Eduard Shevardnadze`s Daughter May Seek Political Asylum
Itar-Tass
Tbilisi, February 20: Daughter of Georgian ex-president Eduard Shevardnadze, Manana, may ask for political asylum abroad. Manana Shevardnadze told the press on Friday that she did not want to do that but she might be forced to seek political asylum if the persecution of her family went on. Manana Shevardnadze gave a press conference on Friday in connection with the detention of her husband Giya Dzhokhtaberidze, owner of Georgia`s largest mobile phone operator Magticom. She said her husband had informed the Prosecutor General`s Office about his trip to the United States. If Dzhokhtaberidze had wanted to escape from Georgia, he would not have registered for the flight, Manana said. `There are plenty of ways to leave the country unnoticed,` she said. As for financial charges against her husband, she said, `financial activities of Magticom are rather transparent. The company is one of the largest taxpayers of Georgia.` Giya Dzhokhtaberidze was detained at Tbilisi Airport on Friday.
Armenian President Downplays Opposition Call For Referendum Of Confidence
Radio Free Europe
Yerevan, February 19: In an interview with four leading Armenian television channels on 19 February, the first anniversary of the first round of the election in which he won a second term, President Robert Kocharian rejected as unconstitutional opposition demands for a nationwide referendum of confidence in him, Noyan Tapan and Russian news agencies reported. He pointed out that the constitution allows for the president to be replaced only if he resigns, is impeached, or is unable due to poor health to continue to discharge his duties. Kocharian said he will not seek a third presidential term, and that it is too early to comment on who might succeed him.
Georgian Election Deadline Again Extended
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, February 19: Visiting Council of Europe Secretary-General Schwimmer told journalists on 19 February that the top Georgian officials he met with that day were cool to his proposal that the election law be amended to lower from 7 percent to 5 percent the barrier for parliamentary representation under the proportional system, Caucasus Press reported (see `RFE/RL Newsline,` 19 February 2004). Also on 19 February, the Central Election Commission extended for a second time, from 19 February to 21 February, the deadline for registering election blocs to contest the 28 March ballot for 150 parliamentary mandates to be distributed under the proportional system.
Kazakhstan Cannot Flourish If Civil Society Fails To Function- President
Itar-Tass
Astana, February 19: `The country`s development and prosperity are impossible without constructive functioning of all civil society institutions,` President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan said in his message of greetings to participants in, guests of the Third Congress of Kazakh Journalists. The mass media play one of the key roles in that process, the message said. It is not sufficient for a modern journalist to be a skillful reporter, the message said. `While reporting the facts honestly, a journalist must protect the interests of society and the state,` the president said in the message. `Now a majority of the Kazakh mass media outlets have been privatized, but nobody can `privatize` a journalist`s public spirit, conscience and patriotism.` The president expressed confidence that the joint efforts of journalists at the congress `will help establish the rules of professional ethics, a certain code of ethics of Kazakh journalists.`
Kyrgyz MPs Ready To Appeal To Court If Leader Signs Language Law
Itar-Tass
Bishkek, February 18: A group of Kyrgyz parliamentarians are ready to appeal to the Constitutional Court if the president signs the law On the State Language, which the critics said assigns a smaller role to the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan, the chairman of the parliamentary committee for public organizations and information policy told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. According to Kabai Karabekov, the draft law infringes upon the rights of Kyrgyz citizens and violates Constitution, as well as the Law on Official Language. Kyrgyz has the status of state language in the republic, while Russian has the status of official language. However, a claim for the annulment of the law as unconstitutional can be only lodged after the president signs it. Lawmakers have already drawn up the complaint. Under the new law, passed by parliament last week, the command of the Kyrgyz language is obligatory for the president, the prime minister, the speaker and the chairpersons of the Constitutional and Supreme courts. Besides, civil servants must know the state language `in the amount necessary for performing their official duties`. The government will approve the list of posts in a separate decree.
OSCE Pledges Funding For Georgian Parliamentary Ballot
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, February 17: Under an agreement signed in Tbilisi on 17 February, the OSCE will provide 1 million euros ($1.28 million) toward the cost of the 28 March parliamentary election, Georgian media reported. Then acting Finance Minister Nogaideli said the total estimated cost of the ballot is 7 million laris ($3.45 million), most of which will be provided by foreign donors, although the state budget might contribute up to 3 million laris.
President Appoints New Head Of State Customs Committee
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 17: Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed a decree on appointment of new chairman of the State Customs Committee of Uzbekistan. According to the decree, Bakhodir Matlyubov took over this post. Earlier Matlubov worked as First Deputy Internal Affairs Minister.
Georgian Premier Outlines Government Programme
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, February 17: Addressing the parliament session on 17 February prior to his confirmation as prime minister, Zhvania listed as his cabinet`s priorities in the next five years increasing public-sector wages and pensions, reducing the scale of corruption, and promoting Georgia`s integration into European structures, Caucasus Press and Russian news agencies reported. He said the government will remain loyal to democratic principles, will protect Georgia`s cultural heritage, work to restore the country`s territorial integrity, and increase its defense potential, according to ITAR-TASS.
Georgian Parliament Approves New Cabinet
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, February 17: Meeting in emergency session on 17 February, deputies approved the composition of the new cabinet by a vote of 165 to five, Caucasus Press reported. Its members are Zurab Zhvania (prime minister); Tamar Beruchashvili, Goga Khaindrava, Djambul Bakuradze and Guram Absandze (deputy prime ministers responsible for relations with the EU, conflict resolution, small business and investments, and national reconciliation, respectively); Tedo Djaparidze (foreign affairs); Gela Bezhuashvili (defense); Giorgi Baramidze (internal affairs); Zurab Nogaideli (finance); Irakli Rekhviashvili (economy); Eteri Astemirova (refugee affairs); Zurab Adeishvili (state security); Giorgi Papuashvili (justice); David Shervashidze (agriculture and food); Giga Tsereteli (health); Tamar Sulukhia (infrastructure and development); Nikoloz Gilauri (fuel and energy); Kakha Lomaya (education); Giorgi Gabashvili (culture, protection of monuments, and sport); and Tamar Lebanidze (environment and natural resources). `Nezavisimaya gazeta` commented on 18 February that the cabinet is the youngest in Europe, with an average age of 35; there is not a single holdover from the former government of President Eduard Shevardnadze.
Kyrgyz Lawmakers Warn Draft Law Could Encourage Tribalism And Corruption
Radio Free Europe
Bishkek, February 17: Legislative Assembly members Zainidin Kurmanov and Oksana Malevanaya told a press conference in Bishkek on 17 February that a draft constitutional law on the government could encourage `tribalism and corruption` if it is adopted as written, KyrgyzInfo reported the same day. The draft was drawn up by a joint commission of the parliament and government and submitted to the lower house. One of its most controversial sections deals with the issue of who appoints the members of the government. The government wants ministers and officials of equivalent rank to be appointed by the president; most parliamentarians want the legislature to be involved in the appointment of the government. Kurmanov and Malevanaya argued that granting such power to the legislature would give groups of deputies undue influence over individual ministers and weaken the role of the prime minister.
Kazakh Presidential Party Expects To Control Lower House After 2004 Elections
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 17: The pro-presidential Otan party expects to win at least half the seats in the lower house of the Kazakh parliament in this fall`s parliamentary elections to the Mazhilis, acting party Chairman Amangeldy Yermegiyaev told a news conference in Almaty on 17 February, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. The large Otan (Fatherland) Party was considered closest to President Nursultan Nazarbaev, at least until the launching of the Asar party by Nazarbaev`s daughter Darigha in 2003. Yermegiyaev said no other parties have approached Otan about forming an election bloc, nor has Otan initiated such a proposal with any other party. Meanwhile, the editor in chief of the popular Kazakh weekly `Panorama,` Lera Tsoi, has denied presidential adviser Yermukhamet Yertysbaev`s assertion that `Panorama,` one of Kazakhstan`s oldest independents, is actually a media outlet of the centrist Ak Zhol party.
Divided Azerbaijani Opposition Party May Unite
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, February 16: Mirmahmud Fattaev, who heads the conservative wing of the divided Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AHCP), told journalists in Baku on 16 February that the two parties that split in recent years from the AHCP have responded favorably to his 10 February proposal that they reunite, Turan reported. Fattaev advocated the reunification of his AHCP wing with the AHCP progressive wing headed by Ali Kerimli and the so-called Three Gs Group (Gruppa Gudrata Gasankulieva) headed by Hudrat Hasanquliyev. Kerimli`s faction has signaled its willingness to realign with Fattaev`s party, but ruled out any rapprochement with the Three Gs group, which is widely suspected of cooperating clandestinely with the Azerbaijani authorities.
Seminar Discusses Legal Reforms And Media
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 16: At a round table in Samarkand, journalists and judges discussed `Judicial-legal reforms and the media`. The Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the International Centre for Retraining Journalists (Tashkent) organised the event. The forum was held in the framework of the conference of journalists` clubs of the three regions: Samarkand, Jizzakh and Gulistan. 35 representatives of media centres of these regions, officials of Samarkand regional and city courts, as well as press secretary of the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan O.Usarov participated. According to Jahon, the judge of Supreme Court of Georgia N.Gvenetadze and a Turkmen journalist S.Mamedova made speeches at the round table.
New Political Party Calls For Armenia To Quit CIS Collective Security Treaty
Radio Free Europe
Yerevan, February 16: Former pro-government parliamentarian Hovannes Hovannisian told the founding congress of his Liberal Progressive Party (AAK) on 16 February that Armenia should quit the CIS Collective Security Treaty and join NATO, RFE/RL`s Yerevan bureau reported. Hovannisian also criticized the equities-for-debts deal the Armenian government concluded with Moscow in 2002. He further expressed support for the ongoing opposition campaign to oust President Kocharian, and called for new presidential and parliamentary elections before the end of 2004.
Kyrgyz Parliamentarians Walk Out Of Session
Radio Free Europe
Bishkek, February 16: Several members of the Kyrgyz Legislative Assembly walked out of a parliamentary session on 16 February to protest what they called discrimination against the state language, akipress.org reported. Opposition parliamentarian Azimbek Beknazarov later told akipress.org that he refused to look at a draft law submitted by the government in Russian, which in Kyrgyzstan has the status of `official language,` and a number of other parliamentarians agreed with him. Beknazarov added that he will not return to the chamber until the government provides its drafts in Kyrgyz as well as Russian.
Armenian Foreign Minister Under Fire
Radio Free Europe
Yerevan, February 15: During its winter session last month, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted on 27 January a resolution on Azerbaijan that contained the wording `the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and other occupied territories.` That formulation, which implies recognition of the legality of Azerbaijani claims to hegemony over the unrecognized republic, met with widespread consternation and condemnation in Armenia. Noting that the word `other` was removed from a parallel PACE resolution on Armenia, both opposition and pro-government parliament deputies in the Armenian PACE delegation blamed Armenian Foreign Ministry for the failure to ensure its removal from the resolution on Azerbaijan. Armenian Public Television on 3 February quoted Artashes Geghamian, chairman of the opposition National Unity Party, as pointing out that 75 PACE delegates voted in favor of the Azerbaijani resolution that contained the offending formulation. Geghamian produced what he said was a list of delegates compiled by the Foreign Ministry indicating which would vote in Armenia`s favor. He argued that Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian should resign in light of his failure to secure support for the Armenian position.
