In this issue:
Shanghai Group Inaugurates Anti-Terrorist Center in Uzbek Capital, Pledges Stronger Fight against Drug Trafficking
Kazakhstan’s Population Exceeds 15 Million amid Signs of Increasing Birth Rates and Immigration
Now There Are Eleven: New Political Party Makes Fighting Corruption First Priority
Majilis Approves More Court Reforms, Plea Bargain Included
Security Pact Members Clear Way for Collective Peacekeeping under U.N.
Say it in Kazakh:
Drug --- Apyim [Ah-pyh-IM]
Cooperation --- Yntymak [Yn-tyh-MAK]
Neighbor ---Korshe [Kohr-SHAY]
Shanghai Group Inaugurates Anti-Terrorist Center in Uzbek Capital, Pledges Stronger Fight against Drug Trafficking
Presidents of the six member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met in Tashkent on June 17 for their annual summit. A new anti-terrorist center and pledges of renewed commitment to fighting terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking marked the meeting.
The presidents of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan officially opened
the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Center (RATC)
headquartered in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, which
will act as a focal point for information about terrorist
organizations and help coordinate cooperation
between the member countries’ special agencies.
Hu Jintao of China, Nursultan Nazarbayev of
Kazakhstan, Askar Akaev of Kyrgyzstan,
Vladimir Putin of Russia, Emomali Rakhmonov of
Tajikistan and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan jointly
cut the ribbon in a ceremony in Tashkent.
“We will cooperate more closely so that
terrorists and extremists will not find refuge
from punishment in any of our countries.
Today, we opened up the RATC and that is a
good beginning.”
During the meeting, leaders signed a total of ten documents including the Tashkent declaration pledging closer cooperation in ensuring stability in the region and the world, and an agreement on cooperation in the fight against illegal trafficking in drugs, psychotropic materials and precursors.
Stability in neighboring Afghanistan was also on the agenda, and leaders welcomed that country’s interim President Hamid Karzai as a guest for discussions. At a news conference following the meeting, President Askar Akaev of Kyrgyzstan said: “Positive changes are taking place in Afghanistan today. It is the duty of neighboring countries to help Afghanistan in this process. Helping Afghanistan, we help ourselves.”
Following the meeting another country, Mongolia, was admitted as an observer to the group. Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the organization for the next year and will host SCO’s next meeting in 2005.
Kazakhstan’s Population Exceeds 15 Million amid Signs of Increasing Birth Rates and Immigration
Kali Abdiev, the Chairman of the Agency on Statistics, announced at a June 15 news conference in Almaty that the population of Kazakhstan exceeded 15 million for the first time in five years. He cited growth in both birth rates and immigration, as well as a decrease in mortality as reasons for the population growth.
According to Mr. Abdiev, as of June 1, the population in Kazakhstan stood at 14,999,793, lacking only 207 people in order to reach 15 million. Given the positive balance of births and migration, he estimated that “sometime in early June of this year” the population did exceed the benchmark of 15 million.
His agency’s data indicate that 88,600 people were born in Kazakhstan from January through April 2004. That is 5.7 percent more than in the same period of 2003. Birth rates increased from 16 per 1,000 in 2003 to 17.5 today. At the same time, mortality dropped 0.2 percent, to 10.2 per 1,000.
Migration trends were positive for Kazakhstan in the first quarter of 2004, the first time since the country’s independence in 1991. The majority among immigrants come from the countries of the former Soviet Union.
It is estimated that in the first years of independence, almost 2 million people left Kazakhstan in search of a different life, including more than a million ethnic Russians and other Slavs, as well as almost 600,000 ethnic Germans.
Abdiev’s figures reflect several underlying trends in Kazakhstan’s recent development, including rapid economic growth leading to the improvement of people’s wealth across the board, and the continuing interethnic accord in a country of more than 100 ethnic groups and 40 religions.
Now There Are Eleven: New Political Party Makes Fighting Corruption First Priority
Maksut Narikbayev, chairman of the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (DPK), announced at a June 17 news conference in Astana that his party was registered by the Justice Ministry, bringing to eleven the number of political parties planning to offer candidates in the September 19 parliamentary elections.
Narikbayev said there were 60,108 members in the party at registration, well above the required legal threshold of 50,000. The party will set out to eradicate poverty in a country fabulously rich in mineral resources, he noted, adding that its slogan will be “Rich Kazakhstan – Prosperous People.”
According to Kazakhstan Today news agency, the DPK leader said it will join a charter of principles of clean politics. He called on the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, an opposition party registered only a month ago, to also join the charter, signed previously by the other nine political parties.
Narikbayev also announced the party’s program on fighting corruption called “Seven Steps to Overcome Corruption in Kazakhstan.” It proposes such measures as a major reduction of controlling bodies and of types of regulated activities, the transfer of the right to levy fines from controlling bodies to the courts, as well as the creation of a system of public control over government spending.
Majilis Approves More Court Reforms, Plea Bargain Included
Members of the Majilis (lower house) of Kazakhstan’s Parliament voted positively on several amendments in a number of criminal statutes which are expected to further soften the country’s criminal punishment system and introduce new practices, including plea bargaining.
These amendments, approved by deputies on the first reading, will decriminalize certain types of petty crimes and replace prison terms with fines for others and generally expand the type of crimes punished with alternative punishment, rather than imprisonment.
Vladimir Kurbatov, Deputy Interior Minister, defending the bill in the Parliament, said the introduction of the plea bargain will be a very useful and timely change. He said “even though the notion of turning oneself in to authorities exists now, it is more of a fiction” and called on deputies to “make it real so that a person will have incentives to cooperate with the investigation.” Plea bargain, a practice well developed in the United States and other countries, would be a novelty in Kazakhstan. The bill will still limit, however, the application of plea bargains to certain types of crimes and will exclude from the list grave crimes against individuals.
The bill’s introduction comes on the heels of major legal reforms in recent years to soften the criminal punishment system in Kazakhstan and a death penalty moratorium announced late last year. The bill is expected to pass on its second reading soon.
Security Pact Members Clear Way for Collective Peacekeeping under U.N.
Leaders of six countries of the former Soviet Union, all members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), resolved at their June 18 summit in Astana to establish a mechanism which would allow them to collectively engage in peacekeeping activities under the auspices of the United Nations.
Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan also called for closer cooperation with NATO in ensuring security in Central Asia and pledged closer ties in fighting terrorism and organized crime.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan said the decision on collective peacekeeping efforts is “a new prospective way of cooperation” and noted the CSTO will be “more effective through its constructive cooperation with other international organizations, particularly NATO.”
Things to Watch:
- Seismologists from Central Asia, Russia and China will meet for a June 24-25 conference in Almaty for exchanges on gauging seismic threats in the region.
- Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev to participate in the June 28-29 summit of NATO - Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in Istanbul, Turkey.
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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
