Kazakh President met Turkish Ambassador to Kazakhstan due to his having accomplished diplomatic mission in this country RFE/RL correspondents quote presidential press service as reporting that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev held meeting with Kurtulus Taskent - Turkey�s Ambassador to Kazakhstan yesterday, July 21. Ambassador Taskent finished his diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan and is expected to return to Ankara next week. President Nazarbayev expressed his gratitude to the Turkish Ambassador for � his contributions to the strengthening of economic and political ties between Astana and Ankara�.
Locust hordes reached Kokshetau region�s famous resort places reportedly RFE/RL correspondents visited well known Burabay (Borovoye) Resort place in Kokshetau Region this week. According to information they provided thousands of locusts reached that unique place around the Burabay Lake as well. People resting in the area are not able even to use beaches along the Lake�s coast. Cases of traffic accidents caused by locust�s having covered the roads were also reported from the area. Officials of Kazakhstan in Astana City, including Vice Premier and Agriculture Minister Zhanibek Karibzhanov refused to give interviews on the matter to RFE/RL correspondents.Deputies of the Kazakhstan Parliament will be on vacations till September 1
Two bodies of unidentified men found in Big Almatinka river of the former capital last night Two bodies of unknown persons were found in Big Almatinka river in the outskirts of Almaty City. Police Department officials say that the two dead persons are more likely victims of the floods and stone fall caused by rainstorms last week. During the night between 14 and 15 July heavy rainstorms destroyed man y houses in the former capital�s Rayimbek and Aerodromnaya Streets. Also the districts close to the Medeu mountainous range were heavily damaged by the stone fall and mud. About 200 workers and 64 specially equipped tracks are working currently on the spot, trying to remove the fallen trees, stones and mud.
President of the Kazakhstan�s Kickboxing federation released from prison after having served his 6 year term Sabyrzhan Makhmetov - President of the Kazakh Kickboxing Federation was released from jail in the North Kazakhstan, where he had served 6 year term he received for �having been involved into racketeering activities�. Mr. Makhmetov claims that he had been jailed �for nothing�. He is going to hold press conference on Saturday this week.
Fire in Ankara hotel was extinguished timely RFE/RL correspondents report that fire at the famous five starred Ankara Hotel in Almaty was extinguished by the firefighters timely. It is not clear what caused the fire. Investigations are underway.
(RFE/RL), July 22
Gulbanu ABENOVA
ASTANA, July 20
(THE GLOBE)
The Mazhilis speaker Marat Ospanov announced the closing of the 4th session of the Parliament of RK of the first convocation. According to the speaker, for the last period deputies considered 197 bills, including 130 were signed by the President. The rest bills are to be signed soon. Mr. Ospanov emphasised that their work was not determined by number of the laws, but by responsibility of the deputy for the conditions of the society.
The speaker stated that most deputies of that convocation were going to take part in the coming election. If deputies are re-elected, that will prove that deputies worked well, and they justified electors� trust.
One of the most significant works of the Parliament during the 4th session was legislative guarantee of economic reforms, which are being realised by the government, and interrelations with the government. �At the same time, let�s say frankly, that the present situation is very difficult,� the speaker said. In his opinion, for the last half-a-year the industrial production volume reduced more than 4% in comparison, investments to main capital � by 6%, the commodity turnover � more than by 7% with the same period of the previous year. Despite the improving situation with tax collection, even the budget sequestrating, the budget profit articles are realised only by 87.7%, expense articles � by 75.8%. All this happens against background of the debt (more than 30 billion) before pensioners, who along with other social strata of the population hold protest meetings, the speaker stated.
�The government assumed that sequestration of the budget was dictated by the demands of the International Monetary Fund, as a condition of allotment of the credit. The budget has been sequestrated, but credit lined are not opened,� Mr. Ospanov remarked.
In his opinion, today money makes money, while production is strangled by the absence of credits and working capital. Production sank in non-payments and barter operations. �There is a paradoxical situation: the commodity production does not determine functioning of the financial system, but vice versa financial systems determine activity of the commodity-producers,� he said.