Georgia Reforming Security, Defense Ministries
Itar-Tass
Tbilisi, February 15: Georgia is reforming the security and defense ministries. The Security Ministry `will no longer have police functions. It will become a security service of full value,` Zurab Adeishvili, 31, told the press on Sunday. President Mikhail Saakashvili has nominated Adeishvili for the security minister. The parliament is still to approve the appointment. Gela Bezhuashvili, 37-year-old candidate for the defense minister, said, `the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces General Staff will undergo a profound reform. Spending of the ministry will be transparent.` David Tevzadze, 54, who was the Georgian defense minister from May 1998 to January 2004, has been appointed as the ambassador to NATO. Valery Khaburdzania, 40, who was the Georgian security minister from November 2001 to January 2004, is expected to head the Audit Chamber.
Kazakh Opposition Journalist Calls Presidential Daughter`s Party `a Family Project`
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 14: Kazakh opposition journalist Sergei Duvanov has described Darigha Nazarbaeva`s new Asar party as a `family project` to keep the Nazarbaevs in power, adding that he views the party`s formation as the most significant event in Kazakh political life in recent months. Duvanov`s commentary appeared in the 14 February issue of the opposition weekly `Respublika Assandi Times.` Duvanov said Asar`s main task at this point is to fill the parliament to be elected later this year with individuals loyal to the president and to overcome the opposition in a fair electoral fight. Duvanov adding that this would result in the development of a legitimate political process in Kazakhstan -- and the opposition would no longer be able to explain its defeats by blaming them on illegal actions by authorities. Asar was registered in December.
Azeri Held Over Armenian Killing
BBC
Baku, February 20: Azerbaijan has expressed regret over the death of an Armenian officer allegedly killed by an Azeri colleague. Ramil Safarov is accused of attacking Gurgen Markarian with an axe as he slept in his dormitory in Budapest, where they were on a Nato course. Hungarian police who arrested the Azerbaijani lieutenant say they are still investigating the motive. But Azeri and Armenian officials are blaming the death on tensions created by their war in the early 1990s. Emotional state The Azerbaijani foreign ministry expressed its condolences on Friday to the dead man`s family and colleagues. The ministry statement also said it understood the Armenian officer had made insulting statements to Mr Safarov about the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which had affected his emotional state. It said several of Mr Safarov`s relatives were killed in the war and his family had to flee when their home was taken by Armenian forces. They still live in a student dormitory in Azerbaijan`s capital, Baku. The ministry appealed to Armenia to show restraint, and said the killing should not cause any further deterioration in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Kazakh-US Five Year Military Cooperation Plan Presented
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 19: A five-year draft plan for military cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United States was made public on 19 February in Astana, gazeta.kz reported the same day, quoting the press service of the Kazakh Defense Ministry. The plan itself had been signed by representatives of the two countries in September 2003. According to the Kazakh side, this is the first document of such scope to be signed between the United States and any Central Asian state. It covers common efforts in the fight against international terrorism, strengthening Kazakhstan`s air defenses and the military infrastructure of the Caspian region, as well as the supply of U.S. military equipment. U.S. military officials who took part in the presentation of the plan praised Kazakhstan for its leading role in the region in organizing a professional military.
Russia, Georgia To Launch Joint Border Petrols
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, February 19: Georgian State Border Protection Service Director Chkheidze has told the independent Georgian television station Rustavi-2 that under an agreement signed in Moscow on 17 February between his agency and Russia`s Federal Border Protection Service, Russian and Georgian border guards will jointly patrol Georgia`s borders with Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Daghestan beginning in the spring, Caucasus Press reported on 18 February. Chkheidze said such patrols will reduce the grounds for mutual accusations of failing to prevent border violations. He added that cooperation in guarding Russia`s borders with the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is also under discussion. LF
Armenia Will Not Use Russian Servicemen To Settle Its Problems
Interfax
Yerevan, February 19: The Armenian authorities do not plan to use Russian servicemen based in the republic for settling its internal or external problems, Armenian Security Council chief and Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian told parliament on Wednesday. He made this statement in remarks about a recent article, published by Russia`s Nezavisimaya Gazeta, alleging that while in Moscow in the first half of February, he asked the Russian authorities for permission to use Russian armed forces located in Armenia to deal with possible disturbances and received a negative response. `This slander is so senseless that I do not even believe it`s proper to refute it,` said Sarkisian.
Georgia To Step Up Border Control Cooperation With Russia
Itar-Tass
Tbilisi, February 18: Georgia`s President Mikhail Saakashvili has said that his country will be stepping up cooperation with Russia to prevent any armed groups or individuals from crossing the border either way. `Any person who tries to cross the border arms in hand will be detained and brought to justice,` Saakashvili told reporters on Wednesday. `When snow thawing begins in the mountains, there may emerge the risk of armed groups penetrating into Georgia from Chechnya,` Saakashvili said. `The militants are posing a threat to everybody, in the first place, to Georgia.` Saakashvili said that according to his sources currently there were no armed groups of militants from Chechnya in Georgia. Should they appear, the groups will be detained and disarmed, Saakashvili said.
Kazakhstan Replaces Peacekeeping Contingent In Iraq
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 17: Kazakhstan has finished rotating its 27-man peacekeeping contingent in Iraq, the Kazakh Defense Ministry`s press service announced on 17 February, according to RIA-Novosti. The first group of Kazakh military engineers was sent to Iraq in August to defuse ordnance, remove land mines, and dig water wells for the population. Their replacements will continue the same work as part of the stabilization forces. The Defense Ministry noted that there were five to six volunteers for each spot in the peacekeeping group.
Georgian Commander Talks Cooperation In Ankara
Turkish Daily News
Ankara, February 17: Brig. Gen. Gogi Tavtukhashvili, the commander in chief of Georgia`s interior forces, held talks in the Gendarmerie Command headquarters in Ankara to discuss cooperation in the field of internal security between his country and Turkey. A ceremony was held in the Gendarmerie Command headquarters to welcome Brig. Gen. Tavtukhashvili. Turkish Gendarmerie Forces Command has been in close touch with Georgian military authorities, providing training and helping modernization efforts of Georgia, Gendarmerie Forces Commander Gen. Sener Eruygur told reporters at the welcoming ceremony. Tavtukhashvili said the Georgian administration wanted to create a security organization in the country that would be similar to the Turkish Gendarmerie Command in structure and duties.
Georgian Commander Due In Ankara For Security Talks
Turkish Daily News
Ankara, February 16: A top Georgian commander is due to arrive in Ankara today for talks in Turkey`s Gendarmerie Forces Command on cooperation in internal security, the Gendarmerie Forces Command said over the weekend. Brig. Gen. Gogi Tavtukhashvili, the commander in chief of the interior forces of Georgia, is coming to Turkey upon an invitation from Gendarmerie Forces Commander Gen. Sener Eruygur. Tavtukhashvili will hold talks with Eruygur on Monday.
Russian, Tajik Experts To Discuss Border Guards` Status
Kabar Agency
Dushanbe, February 15: A group of Russian military experts under deputy chief of the border guard service, Lieutenant-General Alexander Manilov is arriving in Dushanbe on Monday for a session of the joint Russian-Tajik commission working on amendments to the May 25, 1993 agreement on the legal status of Russian border guard troops stationed in Tajikistan, the Tajik Committee for State Border Protection has said. Over the more than ten years since the agreement was signed there have been some fundamental changes on the border and in the countries that are Tajikistan`s neighbors. The agreement has to be adjusted to the current realities, General Manilov told Tass. As for the replacement of Russian border guards by their Tajik counterparts on certain sections of the border, a special clause to this effect is contained in the 1993 agreement. This process will be gradual and pegged to Tajikistan`s capability to assume the responsibility for the protection of this or that stretch of the border, Manilov said.
Tajikistan Accuses Religious Extremists Of Calling For Coup
Itar-Tass
Dushanbe, February 20: The prosecutor`s office of the Sogdi Region arraigned a group of arrested activists of the Khizbi-ut-Takhrir Party, banned in the republic, of calls in public for a state coup, forming a criminal society and fanning up racial, nationality and religious hatred, Tass learnt on Friday from an official of the regional prosecutor`s office, noting that the regional law enforcement bodies detained recently 19 religious extremists in the city of Khudzhand, including several chiefs of `primary cells`. According to the source, the operation is still going on, and it is quite probable that the number of arrested extremists will increase. `In the recent past, they vigorously stepped up their propaganda among local population, especially among young people, including places frequented by the public,` the source added. He emphasized that extremists were especially active among low-income segments of population.
Kyrgyz Court Sentences Convicted Terrorist To Death
Radio Free Europe
Bishkek, February 19: Kyrgyzstan`s Military Court has sentenced to death two Uzbek citizens who had been convicted for preparing the bombing of a major Bishkek market in late 2002, RIA-Novosti reported on 19 February. The two, Ilkhon Izattulaev and Aziz Abdullaev, allegedly members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, were charged with organizing a terrorist act and with premeditated murder, and partially admitted their guilt. Seven people were killed in the bombing and 30 were wounded. According to Kyrgyz law enforcement, the two terrorists had been assigned to attack the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, but chose an easier target.
Suspected Hizb Ut- Tahrir Activists Detained In Northern Tajikistan
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, February 19: Prosecutors from the Sughd Oblast prosecutor`s office rounded up a group of 14 suspected activists of the banned Islamic extremist party Hizb ut-Tahrir at a teahouse in Khujand, the oblast center, on 9 February, the official Tajik news agency khovar.tojikiston.com and RIA-Novosti reported on 19 February. Hizb ut-Tahrir literature was also reported to have been found at the teahouse. Aziz Daburov, a police official responsible for special criminal cases, was quoted as saying that several other Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been detained since 9 February, including law enforcement officers; RIA-Novosti gave a figure of 22 activists detained. According to the Tajik Prosecutor-General`s Office, 118 Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been sentenced to prison terms in Tajikistan, but the number of party sympathizers in the country is estimated at over 3,000. The Sughd Oblast has traditionally served as a hub for the banned party in Tajikistan, but suspected activists have also been arrested this year in the southern Khatlon Oblast.
