Vol. 3, No. 23, July 11, 2002
Politics 
Kazakhstan provides Almaty airport for U.S. to use for emergency landings and refuelingPresident Nazarbayev hosts regional summit on security, CaspianPresident Bush's report to Congress: Kazakhstan ensures freedom of emigrationIsrael's chef rabbi visits KazakhstanEconomy
Foreign Investors Council meets in Astana, says climate favorableTengizChevroil starts $800 million gas injection projectKazakhstan's gold/forex reserves at $2.834 billionPOLITICS
Kazakhstan provides Almaty airport for U.S. to use for emergency landings and refueling Kazakhstan signed an agreement Wednesday July 10 with the United States allowing aircraft in the anti-terrorism coalition to land at Almaty's international airport in case of emergency. Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Abusseitov and U.S. Ambassador Larry Napper signed the agreement at a ceremony in the capital Astana. Ambassador Napper thanked the leadership of Kazakhstan on behalf of the U.S. administration for the agreement. "We have a relationship of strategic partnership with Kazakhstan, and we would like to express gratitude to the President and the Government of Kazakhstan [for the agreement]," Ambassador Napper said after meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev earlier in the day. He added the agreement only applied to the Almaty international airport but would not rule out that other Kazakhstan's airports might also be used in case of emergency."The issue is not about the creation of military bases, but that planes of the anti-terrorist coalition and above all U.S. planes will be able to land at our airport when both sides recognize it is an emergency," Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokaev said at the ceremony.The agreement on emergency use of the airport stems from Kazakhstan's strong commitment immediately after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks to help the U.S.-led antiterrorist campaign with "all the means available". It further stems from President Nazarbayev's December 2001 visit to Washington, where he met with President George Bush. The discussions continued when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Kazakhstan in April. President Nazarbayev hosts regional summit on security, Caspian President Nursultan Nazarbayev hosted the informal summit meeting of the presidents of four Central Asian countries and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan July 6 to discuss the postwar revival of Afghanistan and economic cooperation. Presidents Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan. Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan attended the meeting in Aktau, Kazakhstan's largest port on the eastern shore of the Caspian sea. "This meeting is important in light of the threats and challenges existing in the world," Nazarbayev said before the talks.The situation in Afghanistan "is a problem for the region," Mr. Nazarbayev said, adding that around 80,000 Taliban fighters were dispersed in various areas still posing considerable threat to the regional security. He said all the states involved in Saturday's talks should take part in the financial revival of Afghanistan. The summit participants expressed alarm at the "unusually rich crop" of opium poppies in Afghanistan this year, President Nazarbayev said, and addressed how Central Asian nations and Russia would handle the increase in heroin smuggling through their countries that the crop is expected to produce.The summit also focused on boosting economic ties, including the expansion of ties in the oil and gas spheres. The recently renovated Aktau port was touted as a major hub for interregional trade.Commenting on a May 2002 agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan on dividing the northern part of the oil- and gas-rich Caspian Sea, President Nazarbayev said it was an example for all countries on how to resolve the problem of dividing the resources of the Caspian. On June 29, the international consortium developing huge Kashagan offshore oil filed in Kazakhstan's sector of the sea, confirmed the commercial discovery at the field of 7 to 9 billion barrels of recoverable reserves of oil. The seven-company consortium includes the U.S.-based majors ExxonMobil and Phillips Petroleum.President Bush's report to Congress: Kazakhstan ensures freedom of emigrationIn a July 3 letter to the U.S. Congress on emigration practices in Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics, President Bush said the report prepared by the administration indicates "continued compliance" by Kazakhstan, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and others with "international standards concerning freedom of emigration".The semi-annual report is required by the Trade Act of 1974 that contains the Jackson-Vanik amendment calling for trade sanctions against countries restricting their citizens' freedom of movement. The amendment was aimed primarily at punishing the Soviet Union for restricting the emigration of Jews, and as such became largely outdated with the collapse of the Communist state. As of now, the U.S. Administration and Congress determined that only two nations of the former Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia, were eligible for graduation from the Jackson-Vanik amendment and for permanent normal trade relations with the United States. Throughout the past decade Kazakhstan and other nations have been constantly, yet temporarily, exempted from the sanctions through the presidential determination. On December 5, 1997, President Bill Clinton sent the determination to Congress with respect to Kazakhstan and four other Central Asian countries saying that they were not in violation of the provisions of the Trade Act. These actions allowed for the continuation of normal trade relations for these countries and certain other activities without the requirement of an annual waiver. The recent letter from President Bush continues along the same lines. Yet, it falls short of the permanent graduation of Kazakhstan from the amendment.Currently, the group of congressional leaders, led by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA (16)), pushes the respective bills on such permanent graduation in both houses.Israel's chief rabbi visits KazakhstanEliahu Nakshi Doron, the chief rabbi of Israel, visited Kazakhstan early July to discuss strengthening ties with the country's growing Jewish community and its officials."I came to talk and listen and see Kazakhstan with my own eyes," Rabbi Doron said at a news conference in Almaty following the visit to its largest synagogue. "What impressed me most is the fact that all the confessions live in peace and harmony with each other, which is an example for