KAZAKH PRESIDENT NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV TALKED WITH CHAIRMAN OF THE KAZAKH NATIONAL BANK QADYRZHAN DAMITOV. According to RFE/RL correspondents report, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev held talks with Qadyrzhan Damitov - Chairman of the Kazakh National Bank. The talks were held yesterday afternoon. Mr. Damitov briefed President Nazarbayev on the National bank�s activities of the last year. At press conference held afterwards Chairman of the Kazakh National Bank told journalists that in general the Kazakh National Bank had managed to preserve more or less stable situation in spite of the world�s economic crisis.
AIR KAZAKHSTAN COMPANY FACING PROBLEMS. A TU-154 plane had to land back to Astana airport yesterday, due to technical problems. The plane was scheduled to bring passengers from Astana to Moscow. Just several minutes after the beginning of the flight fire was noticed in one of the plane�s engines and the crew had to land the aircraft on Astana airport. A new plane brought from Almaty to replace the Astana-Moscow plane was also not permitted to fulfill the flight by the Flights Safety Inspection officers �due to technical problems�.
KAZAKH MINISTER OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND ENERGY ON PRIMAKOV�S SACKING. Mukhtar Abliayzov - Kazakh Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy made a statement at press conference held in Almaty yesterday. He said that decision of Russian President Boris Yeltsin to oust Prime Minister Yevgeniy Primakov was not going to affect neither Kazakh economy nor the Kazakh energy supply system. Mr. Abliyazov said that energy supply systems of Russian Federation and Kazakhstan were working absolutely separately and were not dependent to each other. He added that that Russia remained the main economic partner for Kazakhstan and that the volume of mutual trade between the two neighboring countries had reached $3,214 thousand last year.
REGIONAL SEMINAR ON CASPIAN REGION HELD IN ALMATY. Two-day Regional Seminar devoted to the ecological situation around the Caspian area, namely to the change of the Caspian Sea�s level, started working in Almaty yesterday. Experts from The Caspian states - Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan are discussing the ecological situation in the area, proposing some programs on preservation of the region�s ecological balance.
DRUG TRAFFICKER DETAINED IN PAVLODAR. RFE/RL correspondents report that a 25-year old lady was detained by the Kazakh police this week at Pavlodar�s railway station, aboard Novokuznetsk - Qaraghandy train. 30 kilograms of marijuana were found in her belongings. Investigations bare underway.
(RFE/RL)
Banu MARAT
ASTANA, May 12
(THE GLOBE)
�Interrelations between Kazakhstan and the United Arabian Emirates will be further developed,� the UAE Minister of Economy and Trade announced on May 12 in Astana.
The sheikh Fahmi Bin Sultan stated, that during his meeting with the president Nursultan Nazarbaev the issues regarding further economic interrelations between the two countries had been discussed.
Especial attention was paid to the communication problems, including railway and air communications.
According to the Minister, the exhibition of the Persian Gulf countries being held now in Almaty (see THE GLOBE dated 11.05.99) will play an important role in attracting investments from these states, including from UAE.
During their visit to Kazakhstan, the UAE delegation confirmed their readiness to support construction of new objects in Astana. The total investments in Kazakhstan objects may initially come to US$ 50 to 60 million.
We remind you, that during the visit of the president of Kazakhstan to UAE in May 1998, the agreement regarding establishment of the embassy of the Arabian state in Astana and, correspondingly, of the Kazakhstan embassy in Abu-Dabi, was concluded.
Beside that, construction of the diplomatic town in Astana was discussed with the head of the biggest UAE company �Hatbur Group�.
In the last year the external commodity turnover between Kazakhstan and the United Arabian Emirates was US$ 17 million 162 thousand.
Askar DARIMBET
ALMATY, May 12 (THE GLOBE)
As we have already informed, the pharmaceutical exhibition �KIHE-99� is being held in Almaty. Both mediator organizations and producers of medicines from 15 countries take part in this exhibition. In comparison with the last year a number of Russian companies taking part in the exhibition is bigger this year.
