Vol. 3, No. 28, August 14, 2002
Politics 
Senate elections set for October 8, 2002NATO experts say Kazakhstan's battalion may be used in the Balkans Economy
Kazakhstan's economy grows 9.2 percent in H1 2002 President says focus should be on ensuring sustainable and broadly based economic growth...instructs the Government to increase pensions and pay compensationsKazakhstan among top 100 economic entities in the worldKazakhstan becomes net power exporterUS Court rules in favor of Kazakhstan company Kazakhstan ferrosilicon imports inflict no damage on US metallurgy sector General
Kazakhstan's team third at Asian Athletics ChampionshipPOLITICS
Senate elections set for October 8, 2002President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on August 7 setting the election for the Senate, the upper house of parliament, for October 8, 2002. During the previous election in 1999, all 47 seats in the Senate were contested in the indirect countrywide election. Under the Constitution, half of the Senate seats are up for reelection every three years. The current presidential decree is based on the Constitution and the law "On Elections in Kazakhstan". As of August 14, 26 candidates already applied to the election commission for registration, including 7 incumbents.NATO experts say Kazakhstan's battalion may be used in the BalkansThe head of a NATO delegation visiting Kazakhstan announced that NATO has no plans to use Kazakhstan's battalion Kazbat in anti-terrorist actions in Afghanistan. NATO plans to ensure security in Central Asia but has never considered the possibility of involving Kazakhstan peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan, the head of the NATO delegation stated at a briefing in Almaty. However, Kazbat may be used elsewhere. "Currently NATO has forces engaged in three operations in the Balkans. Since we usually rotate our military units, we may consider using Kazbat as a substitute for our forces in the Balkans," NATO International Operations and Military Planning Department Deputy Director Frank Bolland said. According to him, Kazakhstan peacekeeping troops, NATO forces and their allies have begun making plans for joint military operations in the Balkans.The delegation's visit came following the accession of Kazakhstan to the NATO's Planning and Review Process announced by NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson earlier this year. This decision was made soon after the meeting between Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Kazakhstan's Minister of Defense Army General Mukhtar Altynbayev in Brussels. ECONOMY
Kazakhstan's economy grows 9.2 percent in H1 2002At an August 7 Government session attended by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov reported that Kazakhstan's GDP increased by 9.2 percent during the first six months of this year, while industrial output rose by 8.7 percent over the same period in 2001. Inflation was down to 3.1 percent, below last year's rate and the projected estimates. The Prime Minister said oil industry continued to play important role in ensuring the economic growth. The industry attracted almost half of the overall volume of foreign investment, which, in his view, contributed to the 13.3-percent growth in oil production during the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year. According to the August 9 report by Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), Kazakhstan crude and natural gas liquid production averaged 920,000 barrels per day in June, an increase of 40,000 bpd from May.Mr. Tasmagambetov predicted further expansion of this industry based on both the existing and new projects, including the development of the onshore Tengiz and recently discovered huge offshore Kashagan oil fields. He said the ChevronTexaco-led joint venture "Tengizchevroil" recently adopted the plan of expedited development of production capacities that will allow increasing the annual production to 32 millions tons by 2010. President says focus should be on ensuring sustainable and broadly based economic growthSpeaking at the same meeting in Astana, President Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan's economy grew by almost 40 percent during the past three years with industrial production expanding by 46 percent and agriculture showing a growth of more than 50 percent. "During the same years more than 500 000 people got new jobs," President Nazarbayev said. "We managed to move out of poverty 1.5 million people in the past year and a half. For our country, this is not so small a figure."The President then outlined the tasks for the Government with the utmost priority given to ensuring the qualitative and sustainable broad-based economic growth. This growth should be achieved through the development of small and medium-sized businesses, import substitution, promoting non-traditional (raw materials based) industries and developing oil and gas services sector. Mr. Nazarbayev further called to improve financing for education and healthcare, to increase pension levels and social benefits, as well as to develop the housing construction and rural areas. ... instructs the Government to increase pensions and pay compensationsThe President instructed the Government to increase the pensions by 12% starting from 2003. He also said the Government of Kazakhstan will pay compensations for the deposits lost by the people who held them with the Saving Bank of the USSR at the time of its collapse. "That state [the USSR] no longer exists. It seems like our new nation is not responsible for the former. But those who lost their savings find little solace in this," the President said instructing the Government to pay compensations in 2003-2006. According to the government's assessment, around $90 million will be required to pay the money back to around 7 million depositors. Such a move, taking place for the first time in any of the former Soviet successor states, is aimed to further bring the real benefits to the people from the progressive social and economic reforms of the past decade.Kazakhstan among top 100 economic entities in the worldKazakhstan is among the top 100 economic entities of the world, the UN Conference on Trade and Development said on August 12 in its report for the year 2000. The list ranked the countries by GDP and corporations by "value added" the sum of pre-tax profits, salaries, amortization and depreciation.Kazakhstan, with GDP at $18 billion, was ranked 92nd. The only other nations from the former Soviet Union in the list were Russia, ranked 18th with $251 billion, and Ukraine, ranked 64th with $32 billion.Kazakhstan becomes net power exporterKazakhstan exported over 400 million kW/h of electrical power from January to July of 2002, the first time that the country has been a net exporter of power. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Vladimir Shkolnik reported in Astana on August 7 that Kazakhstan has greatly reduced electrical power imports from Russia and Central Asian states. Among the many priorities for the power generation sector, Mr. Shkolnik emphasized the construction of a second high-voltage transmission line running North-South to provide stable power supply to the southern region of the republic. The line is expected to be complete by the end of the year.US Court rules in favor of Kazakhstan companyThe United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on August 8 dismissed lawsuit brought by Canada-based World Wide Minerals (WWM) against Kazakhstan national atomic company KazAtomProm. On May 13, 1998, WWM and its subsidiaries sued the Republic of Kazakhstan, its State Property Department and national company KazAtomProm for a total of $29 million on charges of illegally declining a request for a uranium export license and illegally nationalizing WWM assets in Kazakhstan. Kazatomprom successfully fought the allegations of WWM in DC Court which dismissed the lawsuit in September 2000. The continuos attempts of WWM to appeal the ruling of DC Court forced KazAtomProm to apply to the US Court of Appeals to confirm the original verdict. In an August 9 press release, KazAtomProm announced the court ruled in its favor. According to the press release, "the ruling is final and is not subject to any secondary appeal."Kazakhstan's ferrosilicon imports inflict no damage on US metallurgy sectorAfter considering investigative reports on ferrosilicon imports from Brazil, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, China, Russia and Ukraine, the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) acknowledged that ferrosilicon imports inflict no damage on United States metal producers. According to anITC press release, all five members of the ITC supported the decision. Evidence provided by Globe and Amicor, the two US companies who initiated the investigation, failed to "prove any real damage caused by
ferrosilicon imports from the above-mentioned countries".
GENERAL
Kazakhstan's team third at Asian Athletics ChampionshipKazakhstan's athletes won 6 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals in the 14th biannual Asian Athletic Championship that concluded in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on August 12. The team became the third in the final medals standing, letting ahead only China and Qatar. Expanding on the long-standing traditions of successful athletics that brought home numerous Olympic and world cup gold medals, Kazakhstan's athletes won men's 200 and 800 meters, and women's 400-meter hurdles, heptathlon and women's high jump.The four-day competition in Sri Lanka has drawn about 800 athletes from 40 Asian countries. * * *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
