Kazakhstan: High Hopes For New Party
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Almaty, March 5: Democratic Choice of Kazakstan is galvanised for action - but will it even be allowed to participate in elections? Kazakstan`s leading opposition group says it is well on the way to becoming an effective political fighting machine ahead of a general election this autumn. But despite its ambitious plans, it`s not clear whether the Democratic Choice of Kazakstan, DCK, will even be allowed to field candidates in the election, scheduled for October. The DCK held a congress on February 21 to formally set itself up as a political party. Prior to that, it was in legal terms a `movement`, which meant it could not take part in elections. Spokesman Vladimir Kozlov told IWPR that the main reason for becoming a party was to be able to exert more influence on the current authorities. The congress voted to elect Galymzhan Zhakiyanov as party chairman, but since he is currently in jail, the acting leader will be Asylbek Kojakhmetov, a seasoned opposition activist. The DCK was founded in 2001 by Zhakiyanov, who had previously been a regional governor, and former energy minister Mukhtar Ablyazov. The movement`s call for economic and political reform in Kazakstan, and especially its attack on cronyism within the administration of President Nursultan Nazarbaev, and the backing it had from parts of the business sector, made it a more formidable adversary of the government than previous opposition groups. Within months of setting up the DCK, both Zhakiyanov and Ablyazov had been tried on corruption charges and given lengthy prison sentences. International human rights groups condemned the court cases as politically motivated. Kojakhmetov told IWPR that the top priority for the new party is to prepare for the general election. He admits that the DCK may face obstructions in getting formal registration from the government - a precondition for putting candidates forward for election - but he remains undeterred. If the authorities try to block registration, they will be in breach of every democratic principle, Kojakhmetov insists, although he accepts that such a move would be nothing new for Kazakstan. `They were doing it even before they adopted a law on political parties [in 2002] so as to be able to manipulate the registration process and get rid of their opponents,` he said. Most outside observers agree that formally becoming a political party makes a lot of sense for the DCK.
Armenian Opposition Signals Internal Split
Radio Free Europe
Yerevan, March 4: A spokesman for the opposition Hanrapetutiun party announced on 3 March that the opposition should consider their party leader the most effective leader of the opposition Artarutiun bloc, RFE/RL`s Armenian bureau reported. The statement adds that Hanrapetutiun party leader and former Prime Minister Aram Sargsian is `one of the most viable alternatives` to President Robert Kocharian. The move is an open threat to the opposition`s rather delicate year-old alliance, and also reflects recent dissatisfaction with the opposition bloc`s current leader, failed presidential candidate and People`s Party of Armenia (HZhK) leader Stepan Demirchian.
Tajik Justice Party Admits To Delay Of Opposition Party Registration
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, March 4: Tajik Deputy Justice Minister Rustam Mengliev confirmed to Asia Plus-Blitz on 4 March that the Justice Ministry has delayed the registration of the new Taraqqiyot Party. Mengliev also criticized the opposition party for raising the issue in a recent open letter to Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov (see `RFE/RL Newsline,` 2 March 2004). `The party should not have aggravated the situation with this kind of appeal,` Mengliev said. `It should merely have turned to the Supreme Court of Tajikistan with an appeal against the delay.` Mengliev also said Tajikistan should amend its 30-day registration procedure for parties to give the authorities more time to review documents and make a decision. Finally, he told the news agency that the Justice Ministry is still considering Taraqqiyot`s registration application.
Progress In Kazakhstan [By President Nursultan Nazarbayev]
The Washington Times
Almaty, March 4: There can be few greater challenges than to attempt to complete in little more than a decade a political process that in the West took many decades, if not centuries. But this is what Kazakhstan has been attempting since becoming independent in 1991. In the United States, markets preceded democracy. In Kazakhstan, however, we have sought to lay the foundations of a market economy, civil society and democracy simultaneously. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we believed this was the only way to pursue economic growth and raise living standards while maintaining stability. Without all three, there was little realistic expectation that an oil-rich state the size of Western Europe, but with a population smaller than that of Holland, could remain free. Our actions in the early 1990s, including the decision to remove our arsenal of nuclear weapons inherited from the Soviet Union, laid the foundations of our stability and prosperity. As Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld commented during his visit to my country last week, had Saddam Hussein followed Kazakhstan`s example, the war in Iraq never would have been fought. We are now a key ally of the United States in Central Asia and a force for stability and security in the region. Having set our sights on radical change, we had to rely primarily on our own resources, building new civic institutions from scratch, freeing industry from the shackles of state ownership and fashioning political reform in a way that reflected Kazakhstan`s wide religious and ethnic diversity. Today, 90 percent of the Kazakh economy is in private hands. Growth has averaged 10 percent over the last four years and is projected to continue at comparable levels. Our financial institutions approach Western standards of efficiency. Poverty is steadily being tackled, unemployment is falling, and sound macroeconomic policy has ensured low levels of inflation. Meanwhile, oil exports are rising by 15 percent each year. With the world`s energy needs set to double during the present century, there is international recognition that Kazakhstan is emergingasanimportantand responsible player in international energy markets. In the longer term, however, we know that oil wealth by itself will not ensure prosperity or guarantee inter-ethnic harmony. Only a broadly based, flexible economy will enable us to address the challenges of rural poverty, provide modern standards of health care, employment and pensions, and tackle the illegal shipment of people, drugs, weapons and extremist ideas from neighboring countries. Economic reform will, we hope, be further stimulated by Kazakhstan`s forthcoming entry into the World Trade Organization. My country`s growing participation in international institutions provides an important learning opportunity. But we are not expecting a free lunch. As President Bush wrote in his recent letter to me, the United States is `grateful for Kazakhstan`s continued assistance in the war on terror.` We have given robust support, allowing our air space to be used and granting emergency landing rights during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Currently, our troops assist in the peaceful reconstruction of Iraq. After centuries during which the big decisions came from Moscow via a complex bureaucratic chain, freedom and personal responsibility are new concepts to us. But our record should leave no doubt about our intentions. Democratic reform and measures to enhance human rights must not, however, be introduced in a way that undermines stability. We cannot afford to disturb the atmosphere of religious and inter-ethnic tolerance that every visitor to our country, including his holiness, the pope, and the chief rabbi of Israel, notices immediately. To those who say the pace of political change is too slow, I offer this personal assurance: We have not given up on reform. This is amply demonstrated by the decision made just a few weeks ago to impose a moratorium on the death penalty and by new legislative proposals to ensure free and fair elections this fall. Indeed, we hope that our twin record of external engagement and internal reform may persuade many countries to support our chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2009. When friends tell me that we are still not moving quickly enough, I am tempted to reply: `Bearing in mind how far and how quickly we have traveled, how much faster would you like us to go? In steering the infant Kazakh democracy, the accelerator has been used far more than the brake. Please remember also just how long your own societies took to complete the processes on which we are now embarked.`
Kyrgyz President: Kyrgyzstan Will Never Give Up Russian Language
RIA Novosti
Bishkek, March 4: The development of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan is important economic and political task, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev said at the international Russian language congress in Bishkek on Thursday. According to Akayev, the Russian language has never lost its positions in the republic. It has the status of the official language and is protected by the Kyrgyz Constitution. Kyrgyzstan lives in the informational space of the Russian language: there are hundreds of Russian newspapers and several major TV and radio channels in the Republic, the President stressed. `I would like to destroy myths and disputes` around the adoption of the law on the Russian language as the second state language in Kyrgyzstan, Akayev said. `Today the role of the Russian language is growing in all spheres of cooperation on the Eurasian space and it would be a mistake and irreparable loss to give it up. We shall never do that,` the Kyrgyz leader said.
