In this issue:
Congressman Says U.S. Should Help Kazakhstan Overcome Consequences of Nuclear Testing at Semipalatinsk
Central Asian Antiterrorist Exercises Use Uzbekistan Attacks as Scenario
U.S. General Abizaid Praises Kazakhstan’s Role in Iraq
President Nazarbayev Warns Against “Euphoria” From Strong Economic Growth, Calls for Diversification
Say It in Kazakh:
Central Asia --- Ortalyk Aziya [Ohr-ta-LIHK AH-ziya]
Military exercises --- Askeri zhattygu [Ahs-ke-RI Zhat-tyh-GHU]
Congressman Says U.S. Should Help Kazakhstan Overcome Consequences of Soviet Nuclear Testing at Semipalatinsk
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Democratic member of the U.S. Congress from American Samoa, said the United States should work with Kazakhstan to determine the consequences of 40 years of Soviet nuclear testing at the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan, and even consider providing medical assistance to people suffering from radiation-related diseases there. The Congressman also believes the world should follow Kazakhstan’s example in nuclear disarmament as a way to make the world a safer place.
Congressman Faleomavaega, who is the ranking
member of the House International Relations
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, is visiting
Kazakhstan this week.
On Tuesday he visited the test site’s Ground Zero,
or Opytnoye Polye (Testing Field), where most of
the earlier open air explosions were conducted,
and met with survivors of the tests at the
Semipalatinsk regional oncology center.
From 1949 to 1991, the Soviet Union conducted
456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk with a total
cumulative power output of 2,500 Hiroshima-type
bombs, causing life-threatening diseases of 1.5
million people in the republic. The test site was
closed in 1991 by the decree of President
Nursultan Nazarbayev, yet consequences of
tests remain devastating both for people and a
swath of land the size of Germany.
On Wednesday, in Astana, the Congressman met President Nazarbayev, Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokaev and participated in a book launch of “Kazakhstan: Reducing Nuclear Dangers, Increasing Global Security.”
Speaking to reporters in Astana on Aug 3 following the meetings, the Congressman said “in the past few people in the United States knew about problems Kazakhstan had to face. Today, at the meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev we discussed possible U.S. assistance, including medical assistance, to the people of Semipalatinsk.”
Congressman Faleomavaega comes from American Samoa which is a Pacific neighbor of the Marshall Islands and Tahiti where the U.S. and France conducted their nuclear tests in the past. He shared his emotional experience of visiting with people affected by testing in Semipalatinsk: “When you look at these suffering kids, tears clog your eyes. Why do they have to suffer? The situation is very similar to the one we can witness on affected Pacific islands.”
The Congressman explained that he introduced an amendment which has since passed the House of Representatives as H.R. 1950 and which would ask the Secretary of State to work with the Government of Kazakhstan to establish a working group which would “assist in assessing the environmental damage and health effects caused by Soviet nuclear testing in Semipalatinsk.”
The Congressman noted the bill has been passed on to the Senate and said he will continue working for its adoption.
The book launch in Astana drew attention to “Kazakhstan: Reducing Nuclear Dangers, Increasing Global Security.” It is a collection of speeches made at the December 2003 symposium at the U.S. Senate by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sam Nunn, a former U.S. Senator and cochairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and others. The books also has a timeline detailing how Kazakhstan got rid of its weapons of mass destruction that had been left behind by Soviets at independence, under the Nunn-Lugar program.
Congressman Faleomavaega, who also spoke at the 2003 symposium, said the world community has yet to appreciate fully efforts of Kazakhstan’s leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in the area of nonproliferation of WMD.
Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister, Vladimir Shkolnik, said the main purpose of the book was to demonstrate what countries can achieve if they renounce WMD. He said it is important to understand that by renouncing WMD a country becomes stronger, not weaker, and Kazakhstan is proof of that.
The book was published jointly by the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Washington, DC and the NTI. (Limited numbers of extra copies are available through the Embassy. Please contact Roman Vassilenko at info@kazakhembus.com with any requests.)
Central Asian Antiterrorist Exercises
Use Uzbekistan Attacks as Scenario
Gangs of militants supported by international terrorist organizations seek to destabilize Central Asia. Troops from countries in the region and Russia, all members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), work jointly to destroy them.
This is the scenario Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan use for their first major two-day exercise. The scenario is based on events of several years ago in Kyrgyzstan and the more recent deadly terrorist attacks in neighboring Uzbekistan that left several dozen people dead.
“Unfortunately, there were real life events like these, in recent years in Kyrgyzstan and more recently in Uzbekistan. We based our scenario on this experience,” Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Army Gen. Mukhtar Altynbayev said.