Arrest Of Uzbek `Extremist` Highlights Terror Tangles
Radio Free Europe
Tashkent, February 18: Though the war on terror has rapidly established itself as a leitmotif of the early 21st century, it has been accompanied, and sometimes even drowned out, by a cacophonous debate over how the war should be waged. The recent arrest of an alleged Uzbek extremist in Moscow, and the likelihood of his subsequent extradition to Uzbekistan, underscores the ambiguities that dog the war`s murky Central Asian battleground. Russian security forces arrested Yusup Kasimakhunov in Moscow on 13 February, RBK reported on 16 February. According to Uzbekistan`s National Security Service (SNB), Kasimakhunov is one of the leaders of the banned Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir. Uzbekistan put out an international warrant for Kasimakhunov`s arrest on terrorism charges in February 2000. An SNB spokesman told RIA Novosti, `We have reason to believe that...Kasimakhunov, who has been a member of `at-Tahrir` since 1993 and is active internationally, has become one of the leaders of this extremist religious organization.` According to the press service of Russia`s Federal Security Service (FSB), Kasimakhunov was born in 1966 and holds Uzbek citizenship. Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, a Palestinian refugee who received an education in Islamic law at Egypt`s prestigious Al-Azhar University, founded Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami (the Islamic Liberation Party, transliterated on the group`s site -- http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/english/ -- as Hizb ut-Tahrir) in Amman, Jordan in 1953. The group aims to restore the caliphate, implement Islamic law, and lead the worldwide Muslim community in a struggle against the unbelievers. Though it does not advocate the use of violence, the group`s radical goals and penchant for secrecy have earned it official ire, and governments have banned it in most of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Georgia: Saakashvili Sees In `Wahabbism` A Threat To Secularism
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, February 18: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has made improved ties with Moscow a top foreign policy priority, last week vowed to take urgent action to stop his country from serving as a rear base for armed separatists fighting federal troops in Chechnya. The newly elected Georgian leader today made another conciliatory gesture toward Russia, saying Tbilisi would launch a merciless fight against the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. Prague, 18 February 2004 (RFE/RL) Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili today vowed to fight alleged radical Islamic groups based in an area that borders Russia`s breakaway republic of Chechnya. Addressing reporters at the State Security Ministry headquarters in Tbilisi, Saakashvili said his administration would do its utmost to root out so-called `Wahabbism` in Georgia. `I want to warn all those who are propagating the ideas of Wahabbism in Georgia that they will face the utmost in severe actions and that they should not expect any compromise on our part,` Saakashvili said. This was the first time a Georgian official openly admitted to the purported spread of `Wahabbism` in the Southern Caucasus country.
Uzbekistan Requests Speedy Extradition Of Alleged Terrorist Detained In Moscow
Radio Free Europe
Tashkent, February 17: The Uzbek Prosecutor-General`s Office has requested the speedy extradition to Tashkent of a suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir party leader who was detained in Moscow on 13 February by Russian security services, ITAR-TASS reported on 17 February. Uzbekistan`s National Security Service said Yusuf Qosimokhunov, believed to be a CIS leader of the Muslim extremist party, has been indicted in Uzbekistan on a charge of seeking to overthrow the constitutional order, one of the most common charges against real or suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir members. Qosimokhunov has allegedly been living in Moscow for several years using false papers and publishing and distributing extremist literature to the countries of Central Asia.
Hizbul Tahrir Activists Held In Tajikistan
Kyrgyz Post
Dushanbe, February 16: Tajik police have arrested two men accused of distributing pamphlets and books calling for the creation of an Islamic state in central Asia, the interior ministry said on Monday. The ministry said the two men, both in their 20s, were suspected of belonging to the banned radical Sunni movement Hizbul Tahrir, or Freedom Party, one of the most active radical Islamist groups in central Asia, which has thousands of adepts in Tajikistan. The party was founded in the Middle East in the 1950s, established itself in Central Asia 10 years ago, at first in the Ferghana valley in Uzbekistan, and then in neighbouring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the late 1990s.
Hizb Al Tahrir Al Islami Leader Detained In Russia
RIA NOVOSTI
Moscow, February 16: Uzbekistani national Yusup Kasimakhunov, seen by the Uzbek National Security Service as a leader of the terrorist organisation Hizb at-Tahrir al-Islami, has been detained in Russia, said the press service of the FSB Board for Moscow and the region. In February 2000 the Interior Ministry of Uzbekistan put Kasimakhunov on international wanted list for terrorism.
Uzbek To Die For Bishkek Bombing
Associated Press
Tashkent, February 16: Uzbekistan`s Supreme Court on Monday convicted and sentenced to death a man belonging to an al-Qaida-allied terrorist group for his involvement in two bombings in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Azizbek Karimov, 25, was convicted of organizing and carrying out the bombings at a market in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, in December 2002 and a Western Union office in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh in May 2003. Eight people died and many were injured in the two attacks, Judge Nuritdin Tuhliyev said in announcing the verdict. Karimov was also convicted for being a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaida that in 2001 fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance. Karimov will appeal the verdict, said his lawyer Kamolitdin Khudoiberdiyev. Tuhliyev said Karimov also led a terrorist group that included Kyrgyz citizens who were arrested last year and are being tried in their home country.
EBRD To Invest $100 Mln In Georgia
Interfax
Tbilisi, February 20: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) intends to invest more than $100 million in Georgia, mostly for oil and gas pipeline projects, this year, Olivier Descamps, the EBRD`s director for South East Europe and the Caucasus, told reporters. Descamps said the EBRD would pump $70 million into the Baku- Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline project and $20 million into the Baku- Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline project. He said the rest of the money would be spent on the private sector. Descamps said the EBRD would be targeting specific projects because it works not so much with the government as with private companies. However the EBRD is prepared to draft a new two-year aid strategy for Georgia which the bank`s directors may sit down and discuss in June. The EBRD has allocated a total of $180 million for 28 projects in Georgia in the last eight years.
Kyrgyzstan Attracts $38 Mln Foreign Investment For Agriculture
Interfax
Bishkek, February 20: Kyrgyzstan raised $38 million in foreign investments for programs in its agriculture and related industries complex in 2003, First Deputy Agricultural, Water and Processing Industries Minister Mamatsharip Turdukulov told his ministry collegium on Friday. The sector implemented seven investment projects last year costing $226.7 million all told, loan funds accounting for $176.8 million, Turdukulov reported. Three projects involved water management, two the organizing of drinking water supply and two others were comprehensive programs. There has been $77.7 million spent on these projects to this point. The main donors financing agricultural projects in Kyrgyzstan are the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, Turdukulov noted.
IMF To Fund Georgia
The Moscow Times
Tbilisi, February 19: The IMF said Thursday that it may resume lending to Georgia this year, paving the way for creditors to reschedule the impoverished Caucasus country`s massive debts. The International Monetary Fund suspended lending more than a year ago as relations soured with then-president Eduard Shevardnadze, forced out of office by popular protests in November and widely blamed for leading Georgia to economic ruin. An IMF mission has been in the former Soviet state for the past two weeks for talks with the new government. One of the richest republics of the Soviet Union in communism`s heyday, Georgia is now mired in poverty, sapped by corruption, high foreign debt and falling tax revenues. The IMF, the country`s main creditor, suspended its lending program in 2002 and did not give Georgia any money last year.
Tajikistan Adopts Law On Free Economic Zones
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, February 19: The lower chamber of the Tajik parliament voted unanimously on 18 February in favor of a draft bill pertaining to free economic zones, Asia Plus-Blitz and `Novye izvestiya` reported on 18 and 19 February, respectively. Economy and Trade Minister Hakim Soliev told legislators that the bill takes into consideration the experience in creating such zones of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
Kazakhstan To Prepare Feasibility Study For Karachaganak Project In February
Interfax
Astana, February 19: Kazakhstan plans to complete work on a feasibility study for a gas project at the large Karachaganak oil and gas condensate field before the end of February, the Kazakh prime minister`s press service said. The press service said in a statement that Kazakh Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov `ordered the relevant ministries and national companies to finish preparation of the feasibility study for the gas project within a week, so as to start presentation work for investors in March.` The gas project involves building a gas processing plant with an initial capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per annum, and an export pipeline. The cost of the gas project is estimated at not less than $1 billion - $1.2 billion, depending on which technology will be used in the processing plant. The press release said that Akhmetov considers that Kazakh investors could participate in this project `as current tax legislation contains significant benefits to ensure a stable influx of direct investment into the petrochemical industry.` Reserves at the Karachaganak field amount to over 1.2 billion tonnes of liquid hydrocarbons and 1.3 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Tajikistan To Create Free Economic Zones
Kabar Agency
Dushanbe, February 18: A law on free economic zones has been adopted in Tajikistan. `While working out this law working practices of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey were taken into account,` Tajikistani Economy and Trade Minister Khakim Soliyev declared. `The law is aimed at creating free economic zones to attract foreign investments and technologies, promote economic growth of the region, create necessary infrastructure, supply the market with high quality products, create new jobs and decrease the poverty level,` he specified.
Overall Assets Of Uzbek Banks Increase By 12.8 per cent In 2003
Interfax
Tashkent, February 18: The overall assets of Uzbek banks increased by 12.8 per cent to 4,419 billion sum in 2003, an official in the press service of the country`s Central Bank told Interfax on Wednesday. In 2003, the equities of Uzbek banks increased by 10.6 per cent to 791 billion sum, the official said. A total of 33 banks are currently active in Uzbekistan. Foreign capital is invested in five of them, while three of them, the National Foreign Trade Bank, the People`s Bank and Asaka Bank, are state run. The five largest banks (the National Foreign Trade Bank, Asaka Uzpromstroibank, Pakhtabank and Uzzhilsberbank) account for 81 per cent of the total assets.
Turkmenistan To Increase Energy Supplies To Turkey Twofold
Kabar Agency
Ashgabat, February 18: Turkmenistan will increase electricity supplies to Turkey twofold. The decision has been taken at a meeting of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and Turkish Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Guler on Wednesday. They signed the protocol of intent on the rise in the volume of electricity supplies in 2004 from 300 Megawatt under the contracts for this year to 600 Megawatt. `Turkmenistan`s energy capacity that is growing every year allows to further increase the electricity exports to Iran and Afghanistan,` the Turkmen president said at the meeting.
LUKoil Hit With $200M Azeri Bill
The Moscow Times
Baku, February 17: A top tax official said Tuesday that Russia`s largest oil producer, LUKoil, owes Azerbaijan $200 million in back taxes from the sale of its stake in a Caspian Sea project. LUKoil last year sold its 10 percent stake in Azerbaijan International Operating Co., a joint venture led by BP to develop the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields, to Japan`s Inpex for $1.35 billion. `We are of the position that LUKoil should have paid $200 million in taxes from this income,` said Azerbaijan Tax Minister Fazil Mammadov. Mammadov added that Azerbaijan`s dispute with LUKoil over the tax payments could take up to four years to resolve.
Kazakhstan Steps Up Direct Investments In Electricity Sector
RBC News
Astana, February 17: In 2004 to 2006, KEGOS, a Kazakhstani company for managing energy grids, will more than double direct investments up to $186.67m, KEGOS President Kanat Bozumbayev announced at a meeting of the Kazakhstani Budget Commission. According to the press service of the Kazakhstani government, the purpose of the meeting was to consider draft development strategies of national companies through 2006. Kazakhstani Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov believes that investment projects of KEGOS are unchallengeable.
