In this issue:
Kazakhstan's Muslims Celebrate Ait, Thankful for Peace
Nazarbayev Calls on North Korea to Give Up Nuclear Program
Kazakhstan to Join Two International Human Rights Covenants
Economy Expands 9.1% in 9 Months
Kashagan Production May Be Delayed by 18 Months
SAY IT IN KAZAKH:
A bountiful holiday table ---Dastarkhan [Das-tar-khan]
Happy Holiday! --- Meiramynyzben!
Kazakhstan's Muslims Celebrate Ait, Thankful for Peace
As Americans prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with traditional turkey shared with good friends, Muslims in Kazakhstan started celebrating the end of Ramadan on Tuesday with a three-day festival of life, Oraza Ait (called Eid al-Fitr in Arabic) with prayers for peace, lavish meals and time with families and friends.
The celebration comes after the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims across the world fast, pray and even avoid bad thoughts. There are approximately 8 million Muslims in Kazakhstan coming from the Kazakh, Uzbek, Tartar, Uigur, Azeri, Chechen and other ethnic groups. Across the world, around 1.5 billion people follow the teachings of Islam.
During Oraza Ait, the Muslims are called on to forgive others, repent misdeeds and engage in philanthropy.
Abdsattar Hajji Derbisali, Supreme Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Kazakhstan, said after morning prayers in Astana on November 25: "All the people who came to prayers this morning were asking for continued peace in our homeland, for friendship and calm to be preserved."
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a Muslim, prayed in the central mosque of Astana and then addressed the people by television. He explained, "Our multiethnic people are predominantly Muslim. I congratulate Muslims of Kazakhstan of all ethnic backgrounds. Let all their wishes come true and let their prayers reach God's ears."
The President continued, "Our country, because of its stability and mutual understanding among the peoples and religions, has become a place where forums such as the Congress of World and Traditional Religions are held."
In the United States, President George W. Bush sent greetings to Muslims, saying: "During this joyful season, I encourage people of all faiths to reflect on our shared values: love of family, gratitude to God, a commitment to religious freedom, and respect for the diversity."
In Kazakhstan, Oraza Ait celebrations are accompanied by feasting on rich traditional foods, much appreciated after a month of fasting. Charitable acts are encouraged during this period, building on the natural generosity that is part of the national tradition.
Utegen Abylkasym-uly, a native of Astana, said on TV: "This is a holiday when we are supposed to visit no less than seven dastarkhans (family-sized tables laden with food). I've been to my neighbors today already I'll be visiting tomorrow, day after tomorrow, so I guess I'm going to hit not 7, but 20 or even 30!"
Kazakhs and other Muslims celebrate Oraza Ait. Christians prepare for Christmas, the Orthodox on January 7 and other Christians on December 25. The Jewish community starts Hanukkah with the first candle at sundown on December 19, and more secular people are getting ready for the New Year. It's holiday time in Kazakhstan...
Nazarbayev Calls on North Korea to Give Up Nuclear Program
President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, on an official visit to Seoul earlier this month, said North Korea can only receive the security assurance it desires by achieving economic prosperity, reforming politics and earning the trust of the international community; not by developing nuclear weapons. Kazakhstan had voluntarily abandoned its own nuclear arms program in the early 1990s.
In an interview with South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, President Nazarbayev talked about his belief that his country has been strengthened by its abandonment of a nuclear arms program. "It may be different for a superpower such as the former Soviet Union, but a nuclear weapons program does not guarantee security for a small country," he said, "rather, it would incur distrust and suspicion from the international community and create a threat instead of providing security."
President Nazarbayev told the Korean newspaper that one of his first presidential orders was to shut down the Semipalatinsk test site where almost 500 nuclear explosions were conducted by the Soviets. "After that, we gave up all SS-18 long-range nuclear missiles," the President said. "In return, we achieved trust on the part of the international community."
The President said giving up Kazakhstan's nuclear weapons was directly related to attracting greater foreign investment. "In just few years after independence, foreign investment worth several billion dollars was made in our country. More than $150 billion was promised for long-term investments over the next 10 years," President Nazarbayev said.
Mr. Nazarbayev visited South Korea in mid-November for a three-day visit and met with President Roh Moo Hyun on November 13 in Seoul. In a joint statement, the two leaders agreed to improve bilateral exchanges in the economic, trade, energy and technology sectors. President Nazarbayev said he supported the Roh administration's North Korea policy and its efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue. President Roh expressed his support of Kazakhstan's joining the World Trade Organization.
South Korea established diplomatic relations with Kazakhstan in January 1992. According to Kazakhstan's statistical office, South Korea was the second largest investor in the country between 1993 and 1999, after the United States. About 110,000 ethnic Koreans live in Kazakhstan. They are relatives and descendants of those exiled there by Stalin in the 1940s, comprising 0.7 percent of the country's multi-ethnic population.
