In this issue:
President Nazarbayev Signs Anti-Trafficking Amendments into Law
NATO's Chief Says Relations with Kazakhstan to "Help Stabilize World"
In Kazakhstan, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Discusses Cooperation on Political Reforms and Beyond
Central Asian States Seek to Expand Trade, Security Cooperation
Kazakhstan Should Join WTO Soonest, Says Prime Minister
Telecommunications to Be Liberalized in 2004, Akhmetov Says
Spokespersons Meet for Seminar with Media, Seek to Improve Openness
President Nazarbayev Signs Anti-Trafficking Amendments into Law
President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the amendments into the Criminal Code expanding the legal basis for prosecuting trafficking in humans, a senior administration official announced July 10.
Deputy head of the presidential administration Igor Rogov said that while previously only drafting the people for the purposes of illegal sexual and/or labor exploitation was considered a crime, punishable by up to 8 years in prison, the new amendments also added the "exportation of the people for that purposes and their transit" through Kazakhstan.
According to Rogov, the Government would also revamp its inter-agency commission on fighting crimes. A new special working group will be established within the commission to analyze the situation with the human trafficking and other society ills and to draft the proposals.
Earlier in May and June, both houses of Parliament approved the amendments.
NATO's Chief Says Relations with Kazakhstan to "Help Stabilize World"
NATO's Secretary General Lord Robertson, on a visit to Kazakhstan July 10, praised the country for the support of the peacekeeping mission in Iraq and said the relations between Kazakhstan and the Alliance can help stabilize the global situation.
"I would like to commend Kazakhstan, its president and the parliament for the nation's support for peacekeeping mission in Iraq," Lord Robertson said after his meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Almaty, referring to the upcoming dispatch of 25-strong mission of army engineers to the Middle Eastern country. "We live in a dangerous world, and I am sure the growing relations between Kazakhstan and NATO will help stabilize the situation in the world," he added.
His talks with President Nazarbayev, Foreign Minister Tokayev, and Emergency Situations Agency Chief Nurkadilov focused on the cooperation under two NATO's programs, emergency planning, as well as regional and international security.
"The Central Asian dimension is one of the priorities for NATO," Lord Robertson said. "The Central Asian nations and NATO members have common goals, tasks and a common enemy, and we need to fight it together."
Kazakhstan has been an active member of the Alliance's Partnership for Peace program since 1994, and recently of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.
Kazakhstan is also cooperating with NATO under its Science for Peace program supporting the scientific research through grants and assistance for research infrastructure. The two grants approved by the NATO's science committee include a project to conduct radiological checks at the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and the Virtual Silk Road, providing cheap Internet access for research facilities. The committee also approved assistance to 30 research groups from Kazakhstan.
In Kazakhstan, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Discusses Cooperation on Political Reforms and Beyond
President Nazarbayev, Foreign Minister Tokayev and several other officials met July 7 in Almaty with visiting OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, to discuss the continuing cooperation with the organization on a wide array of issues, from political reforms to environmental and security interaction in the region.
Among the issues discussed were the proposed legislation on elections, the media and the NGOs. The experts from the OSCE, or Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, have played a major role in drafting the proposed law on elections which is supposed to go for a vote in the fall.
"Kazakhstan plays and will continue to play an important role as a locomotive of political and economic reforms in the region," the OSCE head said at a news conference in Almaty.
Meeting with de Hoop Scheffer, Tokayev said Kazakhstan values its cooperation with the OSCE and the strengthening of the organization's work in Central Asia, especially in the economic, environmental and the human dimensions. This work spans over regional projects of security cooperation, economic development, the environment and fighting the transnational crime.
"We agreed that the OSCE can help Kazakhstan in all these areas," said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Central Asian States Seek to Expand Trade, Security Cooperation
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will work to expand multilateral cooperation in such areas as water usage, removing trade barriers, fighting terrorism and illegal drug trafficking, the presidents of the four nations said after their July 5-6 meeting in Almaty.
