In this issue:
Hundreds of Kilos of Drugs Burned in Astana As Drug Fighters Continue Their Battle
Nazarbayev Calls for More NATO-EAPC Efforts to Fight Main Regional Security Threats; Meets Bush, Blair, Chirac, Erdogan
Central Asia to Fight AIDS Together
President, Political Parties Mark Press Day with Prizes for Best Coverage
Majilis Passed 566 Bills since 1999, Speaker Says
Say It in Kazakh:
My --- menin
Your --- syzdyn
His --- onyn
Her --- onyn
Its --- sonyn
Their --- olardyn
Hundreds of Kilos of Drugs Burned in Astana As Drug Fighters Continue Their Battle
Law enforcement officials burned more than 500 kilograms of heroin, hashish and marihuana in a public ceremony in Astana on June 26 to mark the international day of fighting drug abuse and illegal drug trafficking.
The 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) represent
only a small portion of more than 4 metric
tons (8,800 pounds) of drugs confiscated
by Kazakhstan law enforcement agencies
since the start of 2004. The majority of the
drugs originated in Afghanistan.
Committee on the Fight Against Drug Business.
The drugs burned were confiscated in four regions
of the country, Akmola and Karaganda in central
Kazakhstan, Kostanai in the north and Zhambyl
in the south.
Anatoli Vyborov, Deputy Minister of Interior and
chairman of the committee, said at the ceremony
they “decided to burn these drugs in a public
ceremony” to draw attention to the problem. He explained that only those drugs were burned which had been confiscated from criminals already found guilty. The remainder is being held as evidence.
He said “we confiscate as much as [agencies in] Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are seizing, and we arrest people who are engaged in drug trafficking.” He recognized drug trafficking through Kazakhstan has reached major proportions. Fighting Afghan drugs is becoming more difficult every year, which is why a heavy emphasis is placed on prevention, the Deputy Minister said.
At the ceremony, several kilograms of heroin burned instantly. It burns like gun powder, experts say. Marihuana and hashish took two hours to burn out. The ceremony also celebrated the faithful drug dogs who sniff out drugs.
Nazarbayev Calls for More NATO-EAPC Efforts to Fight Main Regional Security Threats; Meets Bush, Blair, Chirac, Erdogan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has urged closer efforts by NATO and Central Asian countries countries in fighting in fighting drug trafficking and terrorism in the region. The President called them the “main threats to regional security”.
The President spoke on the second day of the NATO – Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council summit on June 28-29 in Istanbul, Turkey.
He said Kazakhstan welcomes NATO efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and is ready to actively participate in rebuilding that country. Earlier in June, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokaev said the failure of international forces to curb Afghanistan’s soaring poppy production threatened destabilization of the entire Central Asian region and could bankroll a new generation of terrorists.
At the summit, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will expand its presence in Afghanistan and establish provincial reconstruction teams in Mazar-e-Sharif, Meymana, Feyzabad and Baghlan. Also at the summit, 26 NATO members agreed to provide training for Iraqi forces.
Speaking at the summit, President Nazarbayev also noted the importance of coordinating efforts with other international organizations active in the region, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Central Asian Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
While in Istanbul, Kazakhstan’s President met with U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kazakhstan has been a member of the North Atlantic Partnership Council, now known as Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, since 1992. In 1994, Kazakhstan joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. Currently, there are several cooperative programs running between Kazakhstan and NATO under the Individual Partnership Program, including training Kazakhstan’s military and preparing it for peacekeeping operations. In addition to this, Kazakhstan has extensive military cooperative programs with NATO members, including the United States.
Central Asia to Fight AIDS Together
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) - Four Central Asian countries and several international organizations signed an agreement on Monday to jointly fight the growing threat of AIDS epidemic in the region.
The agreement lays grounds for a joint anti-AIDS project between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the World Bank, the United Nation’s AIDS agency and the British government's Department for International Development.
According to the World Bank, the number of registered HIV cases in formerly Soviet Central Asia has been growing at the rate of the epidemic - from about 500 new cases in 2000 to more than 8,000 this year.
According to official figures, the countries have around 90,000 HIV-infected or AIDS patients. The number might reach an estimated 1.65 million by next year, and within the next 20 years the region might be facing a serious HIV/AIDS crisis, according to the World Bank.