Kazakhstan to Join Two International Human Rights Covenants
President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on November 17 authorizing the signature by the Republic of Kazakhstan of the two international human rights covenants, which, in addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, form the International Bill of Human Rights.
According to the decree, Kazakhstan will soon join the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These covenants were approved by the UN General Assembly in December 1966. As of today, 148 countries are members of the document on civil and political rights, and 145 countries have already joined to the document on economic, social and cultural rights.
Bolat Baikadamov, Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Kazakhstan, at a news conference in Astana on November 19 said the adoption of these covenants will assist Kazakhstan in building a democratic state.
States that have signed these documents have a responsibility to annually provide UN with official information on condition of human rights and collaborate with UN entities in order to eliminate uncovered violations of citizen's rights and freedoms.
Kazakhstan's final joining to all these Pacts will take place after their ratification by the Parliament of the county with adjustments taking into account specifics of current national legislation in the sphere of human rights protection.
In particular, Kazakhstan plans to keep reservations concerning the right for strikes. According to the law about state service, public employees are not allowed to strike.
Kazakhstan is also intending to object to reservations by other countries. One of them is the reservation by the United States that allows the U.S. to sentence under-18-year olds to death penalty. According to Kazakhstan's legislation for under aged persons and women are not to be sentenced to death. This is issue is likely to be present in the civil rights agenda for some time, since Kazakhstan is deliberating the introduction of life sentencing instead of death penalties.
Kazakhstan's Economy Expands 9.1% in 9 Months
Kazakhstan's economy expanded by 9.1% to 3.2702 trillion tenge (147.7 tenge/$1 on November 12) in January - September, the National Statistical Agency said, quoting adjusted figures.
The Ministry of Economics and Budget Planning earlier said nine-month GDP growth was 8.6%. Goods and services accounted for respectively 41.8% and 52.8% of GDP, according to the adjusted figures.
This growth trend is consistent with the near-10 percent annual economic expansion enjoyed by Kazakhstan since 2000.
Horst Kohler, IMF's Managing Director, during his mid-November visit to Kazakhstan, said: "I congratulated the President and the authorities on Kazakhstan's economic progress over the past 10 years, which have seen rapid growth and increases in living standards, thanks to the country's oil wealth, implementation of structural reforms and prudent macroeconomic management. Kazakhstan is now well advanced in its transition to a market economy."
Mr. Kohler was visiting Kazakhstan for meetings with officials and in order to participate in the international conference to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency tenge on November 15, 2003. Earlier this year, the IMF closed its office in Kazakhstan because of the progress achieved by Kazakhstan in its economic reforms.
Kashagan Production May Be Delayed by 18 Months
Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan's Energy Minister, told reporters in the Parliament in Astana on November 21 that the Agip KCO consortium might delay the start of production at Kazakhstan's big Kashagan offshore oil field by 18 months.
"Production might be delayed by about a year and a half," Minister Shkolnik said, according to Kazinform and Interfax news agencies.
Contractors are discussing the possible delay with Kazakh government officials, Minister Shkolnik said. The sides are discussing compensation of $50 million [annually], rising to $100 million then to $150 million, depending on the length of the delay, the Minister explained.
The negotiators are guided by the expectation that Kashagan was supposed to go on stream at the end of 2005, as per a production-sharing agreement, but that this will not happen for a number of "objective reasons," Minister Shkolnik said. First and foremost, the oil was discovered later than planned, and the first well was consequently drilled later than planned. "The PSA provided for this situation, the negotiations are now underway, work has not been disrupted and the project, in other words, is in progress," the Minister said.
What the parties are discussing is "how articles permitting works to begin later than scheduled are to be applied," Shkolnik said.
But he also said he could not disclose "any of the information on the negotiating process in accordance with the PSA" without "written permission of all contractors."
Recently foreign experts and specialists have mentioned the end of 2006 beginning of 2007 as a realistic date for the start of Kashagan commercial production.
The partners in Agip KCO are ENI, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalFinaElf, each with 16.67% interest, and ConocoPhillips and INPEX, each with 8.33%. BG has announced its withdrawal from the project and the other participants will buy its 16.67% share. The deal should be finalized by the end of this year.
The consortium was set up following the signing of a 40-year production sharing agreement in November 1997. Agip KCO announced the commercial discovery of oil at Kashagan in June 2002. Estimated recoverable reserves at the field amount to 7 billion - 9 billion barrels of oil, with total geological oil reserves of 38 billion barrels.
At the first stage of development of the Kashagan field, Agip KCO plans to produce 22 million tons of oil a year, 45 million tons at the second stage, and up to 60 million tons of oil at the third stage.
In addition to Kashagan, the consortium has made three other discoveries in the areas it has the contract for. The last discoveries, of Aktoty and Kashagan Southwest, were announced on November 24, 2003. Estimates of their reserves were not disclosed.
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News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the USA and Canada
(Compiled from own sources and various agencies' reports)
Contact person: Roman Vassilenko
Tel.: (202) 232- 5488 ext. 104, Fax: (202) 232- 5845
