Timur SATYBALDIN
ALMATY, Feb 4
(THE GLOBE)
�Soon we shall appeal to the Government with the request to extend the list of goods, on whose import temporary restrictions have been enacted�, said the vice-president of the League of Industrialists and Businessmen of the RK on February 4 in Almaty.
Valeriy Serikbayev thinks that the decree of the Government of Kazakstan �On enactment of temporary restrictions on import of foodstuffs from Russia� was quite opportune and has supported the Kazakstani manufacturers who have got into harassment because of the cheap Russian import.
�As manufacturers, we are welcoming the passed decree because in November - October of the last year at us our sales tobogganed, and our enterprise began to yield to warehouse. Our market was strongly supersaturated by Russia-made production, and when in Russia was the rouble collapse, our wholesalers from the northern regions have ceased to co-operate with us at all, because Petropavlovsk, Kokshetau, and Kostanai were merely heaped up by cheap Russian sweets�, said Anatoliy Popelyushko, the president of RAHAT JSC.
He told that with the enactment of the prohibition wholesale buyers have renewed their links with RAHAT JSC, and now wholesale and retail trade has been appreciably amended at the enterprise.
As is known, the decree of the RK government called an ambiguous response in the society. Consumers, especially as regards the oblasts at the Russian boundary were dissatisfied by the raise of prices and diminution of foods assortment.
�The League of Industrialists and Businessmen of the RK is convinced that the empty shelves of shops and the poor assortment are momentary. As a matter of fact, the enterprises have had too little time to quickly react to the prohibition and to set up commercial links between regions. The situation is already correcting. Businessmen, having realised what advantages the decree means to them, are doing their utmost: they are setting up distributor networks and augmenting output�, believe the representatives of the League.
�Our possibilities should not be doubted. We can provide our consumers in full, and we hope that they will understand it after half-year of the application of the decree�, stated another representative of the League, Ivan Kravchenko, the general director of the BEKKER & Co.
However, the official representative of the Russian Embassy in Kazakstan expressed fear that the enactment of extra restrictions can have a negative effect on the economic relations of the two countries.
�Now Kazakstan has, as a matter of fact, occupied a very original position: we enact provisional measures while things are bad in Russia, and as soon as she rises, we shall remove these temporary restrictions. The point is this: will Russia need the market of Kazakstan when she finds new markets and sets up new trade links? Will Russia want to return to this niche?�, he said to the journalists.
Translated by INSEL Ltd. F.S.
Gulbanu ABENOVA
ALMATY, Feb 4 (THE GLOBE)
�The financial hole will be patched up if a proper policy is carried out. I don�t think at all that inevitable default threatens�, stated one of the economists from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRR) in Almaty on February 4.
Dr. Martin Raiser supposes that Kazakstan needs a sufficiently developed financial system to obtain profit from affluent foreign capitals.
In his opinion our republic needs a priority-driven local financial market more than foreign investments.
Martin Nichols, head of EBRR representative office in Kazakstan says that the republic has 5 times more investments per capita than in other CIS countries. He noted that he failed to find any articles and materials by western journalists concerning analytical and scientific sides of the investment process in the republic. In his opinion the foreign press representatives prefer to write about winds and hard frosts in Akmola than about investment but it is a very important issue and should be considered with competence. EBRR published a �Report on transition process over 1998�. As it used to be during the last years the report represents analysis of the transition and the learnt lessons. It had been compiled on the basis of the country�s research and detailed examinations of the reforms in every country of this region.
Translation � Insel C.V.
Nazira YESENBAYEVA
ALMATY, Feb 4
(THE GLOBE)
�Our movement and three parties of Kazakstan announced their decision to get lined up into the party OTAN�, stated the chairman of the Liberal movement of Kazakstan (LMK) on 4 February in Almaty. Asylbek Bisenbayev, the leader of the LMK and the press secretary of President Nazarbayev said while speaking at the second congress of the movement that �the consolidation will help the struggle against left political forces to promote democratic reforms in the country�.
Three parties are uniting - the Party of People�s Unity of Kazakstan (PPUK). The Civic Party, and the Democratic Party � together with the LMK.
First, the creation of the OTAN Party was announced by Sergey Tereshchenko, the ex-Prime Minister of Kazakstan � �After the completion of the mission at today�s presidential election the public staff will be transformed intothe OTAN Party (OTAN meaning MOTHERLAND)� (THE GLOBE No.4 dated 15.01.99). Obviously, President Nazarbayev is imploding all the forces on the eve of the parliamentary elections.
Translated by INSEL Ltd. F.S.
The transfer of Kazakstan�s capital from one of Central Asia�s most beautiful cities to a mosquito-ridden town caused consternation, but the president stands by his decision.
Irina Savostina lead pensioners drive to keep key issues in focus and keep heat on President Nazarbayev.