This meeting of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization, or CACO, was the 6th time the past two years presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev, Askar Akaev, Imomali Rakhmonov and Islam Karimov met seeking to boost the intra-regional ties among these neighboring countries. The CACO's main goal is the creation of free economic space in the region with the population of 50 million.
Seeking to establish three international consortia, - in the water and electricity, transport and food production sectors, - the leaders asked the World Bank, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank to assist in assessing such large-scale projects.
In their joint statement, the four presidents also pledged to strengthen their nations' cooperation in fighting terrorism, extremism and the illegal drug trade. They also resolved to complete the "inventory" of several dozen multilateral documents to assess their effectiveness.
"All parties are interested in developing the regional cooperation," President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan said. "It is important we move from words to deeds."
Kazakhstan Should Join WTO Soonest, Says Prime Minister
Kazakhstan should strive to join the World Trade Organization as soon as possible, as this would become a catalyst for further structural reforms and the emergence of export-oriented strategy, Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov said at the Government's July 8 session.
He said further liberalization of the foreign trade and currency regulations are needed.
Joining the WTO is "far from an easy task and a one-off event", Akhmetov said. "We have to conduct a comprehensive analysis of economic opportunities provided by the WTO membership, including the definition of the scope of further liberalization of the economy in accordance with the national interests," he added.
The Government needs to analyze thoroughly all the existing legislation to check its compliance with the WTO standards. A new position of a deputy minister of industry and trade was created, the Prime Minister said, and a new person would soon take on the new tasks.
While in Canada for the presidential visit last month, Minister of Industry and Trade Adilbek Dzhaksybekov said joining the WTO was "a matter of utmost strategic importance" for Kazakhstan. He noted that the republic would seek to join the trade body "no later than 2005."
Telecommunications to Be Liberalized in 2004, Says Akhmetov
Kazakhstan should liberalize its telecommunications sector beginning in 2004, Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov said at the July 8 cabinet session.
Liberalization will first of all deal with long-distance and international dialing. "This sphere has been almost unchanged since 1990," Akhmetov said. All the operators on the market should be given a chance to compete in this area, he noted, adding that the liberalization will be the first priority of the new Agency on Communications and Informatization. Right now, Kazakhtelecom is the sole provider of international and long-distance calls.
The second area for liberalization will be the cellular communications, where two private operators have been dominating for the past years. "We understand fully well that these two companies are clear representatives of a monopoly," Akhmetov noted. He said the sphere is also to be liberalized in 2004.
Spokespersons Meet for Seminar with Media, Seek to Improve Openness
Spokespersons from ministries and regional administrations met this week for the first training seminar with the media seeking to improve the modus operandi of this, still relatively new job in Kazakhstan, and ensure more transparency in government operations.
The July 7 meeting in the small town of Karkaralinsk in central Kazakhstan featured discussions between spokespersons, or press secretaries as they are called, with journalists, who welcomed the opportunity "to talk in informal settings."
"We have been waiting for such a meeting for quite a while," said Assel Balgaeva, a journalist. "This is the first time we meet, and it's a good opportunity to discuss problems and exchange opinions."
Officials recognized access to information as one of the key issues and pledged to improve the record. "Practice shows that the accreditation procedure is often used to limit a journalist's access to information," Zhanna Kurmangalieva, director of the media department at the Ministry of Culture and Information, said at the seminar.
"I know a lot of cases when my colleagues face difficulties simply because there's no regulation on the role of the press secretary," Kenes Ismailov, press secretary of the South Kazakhstan administration, said. "Sometimes they simply don't know what they should do," added Ismailov, who has been on the job for the past 5 years. Twelve percent of Kazakhstan's media are concentrated in this region.
One of the ways to improve the situation is to develop a new statute on press secretaries that would clearly define their roles and obligations. The draft of such document has been developed and sent to the presidential administration for final approval, officials announced at the meeting. The presidential spokesperson, Esetzhan Kosubayev, also said such events would become regular.
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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 persons: Roman Vassilenko, Aibek Nurbalin
Tel.: (202) 232- 5488 ext. 104, 115, Fax: (202) 232- 5845