International Congress `The Russian Language In The Community Of CIS Nations` Kicks Off In Bishkek
Kabar Agency
Bishkek, March 4: The international congress `The Russian language in the community of CIS nations` has started its work in Bishkek. President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akaev, Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev, prominent writer Chyngyz Aitmatov, Russian Education Minister Vladimir Philippov, linguists of Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and others attend the congress. During the congress, it is expected to discuss problems such as the lingual policy in the states of CIS, specialist in Russian philology in the states of CIS. Besides, the participants will discuss the role of Russian literature and journalism in strengthening the Russian language in the states of CIS and the role of Russian population in historical and cultural space of CIS. On March 5 a roundtable `The Russian language as communicative and ethnocultural component of the lingual life of the states of CIS` will take place at the Kyrgyz-Russian (Slavonic) University within the framework of the congress. Sectional meetings of the congress will also take place at the Jusup Balasagyn National University, National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan and Bishkek Humanities University. The situation with the Russian language stands better than other states of CIS.
Kazakh President For Hajj
RIA Novosti
Astana, March 3: President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, now in Saudi Arabia on an official visit, intends to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and another one to the Prophet`s Mosque in Medina, where he will attend Friday public worship, reports the Kazinform, Kazakhstan`s government news agency. Today, President Nazarbayev was received by Crown Prince Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz al Saud, who is ruling the country in lieu of his ailing father, King Fahd, 81. The conferees discussed bilateral partnership, particularly trade and other economic contacts. President Nazarbayev called Saudi entrepreneurs to invest in many Kazakh economic branches, oil-and-gas industry included. His Royal Highness Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz decorated the visitor with the Order of Great Badr. President Nazarbayev was the first CIS country leader to receive it. In response, he awarded the high Kazakh Order of Dostyk (Friendship) to the Crown Prince.
Kyrgyz President A. Akaev Presented Diplomas
Kabar Agency
Bishkek, March 3: President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akaev participated in the solemn presenting ceremony of diplomas of the first post-graduate students on the programme of state management and local self-government of the Academy of Management under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic. The programme is being implemented with the support of Hanns Seidel Fund. President of the Academy of Management Askar Kutanov, Representative of the Hanns Seidel Fund in Kyrgyzstan Max Mayer, representatives of the Embassy of Germany in Kyrgyzstan and instructors of the Academy of Management attended the ceremony. Congratulating post-graduate students, the head of the state noted this is an important event in formation of local self-government bodies in the republic. He noted the post-graduate students got necessary knowledge in concordance with international standards.
Georgian Authorities Cede Majority Representation On Election Commission
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, March 2: Prominent members of President Saakashvili`s National Movement (EM) told a press conference in Tbilisi on 2 March that the party will cede to opposition parties two of the nine seats on district-level election commissions to which it is entitled, Georgian media reported. As a result, the EM will have seven of the total 15 seats on such commissions. Maya Nadiradze of the EM said that concession `will put an end to accusations that the EM seeks to rig the election returns.`
Armenian Prime Minister Plans To Counter Opposition Protest
Radio Free Europe
Yeravan, March 2: Andranik Markarian announced on 1 March that he will send ministers and other senior officials to tour rural areas to brief voters on the government`s achievements and assess what socioeconomic improvements are needed, RFE/RL`s Yerevan bureau reported. Markarian`s announcement came in response to meetings convened last week by the opposition Artarutiun bloc in villages near Yerevan at which speakers called for mass protests to force the peaceful ouster of President Robert Kocharian and Markarian`s coalition government.
Kazakh Communist Party Splits
Radio Free Europe
Astana, March 1: Thirteen members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan (KPK) have split off to form a new party they plan to call the Communist Party of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KPRK), Interfax-Kazakhstan reported on 1 March. `We worked long and hard to preserve the unity of the party, but the methods that KPK leader Serikbolsyn Abdildin uses did not allow us to find a consensus,` former KPK Central Committee Second Secretary Vladislav Kosarev announced at a 1 March press conference. According to Kosarev, he and his supporters decided to strike out on their own in December, after Abdildin insisted on making Tolen Tokhtasyn, formerly a leader in the opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement, a member of the KPK Central Committee. Kazinform reported on 1 March that the dissident communists could take with them 25,000 of the KPK`s 56,000 members.
Azerbaijan Court Denies Religious Community Use Of Mosque
Radio Free Europe
Baku, March 1: A Baku district court ruled on 1 March that the congregation of the historic Djuma mosque in Baku`s old town must vacate the building immediately, Turan and Reuters reported. The congregation has used the mosque for the past 10 years, and its chairman, Nadjaf Allakhverdiev, said it will appeal the decision. Observers believe that the authorities` primary target is the mosque`s popular young imam, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, who was arrested on 1 December for his alleged role in the clashes in Baku between police and opposition supporters in the wake of the 15 October presidential election.
Tajik Opposition Party Demands Official Registration
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, March 1: Members of the Taraqqiyot (Progress) Party, which was established three years ago, have sent an open letter to President Imomali Rakhmonov, the Prosecutor-General`s Office, the Justice Ministry, and the UN and OSCE offices in Dushanbe protesting the Justice Ministry`s refusal to register the party and demanding that it do so, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 1 March. The statement says the party is `not a group of extremists` and that the party`s aims and statutes do not violate the Tajik Constitution. It points out that all documents necessary for registration were submitted to the Justice Ministry on 18 December, but the ministry failed to approve or reject the request within the statutory one-month period (see `RFE/RL Newsline,` 23 January 2004). It says the party`s members are ready to begin a hunger strike to demand its registration. Taraqqiyot was founded in May 2001 on the basis of the so-called Tehran faction of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan.
Kazakh President`s Daughter Denies She Is Out To Replace Him
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 29: Darigha Nazarbaeva told a conference in Astana on 29 February of the Asar Party she founded last fall that rumors she claims are being spread by the opposition that she plans to build up Asar with the aim of eventually ousting her father, President Nazarbaev, are totally misplaced, Interfax reported. She predicted that Nazarbaev, who is 63, will be successfully re-elected president in 2006 and will serve in that capacity until his term ends in 2013.
The Kazakh Opposition`s Challenges
The Economist
Astana, February 29: Kazakhstan`s Democratic Choice opposition party `burst onto the political scene more than two years ago and rocked the establishment on its heels,` `The Economist` writes. It began as a protest movement in November 2001 by `senior government officials and leading bankers,` who were `disgruntled over the increasing power of the president`s [Nursultan Nazerbayev] son-in-law, Rakhat Aliev.` `The Economist` says the `standing of the people involved and the financial resources at their disposal quickly made the movement a force to be reckoned with. The penniless traditional opposition -- longstanding democrats, old-style Communists and hard-up pensioners -- clambered gratefully on to the bandwagon.` However, two months after its birth, many moderate elements of the fledgling party broke away to set up Ak Zhol, another opposition party. Two Democratic Choice leaders were later sentenced to prison terms and last November the party had its official status as an organization revoked. Last week it declared itself a full-fledged opposition party, and hopes to participate in elections this autumn. But the magazine says this move may be another `sign of its decline, rather than its strength.` And whether it will be allowed to register in elections `remains to be seen.` In any case, says `The Economist,` Democratic Choice `has already been overshadowed by the less confrontational Ak Zhol, which focuses on economic reforms and appeals to the growing middle class.`
Preparation To IWER-2004 Seminar Discussed
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 5: A conference with participation of representatives of the Emergency Ministry of Uzbekistan and the US Armed Forces was held in Tashkent. The five-day event discussed issues of preparation for the international IWER-2004 seminar, which is to take place in Tashkent in September. The seminar will be devoted to issues of prevention emergency situations, UzA reported quoting Emergency Ministry press secretary Ulugbek Mamadaliev. The seminar, organised in cooperation with the US Armed Forces, will be attended by specialists from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Kazakhstan To Set Up A Marine Rescue Team On The Caspian Sea
RIA Novosti
Astana, March 5: Kazakhstan plans to create a marine rescue team on the Caspian Sea in view of `the growing number of pollution cases on the Caspian Sea and the shoreline during oil production,` Valery Petrov, deputy chairman of the Emergencies Agency of Kazakhstan, said at a press conference in the regional centre of Aktau (former Shevchenko). The team should have a staff of about 300, two vessels and two boats equipped for fire-fighting on ships and marine drilling platforms. The construction of the first vessel is to begin in 2005.