�After devaluation of tenge, in Kazakhstan prices of many drugs raised. Just the opposite, in Russia after the collapse of rouble, prices of pharmaceutical preparations had reduced, that proves the satiation of the pharmaceutical market with medicines produced locally,� a representative of one of the Russian enterprises-producers of pharmaceuticals said to THE GLOBE.
In her opinion, the volume of drugs supplied from Russia are influenced not by quality of the medicines, but the fact that unlike the most foreign big pharmaceutical companies, which have been registering their drugs for a long time and promoting a wide range of their preparations in the republican market, Russian pharmaceutical producers have not penetrate the Kazakhstan market.
A representative of a Kazakh company dealing with supplies of pharmaceutical products to the Kazakhstan market, remarked it had became more difficult to work with Russia: in the current situation Russian plants fixed damping prices, as they needed to sell their products.
It is known, the problem of diabetes is an urgent one in Kazakhstan. Patients suffering from a heavy type of this disease cannot live not taking insulin every day. A representative of the Diabetic Association of RK informed THE GLOBE about the provision of these people with the required drugs.
She stated, that traditionally Kazakhstan had bought insulin from companies in USA and Denmark which were well known in the pharmaceutical market. This preparation is not imported from Russia, despite low prices of medicines in this country. The representative of the association emphasized, people with diabetes required the high-quality medicines, while Russian companies had entered the Kazakhstan market recently and were unknown.
According to the representative of the association, in this year as well as in the last one, 200 million tenge was allotted from the budget to buy the insulin preparations, that covers only 20 to 30% of the required volume, the rest part should be provided by the local budgets, however, they can hardly fulfill this task, and not everywhere.
Kulimkhan HASENOVA,
ALMATY, May 13
(THE GLOBE)
Where and how to rest? Despite the crisis and the fall of tenge, this question is still urgent for Kazakhsta citizens. Those people who have a big money reserve, will prefer to go to the best European health resorts, people who have no money at all will stay at home. People having a little money will again go to the neighbouring Kyrgyz lake. Even despite the incident (pollution of the river Borskaun with more than 1500 kilograms of sodium cyanide) happened in the last year, the majority of Kazakhstan population still like the Beauty Issyk-Kul and are ready to have a rest nearby it.
In this year Kazakhstan citizens had an opportunity to visit the famous lake not only during their summer vocations, but even in weekends and working days. It was supposed to reduce a long way from Almaty to Cholpan-Ata taking ten hours to an hour, due to building of a unique motor way through mountain passes. The so-called miracle way was supposed to connect directly the southern capital of Kazakhstan with Issyk-Kul and to settle numerous problems. The Kyrgyz authorities undertook the realisation of the joint project with a high enthusiasm. For the short period the Kyrgyz part of the road announced the People�s Construction was completed. But the Kazakh party does not hurry to invest in this project, which seems profitable enough, and to join the roads at the extreme height among the impassable mountain ranges. The reason of it is not only absence of money, but also reconsideration of the necessity of the road. According to the deputy the Akim of the Almaty region Vladimir Merenkov, the mountain road, which Kyrgyz specialists pursued on, is unprofitable due to many reasons. First of all, it is supposed to cross the Big Almaty canyon, which is the National park. Second, it will have to be exploited only in summer, as in other seasons it will be dangerous. Beside that, to maintain the road built among the groceries and mountain ranges, it will require a lot of money. According to Kazakh specialists, it is much more profitable to use another variant of the road crossing mainly through valleys and reducing the existing way by 250 kilometres.
�That variant will require less manpower,� Vladimir Merenkov says, �it will require less investments as well, beside that, it may be used all the year round. It is a natural road, which has been already existing for a long time, Jeeps as well as lorries may go there; it is needed only to lay asphalt to make it suitable for cars.�
If we look at a map, the road, proposed by the Almaty authorities, crosses such settlements, as Almaty-Uzunagash-Karakastek in Kazakhstan and Bystrovka in Kyrgyzstan.
