Vol. 2, No. 21, June 19, 2002
Politics 
Kazakhstan and the United States: working together to make world saferKazakhstan edges closer to moratorium on death penaltyCirculation and air time for Kazakhstan's media growing Economy
Kazakhstan's industrial production grows 10% in January-MaySpecial Report
Kazakhstan's traditional craftsmen and performers to take part in Silk Road festival in DCPOLITICS
Kazakhstan and the United States: working together to make world saferToday, when the terrorist threat to the USA, Kazakhstan and other countries is still a reality, the urgency for closer cooperation among the nations of antiterrorist coalition, including in fighting the proliferation, gains even more momentum.Kazakhstan has been a staunch non-proliferation supporter ever since regaining its independence in 1991, working together with the United States to destroy and eliminate the horrific legacy of the Cold War.At its birth, Kazakhstan, a country that for over four decades had suffered immensely from the devastating effects of wide-spread testing of weapons of mass destruction, set an example for the world in fighting the proliferation. It took a courageous step to shut down the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and renounce nuclear and other non-conventional weapons in the early 1990s."Many have not paid the requisite attention to the wise and brave choice Kazakhstan made", Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) said in his address to an international non-proliferation forum in Kazakhstan in August 2001. "There were many in Almaty who advocated the maintenance of these weapons. The people and the leaders of Kazakhstan wisely chose a nuclear-free status."The cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United States in this important area has been developing through the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, also known as Nunn-Lugar program."The world cheered when Kazakhstan became a non-nuclear state in November 1996. I am proud of the role the United States played in Kazakhstan's decision and our role in facilitating the removal of thousands of nuclear warheads and the elimination of hundreds of SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles, silos, and command centers," Senator Lugar said.One of the most eye-catching examples of the cooperation between the two nations was the Sapphire operation, when in November 1994 about 600 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, enough to produce 20 to 30 nuclear devices, were transferred and safely transported from Kazakhstan to the U.S.In 2001, Kazakh and U.S. experts concluded the work on a project to reduce the risk of unauthorized leakage at one of the world's largest stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium at the BN-350 fast-breeder reactor in Aktau. Sen. Lugar said the project that involved strengthening security of more than 3 tons of plutonium, enough to make some 400 nuclear bombs, was "one of the most ambitious nonproliferation projects undertaken in history".The Kazakhstan-U.S. cooperation in non-proliferation has never been only about destroying and cleaning. Conversion of military-related enterprises became an important part of such work. In January 2002, the United States and Kazakhstan unveiled a joint venture aimed at processing uranium concentrates for use as fuel in commercial nuclear reactors and keeping former Soviet atomic scientists from taking their expertise elsewhere. Under the project, called "historic" by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S.-based Global Nuclear Fuel, LLC, ships uranium concentrates to a former Soviet nuclear weapons plant in Kazakhstan, the Ulba Metallurgical Plant, which uses a unique process to extract low-enriched uranium that can be used to make nuclear fuel rods for power generators. The joint project is boosting trade between the two countries, while maintaining jobs for 50 former Soviet nuclear scientists.The U.S. and Kazakhstan have also been working on destroying and decontaminating the chemical and biological weapons infrastructure, including the world's largest anthrax production and weaponization facility in Stepnogorsk and a testing facility for smallpox and a variety of other biological and chemical agents on Vozrozhdenie (Rebirth) Island in the Aralsk Sea. According to the agreement recently signed with the U.S., over the years of 2002-03 the facility in Stepnogorsk in Northern Kazakhstan, built by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, will be completely eliminated and decontaminated. To contain the spread of the radiological and dual-use materials, by mid-1990s Kazakhstan, drawing on the U.S. expertise and technology, introduced a sophisticated Tracker export control system. Under the Central Asia Security Initiative, introduced in 2000, the U.S. has been supplying Kazakhstan and other nations with means to strengthen the border protection, including the supplies of radiation detection equipment and regular training for dozens of customs officers and border guards. The equipment and training have already helped to prevent certain cases of sensitive materials proliferation.Yet, for all these achievements, the threat to the world posed by international terrorists aiming to acquire components for WMD, as well as for radiation-dispersal bombs, or "dirty bombs", clearly underline the urgency of strengthening non-proliferation cooperation further between Kazakhstan, the U.S. and others."The U.S., Kazakhstan, and the international community still have much work to do and these efforts will require compromise and sacrifice," Sen. Lugar noted. "The last ten years have shown that nothing is impossible. Let us continue to approach these challenges with creativity, a willingness to cooperate, and a commitment to a safer world." In an on-line discussion on washingtonpost.com on June 11, Joseph Cirincione, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, said a U.S. bipartisan panel recommended last year to "triple the money spent on securing and eliminating nuclear weapons and materials" in the countries of the former Soviet Union. "We have yet to act on that recommendation," Mr. Cirincione, co-author of recently published book, "Deadly Arsenals", added. Kazakhstan edges closer to moratorium on death penaltyKazakhstan is planning to impose a moratorium on the death penalty and replace it with a life