Will US Contingent Be Transferred From Iraq To Georgia?
Pravda
Moscow, March 4: Leader of the Georgian Labor Party Shalva Natelashvili believes that the US contingent will be transferred from Iraq to Georgia. `18,000 US servicemen were transferred to Iraq from Germany. It will not stay in Iraq and will not return to Georgia. This army will be deployed in Georgia,` Mr. Natelashvili told a press conference in Tbilisi. The Labor party leader criticized the domestic policy of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.
Russian Official Says Tajik Base Talks Deadlocked
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, MArch 4: A highly placed official in the Russian Defense Ministry said talks with Tajikistan on the transformation of Russia`s 201st Motorized Infantry Division into a military base are `deadlocked,` ITAR-TASS reported on 4 March. According to the source, Tajikistan wants Russia to forgive $300 million in Tajik sovereign debt to Russia and to pay $50 million for the use of a military communications facility in Nurek. `The Tajik authorities have gone so far as to consider their own property all of the Russian weapons, equipment, and infrastructure facilities located in the republic,` the Russian Defense Ministry source told the news agency.
NATO Chief Thanks Uzbekistan For Support
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 3: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer thanked Uzbekistan`s President Islam Karimov for his congratulations on the 10th anniversary of NATO?s Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. `I fully support you in contributing to PfP development and development of cooperation among NATO partner countries. Taking up my duties, I am pleased to note that cooperation between Uzbekistan and NATO within the PfP covers many spheres,` the NATO head said. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that new mechanisms, which are under development now, will be useful for Uzbekistan. `I was glad to know that the process of preparation of the Presentation Document on Individual partnership action plan by the Uzbek side has significantly moved forward,` he said. `I want to note that, as ever, NATO?s International Secretariat is ready to assist the Uzbek side and I have ordered my staff to maintain close contacts with the Uzbek Mission to NATO,` NATO chied added. `Partner countries and NATO members, in particular Uzbekistan, have the same goals in Afghanistan - to maintain stability, security and democracy in this country us our main priority. Trying to achieve this aim, I want to express my gratitude to support offered by Uzbekistan, in particular in introduction of secure communication lines to ISAF. Fast completion of negotiations on this issue between Uzbekistan and NATO experts in the beginning of March in Tashkent, undoubtedly, will contribute to NATO?s general efforts in Afghanistan,` Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said. `I look forward to meeting you during the upcoming Istanbul summit in June 2004,` NATO Secretary-General said.
Ivanov Comments On Withdrawal Of Russian Bases From Georgia
The Moscow Times
Moscow, March 3: Russia and Georgia will resume talks on the withdrawal of Russia`s military bases after new executive power bodies are set up in both countries, acting Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said. `Talks will resume after the process of creating executive bodies of power in Georgia and Russia has been completed,` Ivanov told journalists in Paris on Wednesday. `It would be premature today to speak about any possible deadline for the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia. All comments provided by the media on this issue do not correspond to Russia`s official position,` he said. `Georgia`s new authorities are ready to improve Russian- Georgian relations and take into account Moscow`s interests on the issue of military bases. I met with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Moscow. He seems to be committed to improving Russian-Georgian relations,` Ivanov said. Russia still has to withdraw its Akhalkalaki and Batumi military bases from Georgia
Italy Takes Part In Equipping Uzbek Armed Forces
RIA Novosti
Tashkent, March 3: Within the framework of the Agreement on military-technological cooperation the Italian Defense Ministry has delivered for the armed forces of Uzbekistan 50 Lance trucks and ACL-75 vehicles for the armed forces of Uzbekistan, RIA Novosti was told on Tuesday in the Defense Ministry of this Central Asian republic. The training of representatives of the Uzbek Armed Forces in the military educational establishments of Italy is another example of the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement. Before leaving for Italy the Uzbek officers are taught Italian at the Italian language courses in the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan, added the spokesman for the press service of Uzbekistan`s Ministry of Defense.
Greece To Transfer Missile Cruiser To Georgia
Interfax
Tbilisi, March 3: Greece is to hand over a missile cruiser worth 22 million euros to Georgia in April, Joni Rukhadze, head of the Georgian Naval Defense Forces` department for military policies and international relations, told Interfax on Wednesday. `A 40-member Georgian crew is currently being trained in Greece,` Rukhadze said. The cruiser will become the flagship of the Georgian navy. `Georgia has never had a ship of this class before,` he said.
Italy Presents 50 Trucks To Uzbek Armed Forces
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 2: Italy has handed over 50 trucks of LANCIA ACL-75 brand to the Uzbek Armed Forces within the framework of the agreement on military-technical cooperation. The event was attended by the Italian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Angelo Persiani and Deputy Defence Minister of Uzbekistan on international relations Rustam Niyazov. Speaking at the ceremony, Persian highly appraised perspectives of cooperation in military sphere between two states. Niyazov, in his turn, thanked Italian colleagues for assistance in technical re-equipment of Uzbekistan´s Army and expressed confidence that interaction between military bodies of Uzbekistan and Italy would develop further.
Georgian President Inspects Interior Ministry Troops
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, March 2: Mikheil Saakashvili conducted an unscheduled inspection late on 2 March of two units of the Interior Ministry special forces, Georgian media reported the following day. Praising the units` combat readiness, Saakashvili said the armed forces must at all times be ready to be deployed anywhere within the country at one hour`s notice. At the same time, he said no concrete military action is being prepared.
Armenian Defence Ministry Denies Rumours Of Reservist Call Up
Radio Free Europe
Yerevan, March 2: Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian denied on 2 March rumors that a short-term mobilization of army reservists is imminent, RFE/RL`s Yerevan bureau reported. Some reservists have recently been ordered to report for a one-day training exercise later this month. Shahsuvarian explained that reservists are simply being familiarized with the units in which they would serve should mobilization become necessary. Chief military commissioner General Artur Harutiunian similarly denied that any draft or call-up is under way. Neither officer disclosed how many reservists are affected by the ongoing measures.
Georgian Peacekeeper`s Departure For Iraq Again Delayed
Radio Free Europe
Tbilisi, March 2: A contingent of 74 Georgian service personnel -- engineers, sappers, and medical personnel -- flew home to Tbilisi on 2 March after a six-month tour of duty with the international stabilization force in Iraq, Georgian media reported. But a further 217 Georgian service personnel who were supposed to replace them in Tikrit are unable to leave Georgia because of a lack of forms to apply for identification documents, Chief of the General Staff Major General Givi Iukuridze told Caucasus Press on 2 March. Iukuridze said no new date for the peacekeepers` deployment to Iraq has been set. The troops were originally scheduled to leave for Iraq last month, but unnamed Defense Ministry officials said the departure was delayed because the United States had not made transport aircraft available.
Georgian Security Official Again Denies Plan To Invade Adjaria
Radio Free Europe
Tblisi, March 1: National Security Council Secretary Vano Merabishvili again denied on 1 March that Georgian troops are preparing a military intervention in the Adjar Autonomous Republic, Caucasus Press reported. Adjar Supreme Council Chairman Aslan Abashidze claimed last week that such preparations were under way (see `RFE/RL Newsline,` 26 February 2004). On 29 February, Abashidze flew to Moscow where he met on 1 March with Mayor Yurii Luzhkov to discuss economic cooperation. Merabishvili said it would have been `correct and normal` for Abashidze to have informed the central Georgian government of his planned trip to Moscow, but that he had not done so. LF
U.S. Businessmen To See Training Of Georgian Troops
Interfax
Tbilisi, February 29: A team of American businessmen representing the organization Business Executives for National Security (BENS) arrived in Tbilisi on Sunday. The U.S. Embassy to Georgia told Interfax that BENS is a nonpartisan organization uniting senior U.S. business executives, who offer their experience to decision makers in addressing world security and preventing the threat of use of weapons of mass destruction. With BENS`s assistance, the U.S. and a number of former Soviet republics set up nuclear weapons reduction centers. The organization helped conduct successful military reforms and facilitated the painless shutdown of numerous outdated military bases in a number of countries. The embassy said the BENS members arrived in Georgia to study the details of the Train and Equip program of American assistance to the Georgian armed forces, which has been pursued since 2002, and also future plans for military cooperation between the two countries. The businessmen plan to get firsthand information about the general political and economic situation in Georgia and problems existing in the country.
