In this issue:
Kazakh President Offers Help to Keep Peace in Neighboring Kyrgyzstan
Two Versions of Jury Trials on the Table in Kazakhstan
Parliament Slashes List of Licensed Activities
Kazakhstan Continues Talks on Joining Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
Calm --- Baisal
Patience is gold --- Sabyr tubi – sary altyn
Pipeline --- Kubyr
Kazakh President Offers Help to Keep Peace in Neighboring Kyrgyzstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan on March 23 made a special address to the people of Kyrgyzstan, offering “any necessary assistance” to help preserve stability in their country and calling for calm and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
In his message, President Nazarbayev spoke about “a special relationship” between the two peoples, the Kazakh and the Kyrgyz, based on closeness of cultures, histories, traditions and language. The President said “it is impossible to overlook common borders and interests of hundreds of thousands of people in our border regions, as well as bilateral interstate relations.” This is why the people in Kazakhstan have been watching “with great concern the events in the friendly Kyrgyzstan,” he added.
The President continued: “Recalling a proverb common to our peoples, “sabyr tubi – sary altyn” (patience is gold), I call on the brotherly Kyrgyz people to keep calm and prudence for the sake of truly national interests. In the heat of confrontation, the [Kyrgyz] fatherland, a fully fledged member of the world community, must not be sacrificed. Conflicts and clashes are a path that can lead any country into a dead-end.”
President Nazarbayev concluded saying “Kazakhstan is sincerely interested in preserving stability in the friendly Kyrgyzstan and is ready to provide any necessary assistance.”
Kassymzhomart Tokaev, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister commenting on the situation in the neighboring republic on March 24 said “we hope the Kyrgyz people known for their traditions of wisdom and prudence, can find a way out of this difficult situation with dignity and within their constitution and laws. Kazakhstan confirms its interest in providing, if there is a need, any assistance to Kyrgyzstan.”
Two Versions of Jury Trials on the Table in Kazakhstan
More than 80 Kazakh officials from all three branches of government, representatives of international organizations, and foreign embassies took part in a round table discussion on the impending introduction of jury trials in Kazakhstan. The round table took place in Almaty on March 17.
The discussion focused on two different concepts of jury trials reflected in two proposed bills, one offered by the Supreme Court, another by the National Commission on democratization and civil society. President Nursultan Nazarbayev earlier said Kazakhstan will introduce jury trials before the end of 2005.
Speaking at the round table, Igor Rogov, Constitutional Council Chair said “jury trials are a manifestation of democracy. But when delivering justice, democratic principles are not the central goal. The democracy [brought by jury trials] is not there for the sake of democracy, it is there for the sake of objectivity and fairness of a court decision.”
Judicial officials and experts from Russia, which introduced its version of jury trials a year ago, also took part in the event. Cynthia Elkon, head of the rule of law department of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ODIHR/OSCE), said their “experience has many good examples of how much jury trials are important for building a better justice system and ensuring the equality of parties in a trial.”
The round table will send its recommendations to Parliament and Government of Kazakhstan.
The ODIHR/OSCE, Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court, its Human Rights Ombudsman and the country’s Bar Association organized the round table.
Parliament Slashes List of Licensed Activities
Members of the Majilis voted March 23 to approve amendments of laws on licensing, slashing the number of activities requiring government authorization which should help curtail official corruption. The amendments were proposed earlier and approved by the Senate which means they now have been approved by the entire Parliament and will be sent to the President for signature.
The amendments call for removing 23 general types and 20 more narrow types of entrepreneurial activities from the list requiring obligatory licensing. Once the amendments are signed into law, paid legal services not connected with attorney work, excursions, servicing civilian aircraft, processing luggage and cargo and several other types of activities will no longer require licensing.
Kazakhstan Continues Talks on Joining Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
Baktykozha Izmukhambetov, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said the country is continuing negotiations on joining the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan export pipeline.
He said the Kazakh and Azeri sides are developing their proposals for an inter-governmental agreement on transportation of Kazakh oil via the BTC pipeline. “We will be discussing these issues this year, the work proceeds according to schedule,” the Deputy Minister said noting the next round of negotiations will take place later this summer.
After a draft agreement is agreed to by experts of the two countries, it will be submitted to their governments for consideration. When such an agreement is signed, the investors of the Aktau-Baku system and the governments of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will sign transit agreements.
The BTC pipeline is 1,767 kilometers long, of which 443 kilometers are in Azerbaijan, 248 kilometers in Georgia, and 1,076 kilometers in Turkey. The pipeline will have a throughput capacity of 50 million tons of oil annually. Its construction started in 2003 and is expected be completed this summer.
The pipeline is being built by BP which holds 30,1% of shares, Azerbaijan’s national oil company with 25 percent, and a host of oil companies from the U.S., Norway, Turkey, Italy, Japan and France.
Things to Watch:
- President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia will visit Kazakhstan March 30 for talks on promoting economic cooperation between the two countries, including Kazakhstan’s participation in soon to be completed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the European Union sponsored transportation project, TRAnsport Corridor Europe Caucuses Asia (TRACECA).
- President Nursultan Nazarbayev to visit Finland April 5-6, 2005 to promote cooperation.
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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