Now the Kazakh party is looking for investors ready to invest money in the new way alternative to the one, which has been already built by the Kyrgyzs. Representatives of an Austrian company interested in this project are expected to come to Almaty on May 18. If they consider the project profitable, most probably, one more road to Issyk-Kul will be build. To our question what about the Kyrgyz party, which has already spent a lot of money to its part of the road, Vladimir Merenkov answered, there was no concrete contract on the road, and it had not been discussed juridically. �It was not discussed in details, and we do not understand why the Kyrgyz party hurried to built it.�
How will this story end, and will the roads leading to Cholpan-Ata and Almaty meet, is not clear. For the time being they are like two lines drawn with functionaries� pens to different directions.
ALMATY, May 11 (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
The Central Election Commission of Kazakhstan has acknowledged some of the critical remarks concerning flaws in the Kazakh election law made by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe�s Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Bureau Director Gerard Studmann said at a press conference in Almaty on Tuesday.
Representatives from the bureau, the European Commission, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee have arrived in Kazakhstan for an official visit. Their purpose is to assess the implementation of democratic reforms in Kazakhstan prior to the parliamentary elections to be held in the autumn.
During talks with the leaders of the Majilis, the lower house of the Kazakh parliament, and officials of the Central Election Commission, representatives of these international organizations said that they were �disappointed� by the amendments made in the election law by the parliament.
Studmann said that the new edition of the election law has the same flaws as the presidential decree on the presidential election held on January 10, 1999. The new law is far from the OSCE standards, he said.
He also expressed concern about the application of provisions on administrative offences which, in the opinion of OSCE experts, is aimed at barring opposition candidates from elections.
He said that not all candidates have equal access to the mass media and that most of the candidates still cannot afford the election fee. The new edition of the election law lowers the presidential candidate�s fee from 1,000 to 100 minimum wages and the parliamentary deputy�s fee from 100 to 50 minimum wages.
Studmann said the work of the election commissions must be monitored to ensure transparency of the elections and to avoid the falsification of election results. The Central Election Commission has agreed with this criticism, he said.
Bureau representatives plan to visit Kazakhstan in three months and would like the Central Election Commission to honor its commitments to the OSCE, said Studmann. Otherwise, the OSCE will have to take an additional decision, he said.
He said that the delegation met with the leaders of individual opposition and nongovernmental organizations to learn what they think about democratization in Kazakhstan. He said that it was a very interesting meeting.
Studmann said that Kazakhstan is not a democratic state and is still in the transitional stage.
Moscow, May 11 (Interfax)
In 1998 Kazakhstan extracted about 26 million tonnes of oil and exported 14.97 million, the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Trade told Interfax.
The ministry said exports to countries outside the CIS amounted to 9.753 million tonnes, to the CIS 3.085 million and to Russia 2,134 million. Out of that amount 4,386 million tonnes were exported by rail and 1,799 million by sea.
In 1998 Kazakhstan exported 2 million tonnes of gas condensate.
This year oil extraction is expected to reach 30 million tonnes and exports
Billion dollars � from the countries of the Persian Gulf
(KazAAG) The Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Saudi Arabia Bagdad Amreev said, the commodity turnover between Kazakhstan and the countries of the Persian Gulf is doubled every year. Thus, in 1996 the turnover was about US$ 10 million, in 1997 � about 25 million, in the last year it was US$ 50 million.
From 1993 the direct investments of the Persian Gulf states in our economy have amounted to US$ 270 million, including US$ 120 million � from Saudi Arabia, 120 million � from Oman and 30 million � from Qatar. The diplomat emphasised, that were only the investments under big projects. The portfolio of the total long-term contracts (including credits of the fiscal institutions of the countries of this region) is more than US$ 1 billion.