Gen. Altynbayev, who is also a rotating chairman of the CSTO defense ministers’ council, explained the exercises, known as Rubezh 2004 (Frontier 2004), are the first war games of such scale held by CSTO members. More than 1,000 troops from four countries and more than 70 pieces of military equipment are involved in the action. Kazakhstan sent a flight of Su-27 multipurpose fighter jets, helicopters and units of the airborne brigade of the Air Mobile Troops.
The exercise is being held in two stages. The first, held on August 4 in Kazakhstan, was a staff exercise with the goal of assessing the situation, preparing proposals for action by political leaders at the multinational level and developing a joint operations plan. Developing a mechanism for making political decisions on the use of force has become a central part of the first stage.
Nikolai Bordyuzha, Secretary General of the CSTO, said “the most important thing we are practicing is an algorithm for making the political decision to use military force.” This includes “issues of international cooperation, diplomatic issues aimed at reducing tensions in a specific region as well as contacts with the UN.”
The second stage of the exercise begins at Kyrgyzstan’s test site of Edelweiss on August 5 and will include practice in the use of force. Under the scenario, troops of participating countries must block militants’ passage, parachute in, lead civilians out and free hostages. Air power will also be used as bombing techniques and use of other weapons are practiced.
U.S. General Abizaid Praises Kazakhstan’s Role in Iraq
CENTCOM commander meets with Kazakh officials, soldiers
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
The United States is “very appreciative of the role played by Kazakhstan in regional stability and in supporting efforts in Iraq,” said General John Abizaid, the commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), August 2.
In a joint press conference with Kazakh Minister of Defense Mukhtar Altynbayev in Astana, Abizaid said his meetings with Kazakh officials, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev, focused on Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abizaid said the United States hopes to “continue to develop this very important military relationship in the mutual interest of both of our countries.”
“And of course, in the future, we hope to develop further our ability to help work on border issues and counterterrorism issues, because all of us know that this region is one where extremism is playing too great of a role,” he added.
Abizaid said he could “think of no finer example of stability bringing prosperity than Kazakhstan,” and he hoped “the same model can be duplicated in other areas in the region.”
Earlier in the day, Abizaid met with Kazakh soldiers who have recently returned from Iraq, presenting each of them with the central commander’s coin for excellent achievement. Thanking them for their brave and patient work with mines and explosives, he said, “The only way that Iraq will become an independent state is if Iraqis, coalition members --- countries like the United States and Kazakhstan --- work together to make it a better place, and that requires soldiers.”
President Nazarbayev Warns Against “Euphoria”
From Strong Economic Growth, Calls for Diversification
President Nursultan Nazarbayev warned government officials and regional governors against “euphoria” because of high levels of economic growth in recent years and made a strong call for a continued focus on diversification. Speaking at a meeting in Astana on August 2, the President said “it is obvious that if world oil prices fall, the economy of our country will not be in a good shape. New problems will arise, both in improving lives of the people and in diversifying our economy.”
“Today’s resources of the National Fund are not enough to solve all these tasks, and it would be irrational to live off of these savings,” the President noted. In June 2004, the National Bank reported reserves of the National Fund, set up in 2000 to save extra revenues from oil, gas and other commodities, reached US$3.7 billion.
“I am saying this on purpose so that nobody has any euphoria from such high tempos of economic growth as we have seen in recent years. We must strive to reach the goal of diversifying the economy and making it stable even without oil revenues,” the President Nazarbayev said.
Kazakhstan’s economy has been growing ten percent annually, on average, since 2000. During the first six months of 2004, the gross domestic product grew by more than 9 percent.
Diversifying the economy has been the strategic goal of Kazakhstan since 1997, when it was first set as a priority of the long term strategy for the country’s development, Kazakhstan-2030. More recently, in 2003, the President approved a strategy of industrial and innovation development. Its goal is to use the potential and resources in such areas as peaceful atomic energy, software, biological, space and computer technologies to move Kazakhstan away from dependence on oil.
In reality, Kazakhstan is not just about oil. Petroleum extraction accounts for about 25 percent of tax revenues. There are ambitious plans to triple oil production from 1 million barrels per day this year to 3 million by 2015. The plans are now in action. In light of the planned expansion, Kazakhstan needs to expand all other industries just to keep up with oil production.
Already, under the innovation program, several technological parks have been set up to promote cluster-type development of software, biotechnologies and atomic energy.
At the same meeting in Astana, the President criticized regional akims (governors) and the government for slowness in implementing important social programs in healthcare and education. He said he would have akims report to him on progress in their regions monthly.
Things to Watch:
- One hundred and nineteen athletes from Kazakhstan will compete in Athens Olympics starting next Friday August 13. Their specialties include boxing, wrestling, triathlon, and water polo (men’s and women’s).
- In other news from the Olympics: Kazakhstan will open its “Kazakh Aul (Village) in Athens” to showcase the country’s culture and offer homelike environment for athletes.
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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
