In this issue:
President Ratifies Membership in UN Rights Pact
Poll Shows Nazarbayev with 76 Percent Support, 75 Percent of Voters Intend to Vote
Real GDP Shows Nine Percent Growth in 10 Months
Gov’t Opens One Stop Shops in Astana to Fight Corruption
Kazakhstan Pours Money into Biotechnology
Kazakhstan Will Be Ready for WTO in First Half of Next Year
Kazakh Boxers Win Two Gold, Three Bronze Medals, Punching Their Way to Victory in China
At the bookshop:
Where is the bookshop? --- Qitap dukeni kai zherde?
Do you have an English-Kazakh phrasebook? ---Sizde aglshyn-qazaksha tilashar bar ma?
Who is the best known Kazakh writer (poet) now? --- Kazyr qazak tilinde en attakty zhazushi (akyn) kim bolady?
President Ratifies Membership in UN Rights Pact
President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed into law a bill ratifying Kazakhstan’s accession to the United Nations’ International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on November 21.
The Covenant imposes on its signatories legal obligations such as the right to work, the right to fair and favorable conditions of labor, the right to establish trade unions, the right to social security, including social insurance, protection of family and children’s rights, the right to health and the right to education. Kazakhstan’s accession is considered as another step toward a democratic society.
Yerzhan Kazykhanov, Kazakhstan’s permanent representative to the United Nations signed the Covenant in New York on December 2, 2003. Currently, 159 countries are signatories of the pact, which requires members to report annually on the state of human rights in their country.
Poll Shows Nazarbayev with 76 Percent Support,
75 Percent of Voters Intend to Vote
Three fourths of the voters in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, would have voted for the incumbent president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, if the election were held today, a recent poll of the city showed.
KazRATING, a national polling agency,
announced the results of its survey on
November 21. One thousand randomly
selected citizens were questioned in the poll,
conducted from November 17 through 20.
Maksim Kaznacheyev, Executive Director of
KazRATING said President Nazarbayev’s
popularity, which is five percent higher than
before the start of the election campaign on
October 25, was likely due to lackluster
campaigning by other candidates who are not
meeting people’s expectations, and to the
implementation of social support programs
by both central and local authorities.
Three fourths of those participating in the
poll said they would vote in the election,
while 8.6 percent are definitely going to
abstain.
Real GDP Shows Nine Percent Growth in 10 Months
Kazakhstan’s economy continues to expand, registering nine percent growth in the first 10 months of 2005 compared to the same period in 2004.
In the same time period, industrial production grew more than 4 percent, including 16.6 percent growth in machinery building, 20 percent growth in textile and sewing industries, and 14 percent growth in food production. Capital investment increased by more than 23 percent, while foreign trade expanded by 42.2 percent.
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov disclosed these figures at a cabinet meeting in Astana on November 21. He added inflation in the first 10 months amounted to 6 percent.
People are feeling the effects of these positive economic trends on their dinner tables. Average real income increased 9.6 percent January to October, average monthly salary exceeded 32,000 tenge (US$1=134 tenge), and real growth in salaries was more than 9.3 percent.
Gov’t Opens One Stop Shops in Astana to Fight Corruption
“One stop shops”, new all in one service centers for registration and
issuing of documents, began serving customers in Astana on November
21, heralding a new era in government’s service to the people of
Kazakhstan.
The idea of the new centers was first proposed by President Nursultan
Nazarbayev in his February speech to the nation as one of the means
to combat corruption while improving transparency in government
operations.
The centers combine functions currently performed by many different ministries and departments. They issue ID cards, driver’s licenses, civil acts such as marriage registration, tax identification, land ownership rights, and many others. The centers will make life easier for the people by also offering notary public services, official photographers, and they will use a digital system of optimization and accounting for services.
In what is a growing trend in Kazakhstan, special needs of people with disabilities were incorporated in the centers’ design resulting in ramps and separate windows for those using wheelchairs. Customers should also find it helpful that the new centers will be open from 8.00 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
Similar centers will be opened in Almaty shortly and eventually across the country.
Kazakhstan Pours Money into Biotechnology
Kazakhstan’s Government has proposed major budget allocations for biotechnology development for next year. Projects such as building a National Biotechnology Center in Astana and significant expansion of research in this area are included in the budget.
Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov said 600 million tenge (US$1=134 tenge) are to be allocated for building the center in 2006, while biotechnology research will have 500 million tenge devoted to it that year.
Akhmetov said the new center “will unite the efforts of all key scientific and research institutes of the country in this sphere, allowing the creation of a biotechnological cluster in the capital.”
Biotechnology development in Kazakhstan will be focused on four areas: medicine, agriculture, industry and environment.
The PM said agreements with five leading universities and five biotechnology companies of the world had been signed. “As of next year, the volume of research in partnership with international centers will more than triple,” the PM added. During the next three years, the Government is planning to pursue joint studies under 10 different programs.
Kazakhstan Will Be Ready for WTO in First Half of Next Year
Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov said basic measures required for Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) should be finalized in the first half of 2006.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Astana on November 21, the Prime Minister said protocols had been signed earlier this year completing bilateral negotiations on access to the Kazakh market with China, Pakistan, South Korea, and Turkey. He added “serious discussions are now underway with Japan, Brazil and Australia, as well as with the USA.”
In order to further harmonize Kazakhstan’s practices with international law, a requirement of WTO membership, amendments are being made to 31 active laws, and five new legislative acts are being prepared, according to the Prime Minister.
Kazakh Boxers Win Two Gold, Three Bronze Medals,
Punching Their Way to Victory in China
Kazakh boxers continued their tradition of strong performances in international competitions, winning two gold and three bronze medals at the 13th World Boxing Championship in Mianyang, China, which ended on November 21.
Serik Sapiyev, light welter weight (64 kg), and Yerdos Dzhanabergenov, light weight (81 kg), became world champions after beating Dildosh Makhmudov of Uzbekistan and Sivo Marich of Croatia in their weight classes.
Bakhtiyar Artaev of Taraz in southern Kazakhstan who won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the title of the Boxer of the Olympics, this time succeeded in winning only bronze. He lost his semifinal welter weight fight to Erislandy Lara Santolla of Cuba, a representative of the “New Cuban Wave” of boxers from a country known for its legendary prowess in this sport.
Things to Watch:
- Almaty Fashion Week 2005 is set for Kazakhstan’s largest city from November 24 to November 26 as one of the major fashion events in Central Asia. Designer collections from Kazakhstan, Georgia, Italy, Latvia, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom, among others, will be offered to viewers.
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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
