Vol. 2, No. 14, April 24, 2002
Politics 
Constitutional Council rules new religion bill "unconstitutional"
President signs law ratifying Shanghai Convention on terrorism
Foreign minister reiterates offer of airfields to anti-terrorist coalition
U.S. gives $5 million in military aid
President Nazarbayev attends Caspian summit
Economy
Prime Minister attends opening of Kazakhstan's second Internet Center
Eni head comments on Kashagan
KIO looking to double production by mid-2003
POLITICS
Constitutional Council rules new religion bill "unconstitutional"
On April 4, 2002 Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council passed the resolution saying the new religion legislation "is not in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan". Based on the decision, that can not be appealed, the new religion bill can not be signed by the President nor introduced.
The action of the Constitutional Council came several weeks after President Nursultan Nazarbayev used his right to seek the Council's position on the proposed amendments to the law "On Religion" and referred the bill to the Council following its approval by both houses of the national Parliament. The bill, seeking to change regulations in the religious sphere, had been under consideration, and heated debates in the Parliament and the society, since early 2001.
Currently, more than 2,500 religious associations operate in Kazakhstan, representing Islam, Christianity, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, Judaism, a total of 46 confessions. Last year the Government initiated a bill to help regulate the activity of non-traditional religious confessions out of the concern of extremist organizations' increased activities in the broader region.
President signs law ratifying Shanghai Convention on terrorism
On April 18, President Nazarbayev signed into law the bill "On ratification of the Shanghai Convention on the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism". The Convention is aimed at strengthening cooperation in that sphere between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tadjikistan and Uzbekistan, the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Originally, the Shanghai Five, a consultative forum which did not include Uzbekistan, was established in 1996 to promote cross-border cooperation and reduce military build-ups in the vicinity of the respective borders. During the summit meeting in June 2001 in Shanghai, the forum's agenda was expanded to include new threats to security in Asia, the grouping was enlarged to include Uzbekistan and was reorganized into a formal organization under the name of SCO. The above Convention was signed at that summit.
Foreign minister reiterates offer of airfields to anti-terrorist coalition
Kazakhstan is considering making airfields available for "emergency re-fueling" of American and other nations' aircraft involved in operations in Afghanistan, Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokaev stated on April 22. Mr. Tokaev has earlier expressed the Kazakhstan's government willingness to provide bases for the US-led "war on terrorism".
Mr. Tokaev also announced that the foreign ministry is planning to establish its permanent diplomatic mission to Afghanistan in the near future.
The Foreign Minister expressed support for the growth in American involvement in Central Asia since the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the subsequent war in Afghanistan, saying the United States' actions are in keeping with Kazakhstan's own desire to establish stability in Central Asia.
"We are cooperating with the Americans and will continue to do so given the geopolitical significance of the United States and the economic potential of this country," Mr. Tokaev said.
U.S. gives $5 million in military aid
The United Stated Department of Defense has given Kazakhstan $5 million to ensure security in the Caspian region and support the Kazakhstan armed forces, Defense Minister of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Altynbayev told reporters in Almaty on April 19. The aid will be used to finance the basing of a motorized infantry unit in Atyrau, Altynbayev added.
A bilateral agreement on the $ 5 million worth of aid was concluded on Friday at the first meeting of the US-Kazakhstan defense and security issues working group. Mira Ricardel, an advisor to the US Secretary of Defense, headed the American delegation.
President Nazarbayev attends Caspian summit
On April 23-24, President Nazarbayev took part in the meeting of the leaders of five Caspian littoral states in Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat to discuss the definition of the legal status of the sea. Presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia also attended the summit hosted by the President of Turkmenistan.
Following the two days of talks, during which the five leaders discussed the need to coordinate their efforts to preserve the unique ecology of the Caspian Sea basin as a step towards resolving the legal status, they did not come to a joint position on the status itself. It has been in legal limbo since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of 4 new states, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. Since 1991, the agreements between the USSR and Iran regulating the use of the largest landlocked water reservoir in the world, also considered to contain the world's third largest reserves of oil and gas, became no longer up to date.