imprisonment, a senior official at the presidential administration announced at an international conference held on June 13 in Almaty. Mr. Igor Rogov, the deputy chief of staff and the director of legal department of the administration, announced that the Kazakhstan Government has made plans to introduce the life imprisonment sentence, after discussing all the practical and theoretical aspects to such a change and stipulating all the necessary revenues in the Government budget for 2003. A Justice Ministry official added that a special prison would have to be built to accommodate prisoners serving life sentences.President Nursultan Nazarbayev in April called for a study on whether capital punishment should be abolished.Circulation and air time for Kazakhstan's media growing The last two years have seen a consistent growth in circulation and air time for Kazakhstan's media, a senior official from the Ministry of Culture and Information announced at a conference in Almaty on June 13.As of the beginning of 2002, the overall circulation for periodic media in Kazakhstan amounted to more than 6 million copies, which is 800,000 more than on average in 2001, Mr. Ardak Doszhan, deputy minister of culture and information said at the conference, "New challenges for media in modern Kazakhstan". He also noted that currently all the broadcasting companies are compliant with the requirements of Law on Media, limiting the volume of foreign programs re-broadcasting at 50 percent. Mr. Doszhan said the government will soon expand joint state and public commission on licensing for broadcasters with the inclusion of additional representatives of public organizations. Currently, the commission includes representatives of various ministries, international organization "Internews", public associations and parliament deputies.According to the Ministry, as of June 1, 2002, 3,877 media outlets were registered in Kazakhstan, of which 1,586 are operating constantly, including 1,047 newspapers, 400 magazines, 125 TV and radio broadcasting companies, and 14 news agencies. Eighty percent of the media are in private hands, with public associations owning 163 outlets.Of the total number of printed media, 253 are political and public interest publications, 777 informational, 183 are advertisement publications, and 22 outlets are devoted to women's issues.The main languages for the media in Kazakhstan are Russian and Kazakh, jointly amounting to 58.2 percent of printed matter and air time. Other languages used by the media include: Uzbek, Ukranian, Polish, English, German, Korean, Uigur, Turkish and others, reflecting wide diversity of Kazakhstan's population.ECONOMY
Kazakhstan's industrial production grows 10% in January-MayThe volume of Kazakhstan's industrial production for January-May this year was 10% higher than in the same period last yea, the National Statistic Agency said. Production in the mineral resources industry grew 10.6% in January-May in comparison with the same period last year. The volume growth is most likely due to a 12.7% rise in production of crude oil and petroleum gas, 10% boost in iron ore, a 7.8% and 4.5% increases in non-ferrous ores and natural gas, respectively. In the processing industry, production grew 10% during these five months in comparison with the same period last year.SPECIAL REPORT
Kazakhstan's traditional craftsmen and performers to take part in Silk Road festival in DCSeventeen craftsmen and performers, including a 12-year-old gifted child, will represent Kazakhstan in the 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, "The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust", to take place June 26-30, July 3-7 on the National Mall, in Washington, D.C. The festival features The Silk Road, a living exhibition of the music, crafts, culinary and narrative traditions involved in the historical cultural interchange between the "East" and the "West." The name Silk Road refers to a series of routes that crisscrossed Eurasia from the first millennium B.C. through the middle of the second millennium A.D., bringing people in the vast swathes in between together trough trade and cultural exchanges.The co-chairs of the Congressional Silk Road Caucus, Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Representatives Joseph Pitts (R-PA) and Gary Ackerman (D-NY) support the festival. Sen. Brownback is the co-chairman of the festival and has played a significant role in drawing attention to the Central Asian region long before it occupied an important place in the American foreign policy after 9/11. He was one of the first to recognize the importance of learning about and supporting modern Silk Road nations for the U.S., when he sponsored the Silk Road Act in 1999 and in 2001 led his colleagues to the creation of the Caucus in Congress.The guests from Kazakhstan will join some 350 traditional artists - musicians, dancers, craftsmen, storytellers, artists, cooks, and more - from 20 nations including the U.S, Italy, Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India, China, Mongolia, and others.The Silk Road program illustrates connections between the cultures of Asia, Europe, and America based upon historical trade routes. The program highlights how the "East" and the "West" were brought closer together through a creative commercial and cultural exchange that still enriches our lives today. The Silk Road, as an early form of globalization, has relevance to current forms of cultural and commercial exchange as contacts between Europe, Asia, and America continue to expand.Spectators at the Kazakh site will be able to join in with the craftsmen in assembling a traditional Kazakh nomadic felt house, a yurt, as well as in making homemade felt. Two musical events will feature Kazakhstan's musicians, among others, including "Sounds of the Steppe: Nomadic Music from Inner Asia" (June 28, at the Istanbul Crossroads) and "Ballads and Beats of Today's Silk Road: Indian Ocean and Roksonaki" (July 4, at the Nara Gate). Roksonaki, a popular Kazakh folk-rock band featuring the 12-year-old singer and performer, blends shamanic music of the Kazakh steppe with contemporary beats.For Press inquiries: Please contact Vicki Moeser, Office of Public Affairs, 202.357-2627 x111. For Public only: 202 357 2700. * * *For more news and information visit us at www.kazakhstan-embassy-us.org
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