Georgia Defines Its New Priorities
The Moscow Times
Moscow, February 17: The number one objective of an economic program of a new government of Georgia will be to create the most favorable investment environment and ensure the security of businessmen and investors. Zurab Zhvania, who is expected to become the Prime Minister, declared at the parliament`s extraordinary session today. It is worth mentioning that the parliament is going to approve a new Cabinet of Ministers and a new development program today. According to Zhvania, the new government began its work with amending a Tax Code and tightening financial discipline. The official was quoted as saying that the number-one priority of the new economic program was to provide support to small and medium businesses, and reiterated that one of four ministers would be responsible for attracting investments and developing businesses in the country.
PetroKazakhstan Says Court Upholds Anti-Monopoly Judgment
Central Asia Daily
Astana, February 17: PetroKazakhstan Inc. said a Kazakhstan court upheld anti-monopoly allegations by the Agency for Regulation of Natural Monopolies and Protection of Competition. The Astana court decision upheld the agency`s determination that some oil-products distributors received unjustified revenue of about $91 million, Calgary-based PetroKazakhstan said in a statement distributed by RNS Newswire. The company said the decision will be appealed.
PetroKazakhstan Shares Dip Only Slightly After $91M Competition-law Setback
Kazakhstan News
Calgary, February 17: News that Canadian oil company PetroKazakhstan Inc. encountered a setback in the Kazakh courts in its ongoing battle against price-gouging allegations was taken in stride by investors Tuesday, as the stock fell less than three per cent. The Calgary-based company, which operates exclusively in the Central Asian country, was accused by a Kazakhstan government agency of violating the country`s competition laws and taking $91 million US in unjustified revenues. PetroKazakhstan (TSX:PKZ - news) said Tuesday that although a decision by the Astana city court ruled against the company, it planned to appeal the decision. But unlike two other similar accusations that the company has faced since October, Tuesday`s announcement did not cause a massive stock selloff.
Armenian Debt Forecast To Grow 6 per cent In 2004
Interfax
Yerevan, February 17: Armenia`s foreign debt will grow 5.9 per cent from $1.044 billion to $1.106 billion this year, the Central Bank forecast in its 2004 monetary program. Armenia will spend $59 million on current debt servicing, $11 million of it interest, in 2004. The country will pay $35 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Armenia plans to draw up to $109 million in new loans, $28 million of it via the IMF`s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) and $81 million from the World Bank and some other sources.
Kazakhstan Receives $24.5 Bln Foreign Direct Investment In 1993-2003
InterfaxAstana, February 17: Total foreign direct investment in the Kazakh economy in 1993-2003 amounted to $24.5 billion, Yerlan Arinov, head of the investment committee at the republic`s Industry and Trade Ministry said Tuesday. The main investors in this period were the U.S., Britain, Italy, South Korea and Switzerland, he said. The largest share of foreign direct investment was in the mining industry. Without giving specific figures, the committee chairman said that over the past five years, beginning in 1999, the share of manufacturing industry and other non-mineral resource industries in the structure of foreign investment has increased.
Kazakh-Chinese Commodity Turnover Up 68 per cent In 2003 - Ambassador
Interfax
Almaty, February 17: The commodity turnover between China and Kazakhstan reached $3.3 billion in 2003, which is a 68.1 per cent increase from 2002, Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhou Xiaopei told Interfax. `Kazakhstan is currently China`s second largest trading partner in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union,` Xiaopei said citing the Chinese customs authorities. Exports form China to Kazakhstan reached $1.57 billion in 2003 and imports reached $1.72 billion, he said. According to the Kazakh Statistics Agency, Kazakh-Chinese trade turnover in 2003 reached $2.15 billion in 2003, with China`s exports accounting for $1.65 billion (a 12.8 per cent increase from 2002) and imports for $502 million (a 6 per cent increase from 2002).
Kazakhstan 2003 Oil Exports Up 13 per cent On Year To 44.3M Tons
Dow Jones Business News
Almaty, February 16: Kazakhstan`s oil and gas condensate exports rose 13 per cent in 2003 to 44.3 million metric tons, the State Statistics Agency said Monday. This is roughly equivalent to 886,000 barrels a day, and compares with 780,000 b/d in 2002. Exports accounted for around 83 per cent of the country`s total output of oil and gas last year. Revenues from such exports rose 39 per cent to $7.023 billion. The agency said exports of oil products rose 68 per cent from 2002 to 1.868 million tons. Revenues from exports of oil products more than doubled to $248 million.
$20Bln Caspian Project Back On Track
The Moscow Times
Almaty, February 15: After a bitter dispute that delayed the world`s largest oil-field development project for more than a year, the government of Kazakhstan and the six-company consortium drilling the giant Kashagan deposit have reached an agreement in principle, according to senior Kazakh officials and Western oil executives. `A deal is imminent,` said one oilman familiar with the talks. Both sides seemed hopelessly deadlocked only a month ago. The field, whose ultimate development price tag is estimated at more than $20 billion, lies in the shallows of the northern Caspian Sea. If gas reinjection is successfully implemented, the field is expected to yield between 9 billion and 13 billion barrels of sweet, light crude, making it one of the world`s top six deposits and the colossus of the Caspian region. Kashagan lies at the heart of President Nursultan Nazarbayev`s plan to have his sparsely populated country -- the size of Western Europe -- exporting 3 million barrels of crude per day by 2015. Such a volume is more than Russia exports today and would make Kazakhstan one of the world`s top six exporters. `Unless something goes very wrong, we should be signing within two weeks or so,` said a senior executive with one of the members of the consortium exploiting the field. The breakthrough, he and others said, came two weeks ago when top-level executives from the companies that are partners in the North Caspian Production-Sharing Agreement met in Kazakhstan with Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov and with Uzakbay Karabalin, the head of the state-owned oil company KazMunaiGaz. The partners are AGIP, ExxonMobil, Total and Shell with 20.37 percent each, ConocoPhillips with 10.19 percent and Inpex of Japan with 8.33 percent. The two Kazakh officials later went on record as saying an agreement in principle had been reached and the final details were being negotiated.
IMF Wants Quicker Sale Of Intl Bank Of Azerbaijan Shares
Interfax
Baku, February 15: The IMF wants to talk to the Azerbaijani government about the need to speed up the sale of a 20 per cent government stake in the International Bank of Azerbaijan to the EBRD, Basil Zaboyko, who heads the IMF office in Baku told the press. The Fund feels that the sale process is moving too slowly and plans to discuss that with the government and the EBRD, he said. The IMF hopes the sale of the shares will be made in the earlier envisaged timeframe and that the bank`s share capital will be increased, including with government funds, almost in parallel with the sale of the shares, Zaboyko said.
Kazakhstan Posts 2003 Foreign Trade Figures
RBC News
Astana, February 15: The surplus of the Kazakhstani foreign trade surged by 29.6 percent and amounted to $4.6bn in 2003, the Kazakhstani Statistics Agency reported noting that these figures did not include the volume of unorganized trade. The country`s exports grew by 33 percent in 2003 against 2002; imports added 28 percent. The share of CIS countries was 22.9 percent in the structure of Kazakhstani exports and 47.1 percent in the structure of imports last year, while in 2002 this ratio was 22.9 percent and 46.7 percent respectively. Russia was Kazakhstan`s major trade partner. The share of Russia in the structure of Kazakhstani exports was 15.2 percent and 39.3 percent in the structure of imports.
Kazakh Oil Exports Up 13 per cent In 2003
Interfax
Almaty, February 15: Kazakhstan raised oil and gas condensate exports 13 per cent to 44.339 million tonnes in 2003, the national statistical agency told Interfax. Exports in value grew 39 per cent to $7.023 billion. Kazakhstan exported 1.87 million tonnes of oil products, 68 per cent more than in 2002. These exports in value grew 110 per cent to $248.2 million. Oil product imports amounted to 1.144 million tonnes, up 8 per cent, or $266.5 million, an increase of 42 per cent. Kazakhstan imported 8.669 billion cu m of natural gas, 6 per cent more than in 2002. Gas imports rose 5 per cent to $252.8 million in value. Kazakhstan increased crude oil production 8 per cent to 45.3096 million tonnes and gas condensate production 17 per cent to 6.08 million tonnes in 2003.
Uzbekistan`s Cotton-fiber Production Drops 6 per cent In 2003
Interfax
Tashkent, February 15: Uzbekistan`s cotton-fiber production decreased by 6 per cent year-on-year to 945.97 million tonnes in 2003, the State Statistics Department told Interfax. In 2003, Uzbekistan`s gross harvest of raw cotton was 2.86 million tonnes, as opposed to 3.2 million tonnes in 2002. The cotton harvest for 2003 was the smallest over the last ten years. In 2000, when a drought occurred in Central Asia, Uzbekistan harvested over 3 million tonnes of raw cotton. Experts in the Agriculture and Water Management Ministry said the low harvest resulted from unfavorable weather.
CAC Deputy Foreign Ministers Meet In Kazakhstan
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 20: The session of deputy foreign ministries of the Central Asian Cooperation Organisation (CAC) member states started in Almaty on 20 February. In accordance with the agreement on CAC formation, the Council of foreign ministers of CAC is a working body and considers issues of current activity of the organisation, as well as consults on international issues. The session will discuss implementation of agreements reached at CAC summit in Almaty in 2002, Uzbek Foreign Ministry told UzReport.com. Deputy foreign ministries of Central Asia will also outline perspectives of cooperation. Among other issues on the agenda is situation in the region, security and stability, as well as water-energy resources in Central Asia. The session will determine the date and place of the next session of CAC Council of foreign ministries.
Polish President Due To Arrive In Uzbekistan
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 20: President of Poland Alexander Kwasniewski will pay a short visit to Uzbekistan on 21 February. The visit of the Polish leader will be held within the framework of his official visit to South-East Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand). It is expected that the Uzbek President Islam Karimov will receive the Polish president. The sides are expected to consider issues of the current state and perspectives of bilateral relations, as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Russia, Turkmenistan To Jointly Tap Oil And Gas On Latter`s Caspian Shelf
RIA NOVOSTI
Moscow, February 20: Turkmenistan government plans very soon to conclude a product-sharing agreement with the foreign partners who are going to develop oil and gas fields on its Caspian shelf, an insider source at the talks told RIA Novosti. The participants in this project are the companies Rosneft, Itera and Zarubezhneft, said the source. Only recently Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and Itera head Igor Makarov have looked into results of cooperation in 2003 and agreed upon joint short-term plans, said the source.