The rapid spread of the disease is driven by the increasing intravenous drug use in the impoverished region, which is a major trafficking route for Afghan drugs. Other causes are increased prostitution and migration.
The new regional project is worth an estimated $25 million, with the World Bank contributing $20 million.
Under the agreement, the countries pledge to work out and follow a joint strategy in fighting the disease and create a regional AIDS fund.
World Bank country director for Central Asia Dennis de Tray called the agreement “an important advance” in efforts to prevent a widespread HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“Immediate action is essential if we are to prevent and control its spread and avoid the huge costs an epidemic would bring,” he told reporters in the Kazakh commercial capital Almaty.
Uninhibited spread of the disease in the region with a population of about 60 million could by 2015 slow down economic growth in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan by 10 percent and in Uzbekistan by 21 percent, according to the World Bank.
Turkmenistan, which is also part of the region, has declared neutrality and does not recognize AIDS and drug problem.
President, Political Parties Mark Press Day with Prizes for Best Coverage
President Nursultan Nazarbayev and a number of political parties in Kazakhstan marked the Day of the Press, TV and Radio on June 28 by awarding prizes and grants to journalists who gave the best coverage to a wide variety of subjects from political reforms to economy, to developing human potential.
Alisher Suleimenov, press secretary of the Otan party, explained why his party created a contest, Menin Otanym (My Motherland), for the journalists covering the rapid reforms changing the face of Kazakhstan.
“It is very important for us to be able to show the scope of changes in Kazakhstan in recent years. A lot has been done, but not all of the changes were objectively covered in the news media. So we would like to see that those who won in the contest become beacons for others,” Suleimenov said at a news conference in Almaty on June 28.
Alexander Pavlov, cochairman of the Otan Party, which currently has the largest number of seats in the Parliament, also announced several important initiatives his party will be promoting in the development of the news media. These include liberalization of legislation, demonopolization, social guarantees and special legal status for journalists.
Pavlov believes “some rules which were justified several years ago are no longer appropriate. Kazakhstan has moved along in building our civil society, and that is why the party will support democratization of legislation in order to help the news media develop.”
Majilis Passed 566 Bills since 1999, Speaker Says
Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, Speaker of Majilis (lower house) of the Parliament, said the Majilis has passed 566 bills which were singed into law since December 1999. He was summing up Parliament’s work in advance of the September 19election.
Tuyakbai announced the results at the final meeting of the Parliament’s fifth annual session on June 30 in Astana. He said: “Five years ago we began our work when the economic growth was only in the early stages. This required drastically different laws for our country, laws that would ensure sustainable development. Creating such laws became the main task for members of the second Parliament.”
The second Parliament convened from 1999 to 2004, while the first two-chamber Parliament, created under the 1995 Constitution, worked from 1995 to 1999.
Overall, the 77-member Majilis reviewed 790 bills, of which the Government initiated 613 and members of Parliament 177. The Majilis approved 603 bills and sent them to the Senate.
“It is quite logical that the majority of those bills dealt with economic reforms,” Tuyakbai explained. For example, 78 laws were approved during the last five years regulating stock companies, natural monopolies, streamlining of state management of production and trading of oil products, functioning of transportation and communications, licensing, information technologies and innovation activity.
Tuyakbai also said deputies had managed to bring the country’s financial system closer to international standards. Fifty-four laws dealt with banking, auditing, accounting activities, as well as credit societies and home mortgages.
Almost 50 laws were passed to strengthen the system of protection for human rights and freedoms. More than 200 international conventions and agreements were ratified dealing with international economic cooperation, a common fight against crime, protection of women’s and children’s rights as well as environmental issues.
The speaker also said deputies approved seven major codes setting principles regulating key areas. They are Code of Administrative Violations, Tax, Customs, Land, Forestry, Water and Budget codes.
“This is an unprecedented event in Kazakhstan’s lawmaking. It testifies to the fact that our legislation has indeed moved to a new level, becoming the legislation of a sustainable developing nation,” he said.
Things to Watch:
- Kazakhstan’s Parliament adjourns for summer recess on July 1, to reconvene in early September before the elections.
- An SS-18 Satan missile, once a weapon of war, and now converted to peaceful use blasted off from the Baikonur space launch facility in central Kazakhstan on June 29. Instead of carrying multiple nuclear warheads it carried peaceful satellites from the United States, France, Italy and Saudi Arabia.
_____________________________________________________________________
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
