Embassy of Kazakhstan

POLITICS

Czech Republic To Support Kazakhstan In OSCE Chairmanship

Trend News

The Czech Republic will support Kazakhstan in its OSCE chairmanship, chairman of the Deputy Chamber on International Affairs Jan Gamachek and deputy chairman of the Czech Senate Committee on International Affairs Pavel Lebeda said in Astana on May 22.

"The Czech Republic will support Kazakhstan in OSCE chairmanship," they said at the meeting with Parliament Chairman Ural Muhammedjanov.

The parliamentarians expressed their country's interest in extensive cooperation with Kazakhstan and noted that Kazakhstan's experience in ethnic and interfaith harmony has been highly appreciated. The dialogue at the forums of representatives of religions and ethnicities initiated by Nursultan Nazarbayev is the only way to solve problems.

"Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic's main task is to eliminate stereotypes in the relations between East and West," Czech Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Berdzhiha Kopecká said.



Lugar Praises Removal of Bomb-grade Nuclear Material from Kazakhstan

American Chronicles

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar praised the cooperation between the United States and Kazakhstan that has led to the removal of more than 160 pounds of bomb-grade nuclear material from Kazakhstan through the National Nuclear Security Administration´s Global Threat Reduction Initiative.

"In 2007, former Senator Sam Nunn and I visited the one of Russia´s best-known nuclear scientific research facilities at Luch, outside of Moscow. We were briefed on the important work that the Global Threat Reduction Initiative was accomplishing with their Russian counterparts. Luch had received four shipments of high-risk nuclear fuel from various locations around the world, including from Latvia, Libya, Germany, and most recently Poland. I have seen GTRI´s work firsthand and I congratulate them on a job well done," Lugar said.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Kazakhstan emerged as the eighth largest nuclear power in the world. The United States has been working with Kazakhstan since 1993, when the United States first signed implementing agreements with Kazakhstan under the Nunn-Lugar program to secure or remove such materials.

This is not the first time the U.S. has achieved important success in cooperation with the Government of Kazakhstan. In the winter of 1994, the Kazakh government discovered nearly 600 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, enough to make several nuclear weapons. The material was highly vulnerable, and we know that a number of governments and organizations had a strong interest in acquiring it. The Nunn-Lugar program worked closely with the Kazakh Government in a classified mission known as Project Sapphire to ensure that these materials were transported to the United States for safekeeping.

"In 1995, Kazakhstan acceded to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state. This was a remarkable achievement that remains an important symbol of international leadership when viewed in the prism of Iran and North Korea´s efforts to circumvent the NPT," Lugar said.

The Nunn-Lugar program also has had significant success in its biological weapons proliferation prevention efforts in Kazakhstan. Strong bilateral cooperation led to the razing of the largest anthrax production facility in the world. The plant, known as Stepnogorsk, was built by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Each piece of equipment involved in the production and weaponization of biological weapons was destroyed, and the structure was bulldozed to the ground. During Lugar´s visit to Astana in 2008, Kazakh leaders agreed to share samples of pathogens and disease strains that could be modified and used to attack civilian populations. The United States and Kazakhstan are now working together to produce antidotes and treatments for these difficult health risks.

Lugar has annually visited Russia, Kazakhstan or other former Soviet states to oversee the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program since its inception in 1991. The program has provided U.S. funding and expertise to help the former Soviet Union safeguard and dismantle its enormous stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, related materials, and delivery systems. In 2003, Congress adopted the Lugar-initiated Nunn-Lugar Expansion Act, which authorized the Nunn-Lugar program to operate outside the former Soviet Union to address proliferation threats. In 2004, Nunn-Lugar funds were committed for the first time outside of the former Soviet Union to destroy chemical weapons in Albania. In 2007, Lugar announced the complete destruction of Albania´s chemical weapons.

The Nunn-Lugar scorecard now totals 7,514 strategic nuclear warheads deactivated, 752 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) destroyed, 498 ICBM silos eliminated, 143 ICBM mobile launchers destroyed, 633 submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) eliminated, 476 SLBM launchers eliminated, 31 nuclear submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles destroyed, 155 bomber eliminated, 906 nuclear air-to-surface missiles (ASMs) destroyed, 194 nuclear test tunnels eliminated, 433 nuclear weapons transport train shipments secured, upgraded security at 24 nuclear weapons storage sites, and built and equipped 18 biological monitoring stations.