The invasion of locust to Kazakhstan, alarmed neighbouring states, revealed urgent problems in the agricultural sector of the country, the speaker believes.
Speaking about the reason of the recent �Parliament-government� opposition, Marat Ospanov said that this opposition was caused by known objective factors along with tactical mistakes of the reforms, which are being realised. The same thing, which is appropriate at one stage, may not result in any positive achievements at another stage, he believes. According to Mr. Ospanov, the economic policy followed for the last 4 years has been exhausted. �Obviously, it is not a conflict of ambitions, but a conflict of means of the economic policy and its main objective,� Marat Ospanov emphasised.
Banu MARAT
ASTANA, July 22
(THE GLOBE)
�The consumer should get the complete information about purchased products. We will take measures to prevent import of non-qualitative products to Kazakhstan,� the representative of the State Standard announced on July 22 in Astana.
Murat Turspekov, the chairman of the Committee on Standardisation, Meteorology and Certification reminded that import and sale of products without information in both Russian and Kazakh are prohibited from October 1.
This information is to include name of the product, country and producer, manufacturing date and expiry date, storage conditions, method of application and calorie content.
According to Mr. Turspekov, today in Kazakhstan there are a lot of products, which do not comply with these requirements, in particular foodstuff and drugs. However, the chairman did not mention any company, which sold such products.
In his opinion, some western companies use Kazakhstan to sell non-qualitative products. Now State Standard is considering the issue regarding database of products acknowledged as non-qualitative according to certification results. State organisations and interested persons will have a free access to this database.
Kazakhstan is not the first country, which introduce marking of products. Many CIS countries, including Moldavia, Russia, Ukraine have already introduced similar requirements.
The chairman of State Standard said that many companies did not wish to put marking �Made in Kazakhstan�. He mentioned �Phillip Morris� as an example. Mr. Turspekov believes that it is profitable for this company not to mark products manufactured in Kazakhstan. According to the chairman, in Western Europe this company has a warehouse and they export their products from this warehouse to countries having no rigid requirements for marking where these products are made. Thus, the company economises money, while the budget of Almaty region loses 1 billion tenge.
�I cannot understand, why there are questions about information in the two languages? The necessity of information in the two languages was introduced in Kazakhstan in 1997 by the Law �On languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan�. We live in Kazakhstan where two languages are used, and we have to do this work sooner or later. Probably, the earlier � the better,� the chairman announced. But, nevertheless, Mr. Turspekov said to THE GLOBE that it is did not matter whether a company makes errors on products� labels. The main thing is that the information in Kazakh complies with the meaning. �We will not withdraw products due to a misprint, incorrect spelling.� Local consumers believe that it is better to eat products with information in an unknown language, that to use butter, if �Bytter� is printed on its package. It is not a secrete that local producers make a lot of grammatical mistakes in Kazakh when they print only several words. What should we expect from our foreign importers?
MOSCOW, Jul 20
(AFP)
Kazakhstan expects to raise oil exports to up to 130 million tonnes per year by 2010 following the completion of an international pipeline in two years, Interfax reported Monday.
The Central Asian republic, which relies heavily on revenue from oil exports and was hit hard by a recent slump in world prices, plans to export some 11 million tonnes of oil this year, industry officials said.
The country is participating in the international Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which upon completion in the end of 2001 will connect the Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan to ports on the Black Sea.
Kazakhstan�s state-owned petroleum company, KazTransOil, will also expand with drilling projects to begin this year in the country�s share of the resource-rich Caspian shelf, which could lead to a sharp rise in exports within six years, company Vice President Kairgeldy Kabyldin said.
KazTransOil is also the sole operator of the Caspian pipeline in Kazakhstan, where it owns a 19 percent stake in the project.
Other stakes are held by Russia and Oman, as well as the petroleum companies Chevron, Mobil, Oryx, Agip, British Gas, Russia-US joint venture LukArco, Russia-UK joint venture Rosneft-Shell Caspian Ventures and Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures.