So, Kuwaiti Fund of Development allotted Kazakhstan �mild� credits in the amount of US$ 23 million. The Saudi Fund of development has taken the decision to allot our republic US$ 100 million, and US$ 60 million are supposed to be allotted by Abu-Dabi Fund.
According to B. Amreev, US$ 450 million of direct investments are being expected.
Beside that, the Kuwaiti government has approved the allotment of US$ 25 million on unpaid basis aimed to save the Aral sea. The government of UAE has allotted US$ 10 million on the same basis for construction of objects in Astana, Saudi Arabia � 15 million; a contribution of Qatar has been also agreed.
Kazakhstan takes the third place in the world by its prospected copper reserves
ALMATY. According to �COPPER BULLETIN�, in January to October of 1998 the world volume of manufactured purified copper was 11459800 tons, that was 1.7% more than for the same period in 1997. The most part of the world copper production is of USA, Chilli, Japan, China, Germany, Russia and Canada. In 1998 Kazakhstan produced 324800 tons of copper, almost all the volume (99.9%) was produced by the JSC �Corporation Kazakhmys�. The republic possesses the significant copper reserves and may control almost the tenth part of the world�s copper market. As far as the prospected reserves are concerned, Kazakhstan is the third country in the world.
The budget provides 8.9 billion tenge to be spent to develop agriculture
ASTANA (INTERFAX) In the agricultural complex of Kazakhstan out of 5112 farms only 996 (18.9%) are paying concerns. The first deputy Agricultural Minister Toleukhan Nurkiyanov announced that at the Ministry Board. He stated, that 2443 farms (47.8%) were able to work after rehabilitation procedures, 1828 farms (33.3%) had been considered bankrupts. He said 249 farms able to work after rehabilitation procedures, had been handed out to the investors� control. At the same time, T. Nurkiyanov announced due to the measures taken to improve financial condition of the agriculture, the total credit liability of agriculture had reduced by 16.5 billion tenge (US$ 1=114.5 tenge), i.e. by 13.7% in comparison with 1998. In the budget-1998, 13.3 billion tenge were planned to develop agriculture, however, the real financing was 7.5 billion tenge, i.e. 57%. The budget of this year provides 8.9 billion tenge to be spent to develop agriculture.
In Negotiations Between China And Kazakhstan On Transborder Rivers Russia Will Take Part Too
ASTANA. In Beijing negotiations between Kazakhstan and China are being held on problems of water usage from transborder rivers, the question is in the first turn about the river Black Irtysh. Kazakh Foreig Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev said, that the delegation has a task to determine the agenda und in shortest times to achieve concrete results. He said, that the problem is very difficult and it is hard to wait, that it will be solved during one rounde of negotiations, because this history is very old and the problem of transborder rivers was in agenda of Soviet-Chinese relations. �We think that the fact of the negotiations� beginning and the agreement of the Chinese party on exchange with views is the serious advantage in our relations �, Tokayev underlined. On his words, it became possible thanks to the letter of President Nazarbayev to the China�s chairman with the call to take measures for the regulation of the situation with Irtysh river�s issue.
K.Tokayev noted, that consultations with Russian side were held on this issue. It is supposed that Russia will take part in them
Party Expects To Win 50% Of Seats In Kazakhstan�s Next Parliament
ALMATY, May 11 (Interfax-Kazakhstan). Kazakhstan�s social democratic Otan party, which supports President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said Tuesday it expects to win at least half the seats in the next lower house of parliament at an election in autumn this year. Speaking at a news conference in Almaty, the acting Otan leader, former Prime Minister Sergei Tereshchenko, did not say how many candidates the party would put forward. He said an Otan congress would approve the final list. Otan was set up after the last presidential election. Nazarbayev�s election campaign committee formed the party�s core. At a congress on March 1, the People�s Unity Party, Democratic Party, Liberal Movement and Kazakhstan 2030 group merged with Otan and ceased to exist as separate parties. There are 14 parties in the former Soviet republic, Tereshchenko said.
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