Armenians Win Insurance Lawsuit
Turkish Daily News
Ankara,
February 20: Armenians living in the United States have won a $20 million lawsuit against the New York Life insurance company. The company will pay death benefits to the heirs of the Armenians who bought policies before the disputed events between the Ottoman Empire and its Armenian citizens at the beginning of 20th century. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder granted Thursday preliminary approval of the settlement, which will set aside about $11 million for potential claims by heirs of some 2,400 policyholders. Another $3 million will go to nine Armenian charitable organizations, with the remainder to be used for attorneys` fees and administrative costs.
Georgia President To Meet With Bush
Associated Press
Washington DC, February 20: The new president of the troubled Caucasus Mountain nation of Georgia is due for an Oval Office session with President Bush exactly a month after he took the country`s helm, the White House announced Friday. Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili was inaugurated Jan. 25, two months after the bloodless ouster of Georgia`s longtime leader, Eduard Shevardnadze. Saakashvili, who led the protests that led to Shevardnadze`s resignation, has promised to lift the country out of its post-Soviet malaise and set it on a westward course. Advertisement Georgia`s economy has been plagued by corruption and the loss of the captive Soviet-era market for its goods. Saakashvili will meet with Bush at the White House on Wednesday, said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan. `This visit will provide an opportunity to deepen our partnership with Georgia on the fight against terrorism, resolving regional conflicts, Caspian energy, and Georgia`s democratic and market economic reforms,` he said. `The Presidents will also explore ways to deepen cooperation with Russia, Turkey, and our other European allies in pursuit of freedom, prosperity, and peace throughout the south Caucasus.`
Uzbek President, Japanese Ambassador Discuss Collaboration
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 19: President Islam Karimov received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Uzbekistan Akio Kawato on 18 February. During the meeting the sides discussed issues related to Uzbek-Japanese relations. Islam Karimov expressed his appreciation of the successive development of bilateral relations and emphasised that there was a large potential for expansion of collaboration. The volume of commodity turnover between the two countries made up US$76.9 million in 2003 having increased 2.4 times compared to previous year. Eighteen Japanese companies have representative offices in Uzbekistan. Besides, seven joint ventures and three enterprises with 100-percent Japanese capital are functioning in Uzbekistan.
A Delegation Of Saint Petersburg Led By Governor Valentina Matvienko Has Arrived In Kyrgyzstan
Kabar Agency
Bishkek, February 19: A delegation of Saint Petersburg led by Governor Valentina Matvienko has arrived in Kyrgyzstan today. The delegation includes representatives of the administration and 40 heads of big industrial enterprises of St. Petersburg. V. Matvienko has met today in the Government House with Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Nikolai Tanaev. After the meeting, an expanded joint meeting of the delegations between St. Petersburg and Kyrgyz Government took place. During the negotiations, the parties discussed issues of trade-economic and cultural relations between Kyrgyzstan and Saint Petersburg. The both parties noted necessity of using the whole potential of economic cooperation, which is not used in full. Later, the agreement is signed between Kyrgyzstan and Saint Petersburg on economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation. Prime Minister N. Tanaev on behalf of Kyrgyzstan and V. Matvienko on behalf of Saint Petersburg have signed the agreement. Osh Mayor Satybaldy Chyrmashev and the Saint Petersburg Governor also signed an agreement on establishment of brotherhood between Osh City and Saint Petersburg.
Turkey Will Remain Georgia`s Key Ally, Says Japaridze
Turkish Daily News
Ankara, February 19: A key member of the new Georgian government said that Turkey would continue to remain Georgia`s close ally and strategic partner but that it was Tbilisi`s responsibility to make the country attractive for Ankara. `It is not Turkey or other big or small countries that need to adjust their foreign or security policies towards Georgia. It is Georgia that is supposed to adjust its foreign policy priorities to the new realities,` said Georgia`s foreign minister, Tedo Japaridze, who held talks in Ankara on Tuesday with Turkish leaders. Japaridze`s visit, the first at such a high level from Georgia since the `velvet revolution` in this key Caucasus nation that ended with the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze, came against a background of criticism against Turkish policymakers for `aloofness` towards critical developments in Georgia.
Through Inland Navigation Between Russia, China And Kazakhstan To Be Resumed
Kabar Agency
Astana, February 19: Kazakhstan intends to complete construction of the Shulbinsky navigation lock on the Irtysh river to resume a through navigation between Russia, Kazakhstan and China, Kazakhstani Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Yury Lavrinenko reported today. According to the official, construction of the lock will increase cargo transportation along the Irtysh river to 2m tons a year. The launch of the lock is scheduled for 2004, Lavrinenko added.
Armenia Won`t Start Talks With Azerbaijan From Scratch
Interfax
Yerevan, February 19: Armenia will not restart talks with Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh `from scratch,` President Robert Kocharian said on national TV on Wednesday, commenting on statements made by Azerbaijani leaders about their intention to hold talks in this way. `Over the years, we have invested significant efforts in laying the groundwork for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I will not throw away that effort,` he said. There is more to the Azerbaijani initiative than it seems at first glance, Kocharian said. `I do not think that the Azerbaijani president opposes any changes but in the 10 years of peace, a situation has emerged in which the two sides are reconciled to facts, so a change of the status quo is more dangerous than maintaining it,` he said. Kocharian was, however, fairly optimistic about the future of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.
Islam Karimov Awarded With Golden Badge Of `Miner Of Russia`
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 18: President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov received the chairman of the Supreme Mining Union of the Russian Federation and of the Board of `Russian Oil and Gas Industrialists Union` Yuri Shafranik on18 February. Issues of collaboration of the two countries in the field of mining industry were discussed in the course of the talk. It was mentioned that scientific and scientific-technological ties were rapidly developing in this sphere. Islam Karimov was awarded with the golden badge of `Miner of Russia` for his contribution to the growth of cooperation of Uzbek and Russian miners and development of mining science.
President Turkmenbasi Of Turkmenistan Receives Energy Minister Guler
Turkish Press
Ashgabat, February 18: President Saparmurat Turkmenbasi of Turkmenistan has said that he had expended great efforts for transfer of Turkmen natural gas to Turkey. Turkmenbasi received Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Guler at the Presidential Palace in Turkmenistan on Wednesday. Speaking at the meeting, Turkmenbasi said, `I didn`t give natural gas to Turkey, but I will bring one or two million people from Turkey to Turkmenistan each year. I will have them settle in the shoe of the Caspian Sea, Karakum region and feet of mountains.` Meanwhile, Guler said, `we are pleased to see you in Turkey.` Noting that Turkish businessmen had made great investments in several fields in Turkmenistan, Turkmenbasi said, `they serve their motherland.` Meanwhile, Guler said that he had come to Turkmenistan to affirm their determination for purchase of electricity and natural gas.
Uzbekistan Is Second Largest US Assistance Receiver In CA
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 18: Uzbekistan was the second largest nation in Central Asia in receiving US assistance in FY2003 through all US government agencies. According to US State Department statement, Uzbekistan received US$86.1 million, of which US$14.7 million was meant for democracy programmes and US$18.2 million for economic and social reforms. Security and law enforcement programmes in Uzbekistan received US$30.2 million in 2003, while US$18.5 million were spent for humanitarian assistance and US$4.5 million for cross-sectoral initiatives. The largest piece of pie of US assistance went to Kazakhstan. According to the State Department, the country received US$92 million. The major share of funds (US$49.2 million) was also used by security and law enforcement programmes. Democracy programmes got US$13.9 million, while US$23.4 million were directed to economic and social reform programme. Humanitarian assistance programme received US$0.5 million and cross-sectoral initiatives US$5.0 million. Kyrgyzstan received US$56.6 million on the Freedom Support Act. US$13.5 million were allocated for democracy programmes and 19.9 million to economic and social reforms programme. Security and law enforcement programme received US$10.3 million, US$9.1 million went to humanitarian assistance and US$3.8 million to cross-sectorial initiatives. US$49 million were directed to Tajikistan, of which US$ 21.8 million for humanitarian assistance and 14.3 million for economic and social reform programme. Democracy programmes received US$7.3 million, security and law enforcement programme US$1.1 million and cross-sectorial initiatives US$4.5 million. Democracy programmes in Turkmenistan got the largest share of US assistance in FY 2003. The USA issued US$4.7 million to these programmes, US$2.4 million to economic and social reform, US$2.1 million to cross-secotrial initiatives, US$1.4 million to security and law enforcement programmes and US$0.5 million to humanitarian assistance. The Russian Federation received the major part of assistance among CIS countries in FY2003. The country got US$958.4 million. US assistance to Ukraine comprised US$188.5 million and to Georgia US$110.4 million. Armenia received US$106.5 million, Belarus US$9.5 million and Moldavia US$41.3 million.
Turkmen President Denies Anti-Russian Sentiment In His Country
Itar-Tass
Ashgabat, February 18: There have never been any kind of anti-Russian sentiments in Turkmenistan, President Saparmurat Niyazov, also known as Turkmenbashi [the father of all Turkmens], told the visiting governor of St Petersburg, Valentina Matviyenko, Wednesday. `The people of Turkmenistan have deep respect for the Russian people,` Turkmenbashi said. `The first monument to Alexander Pushkin [an outstanding Russian poet of the 19th century - Itar-Tass] in Central Asia appeared here in Ashgabat in 1904, and its installation was sponsored by the public quarters`. `Rumors in the Russian mass media on the alleged infringements on the rights of Russians in Turkmenistan are upsetting sometimes,` Turkmenbashi said. He had to admit at the same time that many Russians had left his country. As Matviyenko and he met in the presence of correspondents, Turkmenbashi mentioned the plight of the country`s only Russian drama theater, which is compelled to move out of the old classical building, subject to housebreaking, and to perform in the club of a silk factory on the city outskirts.
Turkmenistan And St. Petersburg Sing Cooperation Agreement
RIA Novosti
Ashgabat, February 18: President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov and St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko on February 18 signed an agreement between the St. Petersburg administration and Turkmenistan. The agreement envisages carrying out joint investment programs in transport, fishing and supply of mining and gas producing and gas processing equipment to Turkmenistan. `St. Petersburg may get from Turkmenistan fairly big contracts for urban industrial facilities, including those manufacturing power-plant equipment,` Matviyenko said. She pointed out that this implied inviting St. Petersburg organizations for reconstructing and updating the existing electric power stations. `
Controversy Follows Chretien To Oil Job
Kazakhstan News
Calgary, February 18: Canada`s newest ex-prime minister may be trying to avoid scandal at home, but now he may need to duck controversy abroad after a Kazakhstan court said a Canadian firm employing Jean Chretien as a special adviser raked in $91 million US in `unjustified revenues.` But PetroKazakhstan Inc. says Chretien isn`t being asked to ride to the company`s rescue in its latest fracas with Kazakhstan regulators. PetroKaz, the Calgary oil company that signed on the former prime minister earlier this month, said Tuesday that a court in the former Soviet republic found its subsidiaries had overcharged customers for gasoline and other petroleum products. Rather than force the famously feisty ex-PM into the fray, the company will instead rely on its own resources to resolve the dispute. The decision has nothing to do with the scent of scandal swirling around the Liberal party and its dealings with friendly communications companies in Quebec under Chretien`s watch, it`s just not what the former leader was hired to do.
