In this issue:
IPR Law Changes Should Smooth Way to WTO
Congressmen Urge President Bush to Support Kazakh Progress
Terrorist Organization’s Case Reaches Kazakh Court
Kazakhstan Ranks Third in World’s Uranium Production
Kazakh Cell Phone Users Outnumber Land Line Users
Intellectual property rights --- Intelektualdyk menshiktik kukyktary
Cell phone --- Utkyr telefon
First --- birinshi [byh-ryhn-SHEY], second --- yekinshi, third --- ushinshi, fourth ---tortinshi, fifth --- besinshi, sixth --- altynshi, seventh --- zhetinshi, eighth --- segizinshi, ninth --- togyzinshi, tenth --- onynshi
IPR Law Changes Should Smooth Way to WTO
Members of the Majilis approved amendments to a number of laws regulating protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) on May 4, moving Kazakhstan a step closer to leaving a U.S. watch list for countries with inadequate IPR protection, enforcement, and market access for those relying on intellectual property.
The amendments are an important step
toward bringing Kazakh legislation up to
speed in preparation for the country’s
upcoming accession to the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
The bill would introduce amendments to the
Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Criminal
Procedures Code, the Administrative
Violations Code, the Tax Code and the
Budget Code. In addition to these changes,
amendments will be introduced to a number
of specific laws regulating IPR protection.
The bill with amendments was sent to
Kazakhstan’s Senate.
The Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan which
developed the amendments explained they
will help Kazakhstan leave the so called
Watch List under the “Special 301” report
published by the Office of the US Trade
Representative (USTR) a few days ago.
In the report, Kazakhstan was on the Watch List along with 36 other countries including Canada, Chile, and the European Union. The USTR listed 14 other countries on a Priority Watch List, and the Ukraine on the Priority Foreign Country list which list countries where the U.S. has the gravest concern about intellectual property rights.
Congressmen Urge President Bush to Support Kazakh Progress
Representatives Joe Pitts (R-PA) and Robert Wexler (D-FL), co-chairs of the U.S.-Kazakhstan Interparliamentary Friendship Group, joined by other members of Congress, sent a letter to President George W. Bush urging him to support and encourage Kazakhstan’s progress toward greater democracy.
“The Republic of Kazakhstan’s support of U.S. initiatives in international security, its tremendous energy resources, its strong and growing free market economy, and its developing democracy are all of great significance to your Administration’s efforts to create a more stable, prosperous and free world,” wrote the members of Congress.
According to signers of the letter, “Perhaps most importantly, Kazakhstan is one of the few predominantly Muslim countries in which democracy has found a foothold, and we encourage your Administration to assist this government in implementing the democratic reforms that President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced in his February 18, 2005 Address to the Nation.”
The letter said: “It is in the United States’ interests that President Nazarbayev implements his far reaching reforms and furthers Kazakhstan’s democratic development… We urge your Administration to assist President Nazarbayev’s government in implementing these reforms and we stand ready to help deepen the United States’ strategic relationship with this important partner.”
Terrorist Organization’s Case Reaches Kazakh Court
General Vladimir Bozhko, First Deputy Chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee
(KNB), told Parliament on May 4 the KNB had sent a criminal case against 16 members of the Jamaat of Mujahideens of Central Asia terrorist organization to a court in Taraz in the south of Kazakhstan.
Gen. Bozhko said, “We have handed over a criminal case opened against the Jamaat of Mujahideens of Central Asia terrorist organization to a court in Taraz. Sixteen suspects, including citizens suspected of helping plot and carry out terrorist attacks in Tashkent in 2004, will be put on trial there.”
The suspects were arrested in November 2004, when the KNB, in cooperation with the Uzbek authorities, uncovered the group’s activities in south Kazakhstan. At that time, Gen. Bozhko said the illegal group had been set up by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group targeting the Uzbek government with links to al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
“Those arrested confessed that their future participation in acts of terrorism and suicide attacks had been explained to them by the need to fight the Uzbek authorities who allegedly oppress Muslims,” the KNB said in a statement at that time. The KNB also said: “They also were told to fight ‘enemies of Islam’, including the United States, Britain and Israel.”
Kazakhstan Ranks Third in World’s Uranium Production
Kazakhstan ranked third in the world in terms of uranium extraction for 2004, according a May 3 news release from Kazatomprom, the country’s national atomic company.
Quoting Ux Weekly, a U.S. based trade publication, Kazatomprom said Canada led the world, with 29.2 per cent of global production, Australia was second with 22.6 per cent, and Kazakhstan followed with 9.4 per cent.
Kazakhstan produced a total of 3,719 tons of uranium last year versus 3,346 tons a year before. Kazatomprom accounted for 3,363 tons out of that total in 2004.
The company intends to drastically increase uranium production, and reach a 15,000-ton mark by 2010. That would make Kazakhstan the world leader.
Kazatomprom, 100 percent owned by the Government of Kazakhstan, is the country’s sole uranium export and import dealer.
Kazakh Cell Phone Users Outnumber Land Line Users
The number of mobile phone users in Kazakhstan has overtaken the number of land line users for the first time. Dulat Orazalinov, Deputy Head of the Agency for Information and Communications made the announcement during parliamentary hearings into further liberalization of the telecoms market on April 29.
He said, “as of today, the overall subscriber base of cell phone companies in Kazakhstan stands at 3 million, while the number of land line clients is less than 2.5 million.”
Orazalinov said GSM-Kazakhstan, the country’s largest cell phone operator, serves about 2 million mobile users. Long distance operator Kazakhtelecom provides services to 2.4 million land line customers in a country of 15 million people
GSM-Kazakhstan is a joint venture between Finnish-Swedish group TeliaSonera AB, Turkey’s Turkcell AS, and Kazakhtelecom, which is 50% owned by the Government of Kazakhstan.
Mr. Orazalinov said land line usage in Kazakhstan rose to 16.2% of the market from 15% a year ago. While the figure is low in comparison with the West, it is high for a former Soviet republic and shows good growth potential.
Things to Watch:
- On May 7, 2005, a military parade will take place in Astana marking the 60th anniversary of Victory in World War II. President Nursultan Nazarbayev, supreme commander of the Kazakh armed forces, and many veterans have been invited to the military parade in Moscow on May 9.
- Team Kazakhstan competes at the World Ice Hockey Championship in Austria which opened May 1 and will last until May 15. The Kazakhs beat Germany 2-1 on Sunday, but lost 1-2 to Switzerland on Tuesday. Their next group game will be against the Czech Republic, one of the world’s strongest teams, on Thursday May 5.
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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