Michail SERGEEV
Almaty, July 20
(THE GLOBE)
The oil expert, who visited Mangistau region of Kazakhstan in last week, shares some of his impressions about this region with THE GLOBE.
First of all people coming to Aktau, which is situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea, have an unpleasant impression of broken roads and pavements. Houses are not deserted in this town, as they are often in many provincial towns of Kazakhstan. However, construction works are practically stopped in the town. Mainly, it is the entertainment industry that works in the capital of the western Kazakhstan. Aqua-park is being rapidly constructed in the town. One of the big enterprises of the town, the Mangistau nuclear plant providing the town and region with warm water and electricity, began to work on a common gas fuel thanks to the agreement with �Tengizchevroil�, which supplies gas to the plant at a privilege tariffs. Though, as in the Soviet period, the quality of pipeline water is still low. In Aktau region condition of roads seems to be better than even in Akmola region. Unlike central Kazakhstan, where transport streams are mainly represented by cars carrying different products, in this region roads are full with technological transport (truck cranes, concrete mixers, etc.). This fact proves that there is an active construction in the region.
It is impossible to ignore the fact that in Aktau an international port, honour of Aktau citizens was put into exploitation. The port was constructed mainly at the expense of foreign investors, who invested money for the construction under the governmental guarantees. Every day a great number of dry cargo ships and oil barges moor to the port. The port was construction according to the up-to-date world standards and is a modern complex. At present the part is mainly servicing �Kazakhzinc� company, which recently began to export its product (lead) to Iran, and �Tengizchevroil� (TCO) company. TCO is planning to increase the capacity of the port, as export supplies of oil to Georgian port Supsa via Baku have been started. To do this the company is also planning to build an oil pipeline from local oil deposits in Aktau. At present oil is transported by railways.
�Dunga S-Pelesai� deposit, at the deposit belonging to �Oman Oil Company� drilling works have been completed. In the result of the tender, the contractor for drilling works was nominated a famous company specialising on technical servicing of oil operations �Schlumberge�. This company, in its own turn, transferred the right on drilling works to another subcontractor, �Parker drilling� company. It is striking that after the drilling works, the well is finely prepared, sites of the well are made of asphalt, lock devices are well-adjusted, so there is no leakage of hydrocarbons, unlike those wells which were prepared by local subcontractors. Plastic pipelines were laid to the well, and that is especially required for the highly-paraffin oil of these regions. It is a good example, when a middle-sized oil company did not stop its work despite the fall of oil prices all over the world. As the sea level raised for the last years, many wells were flooded. Many of these wells were neglected without any conservation works. Now hydrocarbon raw material is leaking directly into the sea, and local ecologists are alarmed. The community of the region and many ecological NGO appeal to the government and foreign investors asking to render support in conservation of these wells. Not far from the peninsula Buzachi, for the last 12 years �Mangistaumunaigas� company has been constructing oil-processing plant of 6 million tons capacity. Technological sites and administrative buildings of this plant were erected in the soviet period. The point is that oil of Buzachi peninsula contains admixtures of heavy metals, in particular vanadium and nickel. In oil-processing technology these metals lead to fast wear-and-tear of equipment, that is why these oils were always accepted for processing with a discount not less than 30%. These are non-competitive oils. If oil output in this region rapidly increases, the requirement of a plant processing these specific oils of the peninsula will increase also. New owners of Mangistaumunaigas, an Indonesian company �Central Asian Petroleum� does not plan to continue the construction of the plant, but also actively dismantles and sells equipment installed in the plant, that arises resentment of local specialists. Before the sale of Mangistaumunaigas in spring of 1997, till the last day the company invested some money to the construction, understanding that vertical integration of the company would help them to survive in different situations. If the plant had been put into exploitation, its product (oil products) would have been able to compete with products of other Kazakhstan and Russian oil-processing plants. Though it is difficult to explain this to the new owners of the plant.
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