all the peoples. We have a lot to learn from you," he added.The authorities, including the mayor of Almaty Viktor Khrapunov who met Rabbi Doron on July 3, and the Jewish leaders warmly welcomed the visit."If 10 years ago someone suggested that the chief rabbi of Israel would visit Kazakhstan and its Jewish community would warmly welcome him here, that person would have been called a fantasist," Alexander Mashkevich, president of the Eurasian Jewish Congress and the Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan, said during the welcoming ceremony at the synagogue."Not everybody today understands the significance of this event," Mr. Mashkevich said. "Here we have a man whom God has entrusted with a special mission in life. The fact that he has come to visit us today means that the [Jewish] community in Kazakhstan and the state of Kazakhstan really stand out."The rabbi's visit took place barely a month after Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FLA), a member of the House International Relations Committee, visited Kazakhstan and laid down the foundation for a new synagogue in the capital Astana.Since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan, a country with the 15-million population consisting of more than 100 ethnic groups, has been promoting great expansion and strengthening of the religious diversity. As the people were freeing themselves from the totalitarian Communist past, they began to rediscover their cultural and religious roots and to openly follow the teaching of 46 religious confessions, including Islam, Christianity, both Orthodox and Non-orthodox, Buddhism, Judaism and others.ECONOMY
Foreign Investors Council meets in Astana, says climate favorable The Foreign Investment Council (FIC), a consultative body under President Nazarbayev uniting executives of the largest foreign companies in Kazakhstan as well as leaders of key international financial institutions, met in Astana July 5 to discuss ways to further improve the investment climate in the country. The seventh semiannual meeting of the FIC, established in 1998, discussed the investment climate, the import substitution program, Kazakhstan's application to join the WTO, foreign labor quotas, as well as coordination of tariff policies with neighboring countries and corruption. Executives of ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, Samsung of Korea, international steel corporation, LNM Group, as well as the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development among others, participated in the meeting.One of the main topics of discussion was the bill "On investment", currently debated in the national Parliament, that will replace existing laws regulating the investment flows. The new law will ensure equal opportunities for both foreign and domestic investors. It will also ensure foreign companies' right to take their disputes with the authorities to international arbitration. Kazakhstan aims to further improve the investment climate with the introduction of new tax code with liberal conditions for foreign trade and other measures. "I declare once again our commitment to the sanctity of the previously signed contracts," President Nazarbayev said. "We are not trying to re-negotiate them. Our goal is to clarify certain provisions in order to ensure the balance of interests of the state and investors," he added."All the foreign investors at the meeting agreed that the investment climate and the economic situation in Kazakhstan are more favorable than in other states," said Jean Lemierre, the EBRD President, after the gathering. "That doesn't mean there are grounds for complacency; there are things to be done," he noted.At the meeting, the FIC announced the opening of its own website and discussed publishing its own newspaper.TengizChevroil starts $800 million gas injection projectKazakhstan's giant Tengiz oil field, developed by a ChevronTexaco-led group, launched on July 2 a $800 million project to boost the output at the field by re-injecting gas into the reservoir. The technology is vital for oil-rich Kazakhstan because experts say it may also be used at its huge Karachaganak oil and gas field and, eventually, at Kashagan in the Caspian Sea, the most recent huge oil find. An international group led by Italy's Agip announced last week that their huge Kashagan offshore field contained recoverable reserves of seven to nine billion barrels of crude, which makes it the largest find in three decades. Karachaganak, operated by British BG and Agip, contains 1.2 billion barrels of oil and gas condensate and 1.35 trillion cubic meters of natural gas."This technology, when applied, allows us to recover more oil out of the reservoir over its life," Tom Winterton, TengizChevroil (TCO) general director, told reporters before the groundbreaking ceremony in Tengiz in western Kazakhstan. He said he hoped that some time after the end of 2005 the superfield would produce an additional three million tons of crude annually (60,000 barrels per day) due to gas injection. The venture produced 12.7 million tons (254,000 bpd) last year, he said. "The (total) output under the second-generation project ...may be between 19 million metric tons (380,000 bpd) per year and as much as 22 million tons (440,000 bpd)," he said. TCO earlier announced a $2 billion expansion plan until 2005, which includes boosting the annual capacity of Tengiz's oil fractionation plant by seven million tons (140,000 bpd). The 40-year venture, set up in 1993 and which unites ChevronTexaco with 50 percent, Kazakhstan with 20 percent, U.S. ExxonMobil with 25 percent and LUKARCO with five percent, works on the field with recoverable reserves estimated at between six and nine billion barrels. The highly productive superstructure, discovered in 1979, and currently exploited by 53 operating wells, still sits on a column of crude around one mile (1.6 km) thick. Trial injections are due to start in the third quarter of 2004 and last up to 18 months before full-scale injections begin, said Steve Smiley, project manager at TCO. Kazakhstan aims to become a major oil producer and triple oil output within 15 years from the current 900,000 bpd. Kazakhstan's gold/forex reserves at $2.834 billion Kazakhstan's net gold and foreign currency reserves rose to $2.834 billion on June 30, up from $2.798 billion on June 14 and a 1.6 percent rise from the May 31 figure of $2.790 billion, the country's central bank said on July 3.Total international reserves, including the National Fund, also known as the "fund for future generations" and accumulating extra revenues from oil and other minerals sales, were worth $4.492 billion on June 30, the bank said in a statement. * * *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