Tbilisi On Verge Of Intrusion To Adzharia
Pravda
Moscow, February 28: `This will be a military action meant to punish Adzharia the same way the republics of Abkhazia and Ossetia were punished` A conflict between the authorities of the Adzharia autonomy and Tbilisi has become even more heated: both sides accuse each other of increasing the tension. On Wednesday, Adzharia leader Aslan Abashidze said `Tbilisi was scheming an armed intrusion in Adzharia.` In his words, `this will be a military action meant to punish Adzharia the same way the republics of Abkhazia and Ossetia were punished. The measure will entail more blood and horrors.` Georgian Deputy Minister of State Security Amiran Meskheli told journalists it is not ruled out that a special operation might be conducted in Georgia if necessary. At that, he adds there is no need to conduct this sort of an operation right now. The opposition between Adzharia and Tbilisi got tenser because of the clashes between followers of Aslan Abashidze and the opposition in Batumi on February 19-20. Following the clashes, offices of the movements Our Adzharia, Democratic Adzharia and Kmara were smashed. The movements aim at dismissing of authoritarian Aslan Abashidze. The opposition dated the protests for the visit of Council of Europe Secretary General Walter Schwimmer to Batumi. Main objective of the protests was to let the European delegation see that the present-day leadership of the autonomy is non-democratic. In fact, the opposition succeeded. Walter Schwimmer met not only with Aslan Abashidze, but also with the opposition leaders. Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili being on a visit to the US said after the events in Batumi he absolutely ruled out any large-scale operation in the Adzharia capital. However, he admitted that the Georgia Interior Ministry would conduct special operations to detain some separate groups of people. These groups, as the Georgia president says, terrorize the population, but the Adzharia authorities claim they have nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, it is unlikely that operations started by Georgia`s military structures in Adzharia will not develop into a large-scale special operation.
Uzbek President Calls For Cooperation In Terror Fight
Radio Free Europe
Tashkent, March 3: Uzbek President Islam Karimov opened the Tashkent Antiterrorism Center on 3 March, taking the opportunity to call on the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to share information in the fight against terrorism, Uzbek Television reported. `We have a common goal,` Karimov said. `In order to achieve this goal, there should not be any hesitation or secrets from one another.` The members of the SCO are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan Struggles To Keep Out Al-Qaida
The Moscow Times
Bishkek, March 3: This Central Asian nation hosting U.S. troops is a preferred sanctuary for an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group because of loose border controls and widespread corruption, convicted terrorists said in interrogation records. `Kyrgyzstan has the most favorable conditions to carry out terrorist attacks and for former members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to settle down,` Azizbek Karimov said in court documents. He was sentenced to death last month in neighboring Uzbekistan for involvement in two Kyrgyz bombings that killed eight people. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fought alongside the Taliban and al-Qaida against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in 2001 in Afghanistan. Labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. government, the IMU was blamed for a series of incursions and kidnappings in Central Asia from 1999 to 2001. The group, which seeks to overthrow Uzbekistan`s secular government, is believed to have been seriously weakened by the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Still, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov said last month in Washington that `it is too early to talk about the end of terrorism,` even though the Taliban has been forced from power in Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan is hosting some 1,100 U.S. troops at the main civilian airport near the capital Bishkek, who conduct missions supporting air operations over Afghanistan, some 700 kilometers to the southwest. Last year, the Kyrgyz National Security Service arrested three Kyrgyz nationals allegedly preparing a terrorist attack against the base, and their trial starts Tuesday. An earlier pair of bombing attacks at a Bishkek market in 2002 and a bank in the southern city of Osh in 2003 were tied to the IMU. Along with Karimov, two Uzbek nationals -- Ilkhom Izatulloyev and Assadullo Abdullayev -- were tried in Kyrgyzstan for the bombings and sentenced to death last month. The attackers told authorities they chose those targets because of the high security around their preferred objectives, the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek and a Turkish-owned hotel. Karimov and Izatulloyev were active members of the IMU and allegedly under the direct command of the group`s leaders, Kyrgyz officials say. Both lived in Afghanistan and were trained in camps there between 1999 and 2001, until the U.S.-led war on terror began. Karimov also trained in Chechnya, where the Russian government has been fighting separatists since the 1990s. `In our first days in Chechnya, we studied weapons, tactics and topography. We didn`t have any special instructions on explosives, but we always asked our instructors about how we could make an explosive,` Karimov said in his interrogation, conducted in May by Uzbek authorities, who handed over the transcripts to Kyrgyzstan.
Hizb Ut Tahrir Activist Sentenced In Kazakhstan
Radio Free Europe
Astana, March 3: A Kazakh court sentenced 23-year-old Nurzhan Zhakipov to three years` imprisonment on 2 March for inciting religious hatred and participating in the activities of an unlawful organization, Kazinform reported on 3 March. A native of Shymkent, Zhakipov was arrested with Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets in his possession, and he did not deny that he is a member of the Islamist organization. Curiously, Zhakipov`s father, Tanibergan Zhakipov, reported his son to Kazakhstan`s National Security Committee after he became aware of the younger Zhakipov`s involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir, only to be told that membership of the organization does not violate Kazakh law. The younger Zhakipov was arrested shortly thereafter, however, and his father later charged that his son has been made a `scapegoat.` While Hizb ut-Tahrir itself is not an illegal organization, it lacks registration in Kazakhstan, making any activities it engages in unlawful. Though Kazakh courts have tried a handful of Hizb ut-Tahrir activists, observers said that the Zhakipov case stood out because the defendant had a higher education and was from an urban family.
CIS Religious Leaders Offer Their Govts Help In Fighting Terrorism
Itar-Tass
Moscow, March 3: CIS religious leaders have urged the clerics of all religious denominations to pool their peacekeeping efforts, says the final document of the Second Inter-Religious Forum, which ended in Moscow Wednesday. `Representatives of the religions espoused by the peoples involved in conflicts are always called upon to make resolute and concerted efforts in the regions of persisting tensions or open conflicts,` says the forum`s statement. `The enticements and vices of the new century, so widely propagated as the norms of life, destroy human souls, turning people into mindless consumers of commodities and services,` it says. `Attempts to impose uniform lifestyles, social structures, and civilization models on all the peoples fertilize the soil for extremist ideas,` the statement indicates. . `Participants in the inter-religious forum are confident that there is only one method of avoiding fatal contradictions, and it implies a recognition of the right of nowadays civilization to be multifaceted,` it says. Clerics of the four largest denominations -- Eastern Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism - reaffirm that genuinely God-loving people will never take to the path of terror, while those who become terrorists actually turn away from faith, the statement says.
UNDP Official Hails Uzbekistan`s Position Against Terrorism
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 2: Resident Representative ad interim of the United Nations Development Programme in Uzbekistan Erick De Mul hailed Uzbekistan?s participation in fight against terrorism. Speaking at the meeting with UN staff at the Oriental Studies Institute in Tashkent, the UNDP official noted that the positions of the world community and Uzbekistan in fight against international terrorism were similar. The country`s active participation in solving global problems of humanity is considered positive, Uzbek TV?s Akhborot quoted Erick De Mul as saying. One of the main goals is creation of a nuclear free zone in Central Asia. This is an important initiative of Uzbekistan?s leadership, he added. The meeting participants also discussed the future projects that will be implemented within the framework of the UNDP-Uzbekistan cooperation.