KazMunaiGaz Claims That Construction On Section Of Pipeline To China Will Start In 2004
Interfax
Shanghai, February 18: The Kazakhstan state oil company KazMunaiGaz has announced that it will start building the second section of the Sino-Kazakhstan oil pipeline this year, and finish construction by the end of 2005 at the latest, according to Chinese media reports. The section from central Kazakhstan`s Atasu to the Chinese border checkpoint at the Allah Mountain Pass in the northwest part of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region could start construction as early as in mid- 2004, according to the report on the Chinese industry website, www.pipeline.net. The predicted cost for building the section, which is approximately 1,300 km long, stands at USD 850 mln. The Kumkol Oilfield, jointly held and developed by PetroKazakhstan and Russia`s Lukoil in central Kazakhstan, will use the section of the pipeline to deliver oil to China. China`s state-owned oil company CNPC had purchased oil from Kumkol by railway before. The first section of the 3,000-km Sino-Kazakhstan oil trunkline was built and put into operation in December 2002. The section, on the western end of the trunkline, has a length of 450 km and links Atyrau to Kenkiyak in northwest Kazakhstan. A third section of the pipeline is to be built still later for linking up Kenkiyak to Atasu. China and Kazakhstan struck an accord on the phased construction of an oil trunkline between the two countries in June 2003 during the Chinese President Hu Jintao`s visit to Kazakhstan. A spokesman of CNPC, the Chinese side in the project, said the company was not aware of the latest progress of the pipeline project in Kazakhstan.
St. Petersburg Governor Opens Business Forum In Kazakh Capital
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 17: St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko opened a Russian-Kazakh Business Forum in Astana on 17 February by declaring that `we have something to learn from Kazakhstan,` Interfax-Kazakhstan and gazeta.kz reported the same day. Matvienko said she was referring in particular to Kazakhstan`s successes in the economic and social spheres, and then went on to describe Kazakhstan as one of St Petersburg`s most important economic partners.
Uzbekistan Withdraws Agreement On Delimitation Of Part Of Border With Kyrgyzstan
Radio Free Europe
Tashkent, February 17: Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev told the Legislative Assembly on 17 February that 654 kilometers of the 1,200-kilometer border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan has been completely delimited to the satisfaction of the two governments and the local populations, but that Uzbekistan suddenly revoked its agreement on a 27-kilometer strip that is part of more than 960 kilometers on which agreement was reached in principle, kabar.kg reported the same day. Tanaev apparently did not give a reason for the purported Uzbek change of heart.
Georgia Delegation To Attend Meeting Of Conflict Mediators
Itar-Tass
Tbilisi, February 17: A Georgian delegation will attend the third meeting of the group UN Secretary General`s Friends on Georgia. The group comprises the US, Russia, Germany, France and Britain. The two-day meeting opens in Geneva on Tuesday. Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze and Minister Malkhaz Kakabidze arrived in Geneva on Monday. Goga Khaindrava, who has been nominated by Georgia`s leaders for the post of state minister for conflict settlement, flew to Geneva on Tuesday. The parliament is to confirm him for the post in his absence. Parliamentary committees already have approved his candidacy.
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Complete Delimitation Of State Border
Itar-Tass
Bishkek, February 17: Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have completed the delimitation of 654 kilometers of the state border between the two Central Asian republics, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Nikolai Tanayev told the lower house of parliament on Tuesday. According to Nikolai Tanayev, neither the two countries nor the local population have any claims to make with regard to this stretch of the border. The Kyrgyz head of government also said the two governments have reached an agreement and described another stretch of the border that is some 400 kilometers long but this section of the border has yet to be fixed in documents. The total length of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek state border is about 1,270 kilometers. According to unofficial sources, nearly 130 kilometers of the border in the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan are still disputed. The decision on them will be made after the two countries sign a general agreement on the delimitation of the border between them.
U.S.: Kazakhstan Not Read For Prime Time
Voice of Democracy
Washington DC, February 17: If Kazakhstan is serious about seeking the chairmanship of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2009 it `must` get serious about implementing `all commitments undertaken by participating OSCE states,` warned the U.S. State Department. Several `important issues` need attention, starting with `a flawed election code, selective prosecution of political opposition and intimidation of the independent media,` said Douglas Davidson, deputy U.S. representative to the OSCE. Kazakhstan `must` implement `all the commitments` long before December 2006, because that is when the OSCE chairmanship for 2009 will be decided, Davidson said. The draft media law would `violate international standards for protection of free speech.` Recent elections have been condemned by the United States and others for fraud, corruption and abuse. Davidson reminded the Kazakh government that it `has a responsibility to its people` to provide `free, fair and transparent elections.` He also said `recent criminal proceedings` against Amirzhan Kosanov, a leader of the opposition Republican People`s Party, Ermurat Bapi, editor in chief of the newspaper SolDat, independent journalist Sergei Duvanov and others, gives `all the appearances of manipulation of the judicial system for political purposes.` Davidson called on the regime to `reexamine` these cases to ensure these and all others are provided `due process and a fair and impartial trial, now and in the future.`
Georgia To Support Russia`s WTO Bid
The Russia Journal
Tbilisi, February 17: The Georgian parliament is going to suspend last year`s decree saying that Georgia will not support Russia`s bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). A three-month suspension of the decree will be discussed at a parliamentary session on Tuesday, according to the decision of the Bureau of the Parliament, according to the press service of the Georgian parliament. The opposition, especially the New Rightists faction in the Georgian parliament and the former ruling bloc For New Georgia, interpret it as a change in the country`s foreign policy. For her part, Nino Burdzhanadze, Chairperson of the Georgian parliament, believes it necessary to suspend this ruling because Georgia is going to normalize its relations with Russia.
U.S. Helps Tajikistan Computerize Tax SystemInterfax
Dushanbe, February 17: A new computerized system for the registration of taxpayers has been launched in Tajikistan with financial assistance from the United States. `With the new system, the registration of taxpayers will be done through a modern computer system, and not manually,` the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe told Interfax on Tuesday. In February 2003, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a two-year project aimed at improving the administration of the tax system and creating a computerized information system in Tajikistan. The project was fulfilled by the company Bearing Point. The total value of the project was almost $1.27 million.
UN Keeps Humanitarian Pipeline In Termez Open During Winter
IRIN News
Ankara, February 17: As Afghanistan enters into a new developmental and reconstruction phase, the United Nations is keeping its aid corridor to the north of that country open by extending a protocol signed with the Government of Uzbekistan for another year to facilitate the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance through the winter. The Friendship Bridge over the region`s Amudarya River served as a critical humanitarian gateway to Afghanistan`s north during and after the US-led coalition`s war on terror. According to an official of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, a two-year protocol between the UN and the government in December 2001 was a historic document, which proved vital for millions of Afghans facing starvation, hunger and disease following the demise of the hard line Taliban regime in late 2001. Meanwhile, Tashkent`s adherence to the obligations taken under the document had also been very important, the official said, adding the Protocol had allowed 45 international NGOs to access Afghanistan using the Termez supply route.
Balarus Looking Forward To Niyazov`s Visit
Kabar Agency
Ashgabat, February 17: `I am sure that your forthcoming visit to Belarus would strengthen our bilateral relations that are based on the principles of trust and mutually advantageous cooperation,` said President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus in a message to President Niyazov. In his message to Niyazov on the flag day of Turkmenistan, Lukashenko said, `Under your guidance Turkmenistan has made significant socio-economic progress.` He also wished health, happiness and prosperity for the people of Turkmenistan.
Oil Pipeline To Link Kazakhstan To China
Interfax
Almaty, February 17: China and Kazakhstan are giving serious consideration to joint oil and natural gas projects, the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan said. One of them is a project to lay an oil pipeline from western Kazakhstan to China, which is being successfully put into practice, Ambassador Zhou Xiaopei told Interfax. The first 450-kilometer section of the pipeline, linking Atyrau to Kenkiyak in northwestern Kazakhstan, was put into operation in December 2002. During a visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to Kazakhstan in June 2003, KazMunaiGaz and CNPC, the Kazakh and Chinese national oil companies, signed an agreement on the phased construction of an oil pipeline to run from Kazakhstan to China.
Kazakh Ambassador Holds Talks With Syrian Counterpart
Kazakhstan News
Damascus, February 17: Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara received here Tuesday Kazakhstan accredited Ambassador in Damascus, Baghdad Amrieve. Talks during the meeting dealt with bilateral relations between the two countries and means of boosting them.
Israeli Mashav Centre Cooperates With Organisations Of Uzbekistan
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 16: The centre of international cooperation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Mashav, has been actively cooperating with different organisations of Uzbekistan for over 10 years. According to UzA, hundreds of medical workers, teachers, agricultural specialists, representatives of private business and funds have passed through different sorts of training programmes for increasing professional skills in Israel over the recent years. A number of training courses have been organised directly in Uzbekistan as well as several joint projects. For the beginning of 2004 Mashav has planned a number of joint events together with US Agency for International Development in Central Asia (USAID/CAR), and ministries of health and agriculture of Uzbekistan. Mashav and USAID/CAR have been closely collaborating with the Ministry of Health, regional healthcare departments and the Republican Nurses Association under the programme of increasing the role of medical nurses in the healthcare system, since 2001. The programme consists of a three-week course of study in Israel and a one-week course for development of management skills in Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan Blames Kyrgyzstan For Current Water Problems In Syrdarya Basin
Radio Free Europe
Tashkent, February 16: Uzbek President Islam Karimov sent a letter to his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbaev on 14 February blaming the current excess of water in the basin of the Syr Darya River on Kyrgyzstan`s carelessness in releasing water from the Toktogul reservoir, akipress.org reported on 16 February. Karimov said this is not the first year that Kyrgyzstan has put its own needs for power generation before the irrigation needs of its downstream neighbors, adding that all the countries of the Syr Darya basin should be involved in decisions about the river`s water. Kyrgyzstan has argued that it needed to generate additional electricity to meet a contract to sell power to Russia. The Uzbek president went on to emphasize the importance of each of the three countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan) directly involved in the current situation on the Syr Darya fulfilling the commitments undertaken at intergovernmental meetings in Shymkent in January and Bishkek.
SCO Bolsters Regional Clout
China Daily
Beijing, February 16: The secretariat of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) was formally established in Beijing last month. That significant event heralded a new stage in the maturation of the regional multi-lateral body, and also indicated the SCO will evolve into a formal international organization with a sounder, more efficient mechanism. The establishment of the secretariat did not change the view of SCO members that the multi-lateral body should continue to concern itself with regional security co-operation, with anti-terrorism as its primary task. After more than two years` development, co-operation between the SCO members has been extended to cover the fields of security, economics, transportation, culture, disaster relief and law enforcement. And security and economic co-operation, the two goals SCO members have elevated to top priorities, have already become the body`s most important pillars in maintaining regional stability and promoting regional development. A review of the development history of the SCO reveals that the multi-lateral body`s process of gradual perfection has essentially been one of exploring a comprehensive security mechanism.