NTI Co-Chairman Sam Nunn Commends Successful Removal of Dangerous Nuclear Material from Kazakhstan

Nuclear Threat Initiative, press release

Former Senator Sam Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, today applauded the latest successful operation to remove and secure highly enriched uranium by the U.S. government.  Almost 74 kilograms (approximately 162 pounds) of “spent” highly enriched uranium (HEU) was removed from Kazakhstan by the United States and Russia.

“I congratulate the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for the latest in a series of successful operations to secure vulnerable nuclear material.  This operation gives terrorists one less target and helps make the world a safer place.  The U.S. government worked closely with Russia, Kazakhstan and the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove more than 160 pounds of dangerous nuclear material – enough to make three crude nuclear devices.

“Kazakhstan has a solid history of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.  It showed the world courage and leadership when it renounced the nuclear weapons remaining on its territory after the Soviet Union broke up and supported their safe and secure removal.

“Over the past several years, NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative has removed more than 1,800 pounds of Soviet-era HEU from more than 10 countries.  This work is essential in preventing nuclear terrorism and deserves greater support and government resources.  GTRI was modeled on a successful removal completed in the former Yugoslavia in 2002 with assistance from the Nuclear Threat Initiative.  At that time, we committed $5 million to remove two and a half nuclear bombs worth of vulnerable HEU from a poorly secured research reactor near Belgrade, because the U.S. government then lacked the congressional authority to fund such operations.

“There should be no higher security priority than keeping nuclear weapons materials out of the hands of terrorists.  Led by the United States and Russia, leaders around the world must accelerate work to lock up or remove this dangerous material.  It is important to note that this removal could not have occurred without cooperation between Russia, the United States and Kazakhstan.  We are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe.”


ECONOMY

Kazakhstan pins hopes on aid package for '09 growth

Reuters

The Kazakh government's $25 billion anti-crisis package should help the Central Asian country avoid an economic contraction this year, Economy Minister Bakhyt Sultanov said in an interview.

Some economists, including those of the International Monetary Fund, expect Kazakhstan's gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink this year for the first time in a decade as global demand for oil and metals, the key Kazakh exports, has sagged.

"We are sticking to our outlook for this year -- one percent (growth)," Sultanov said.

"We have just started utilising the funds disbursed last year and this year... This should affect (the GDP dynamic) with a certain lag," he added, referring to the government's $25 billion aid package for banks, companies and households.

Sultanov said the government would review its forecast after the indicators for the first half of this year become available. The International Monetary Fund said last month it expected Kazakhstan's GDP to decline by 2 percent this year.

Sultanov said the key risk to the government's forecast was a potential fall in the oil price.
"(A price) below $40 (per barrel) would be critical," he said. "...We will have to cut some budget spending items."

To reduce its vulnerability to commodity prices, Kazakhstan should diversify its economy and develop "a new economic core" of small- and medium-sized businesses, Sultanov said.

Kazakhstan has long called diversification its key priority, but senior officials say the government has mostly failed to implement it in practice.

Tax breaks, not cuts

The government has, however, introduced a new tax code this year that was meant to increase the burden on oil, mining and metals companies while cutting taxes for other sectors. Sultanov said it would not be reviewed despite the crisis.

"A further reduction of taxes would lead to a sharp decline in budget revenues and will jeopardise meeting the state's social commitments," he said.

Sultanov said oil and metals producers should instead seek tax breaks on an individual basis by proving their operations are not profitable under the current prices.
A number of Kazakh metals producers have complained about losses, including the local unit of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, which said last week it would have to halt operations unless workers agree to pay cuts.

ArcelorMittal , which employs 46,000 workers in Kazakhstan, said the local unit had lost $100 million in the first quarter due to the drop in demand for steel.

"If a business decides to shut down production and stop selling (its products) because nobody is buying, the state cannot buy (to help a company), so ... we are taking indirect measures," Sultanov said.



OTHER NEWS

Kazakhstan and Israel: Good friends and reliable partners

Jerusalem Post, by Galym Orazbakov

The occasion of the 17th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries is an appropriate time to note that Israel was one of the first states to recognize the independent Republic of Kazakhstan - in December of 1991.

A few months later, in April of 1992, diplomatic relations were established. Since then Kazakhstan-Israel relations have been strong, boosting progress in political, trade and economic, scientific, humanitarian and military-technical fields.