Hizb Ut Tahrir Arrests Continue In Tajikistan
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, March 2: Arrests of suspected Hizb ut-Tahrir activists are continuing in Tajikistan, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 2 March. According to law enforcement authorities, one of the top three figures in Hizb ut-Tahrir`s network in the Kulob region was recently arrested. The man, whose name was not disclosed, is reportedly a native of the Khatlon Oblast and a resident of Dushanbe. He allegedly traveled frequently to Kulob, where he allegedly controlled a party cell, directing the activities of its members and ensuring their loyalty to party principles. Authorities also arrested a middle-school teacher in Temurmalik Rayon and confiscated an unspecified quantity of `anticonstitutional literature.` Three residents of Hamadon Rayon are also being sought. Tajik prosecutors arrested 14 Hizb ut-Tahrir activists on 9 February; other reports have placed the number of activists detained since 9 February as high as 22.
Kyrgyzstan A Terrorist Sanctuary
Associated Press
Bishkek, March 2: This Central Asian nation hosting U.S. troops is a preferred sanctuary for an al-Qaida-linked terrorist group because of loose border controls and widespread corruption, convicted terrorists said in interrogation records examined by The Associated Press. `Kyrgyzstan has the most favorable conditions to carry out terrorist attacks and for former members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to settle down,` Azizbek Karimov said in court documents. He was sentenced to death last month in neighboring Uzbekistan for involvement in two Kyrgyz bombings that killed eight people. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fought alongside the Taliban and al-Qaida against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in 2001 in Afghanistan. Labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. government, the IMU was blamed for a series of incursions and kidnappings in Central Asia from 1999-2001. The group, which seeks to overthrow Uzbekistan`s secular government, is believed to have been seriously weakened by the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Still, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov said last month in Washington that `it is too early to talk about the end of terrorism` even though the Taliban have been forced from power in Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan is hosting some 1,100 U.S. troops at the main civilian airport near the capital Bishkek, who conduct missions supporting air operations over Afghanistan, some 450 miles to the southwest. Last year, the Kyrgyz National Security Service arrested three Kyrgyz nationals allegedly preparing a terrorist attack against the base, and their trial starts Tuesday. An earlier pair of bombing attacks at a Bishkek market in 2002 and a bank in the southern city of Osh in 2003 were tied to the IMU. Along with Karimov, 25, two Uzbek nationals - Ilkhom Izatulloyev, 25, and Assadullo Abdullayev, 24 - were tried in Kyrgyzstan for the bombings and sentenced to death last month. The attackers told authorities they chose those targets because of the high security around their preferred objectives, the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek and a Turkish-owned hotel. Karimov and Izatulloyev were active members of the IMU and allegedly under the direct command of the group`s leaders, Kyrgyz officials say. Both lived in Afghanistan and were trained in camps there in 1999-2001 until the U.S.-led war on terror began. Karimov also trained in Chechnya, where the Russian government has been fighting separatists since the 1990s. `In our first days in Chechnya, we studied weapons, tactics and topography. We didn`t have any special instructions on explosives but we always asked our instructors about how we could make an explosive,` Karimov said in his interrogation, conducted in May by Uzbek authorities, who handed over the transcripts to Kyrgyzstan. The two countries cooperated closely in the investigation, and the documents are signed by Karimov. However, the United Nations has complained of `systematic` torture in Uzbek jails and the judicial system is closely controlled by the government, which could cast doubts on the veracity of the documents. Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who has no relation to the terrorist, has also criticized Kyrgyzstan before for being soft on extremists. In Kyrgyzstan, Izatulloyev and another accused IMU member - Ilimbek Mamatov, a Kyrgyz national who remains a fugitive - allegedly prepared the bombs used in the two attacks. They received the explosives from three Kyrgyz National Guard troops also convicted last month, including Mamatov`s brother. The other two were ordered immediately released, with the judge saying they didn`t know the materials would be used in terrorist attacks. Karimov and Izatulloyev used fake documents when they traveled separately from Afghanistan to Kyrgyzstan in early 2002. In Kyrgyzstan, they both obtained fake passports provided them by Tuokheti Tursun, another fugitive who is an alleged member of a separatist movement in a majority Muslim region of China that borders Kyrgyzstan. Karimov said he was detained by border guard officials when he flew to the country in 2002 with a fake passport, but was released after paying a $100 bribe. Kyrgyzstan has long been criticized by international organizations for its passport system and the low quality of its identity documents, which make it easy to obtain falsified passports. This year, the government is expected to introduce new identity documents. However, Kyrgyzstan also enjoys the reputation of being the most open country in formerly Soviet Central Asia, with less restrictive regulations on foreign visitors and a liberal visa regime. Deputy Interior Minister Keneshbek Diushebayev acknowledged Friday that there was corruption among police officers that might have helped terrorists. But he denied Kyrgyz police were to blame for the bombings. Terrorists `take advantage of our liberal political regime,` Diushebayev told AP. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington was helping Kyrgyzstan with passport reforms to strengthen border security. In his interrogation, Karimov warned terrorists would continue using Kyrgyzstan as a base of operations `if the state does not strengthen its law enforcement bodies and does not heighten control over its people.`
Turkmenistan To Build Liquefied Gas Terminal On Caspian
Itar-Tass
Ashgabat, MArch 5: Turkmenistan will build a terminal on the Caspian for exporting liquefied gas by tankers. A contract to launch the project was signed by Turkmenistan`s state trading corporation Turkmenneftegaz and Iran`s Pars Energy on Friday. A new tank farm at the Kiyanly port having a total capacity of 3,000 tonnes of liquefied gas will be built by August 2005. The project`s costs are estimated at 9 million dollars. Turkmenistan`s Oil and Gas Industry Ministry has said the country last year produced 292,000 tonnes of liquefied gas, of which amount more than a half was exported. By 2005 Turkmenistan plans to build up liquefied gas production to 500,000 tonnes, and by 2020, to two million tonnes.
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Going To Schedule - Operator
Interfax
Tbilisi, March 5: All construction work on the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan is going to schedule, BTC Co. chief executive Michael Townshend told journalists on Friday. Commenting on an announcement by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili about possible obstacles facing the project, and some ecological issues, he said that two thirds of the route in Georgia has already been prepared and we are now welding the pipes. Townshend said that the pipeline route in Georgia was approved two years ago, and that the company does not plan to change anything, especially as a lot has already been done. He said that in general he does not see any obstacles that might lead to delays in Azerbaijan, Georgia or in Turkey. He said that he returned from Turkey on Thursday, where he met with management from Botas - the project`s main construction contractor on Turkish territory. He said that in Turkey there is a slight delay with certain sections of the pipeline and with the construction of four pumping stations. There is currently snow in these areas and the company is waiting for the weather to improve before continuing work.
Turkmenistan Plans To Increase Its Power Plants` Capacity Fourfold By 2020
RIA Novosti
Ashgabat, March 4: In 2020, the capacity of power plants in Turkmenistan will reach 10,000 MW, having increased fourfold, said the republic`s president, Saparmurat Niyazov. On Wednesday he took part in the solemn ceremony of putting into operation of the second energy unit of the Seidinskaya heat and power plant in the country`s east. In Niyazov`s words, over 160 billion manats have been invested in this facility`s construction. Russian equipment for the power plant cost Turkmenistan $32 million. In 2009 and 2017, another two General Electric power units 123 MW each will be mounted on the plant, said the Turkmen president.
Lukoil & PetroKazakhstan To Increase Production From Kumkol Field
Rigzone
Almaty, March 4: The joint venture ZAO Turgai- Petroleum, owned equally by Russia`s Lukoil Overseas and Canada`s PetroKazakhstan Inc, plans to increase oil production 20 per cent in 2004, Lukoil Overseas Service Kazakhstan Director Boris Zilbermints told Interfax. The joint venture is developing the Kumkol field in southern Kazakhstan. Oil production at the field in 2003 amounted to 2.8 million tons, which is 33per cent more than in 2002. The company plans to increase production to 3.4 million tons this year, Zilbermints said. He said that Lukoil has been participating in the development of the Kumkol field since 1995, through Turgai Petroleum. `This was the company`s first project in Kazakhstan and it developed actively over the past years. Tens of new wells have been drilled and equipped and a lot of infrastructure has been built,` the regional director said.