Turkish Strategic Studies Center And Kazakh Foreign Policy And Analysis Center Signs Memorandum
Turkish Press
Ankara, February 16: Turkish Strategic Studies Center and Kazakhstan Foreign Policy and Analysis Center signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday. The memorandum envisions cooperation of two centers on production of strategical views. Kazakh delegation will hold meetings at Prime Ministry, Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA), Eurasian Strategic Studies Center (ASAM) and Baskent University. The delegation will proceed to Istanbul on Wednesday and will visit Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), Dialogue Eurasia, Marmara Group and Yeditepe University.
Iran, Kazakh Discuss Caviar Poaching
IRIB News
Almaty, February 16: Kazakh Minister of Interior meet with Iranian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Morteza Safari in Almaty here Sunday. The meeting focused on bilateral relations between the two countries, including combating drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime. Safari expressed Iran`s interest in implementing the already signed agreements on combating organized crimes. Kazakh Interior Minister said that the security force in the country is interested to learn of Iran`s policies in its campaign against drug trafficking and illicit caviar fishing in the Caspian Sea. I
Tajikistan: Focus On Afghan Refugees
IRIN News
Dushanbe, February 16: While much is known about the status of Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran, the two largest host countries to the Afghan diaspora, little is known about those in neighbouring Tajikistan, where some 3,000 currently reside. Ask them what they want though the answer will most likely be the same. `I don`t want to return to Afghanistan. I want to be resettled,` Rahima Sakhidod, a 38-year-old, told IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. `There is no future for me here.` Arriving from the northern Afghan city of Konduz 12 years ago following the death of her husband, she yearns to begin a new life outside of Tajikistan, preferably in North America or Western Europe. `I don`t care where I`m resettled,` the mother-of-four said matter-of-factly. `I just want to go to a country where I can educate my children.` Her friend Qudisay Mohammad Naim agreed. `If I had wanted to return to Afghanistan, I would have gone already,` the mother-of-five from the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif concurred. `We have enemies there. It`s not safe for me or my family,` the 34-year-old told IRIN, who fled to Tajikistan during the Afghan presidency of Mohammed Najibullah. Most Afghans arrived in the mountainous Central Asian state of 6.5 million in the early to mid 1990s, after the fall of the Najibullah regime, while a good number came after the Taliban took over.
CURRENT CASELOAD OF AFGHAN REFUGEES According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), many of these individuals had been processed and had refugee status, though there were some persons whose status had yet to be confirmed, and who consequently were referred to as asylum seekers. And while more than 2.5 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries since the collapse of the Taliban government in late 2001, the chances of seeing any sizeable return from Tajikistan, which shares over 1,200 km of common frontier with the beleaguered nation, remains minimal. Their status in the impoverished nation is actually better than most Afghans living elsewhere. `In many ways they feel at home here,` Nicholas Coussidis, representative for UNHCR in Tajiksitan told IRIN in Dushanbe.
Uzbek Delegation Visits Great Britain To Hold Negotiations
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 15: The Uzbek delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the Agency for Foreign Economic Relations Elyor Ganiev visited the United Kingdom. During the meeting with Minister of State for Trade and Investment Mike O`Brien, the British side noted that Uzbekistan played a key role in the region and reaffirmed its interest in strengthening political and economic relations between the two states. The British official positively assessed Uzbekistan`s participation in fighting terrorism, and the country`s initiatives in development of Trans-Afghan transport corridor and other transport projects. The delegation also met the Minister of State for International Development Hillary Benn and participated in the 11th session of the Uzbek-British council on trade and industry, together with heads of 60 British and international companies, banks and UK officials. British companies presented reports on their activity in Uzbekistan.
KOTRA Invites To Meeting With Korean Entrepreneurs
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 15: The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) under the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Uzbekistan invites all interested to the meeting with Korean entrepreneurs from the Republic of Korea. Additional information is available at: (+998 71) 133 4865, 133 4869 (Natalya, Alexander). The meetings will be held on 10 March 2004 in the `Crystal` conference hall of Intercontinental hotel, Tashkent.
Azerbaijan Seeks Saudi Investment
Arab News
Riyadh, February 15: The second session of the Saudi-Azerbaijani Joint Commission for Economic, Commercial and Technical Cooperation began here yesterday under the co-chairmanship of Minister of Commerce Dr. Hashim Yamani and Azerbaijan`s First Deputy Premier Yaqub Ayyoubov. Addressing the inaugural session, Dr. Yamani stressed the importance of continuing Saudi-Azerbaijani cooperation, pointing out to the existing good relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. Ayyoubov and the accompanying delegation arrived here yesterday. He was welcomed at King Khaled International Airport by Dr. Yamani and other senior officials. Dr. Yamani urged businessmen to contribute positively to increasing trade between the two to the benefit of the both countries. He said that the Saudi-Azerbaijani joint commission had urged the relevant authorities in the Kingdom and Azerbaijan to accelerate completion of the agreements of dual-taxation and the encouragement and protection of investment projects.
Kazakhstan Simplifies Visa Norms For 27 States
Kazakhstan News
Astana, February 14: From February 15, 2004, Kazakhstan simplifies the procedure of issuing entry visas to citizens of 27 states, Ualikhan Konyrbayev, director of the Kazakh foreign ministry`s consular service department, has announced. `Citizens of these states may apply directly to consulates of Kazakhstan and receive one-month business, tourist and private visas to visit Kazakhstan,` Konyrbayev said. `Now we demand that foreign citizens should have corresponding invitations and visa support, but this will be no longer necessary,` he explained. `It is a great step towards liberalization of the visa regime,` he added. The simplified regime will be applied to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, the USA, Finland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan.
Kazakh Party Head Visits State Department
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 14: Dariga Nazarbaeva, head of the new Asar political party and the eldest daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbaev, visited the U.S. State Department on 14 February, gazeta.kz reported. Nazarbaeva has been meeting with businesspeople and representatives from think tanks interested in Kazakhstan. At the State Department, she met with Deputy Secretary of State for Eurasian Affairs Lynn Pasco and other mid-level officials responsible for relations with Kazakhstan, with the discussion focusing on the need for reform of Kazakhstan`s election legislation and the controversy surrounding the new law on the media, which critics say gives the authorities too much power over the media.
OSCE Representative Calls On Kazakhstan Not To Adopt Government Version Of Media Law
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 20: Ambassador Anton Rupnik, head of the OSCE Center in Almaty, told the Third Congress of Journalists of Kazakhstan, presently under way in Atyrau, that it is not in Kazakhstan`s interest to adopt the government version of a new law on the media, gazeta.kz reported on 20 February. He argued that experience has shown that only countries that protect freedom of speech and media pluralism can expect long-term stability. The new media law, still making its way through the legislative process, has been criticized for giving the authorities too much control over the media.
International NGOs Must Re-register In Uzbekistan
Radio Free Europe
Tashkent, February 19: The Uzbek Foreign Ministry on 19 February warned international NGOs working in Uzbekistan that they are required to reregister with the Justice Ministry by 1 March or their bank accounts will be frozen, Deutsche Welle reported. Earlier in the week, domestic NGOs in Bukhara reported their bank accounts were being frozen unless they agreed to move their accounts to two approved banks in the city. First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov tried to convince the foreign NGOs that the Uzbek attitude toward them and their work has not changed, but at least some of the foreigners were skeptical, according to the news agency.
Rights Groups Continue Condemnation Of Mukhadirova Verdict
IRIN News
Ankara, February 19: Human rights groups continue to criticise an Uzbek court ruling sentencing Fatima Mukhadirova, the mother of a torture victim, to six years in prison for alleged extremist activities. The activists have called on Washington and others to take a more active stand on what they describe as one of the worst human rights records in Central Asia. `Not just the United States but all of Uzbekistan`s bilateral partners should express their concern about cases like that of Fatima Mukhadirova,` Dr Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation (IHF) told IRIN on Thursday. `Having Uzbekistan as a partner in the anti-terrorist campaign cannot be an excuse to be silent or quiet about these horrific abuses of human rights.` Echoing that sentiment, Urmi Shah, a spokeswoman for Human Rights Watch (HRW), said from London that Central Asia`s most populous nation could not be a good ally of Washington`s if it continued to persecute Muslims for the peaceful expression of their faith.
Tajikistan: Mothers Continue To Seek Missing Sons Of Civil War
IRIN News
Khujand, February 18: Tajiks have a tradition of biting a piece of bread before starting a long journey, claiming the carefully saved remaining loaf will bring the traveller back home quicker. Leaving his family to join the army seven years ago, Bisabokhat Makhmudova`s son Abdurashid jokingly took two bites of bread in a bid to return sooner. Recruited during the last days of Tajikistan`s five year civil war, there has been no word from him since. Bisabokhat has searched the whole country, though the soldier`s father could not stand the grief and passed away. `I have been everywhere,` she told IRIN in the northern Tajik city of Khujand, mentioning all the areas, including Tavildara, Sagirdasht and Djirgatal, where military operations between government forces and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) took place. But seven years after the end of the war, hundreds of families whose sons have yet to return from battle are still seeking closure. Bisabokhat is one of 75 mothers from the northern Soghd (former Leninabad) province, who united their efforts to track down their missing sons. They collect every bit of information, helping each other in their quest for the truth.
OSCE To Train Uzbek Journalists On Reporting On Human Trafficking
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 17: Twenty journalists from different media outlets in Uzbekistan will undergo an OSCE training course on covering the problem of human trafficking. The intensive five-day course, which starts on Thursday, 19 February, is organised as part of the `anti-trafficking programme` of the OSCE Centre in Tashkent. Topics will include the role of the media in covering the human trafficking problem, recognizing stereotypes and the importance of objectivity, personal vision of journalists, working with information and objectivity, communicating and conducting interviews with trafficking victims, as well as co-operation between the media, official institutions and public organizations.
Turkmen Authorities Spark Fear Of Return To Psychiatric Harassment Of Dissidents
Radio Free Europe
Ashgabat, February 16: An inhabitant of the town of Balkanabat (formerly Nebit-Dag) was forcibly incarcerated in the local psychiatric hospital on 10 February, Prima-News reported on 16 February, quoting the Russian human rights organization Memorial. The action by Turkmen authorities raised fears that the practice of incarcerating dissidents in mental institutions might be reinstituted in Turkmenistan. This Soviet practice had largely disappeared in the late 1990s. In the Balkanabat case, Gurbandurdy Durdykuliev, who has a long history of friction with the authorities, formally requested permission to stage a demonstration against President Niyazov`s policies in Balkanabat`s main square during the president`s birthday celebrations on 18-19 February
Armenia Intercepts Radioactive Cargo Bound For Iran
Radio Free Europe
Yerevan, February 20: Armenian experts are seeking to identify the origin of a highly radioactive object found by Armenian customs officials in a consignment of scrap metal bound for Iran, ITAR-TASS reported on 20 February, quoting State Nuclear Control Committee Chairman Ashot Martirosian. He said the object did not originate at Armenia`s nuclear-power station, and that the International Atomic Energy Agency has been informed of the find.
