In this issue:
U.S. Says Kazakhstan Makes "Significant Improvements" In Human Rights
Parties Field Candidates for Local Elections in September, As Election Legislation Is Discussed Nationally
GDP Grows Ten Percent in H1 2003
Private Deposits in Banks Grew 5.3 Times Since 2000, National Bank Chairman Says
Vinokourov Stays in Championship Race at Tour de France
U.S. Says Kazakhstan Makes "Significant Improvements" In Human Rights
Kazakhstan has made significant improvements in the area of human rights over the last several months, the United States said on July 17.
"The Government of Kazakhstan has made significant improvements in the protection of human rights during the preceding six months," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in the document titled "Determination Concerning Kazakhstan's Improvements in the Protection of Human Rights."
The determination was made under the U.S. foreign operations act of 2004 that said that funds approriated by that act may be available for assistance for the Government of Kazakhstan if the Secretary of State determines and reports to Congress that the Government has achieved imporvements in the human rights area.
The State Department's determination was sent to the U.S. Congress on July 22, and multi-faceted assistance to Kazakhstan will continue unaffected.
Among the areas of progress singled out by the U.S. were the registration of numerous political parties, the ongoing dialogue between authorities and the opposition within the permanent democratization council, and the establishment and operation of independent media outlets critical of the government. Several actions in legal and judicial area, such as the adoption of the new law on humanization of the justice system in December 2002 and new anti-trafficking legislation in July 2003, were also mentioned. [Also in July, a Deputy Prime Minister was appointed to oversee the counter-trafficking efforts.]
Astana and Washington continue to pursue active dialogue on human trafficking, officials said. Kazakhstan's Prosecutor General Rashid Tusupbekov met with U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Larry Napper on July 23 and discussed further actions to be taken to counter this problem.
At this meeting, Napper noted that the State Department's determination speaks to the fact that Kazakhstan has made meaningful steps in the democratic reforms of the society and in strengthening the protection of human rights, office of the Prosecutor General said.
This office has recently initiated a review of the enactment of the legislation on human trafficking, and is working with the International Organization of Migration to develop a special action plan to fight it. Both the results of the review and the plan are to be discussed at the next session of the law enforcement agencies July 30, and Tusupbekov invited U.S. Embassy to participate in it.
Parties Field Candidates for Local Elections in September, As Election Legislation Is Discussed Nationally
More than 8,000 people from all of the seven political parties chose to run in the September 20 election to maslikhats, local representative assemblies, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced on July 23, two days after the submission of applications ended.
The centrist Otan party plans to field just over 2,500 candidates, while the Civic Party and the Agrarian Party are having 600 and 300 people running respectively, the CEC said. The Communists plan to have 260 candidates. The Party of Patriots and the Ak Zhol Party chose to support their candidates who will be running as self-nominated contestants.
The election on September 20, 2003, will be for regional, city and district maslikhats across the country. It will be the last major nation-wide ballot before the parliamentary election in the fall of 2004.
That 2004 election is expected to take place under the new election legislation currently the subject of popular discussion, the CEC officials announced at the July 18 seminar in Astana. The meeting brought together more than 200 officials from election commissions of all levels and became part of the all-nation discussion of the draft legislation initiated on July 4.
"The bill is expected to go to the Parliament at the end of this year," said Tatyana Okhlopkova of the Central Election Commission. "We believe the next parliamentary election will be held under the new law."
Before being introduced for the nationwide discussion, that bill has been debated at numerous sessions of the permanent democratization council and it incorporates the OSCE recommendations. Among the most important provisions under discussion are the status of members of election commissions and their protection and remuneration structure, media coverage during the campaign and the election, responsibilities of voters and several other organizational issues.
GDP Grows Ten Percent in H1 2003
Kazakhstan's economy grew by more than 10 percent in the first half of 2003 according to preliminary data, a senior Government minister announced on July 22 in Astana, Kazinform and Khabar news agencies reported.
The growth in industry and transportation amounted to 9.6 percent, and the agriculture saw the 5.2 percent expansion, Altai Tleuberdin, chief of staff to the Prime Minister and a member of the Cabinet, said at the news briefing.
Capital investment grew by 12.9 percent, he said, while foreign trade grew by 36 percent, including the 46% growth in exports and 27% growth in imports.
Inflation amounted to 2.3 percent, and the unemployment rate dropped from 8.8 percent for the same period of last year to 8.5 percent.
"In recent years all the large scale reforms have been implemented in full," said Tleuberdin, who used to head the ministry of economy and the anti-monopoly agency. "The task now is to ensure a stable and sustainable economic growth with a view on resolving social problems, raising the living standards and enhancing the economic and social strength of the country."
Private Deposits in Banks Grew 5.3 Times Since 2000, National Bank Chairman Says
Deposits of Kazakhstan's private individuals at the local banks grew 5.3 times during the past 3.5 years, National Bank Chairman Grigori Marchenko said in the July 22 interview with Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper.
This growth "speaks of the significant strengthening of confidence in the financial sector, including banking institutions," Marchenko added. He credited the expansion to the creation of the system of private deposit protection and the toughening of banking secrecy legislation, saying they played "a great role in that."
In a wide-ranging interview, Marchenko also noted that the banks became "more active in crediting the private sector," and for the past 3 years "the volume of credits to the people reached 274.8 billion tenge." ($1=146 tenge).
The chief banker also highlighted the establishment of the accumulative pension system six years ago as the key step in reforming the social security infrastructure.
"Today the accumulative pension system we instituted six years ago is taken for granted. But back then, Kazakhstan was one of the first in the CIS and the Baltic republics to begin introducing the three-level pension system. Currently, around 80 percent of economically active population participate in such a pension system, while pension assets amount to 315.3 billion tenge."
He also underscored the role of the recently created Kazakhstan Mortgage Company, with credits currently reaching 9.2 billion tenge, and the boom in electronic card usage.
"Several years ago many did not believe that electronic cards would spread so widely. While in 2000 cards were used in 6.8 million transactions worth 61.2 billion tenge, just the first half of this year saw 12.9 million card transactions worth 167.4 billion tenge."
Speaking of macroeconomic policies, Marchenko said that it is "important to have low inflation and a sustainable currency." For the past three years annual average inflation gradually came down from 13.2 percent to 5.9 percent. This year, inflation is expected to reach 6 percent, he noted. The nominal devaluation of tenge versus dollar decreased from 3.8 percent in 2001 to 3.3 percent in 2002. This year, due to the increase in volumes of available foreign currency, tenge is strengthening and nominal revaluation reached 6.3 percent since the beginning of the year.
Vinokourov Stays in Championship Race at Tour de France
After 17 stages of Tour de France on Thursday, Kazakhstan's cyclist Alexander Vinokourov was third in the overall standings and was trailing race's overall leader Lance Armstrong of the United States by 2 minutes 45 seconds.
Vinokourov, who was only 18 seconds behind Armstrong earlier this week, slipped during the 15th stage, which the American won in a dramatic climax even after falling off the bike.
With three stages remaining until the race's finish on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 27, Vinokourov remains within a striking distance of the championship title, as is Jan Ullrich of Germany, who is only 67 seconds behind Armstrong.
Fewer than 150 cyclists currently remain in the race, which covers a total of 2,077 miles (3,350 kilometers).
* * *
News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the USA and Canada
(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