BP Invests $4.1 Bln In Azerbaijan In 2003
Interfax
Baku, March 4: Investment in British Petroleum projects in Azerbaijan, including the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli and Shah Deniz fields and the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, amounted to $4.1 billion in 2003, Azer Zeinalov, director of the BP Baku business center, said at a meeting of the Caspian Integration Business Club on Tuesday. Of this amount, $3.9 billion was spent on orders from subcontractors, including $350 million - from Azerbaijani companies. `Foreign subcontractors that do not operate in Azerbaijan carried out $1.7 billion worth of orders and foreign companies working in the republic - $1.8 billion, of which $800 million was spent in republic and $1 billion - outside Azerbaijan,` Zeinalov said. He said that small and mid-sized Azerbaijani companies carried out $48 million worth of orders, state companies - $116 million, and joint ventures - $191 million. Zeinalov also said that at the moment over 500 companies provide subcontractor services for BP projects, of which over 300 are domestic companies and 200 - foreign companies.
Kazakhstan Soon To Get On Top Three In CIS Gas Drilling & Exports
RIA Novosti
Astana, March 3: Kazakhstan will, by 2010, become one of the three CIS leading countries for gas drilling and exports, announced a government session. Prime Minister Danial Ahmetov had the chair at today`s session, which discussed a draft programme for gas industrial progress, reports the government press service. A development programme for 2004-10 promises to bring Kazakhstan into the number of countries leading the world for proved natural gas deposits, said the conferees. According to experts of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Kazakhstan`s prospected and estimated gas deposits exceed three trillion cubic metres. Yields are expected to increase more than fivefold by 2010 to reach an approximate annual 60 billion cu m.
Kazakhstan To Export 4.5 BCM Of Gas To Azerbaijan In 2004
Dow Jones Newswires
Almaty, March 3: ZAO KazRosGas, a joint venture between Kazakh and Russian natural gas monopolies KazMunaiGaz and OAO Gazprom , Wednesday said it will export around 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Azerbaijan by the end of 2004.KazRosGas started supplying Azerbaijan on Jan. 1, 2004, and has already sold around 1 bcm of gas to the country, a company spokesman said. KazRosGas buys gas primarily from the Karachaganak Petroleum Operating Organization - a consortium led by BG Group PLC (NYSE:BRG - News) - and processes it into refined gas at the Russian refinery in Orenburg. KazRosGas plans to transport around 6 bcm of Kazakh gas to international markets via Russian pipelines in 2004 and plans to increase export volumes to 12 bcm a year in the next few years, the spokesman said.
Impressive GDP Growth In CIS Countries
Kabar Agency
Moscow, March 3: The GDP grew by an average of 8 percent in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in January 2004 compared with January 2003, according to the Intergovernmental Statistical Committee of the CIS. Azerbaijan achieved the largest GDP growth - 9.9 percent, while the GDP grew by only 3.9 percent in Kyrgyzstan. In particular, the GDP grew by 9 percent in Ukraine, by 8.2 percent - in Belarus, by 8.1 percent - in Tajikistan and by 4.4 percent - in Armenia. Russia`s GDP grew 7.9 percent in January 2004, according to the Russian Economy Ministry.
Azerbaijan To Buy 4.5 Bcm Of Kazakh Gas In 2004
Interfax
Almaty, March 2: Azerbaijan will buy 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Kazakhstan through the KazRosGaz joint venture this year, a KazRosGaz source told Interfax. The contract was signed in Almaty on Tuesday. KazRosGaz began supplying gas to Azerbaijan this year, he said. As of today Azerbaijan has imported more than 850 million cubic meters of gas from Kazakhstan. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) buys gas for $52 per 1,000 cubic meters and the contract for this year exceeds 4 billion cubic meters, he said. Because Azerbaijan needs to import about 6 billion cubic meters of gas the sides are in talks on additional supplies.
Kazakhstan Strikes Deal On Caspian Sea Oil
The Washington Times
Almaty, March 1: The government of Kazakhstan and a consortium of six oil companies have ended a dispute that delayed the development of the country`s largest oil field by more than a year. `A new era has begun,` Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov said at a televised press conference in the capital, Astana, after the signing ceremony last week. The Kashagan oil field in the northern Caspian Sea is probably one of the world`s largest untapped deposits, but it is also one of the most difficult to exploit. At a time when global oil consumption continues to rise and experts worry that Saudi Arabia, the biggest exporter, may not be able to sustain its current production levels, analysts have stressed that Kashagan needs to start producing as soon as possible if prices are not to further increase in the next few decades. Representatives of KazMunaiGaz, the state oil regulator, and of Total, Shell, ExxonMobil Corp., Agip, ConocoPhilips and Inpex signed the consortium`s 30-year, $30 billion development plan. The deposit, located in the ecologically sensitive shallows of the northern Caspian Sea, presents extraordinary challenges, which is why it was passed over by Soviet oilmen in favor of easier deposits in Russia and Azerbaijan. The oil lies deep, laced with poisonous hydrogen sulfide, and under very high pressure. Also, the northern Caspian is covered in drifting ice in winter, which necessitated the construction of artificial islands instead of drilling platforms. `No other field presents so many problems in one place,` said a veteran oilman working on Kashagan. As a result of these difficulties, the consortium presented a development plan in December 2002 that provided for the first commercial oil to start flowing in 2006, a year later than President Nursultan Nazarbayev had earlier demanded. The consortium offered to pay a bonus of $100 million as compensation for the delay, but otherwise insisted it had made `all reasonable efforts` to meet the deadline. But the government, calling the delay a major contract violation, demanded a fine of several hundred million dollars, which the consortium refused to pay. The talks dragged on for more than a year as work on the project slowed down. The plan finally agreed on Wednesday is more flexible on dates and provides for the first commercial oil to flow in early 2008, according to the oil companies. The amount of the fine itself has not been disclosed, but sources familiar with the talks said it was around $150 million. Under the plan, production will grow from 400,000 barrels a day in 2010 to 1.2 million barrels a day by 2018, or about as much as the entire production of such countries as Indonesia, Libya or Algeria. By then, together with other fields developed by Western oil companies, the sparsely populated former Soviet republic is expected to produce 3.2 million barrels a day, making it one of the world`s top five exporters. Currently, Kazakhstan produces just over 1 million barrels a day, which has helped the economy to reach an annual growth rate of 9 percent.
Uzbek Government Denies Allegation It Has Taxed Income Relief Money
RIA Novosti
Tashkent, March 1: Vladimir Norov, First Deputy Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, has denied allegations from a number of German charities that, according to a resolution issued by the Uzbek Cabinet of Ministers on February 4, as much as forty percent of relief money sent by Germany to the needy of this Central Asian republic will now be taken away by the government in tax revenue. Under UN Security Council Resolutions 1455 (2003) and 1526, adopted on January 30, 2004, all states and regional organizations shall facilitate the fulfillment of anti-terrorist commitments and take timely steps to guarantee transparency of monetary flows across borders, making sure that national legislation allows the implementation of preventive measures vis-a-vis individuals and organizations involved in terrorism-related activities in areas under their (i.e., states`) jurisdiction, Norov said at a press conference in the Justice Ministry Monday.
Uzbekistan Sees Inflation Of 3.8per cent In 2003
Interfax
Tashkent, February 29: Inflation in Uzbekistan was 3.8per cent in 2003, compared with 21.6per cent in 2002, the State Statistics Committee reported. Inflation plunged largely due to a drop in food prices of 2.2per cent in the year. Nonfood goods went up 8.5per cent and service charges increased 26.7per cent. Inflation was 1.9per cent in December 2003. Food prices went up 2.1per cent (1.6per cent in November), nonfood prices grew 1.3per cent (0.5per cent), and service charges rose 2per cent (0.4per cent). The 2004 budget predicts inflation of 6per cent-8per cent. The government forecast 2003 inflation at 12per cent.