The five nations then engaged in search for the solution to this problem. Kazakhstan has been advocating the division of the seabed and its resources into national sectors according to the principle of the median line and the preservation of the water in the common use for the better management of ecological and fishing issues. In 1998, Kazakhstan and Russia signed the agreement on the division of the North Caspian according to this principle, and are expected to finalize the actual delimitation agreement next month. Other nations were advocating different approaches preventing them from agreeing to a common principle. In the meantime, Kazakhstan, which is believed to possess 75 % of the Caspian Sea's hydrocarbon reserves, has already attracted billions of investment dollars from Western companies into the development of its offshore field, most notably Kashagan.
Following the talks on Wednesday President Nursultan Nazarbayev said all five leaders agreed that the problem of the Caspian "can be resolved on the principle of the division". "The majority is for the principle of median line. But there are nuances," Mr. Nazarbayev said. He expressed hope that all five littoral states would follow this path, a path of "reasonable compromise."
"We agreed to continue these discussions on all aspects of cooperation," Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference after the summit, calling the talks "open and constructive". He also said the Caspian leaders had agreed to meet again to continue talks and proposed holding further talks at a new Caspian summit in the spring of 2003 in Tehran.
ECONOMY
Prime Minister attends opening of Kazakhstan's second Internet Center
Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov visited Pavlodar city last week for the official grand opening of Kazakhstan's second Internet Data Center. The Prime Minister hailed the opening of the Internet center as the basis for the expansion of information technologies in the Republic.
The Republic's first Internet Data Center, which has a capacity to serve 10,000 Internet clients was opened in Astana in June 2001 as part of a project supported by US-based Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunication. The new center in Pavlodar is designed to provide services to 20,000 users.
Eni head comments on Kashagan
Agip KCO, the consortium exploring the Kashagan field on the Kazakhstani Caspian shelf, recently started operating its second drilling unit at the field, Eni SpA Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Mincato said in Rome on April 23. Eni is the parent company of Agip, the operator of the consortium.
"We have just started operating a second drilling to assess the potential of a great discovery which was the Kashagan (field)," Mincato told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting at the Kazakhstan's Embassy in Italy.
Kashagan is now estimated to contain 21.93 billion barrels of oil reserves and being capable of producing associated gas of 7 million cubic feet a day, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The oil industry is still awaiting official figures from Eni on the exact amount of oil at the field. An announcement on Kashagan's output potential could come as early as the end of this year, Eni's general director for exploration and production Stefano Cao said on April 23.
Mincato added Eni will soon start appraisal drilling on the Kalamkas, Aktote and Kairan structures, all of which lie near Kashagan.
"All these initiatives lead us to believe that Kazakhstan could rank in the top positions in the world for its oil and natural gas output," Mr. Mincato said.
KIO looking to double production by mid-2003
Karachaganak Integrated Organization (KIO), the consortium developing the Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field in West Kazakhstan region, is planning to double output to 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by mid-2003, BG General Manager in Kazakhstan Steven Larcombe announced at an industry conference last week. BG owns a 32.5% stake in the consortium. Italy's Eni SpA (32.5%), ChevronTexaco Corp. (20%) and Russia's LUKoil (15%) also have stakes in the KIO alliance.
The additional output will be shipped to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's Tengiz-Novorossiisk pipeline and then onward to export markets. At present all 200,000 bpd produced at KIO is shipped to a gas processing plant in Orenburg (Russia) and marketed to nine Russian buyers.
"We're two-thirds of the way complete on our Phase 2 development plan and are on target for putting our production into the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's line by mid-2003," Larcombe said. Investment in Phase 2 is estimated at $ 4 billion, he added.
KIO has already completed more than half of a 650-kilometer pipeline to link the field to the CPC pipeline. The new pipeline link would allow KIO to export its liquid hydrocarbons directly to the international market.
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News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan
(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