Relations between our two peoples have historical roots. By 1870 there was a Jewish community in the city of Almaty (Verniy), and in 1884 the first synagogue opened. From 1941-45 Jews from Kazakhstan bravely battled on the Great Patriotic War fronts against the Third Reich. In the period of 1948-53, when the Stalin regime fought "cosmopolitans," many Jewish intellectuals were banished to Kazakhstan. During the '50s, the Jewish population of Kazakhstan grew through the arrival of Jews from the rest of the Soviet Union as part of the Komsomol groups sent to develop virgin lands and as well as industry, science and culture.

In 1990 Jewish organizations and cultural centers were established in Kazakhstan, and the newspaper Shalom began publication. In 2004 in Astana, the synagogue of Beit Rahel-Habad Lubavitch, the largest in Central Asia, was opened. It should be pointed out that this was the first synagogue constructed in Central Asia in the modern period.

Visits on different levels between our countries have been frequent. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has twice been to Israel. Representatives of political and business circles in Kazakhstan have repeatedly come here.

Pilgrims from Kazakhstan, both Muslims and Christians, regularly come to the Holy Land. On Easter alone, Israel was visited by 85 people from all over Kazakhstan.

The Kazakhstan model of interethnic and interconfessional cooperation is of particular interest here in Israel. We, together with Jewish emigrants from Kazakhstan and Central Asia, last year held round tables and meetings that included members of parliaments of both countries.

Since independence, Kazakhstan has experienced massive changes. A new political system was created; economic, legal, judicial and other sectors underwent reform. All this has led independent Kazakhstan to become one of the most dynamic developing countries in the world (over the last nine years, including the last difficult crisis year, annual GDP growth in Kazakhstan was more than 9.3 percent).

Both our countries support the efforts of the international community to strengthen regional safety and dialogue between civilizations. Both countries participate in the work of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The chief rabbis of Israel - Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar - will take part the third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana. Rabbi Metzger took part in the two previous forums and is a frequent visitor in Kazakhstan. The congress itself is under the aegis of the United Nations.

It's worthwhile noting that during the two last congresses, religious leaders of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and other faiths gathered around the same round table.

Kazakhstan has become an international platform for dialogue, where leaders who have different views can and do meet. The Kazakhstan initiatives on a dialogue establishment are supported by the majority of the countries in Asia. President Nazarbayev's offer made on October 20, 1992 at the UN General Assembly to convene the CICA was accepted - remarkable in that the burden of responsibility for creation of structures of safety in Asia was taken up by such a young country.

In this context, Kazakhstan's foreign policy is aimed at the development of widespread cooperation with the countries of Europe, Asia, America and the Muslim states.

Throughout the last 17 years, Kazakhstan and Israel have maintained a positive dynamic. Trade turnover between the two in 2008 was almost $2.5 billion, more than double in comparison with the previous year.

The potential of our country for large Israeli companies is great, particularly in the areas of road building, extraction of mineral resources and alternative power. The largest Israeli telecommunication companies during the last few years have partnered with Kazakh information technology companies. Considerable potential is seen for expanded cooperation in hi-tech, agriculture, finance, medicine and medical technologies.

From the pages of this newspaper I would like to invite businessmen of Israel to take part in those spheres in which Israel has advanced experience.

We view Israel as an important partner in the Middle East. Most important in realizing the immense potential that increased cooperation can bring is political will and desire on both sides. Kazakhstan-Israel relations have broad and bright prospects.

The author is the ambassador of Kazakhstan to Israel.



Kazakhstan speed up visas to lure England fans in anti-Borat PR blitz

Daily Mirror

Kazakhstan are toasting an anti-Borat PR blitz which has lured 1,200 England fans to central Asia on Saturday week.

A bumper number of Three Lions supporters will make the eight-hour flight to Almaty, close to the Chinese border - the furthest the national side has ever travelled for a qualifier.

The Kazakhs are delighted so many are travelling, after being furious their 5-1 Wembley defeat in October was overshadowed by jokes about Sacha Baron Cohen's fictional movie character Borat.

The Kazakhstan government responded by promoting the real face of their country and speeding up visas for English fans.

Publisher Lonely Planet has even rushed out a free guidebook to Kazakhstan and Almaty tour agencies report England fans are keen to see more of the nation.

An FA spokesman said: "It's fantastic so many fans are travelling over 3,500 miles to support England."

A source at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in London said: "Visas usually take up to five days - but we've sped up the process and done hundreds in recent weeks."