Kazakhstan Probes Nuclear Black Market
Associated Press
Almaty, February 20: Kazakhstan has opened an investigation into the nuclear black market that helped Iran, Libya and North Korea, exploring suspected ties in the country that housed much of the Soviet Union`s atomic arsenal, officials told The Associated Press. Kazakhstan`s intelligence agency is examining the Almaty office of a Dubai company linked by United States President George W. Bush to the market headed by the father of Pakistan`s nuclear program, the officials said. The black market`s potential connection to Kazakhstan - which served as a nuclear testing ground until it disarmed after its 1991 independence - has raised concern about the proliferation of remnants of the Soviet weapons program. Kazakh officials strongly deny any highly enriched uranium - the form used in weapons - has leaked out of the country. Bush accused Sri Lankan businessman Bukhary Syed Abu Tahir of brokering black-market deals for nuclear technology using his Dubai-based company SMB Computers as a front. That firm also has an office in the Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty. The Kazakh intelligence agency, the National Security Committee, is investigating allegations that SMB Computers` affiliate was dealing with highly enriched uranium, spokesman Kenzhebulat Beknazarov said Thursday. SMB Computers` office in Almaty was closed Thursday. According to a receptionist in the building where the company rents a room, the only person who staffed the office hasn`t shown up there for a week. The receptionist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been planning to `wrap up business` and move out. The Dubai headquarters of SMB identified the head of its Almaty office as Shaul Hameed, but said they didn`t have any further contact details for him. A receptionist there, who didn`t give her name, said `our company has nothing to do with this,` regarding allegations of nuclear smuggling. Bush named SMB Computers` owner Tahir as a key link in a clandestine network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan`s nuclear program who has confessed to leaking nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Tahir was described as the network`s chief financial officer, money launderer and shipping agent - using the firm as a cover to ship parts for centrifuges, used to enrich uranium. Kazakhstan transferred all its Soviet nuclear warheads to Russia by April 1995, and destroyed its nuclear testing infrastructure at the major Semipalatinsk weapons test site by July 2000. About 1,320 pounds of weapons-grade highly enriched uranium was removed to the United States from the Ulba Metallurgy Plant in 1994. Yet the Central Asian nation still holds weapons-grade nuclear material, including 3.3 tons of plutonium at a mothballed breeder reactor in the country`s west, and small amounts of highly enriched uranium at two nuclear research institutes, according to the Web site of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a U.S.-based foundation. Still, Kazakh nuclear officials denied the chance of any weapons-grade uranium leaks. `It is impossible to illegally take any uranium out of Kazakhstan,` said Shinar Zhanibekova, spokeswoman for Kazakhstan`s national atomic energy company, KazAtomProm. The Atomic Energy Committee, which grants licenses for the export of nuclear materials, said it had never done any business with SMB Computers and never granted it a license. Kazakhstan has 30 percent of the world`s uranium reserves and is the fourth biggest uranium producer, according to KazAtomProm. Zhanibekova said the country now produces only low-enriched uranium tablets for nuclear power plants, which require a maximum 3 percent enrichment. Weapons-grade uranium has to be enriched to at least 98 percent. She said all uranium exports from the country were monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, and tightly controlled by Kazakh nuclear and security agencies. All shipments are accompanied by armed guards, Zhanibekova said. A Europe-based Western diplomat working on issues of nuclear proliferation questioned the reliability of Kazakh safeguards for its nuclear assets. `Nobody can pretend that everything is perfectly secure,` the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, he had no further information on SMB Computers` possible activities in Kazakhstan. Beknazarov, the intelligence agency spokesman, said there had never been leaks of highly enriched uranium from Kazakhstan. However, huge amounts of unguarded nuclear waste - material that could potentially be used by terrorists to create a `dirty bomb,` combining conventional explosives with radioactive materials - are scattered around the country and are unguarded.
Boosting Armenian Nuclear Plant Safety To Take $60 Mln, 3-4 Yrs - IAEA
Interfax
Moscow, February 19: International Atomic Energy Agency experts estimate that increasing the safety of Armenia`s nuclear power plant will cost some $60 million and take three or four years, chief of the IAEA Armenia division Ashot Martirosyan told the press on Thursday. This is based on experience with similar work on like installations in Slovakia and Bulgaria, Martirosyan said. The IAEA says the safety level is `acceptable,` he added. Mothballing the plant is also being looked over. There is no relevant experience in doing so with this kind of power plant, but the IAEA estimates a price tag of $400 million. Armenia`s dual generating block, 815-megawatt nuclear power plant was shut down in 1988 for political and environmental reasons. Generating block #2 (capacity 407.5 megawatts) was put back into operation in 1995. Since that year, $47 million in financial assistance has gone toward ensuring the Armenian plant`s safe operation, $35 million from the United States and 12 per cent from the EU.
Snooping Kazak Officials
Institue for War & Peace Reporting
Astana, February 18: There are fears the authorities could soon be handed a license to eavesdrop on their critics. `I know that I am bugged. A couple of months ago, I was even given scripts of my telephone conversations over two days,` grumbled parliament deputy Tolen Tokhtasynov, a member of the opposition Democratic Choice movement. `Unfortunately I can`t complain [to the authorities] as these reports were shown me secretly. I can`t let these people down.` Illegal bugging of politicians, journalists and business people is said to be widespread in Kazakstan - so much so that it has been raised in parliament on several occasions. At present, the prosecutor`s office is required to sanction electronic surveillance, but in practice, it is claimed, this procedure is bypassed. `It`s enough for [secret service] staff to visit a telephone centre and present their ID - the line of the person they are after will then be bugged, ` said one deputy, who preferred to remain anonymous. `Some of my contacts in the law enforcement agencies told me that there is a list of people and organisations whose communications have to be bugged, ` said the leader of the opposition Orleu movement Seirdakhmet Kuttykadam. Often officials make little attempt to conceal their activities from those they are snooping on. `I myself noticed on several occasions that my phone conversations have been recorded. Once I talked to someone and a couple of hours later, while trying to make another call, I heard the recording of my earlier conversation,` said Rozlana Taukina, from the Journalists in Danger foundation. Two years ago, a scandal broke out when justice ministry`s staff discovered surveillance equipment in all their offices, including that of the minister himself. Law enforcement bodies, notably the Committee for National Security, successor to KGB, did not even try to deny the fact, arguing that the bugging devices were installed in the interests of national security.
Saakashvili Orders Opening Of KGB Archives
Interfax
Tbilisi, February 17: Introducing new Georgian Security Ministry chief Zurab Adeishvili to ministry personnel on Tuesday, President Mikhail Saakashvili instructed him to make the former Soviet KGB archives in Georgia available to the public. `We do not have any obligations to keep the former USSR`s secrets today, and therefore all the archives stored at the State Security Ministry must be made public,` Saakashvili said. The president did not rule out that this step could cause `specific problems for specific figures, but history will be history, and you can`t escape it, while it is great stupidity to try to conceal history.`
Avalanches On The Bishkek-Osh Highway Claim Four Lives
Kabar Agency
Ankara, February 17: A series of avalanches struck the Bishkek-Osh highway, the only transportation route connecting the north and south of the mountainous Central Asian state early Tuesday morning, claiming the lives of at least four people. `The number of casualties is four people and their bodies are being transported to Bishkek,` Emil Akmatov, senior public relations and information officer at the civil defence department of the Kyrgyz Emergency Ministry, told IRIN from the capital, Bishkek on Tuesday, admitting, however, that the death toll could rise. Of the seven people hospitalised, six were in good condition, while the seventh victim was in intensive care at the central Toktogul town hospital. According to the Emergency Ministry, the avalanches swept across the Bishkek-Osh highway, a vital stretch of roadway in four separate places, 133 km, 198 km, 222 and 226 km from the capital. And while rescue workers were on the scene, preliminary reports Tuesday afternoon suggested some 10 vehicles remained trapped under the snow in the two later locations.
Kazakh Officials To Inspect Turkish Built Buildings In Wake Of Moscow Pool Tragedy
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 17: A press secretary for Kazakhstan`s Agency for Extreme Situations, Kairzhan Turezhanov, told Deutsche Welle on 17 February that the collapse of the Turkish-built aqua park in Moscow has prompted Kazakh officials to approve a check of all Turkish-built structures in Almaty and Astana. The agency had already intended to look closely at such structures built in seismic zones, but the tragedy in Moscow motivated the agency to ask the government to agree to begin the inspections as quickly as possible and to expand its scope to include all buildings constructed by Turkish firms in recent years.
Special Focus
Does The Georgian-Russian Rapproachment Threaten Chechens?
Assessing the results of the visit Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili recently paid to Moscow, a high-ranking Kremlin official said Russia had found a reliable partner in the newly elected South Caucasus leader.
To read more, click on the link:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp021504.shtmlConviction Of 62-year Old Mother Focuses Attention On Uzbekistan`s Human Rights Record
Human rights groups are calling on the Bush administration to take a tougher line with Uzbekistan following the recent conviction in Tashkent of a 62-year-old woman for ostensibly publicizing information about the torture death of her son.
To read more, click on the link:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/rights/articles/eav021704.shtmlRussia Remains Wary Of Georgia`s Geopolitical IntentionsT
For policy-makers in Moscow, Russia`s rapprochement with Georgia comes with a caveat: Tbilisi must eventually make an unequivocal choice about its geopolitical orientation.
To read more, click on the link:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav021804.shtmlKazakhstan Tilts Towards Russia Geopolitical maneuvering between Russia and the United States is intensifying in Central Asia, with Kazakhstan serving as main arena of competition. In recent years, Kazakhstan has pursued a `multi-vectored` policy that attempts to balance the interests of Russia, the United States and China. But recent developments suggest Astana is starting to tilt in Moscow`s direction.
To read more, click on the link:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav021804a.shtmlGeorgia: Critics Say Police Violence, Media Intimdation On The Rise
Recently, Amnesty International called on Georgia`s new President Mikheil Saakashvili to demonstrate his commitment to democratic standards and to take decisive action to improve freedom of religion, speech and association.
To read more, click on the link:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/rights/eav022004.shtmlSurvey Finds Gun Ownership In Kyrgyzstan Less Serious Than Previously BelievedT
A new survey on gun ownership in Kyrgyzstan raises questions about widely held assumptions concerning Central Asian security conditions. The study found that guns are less prevalent in Kyrgyz society than previously believed. The findings suggest that Kyrgyzstan should not be lumped together with `its friction-prone neighbors` when considering the potential for conflict in the region.
To read more, click on the link:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav021904a.shtml
Report Dated 20 February 2004