In this issue:
Dignitaries View Ancient Artifacts of Kazakhstan, Congratulate President and People on Independence
Kazakh Independence Celebrated in Tucson
Kazakhstan Ratifies UN Civil and Political Rights Pact
Kazakhstan Inaugurates Oil Pipeline to China, Heralding New Era in Regional Energy Progress
Kazakh Firm Joins London’s FTSE 100, More Kazakh Listings to Come
Where is the museum? --- Murazhai qai zherde ornalaskan?
How many museums are here? --- Bul zherde qansha murazhai bar?
When does the Kazakh exhibition open? --- Qazak kormesi qashan ashylady?
Dignitaries View Ancient Artifacts of Kazakhstan,
Congratulate President and People on Independence
US Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, Energy Secretary
Sam Bodman and
Congresswoman Shelley
Berkley (D-NV) were among
the many dignitaries and
friends of Kazakhstan who
attended a December 15
reception to celebrate
Kazakhstan’s 14th
Independence Day and
announce an upcoming US
tour of the art exhibit, “Of
Gold and Grass: Nomads of
Kazakhstan” which will be t
he first ever art exhibit from
Kazakhstan in the US.
The atmosphere of the event
held at the Smithsonian’s
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
was particularly warm on a
cold, wet, Washington night.
Live traditional Kazakh music
added to the warmth.
Kanat Saudabayev, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the United States, welcomed guests at the reception saying: “During the years of independence, Kazakhstan has turned from one of the most backward former Soviet republics into an economically strong and democratically growing nation, a recognized leader in the region. The people in Kazakhstan and abroad link these successes with President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s vision. His impressive election victory gave the President the strongest mandate for continued modernization. I believe the next seven years will not only become the time of the flowering of Kazakhstan, but a new era in our relationship with the world and the United States. The presence here of key members of the US Administration, Congress and business community shows Washington’s serious interest in Kazakhstan, and we are very optimistic about the future of both our country and our cooperation.”
In an interview with Kazakhstan’s Khabar TV during the reception, Secretary Rumsfeld said “Secretary Bodman and I are very pleased to be here at this important reception and to have a chance to congratulate the people of this great country on their Independence Day, and certainly to extend our congratulations to the President on his recent reelection and to wish him and the people of Kazakhstan well.”
Secretary Bodman commented “We in the Energy Department are very much looking forward to continuing to expand our relationships with Kazakhstan because of its importance in this emerging region of the world.”
Rep. Berkley added “I would like to congratulate the great nation of Kazakhstan on 14 years of independence. I am very proud of the extraordinary economic development and the potential that Kazakhstan has to be a real leader in that part of the world. I also wanted to congratulate the President on his outstanding election victory. I think any politician would love 91 percent of the vote, but I think that demonstrates the confidence that the people of Kazakhstan have in their elected leader. It’s a wonderful democracy in a very challenging part of the world, and certainly the United States believes in helping foster democratic institutions throughout the world, and Kazakhstan should be proud of its achievements.”
Rep. Berkley also shared her
excitement about the
upcoming national tour
featuring ancient Kazakh art
and offered assistance in
arranging for the exhibition to
visit her district of Las Vegas,
a city with a population of 1.5
million people and 38 million
visitors annually.
Yerlan Baizhanov, First
Deputy Minister of Culture,
Information and Sport, led a
delegation of Kazakh officials
and performers to the
reception. He said the exhibit
will show golden artifacts
dating back to the middle of
the first millennium BC, the
time Ancient Greece
blossomed. Ancient Greeks knew little of the nomads of the steppes, he said, referring to some far away lands as the “land of the griffins protecting gold.” Several of the recent finds in Kazakhstan, at burial mounds in Issyk and Berel, included golden artifacts of those ancient days depicting griffins. Griffins are mythical winged beasts.
The exhibition is being put together by the Kazakh Embassy in Washington, the Ministry of Culture, Information and Sport and the Foundation for International Arts and Education of Bethesda, MD. It will exhibit artifacts from the collections of Kazakhstan’s Presidential Center of Culture, Museum of Gold and Precious Metals, and the Museum of the Archeology Institute.
Ambassador Saudabayev concluded “We hope the upcoming exhibition will help Americans discover an ancient rich culture and vivid and diverse art of the Kazakhs. We hope as a result our peoples will become closer and more comfortable with each other, and our friendship will grow stronger.”
Kazakh Independence Celebrated in Tucson
The people of Tucson, Arizona, and their Kazakh
community joined together to celebrate Kazakhstan’s
14th Independence Day on December 16.
Tucson has been a sister city of Almaty since 1989.
Jerry M. Gary, Chairman of the Tucson-Almaty Sister
Cities Committee, wad the lead organizer of the
occasion helped by many Americans who became
attached to Kazakhstan over the years and more than
a dozen of Kazakh students, including a number of
Bolashakers.
Celebrations included a flag raising and a city council
proclamation declaring the day as Kazakhstan’s
Independence Day in Tucson, and were followed by a
pot luck dinner.
Nina Trasoff of the Tucson City Council said “I am
very pleased to have participated in the celebration of
Kazakhstan Independence Day. I applaud the
Tucson-Almaty Sister Cities Committee and the
young Bolashak Scholars from Kazakhstan that took
part in the ceremony.”