Intl. Firms To Audit Turkmenistan Gas Reserves
Interfax
Ashgabat, February 29: Turkmenistan will hire De Golyer & MacNaughton of the United States and Britain`s Gaffney, Cline & Associates Ltd. to audit natural gas reserves in the country`s southeast with a view to enabling it to boost gas exports and honor existing gas supply deals. The Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources Ministry told Interfax it would sign contracts worth $393,000 and $740,000 with the respective auditors. State-owned gas producer Turkmengaz will finance the contracts with receipts from gas and gas condensate sales that are entered into the State Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources Development Fund. The audit will be performed at fields under development, fields prepared for development and other explored sites. Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov signed the authorization for the contracts to be signed `in order to increase exports of natural gas to the international markets, to ensure that supplies are not disrupted and that existing contracts for the sale of natural gas are honored and to implement projects for the construction of new pipelines,` the Oil and Gas Ministry said.
The Russian Bear And Its Former Territories
The Washington Times
Washington DC, March 5: The Russian bear is growling as Americans and Europeans bolster their commercial and strategic role in the Baltics, Caucasus and Central Asia. Given Russia`s stiffened resolve to defend its interests in its neighborhood, U.S. and European policy-makers should think about when and when not to challenge Moscow. Russia recently announced its rejection of the terms of the Conventional Armed Forces Treaty. The treaty was updated in 1999, aimed to establish parity in the conventional forces that the world`s military powers could deploy in Europe. Under the treaty, Russia is obligated to remove its bases from Georgia and Moldova. Though Russia never ratified the treaty, its repudiation of the treaty is new. But it appears that Russia is trying to have it both ways. While it has rejected the restraints of the treaty on itself, it wants its tenets to apply to the Baltic states that will be joining NATO next month. Such a move would impose limits on NATO`s movements in and deployments of weapons to these states. Russia surely wants to strike a deal with NATO on the Baltics and the Caucasus, but there is also that nagging question of what Georgia itself wants. Russia and Georgia have two very different ideas about what the time frame for dismantling Russian bases should be. If Russia and Georgia are unable to reach a deal in a reasonable period, the United States and Europe should lean on Russia to settle the matter. Still, the Bush administration should continue to refrain from vilifying Russia for pursuing its interests.
Georgia And Azerbaijan Build On Pipeline Ties With Saakashvili Visit
Agence France-Presse
Baku, March 5: Georgia`s President Mikhail Saakashvili met with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during a visit designed to reinforce friendly ties between the two neighbours and partners in a strategic oil pipeline project. Good relations between the two nations are seen as crucial to the multi-billion-dollar (euro) Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which will export crude from the landlocked Caspian Sea, across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, to world markets. It was the first time the leaders of the two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus had met. Both men came to power within the past six months, Saakashvili in a bloodless revolt and Aliyev when he succeeded his father as president. `A new generation has come along and there is a new energy in our relations,` Saakashvili told reporters after talks with Aliyev in the Azeri capital, Baku. `There is no alternative to our cooperation and brotherly relations,` added Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer who at 36 is the youngest elected head of state in Europe.
Kyrgyz President Wishes Putin Election Victory
Radio Free Europe
Bishkek, MArch 4: Askar Akaev wished his Russian counterpart a second term in office on 4 March, akipress.org reported. Speaking in Bishkek at the International Congress on the Russian Language in the CIS, Akaev addressed the topic of Russia`s 14 March presidential election. `We are sure that Russian citizens will actively support their president, who has been recognized the world over as an outstanding statesman,` Akaev said. `We wish him victory in the elections and great deeds in the future.` Akaev also forecast a bright future for Kyrgyz-Russian relations.
Islam Karimov Visits SCO RATS Executive Committee
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 4: President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has urged to use the capabilities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in fight against terrorism at their full capacity during a visit to the new office of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent. `Fight against terrorism has become quite a popular subject in the international policy. However, in some cases, attention to this issue is drawn purely for the sake of some alleged authority. Meanwhile, the fight against terrorism must be acted upon and not simply talked about`, Islam Karimov noted. `The main appropriation of the structure is to collect the necessary information, which may be used by representatives of SCO member-states. As in any other sphere, each country pursues its own unique policy in fighting terrorism. However, positive result may be reached only through close collaboration,` the President said.
Our Man in Tashkent
The Washington Post
Washington DC., March 4: LAST WEEK President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan abruptly released one of the more than 5,300 political prisoners held by his government, a 62-year-old woman named Fatima Mukadirova, who had been arrested for exposing the gruesome death of her son by torture. This week Mr. Karimov`s functionaries summoned representatives of local civil society and human rights groups to say that an onerous new registration requirement would be postponed for a month. With such tiny gestures the leader of Central Asia`s most populous country seeks to sway one of the most important decisions the Bush administration will make this year about its alliances in the war on terrorism. Though his tokenism could not be more transparent, the dictator`s chances of succeeding look better than they should. Since 2001, Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic bordering Afghanistan, has hosted U.S. planes and troops and received substantial U.S. military and economic aid. Mr. Karimov, a former Soviet Politburo member who proposed and signed a "strategic partnership" agreement with the Bush administration two years ago, hopes for a long-term basing arrangement. The Pentagon is considering just such a deal; Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld visited Tashkent last week and lauded "the wonderful cooperation we`ve received from the government of Uzbekistan." There`s one hitch: The partnership deal Mr. Karimov signed promised a far-reaching democratic transformation, including multiparty elections, a free press and an independent judiciary. Not only has Uzbekistan implemented none of those reforms, it hasn`t even stopped torturing prisoners. Ms. Mukadirova`s son died after prison guards pulled out his fingernails and plunged his body into boiling water. The Bush administration has often vowed not to repeat the Cold War mistake of embracing useful dictators while ignoring their domestic policies, especially in Muslim states such as Uzbekistan. To keep the administration honest, Congress passed legislation last year requiring that all aid to Uzbekistan -- $57.5 million this year, including $11.6 million in military funds -- be contingent on a State Department certification that Uzbekistan is making "substantial and continuing progress" in implementing its commitments under the strategic partnership. So far there`s been no certification: On the contrary, the State Department`s annual human rights report, issued last week, concluded that "Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with limited civil rights" that continues to repress freedom of religion and the press as well as opposition political parties. The department, however, hasn`t yet denied Uzbekistan`s certification. Instead, a decision has been pushed back to late spring.
Uzbek, Ukrainians Presidents Discuss Cooperation Ties
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 4: Uzbek President Islam Karimov had a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma on 4 March. The sides considered issues of bilaterial cooperation, in particular in economic sphere, as well as implementation of agreements, reached in earlier meetings.
Saakashvili Favours Creation Of Azeri-Georgian Economic Union
Itar-Tass
Baku, March 4: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili favoured the creation of a common economic space between Azerbaijan and Georgia. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday after the talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilkham Aliyev, Saakashvili said, `Georgia and Azerbaijan will strengthen bilateral cooperation.` The two countries `will create a common tariff system, synchronise the tax policy and remove all customs barriers in order to implement joint projects,` the Georgian president said. Saakashvili said he is hopeful, `The common Georgian-Azerbaijani market will become a common economic space in the South Caucasian region.`
Iran, Tajikistan To Join Hands Against Shared Danger: President Khatami
RIA Novosti
Tehran, March 4: Iran and Tajikistan can establish a mutually beneficial alliance against shared threats on the basis of reciprocal respect and confidence, said President Mohammad Khatami, while in conference with Heirolladdin Abdulkarimov, Tajik Security Minister, now on visit to Teheran. The President made an emphatic reference to regional terrorist and drug dangers, and stressed that it was necessary to regain stability in Afghanistan if those evils were to be fought down. He does not think drug traffic affects any other country so badly as Iran and Tajikistan, which are on Afghan traffickers` west and north routes. The central Afghan government in Kabul needs assistance to get stronger and put an end to the disaster, he stressed, adding that Iran and Tajikistan would both benefit from regional partnership in many fields, report Iranian presidential administration PR.
