In this issue
Ethanol Production a Priority for Kazakhstan
Third Kazakh Tanker Sets Sail for Caspian
“Better Be Active, Than Radioactive”
Law Enforcement Battles Drug Trafficking
New Orthodox Cathedral, Mosques, and Palace of Peace As Second Religious Congress in Astana Nears
Around town:
How do I get to downtown? --- Kalanyn ortalygyna kalai zhete alamyn?
Is there a park there? --- Ol zherde sayazhai bar ma?
Is there a taxi stand? --- Ol zherde taxi turagy bar ma?
Ethanol Production a Priority for Kazakhstan
The Government of Kazakhstan, a country rich in oil and gas, and with large uranium reserves, has set its sights on developing yet another energy source, ethanol.
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov visited a BioKhim (BioChem) plant in North Kazakhstan on August 10. It is expected to be commissioned by the end of September and start producing ethanol soon after.
North Kazakhstan is one of Kazakhstan’s three largest grain producing regions and has been since its lands were plowed under the Virgin Lands program in the 1950s. The 11.5 billion tenge BioKhim plant, co-financed by Kazakhstan’s Development Bank, will be processing the region’s abundant grains into ethanol. (US$1=119KZT)
“The key importance of what is being done here is a harmonious transition from the primary production for a higher added value,” PM Akhmetov said. He said Kazakhstan will see dozens of new facilities like BioKhim operating within a few years.
The BioKhim plant includes a grain elevator with a capacity of 50,000 tons of grain, a mill capable of processing 910 tons of grain per day, workshops to produce gluten, for fermenting and distilling, as well as storage for 4,500 tons of liquid ethanol.
Third Kazakh Tanker Sets Sail for Caspian
The third Kazakh tanker, the 12,000 ton Aktau, was commissioned on the Baltic Sea August 10, joining Astana and Almaty of the same class as the nucleus of Kazakhstan’s fledgling commercial fleet on the Caspian Sea.
Aktau was built in less than eight months at Vyborg, Russia. Its deadweight allows it to travel from the Baltic to the Caspian via the rivers of European Russia.
It is expected the Aktau will be used to ship crude oil from Aktau on the Caspian shore to Baku in Azerbaijan as part of the Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil transportation system. Kazakhstan officially joined the ABTC system in June 2006 with the signing of a bilateral access agreement with Azerbaijan.
“Better Be Active, Than Radioactive”
Children in Almaty commemorated the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings on August 6 and 9 with a drawing contest in a central park followed by the feeding of doves.
The event, “Better Be Active, Than Radioactive”, was organized by The Choice of the Young, a nongovernmental organization seeking to educate young people on important issues of the day. Its activists also pasted colorful “No Nuclear Weapons” stickers all over Almaty urging people to remember the tragedy in Japan and think of the problems of nuclear weapons today.
Kazakhstan will commemorate its own grim nuclear weapons legacy on August 29, the 15th anniversary of the closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in eastern Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union detonated 456 nuclear and thermonuclear devices there damaging the lives of 1.3 million people.
Law Enforcement Battles Drug Trafficking
Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies have seized almost 6,700 kilograms of drugs in the first half of this year, including 106 kilograms of heroin, reflecting the growing problems of both domestic and Afghanistan based drug trafficking.
The news was made public by the Committee on the fight against drug trafficking in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Police have disrupted the activities of eight criminal groups, and uncovered 120 instances of contraband. More than 3,700 people, including 200 foreign nationals, were charged with crimes related to drug trafficking during this period. Overall, 5,070 drug related crimes were registered, of which 45 percent had to do with drug sales.
New Orthodox Cathedral, Mosques, and Palace of Peace
As Second Religious Congress in Astana Nears
The construction of the Cathedral of St. Andrew the First Called is nearing completion in Ust-Kamenogorsk, the administrative center of the East Kazakhstan Region.
The construction project launched in 2000 is estimated at 168 million tenge.
There was only one other Russian Orthodox Church in East Kazakhstan until recently, the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Semipalatinsk. The region also has a monastery and a convent.
At the same time, two new mosques are being raised in East Kazakhstan near Semipalatinsk. The mosques are being financed by the private contributions.
Meanwhile, the Palace of Peace, a tall glass and concrete building is nearing completion in Astana. It will be the scene of the second Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions next month. The first congress, in September 2003, brought together more than 120 leaders from 17 different religions, including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Shinto.
Things to Watch:
______________________________________________________________________________
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