Jerry Gary, Chairman of the Tucson-Almaty Sister
Cities Committee said: “Heart-felt observance of
Independence Day is something that all Americans
recognize. It was an emotional and rewarding
experience to be with 14 young Bolashak Scholars
and others from the Kazakh community in Tucson
and participate in their celebration on December 16, 2005.”
Kazakhstan Ratifies UN Civil and Political Rights Pact
President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed into law legislation ratifying Kazakhstan’s accession to the UN’s International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights on November 28.
Kazakhstan signed the covenant which is a part of the International Bill of Human Rights, at the end of 2003, joining 162 countries.
Rapil Zhoshybayev, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister had earlier explained the covenant’s ratification would be a “significant event, speeding up the improvement in domestic legislation and bringing it up to international standards.” Ratification should be a “major factor” in Kazakhstan’s quest for chairmanship-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2009, he explained.
Kazakhstan Inaugurates Oil Pipeline to China,
Heralding New Era in Regional Energy Progress
President Nursultan Nazarbayev ceremonially opened the taps of a new oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to China on December 15, heralding a new era in energy development in the Caspian Sea region.
The US$806 million 625 mile pipeline will carry 10 million tons (70 million barrels) of oil a year from Kazakhstan, the Central Asian country with the largest oil reserves, to the second largest importer of oil in the world.
The pipeline opened a huge market for Kazakhstan which is quickly becoming one of the world’s top oil exporters. Kazakhstan is aiming to more than double its production from 1.3 million barrels to three million barrels a day by 2015. The lion’s share of increased production will be exported.
The pipeline was opened on the eve of Kazakhstan’s 14th anniversary of independence on December 16. The oil rich former Soviet republic’s first pipeline to the east began to fill with oil as President Nazarbayev pressed a button at the headquarters of the national KazMunaiGaz company in the capital of Astana. The pipeline is a 50-50 joint venture between state companies China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and KazMunaiGaz.
“It will work for the good of our two peoples. This is the beginning of a project to double the trade between Kazakhstan and China,” the President said. He also announced plans to build a gas pipeline to China.
For China, the new route is a key step toward securing adequate foreign energy supplies for its booming economy. Out of China’s total oil consumption of 6.7 million barrels a day last year, almost half was imported according to figures from oil company BP PLC, as reported by the Associated Press.
Until now, the main route for Kazakh oil exports has been the Caspian Pipeline, which was opened in 2001 to link the giant western Tengiz oil field with Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.
The new pipeline starts in the central Kazakh town of Atasu and runs to the Altaw Pass in northwestern China. It will initially carry oil from the Kumkol field in central Kazakhstan, which is being developed by CNPC following its acquisition of the field’s former operator earlier this year.
By 2011, when it reaches full capacity of 20 million tons (140 million barrels) annually, the pipeline is expected to be used to also ship oil from western Siberia.
The partners are also planning to extend the pipeline to the Caspian Sea by linking it to a 435 mile pipeline that runs within Kazakhstan from the Caspian city of Atyrau to the Kenkiyak oil field farther east.
Linking the two pipelines will give Kazakhstan more outlets from the Caspian Sea to ship oil to foreign markets and will also give the Chinese access to Caspian oil.
“Only a small stretch remains (to be built) to reach the Caspian oil,” the President said at the ceremony. He then turned to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Vladimir Shkolnik and asked: “When do we begin construction?”
“Tomorrow,” Shkolnik said. He earlier noted that for the new Chinese pipeline to begin functioning, it will have to be filled with 600,000 tons of oil, which will be done by mid-2006.
The pipeline opening comes half a year after the opening of another alternative export route for Kazakh oil, the 1,100 mile pipeline that runs from the Azeri capital of Baku, via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Oil from producers in Kazakhstan has not yet entered that pipeline called Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, as details are still being worked out.
Kazakh Firm Joins London’s FTSE 100,
More Kazakh Listings to Come
Kazakhmys, Kazakhstan’s copper mining firm joined London’s benchmark FTSE 100 share index on December 7, lining up alongside other major UK favorites like BP. FTSE 100 (Financial Times Stock Exchange 100) is the premier share index of the London Stock Exchange, akin to the US’s Dow Jones index at the New York Stock Exchange.
Kazakhmys became the first former Soviet bloc company to join the index, but is one of a growing number of firms from the region to list shares in London, according to the BBC. Another firm from Kazakhstan, KazakhGold listed its shares in London earlier.
Since its listing in October 2005, Kazakhmys’ shares have risen almost 22 percent in value.
Privatized by the Government of Kazakhstan in the 1990s, Kazakhmys employs 6,000 workers and is the tenth largest copper producer in the world, with 16 mines across the country and a market value of US$5.6 billion (3.2 billion pounds). It recorded a 50% rise in revenues to $1.3 billion (765 million pounds) in 2004 due to soaring commodity prices.
The FTSE 100 is reviewed four times a year to ensure it represents the 100 largest UK listed companies.
Things to Watch:
- On December 26, the Kazakhstan based Central Asian Geographical Society will unveil its plans for the first ever round the world maritime expedition originating from Kazakhstan, the country the farthest from the oceans of the world. The society will select participants for the voyage through a competition. Those who finish the expedition will receive a US$30,000 diamond studded medals.
- Kazakhs look forward to the New Year. Celebrations planned across the country.
______________________________________________________________________________
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
