotics. Another large scale operation, known as “Dope”, is aimed at the control and seizure of psychotropic substances and precursors.
Kazakhstan cooperates with the United States, regional neighbors and the United Nations in fighting the drug menace.
Kazakhstan and the U.S. signed a Memorandum of Understanding on narcotics control and law enforcement in December 2002. In June 2004, an additional protocol to the memorandum was signed, establishing a framework to support projects to improve the capacity of Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies to combat narcotics trafficking and organized crime. Kazakhstan is party to the 1998 UN Drug Convention and has signed the Central Asian Counter-Narcotics Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Office of Drug Control.
Cooperation with the United States involves training local drug enforcement officers and supplying specialized equipment.
The Kazakhstan chapter of the State Department’s report concludes: “Kazakhstan is making serious efforts to end its status as a narcotics transit country. The Government of Kazakhstan is working to refine its laws related to narcotics, to develop its police services and to cooperate with the international community. Corruption, failure to devote sufficient resources to training and equipment, and a weak infrastructure remain serious problems, but trends are encouraging.”
Kiwis Watch as Kazakh Athlete Wins Triple Gold
Serik Nurgaliev, a police officer from Astana who won two gold and one silver medals at the World Police Championship in Las Vegas in September 2004, improved his own record by winning triple gold in New Zealand.
At a recent championship in Auckland, Nurgaliyev, nicknamed “Iron Serik” back home, won gold medals in power lifting and bench press on March 6. On March 8, despite an injury from the Las Vegas tournament, he took the third gold in the competition in arm wrestling, making a “present” to his wife and two daughters for the International Women’s Day.
In other sports news, Kazakhstan’s Salamat Utarbayev won silver at the World Cup judo meeting in Warsaw, after loosing to Britain’s Craig Fallon in the final of the 60kg category.
Things to Watch:
- At their joint meeting on March 10, members of both houses of Parliament of Kazakhstan agreed to take on another round of electoral reform following the Parliamentary elections last year which uncovered some problems in the existing law. The first hearing on the bill of amendments to election legislation is scheduled on March 28.
- Sturgeon 2005, a special law enforcement operation, will begin in the Atyrau oblast on the Caspian Sea on April 1. It is designed to protect the dwindling sturgeon population from poachers.
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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