Uzbek, Ukrainians Presidents Discuss Cooperation Ties
Kabar Agency
Tashkent, March 4: Uzbek President Islam Karimov had a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma on 4 March. The sides considered issues of bilaterial cooperation, in particular in economic sphere, as well as implementation of agreements, reached in earlier meetings.
China, Kazakhstan To Intensify Pipeline Construction
Interfax
Almaty, March 4: China and Kazakhstan will step up construction of the Atasu-Alashankou-Dushanzi oil pipeline, a Chinese source told Interfax on condition of anonymity. `The construction of the 449-kilometer pipeline sector between Atyrau and Keniyak was mostly completed in 2002. The construction of the pipeline`s second phase, about 1,300 kilometers between Atasu and Alashankou, will start in June 2004. It is planned to reconstruct the 500-kilometer section between Kenkiyak and Atasu, which has a low capacity,` the source said. China`s CNPC Corporation and KazMunaiGaz of Kazakhstan are building the pipeline. They have not disclosed how much has been invested in the project. It is only known that the pipeline`s second phase will cost $850 million. The source could not confirm if this sum includes the reconstruction of the Kenkiyak-Atasu pipe. The pipeline is very important for China, which is need of crude oil. Up to 10 million tonnes of oil will be supplied to China annually through the pipeline, and the pipeline capacity will double in the future, the source said. `Blueprints of the pipeline`s second phase will be added to the documents China and Kazakhstan are to sign during a visit to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to China in May 2004. This will give the project an interstate status,` the source said. China expects the construction to proceed quickly. The reconstruction of an oil refinery in Dushanzi, the pipeline`s destination point, has already begun. There have been certain problems in estimating the amount of investments, the source said.
Azerbaijan Strategic Partner Of Georgia - Saakashvili
Interfax
Baku, March 4: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who arrived in Baku on Thursday morning, said he intends to discuss the entire range of relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia during his visit. Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev welcomed Saakashvili at the airport. `My visit to Baku after my trips to Washington and Moscow reflects the significance Georgia attributes to relations with Azerbaijan,` Saakashvili told the press at the airport. `This shows that Azerbaijan is a close and strategic partner of Georgia.` This is Saakashvili`s first official visit to Azerbaijan.
Niyazov Values Good Relations
IRIB News
Ashgabat, March 3: Turkmenistan values its good neighborly relations with Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, President Saparmurat Niyazov said in his speech to the leadership of the defense ministry and law enforcement agencies on Tuesday. The president called on them `to be vigilant` and specified that he had in mind not only the military but also the border troops, prosecutors and the ministry of justice. The president explained the call for vigilance by citing the example of illegal circulation in the country of a historical novel written by Turkmen writer Rakhim Yesenov. The novel, the crown-bearing vagabond, is about the fate of Bairam-Khan, a philosopher, poet and warlord known in the East in the middle centuries. The book was published in the Moscow region. To the president`s mind, the novel presents a wrong interpretation of historical facts and can be misused by those who are interested in fanning tribal strife in Turkmenistan, in weakening the state and undermining its friendly relations with its neighbors.
Poland, Kazakhstan, Ukraine Ask Russian Customs Officers For Green Channel
RIA Novosti
Moscow, March 3: Poland, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have asked the Russian Customs Committee (GTK) for introducing the green channel on the borders with Russia, GTK deputy head Leonid Lozbenko said at a meeting with businessmen in Moscow. `It is no easy job because borders with these countries are not well-organised`, Lozbenko commented on the request. He recalled that the green channel operates an accelerated procedure of passing cargoes through the customs posts on the crossing points to Russia. Cargo information from companies arrives to foreign customs houses after which in electronic form it goes to the central research computer centre of the Russian State Customs Committee to be processed by the risk analysis system. After that, the cargo resolution is within minutes sent to the customs post through which the company is going to bring the cargo to Russia. On the condition of openness and transparency of the information provided by foreign companies, the time of passing commodities through the customs points is 1.5 minutes, Leonid Lozbenko said.
ADB To Facilitate Cooperation Between Central & South Asia
Kabar Agency
Bishkek, March 3: ADB will help facilitate subregional cooperation between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asian and other countries through a technical assistance (TA) grant of US$600,000. The TA will provide opportunities for cooperative dialogue between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and their neighbours in Central Asia, and help them identify and prioritise projects or programmes for subregional cooperation, focusing on the transport and trade sectors. `Aside from the economic benefits of regional cooperation, dialogue and sustained cooperation among neighboring countries builds interdependence and mutual trust,` says Richard Vokes, Director of the South Asia Regional Department´s Operations Coordination Division. `Regional cooperation is vital in maintaining peace and security, which are necessary for sustained economic growth and development.` The opportunity for economic cooperation among South and Central Asian countries was opened up by recent progress towards peace in Afghanistan. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan offers the possibility of a southern route from these countries to the Arabian Sea. The TA builds on the findings of two small-scale TA grants that assessed Afghanistan´s and Pakistan´s potential for regional economic cooperation, and on the results of the ADB-hosted first Central and South Asia Transport and Trade Forum (CSATTF) Ministerial Conference, held in Manila in August 2003 and attended by Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran as an observer. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan needs regional economic ties with neighbours for its economic and social development. In addition, Pakistan, Afghanistan´s main trading partner, provides a shorter route to the Karachi port and the newly developing port in Gwadar for Central Asian countries. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, which all share borders with Afghanistan, are also interested in cooperation with their southern neighbours - Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran - to gain access to seaports for their produce. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are active participants in ADB´s Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) programme. While Turkmenistan did not attend the first Ministerial Conference, it expressed its intention to attend the second Ministerial Conference scheduled in May 2004. Iran, while not a member of ADB, showed a keen interest in subregional economic cooperation during the CSATTF Ministerial Conference.
Corruption Obstructs Foreign Investment In Tajikistan - U.S. Diplomat
Interfax
Dushanbe, March 3: Foreign businessmen won`t be willing to invest in the Tajik economy as long as the country does not resolve the problem of corruption and offer appropriate guarantees to investors, U.S. Ambassador to Dushanbe Richard Hoagland said. Even though legislation to attract foreign investment exists, there are no conditions for them, he told a Wednesday news conference in Dushanbe. As long as Western businessmen are not sure that their interests can be protected in local courts, they will not invest in the Tajik economy, he added. He also said he was concerned about corruption and said such things don`t attract Western businessmen. As an example, Hoagland said two companies from different countries planned to build a modern world class hotel in Dushanbe but later dropped their plans because officials tried to extort bribes from them for construction permits. Asked by Interfax about economic cooperation between the United States and Tajikistan, the ambassador said that his country won`t be investing in major projects such as the completion of the Rogun hydro power station but will pay more attention to promoting small private businesses.
President Khatami Receives Tajik Security Minister
IRNA
Tehran, March 3: Visiting Tajikistan`s Minister of Security Khayriddin Abdulrahimov here on Wednesday called on President Mohammad Khatami to discuss matters of mutual concern. A report released by the Presidential Office media department said that the president referred to the background of historical, cultural and geographical relations between the two countries and their firm determination to achieve development and promote security. He hoped that expediting implementation of various economic projects such as those to establish a power plant and constructing a road linking Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan would further expand bilateral relations. `The two countries can tackle joint threats through mutual respect and trust in one another, while bolstering cooperation,` he added. Turning to the destructive impacts of terrorism and drugs on the region, he reiterated the need to promote stability in Afghanistan. The chief executive said that Iran and Tajikistan are the two states most heavily suffering from the consequences brought about by narcotics smuggled into the region and called for strengthening Afghan central government to ward off such a calamity. President Khatami stressed that further regional collaboration would be in the interests of the two countries.
Kazakhstan Confirms Interest In Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline
Interfax
Astana, March 3: Kazakhstan has confirmed its interest in the use of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline currently being built as an alternative route for exporting Kazakh oil. `We understand the exclusive importance [of the pipeline] for both the foreign and domestic policy of Azerbaijan itself. It is very important for us as an alternative for exporting our energy resources to the foreign market. I am sure Kazakh oil will be sent via this pipeline,` Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Astana on Monday. At the initial phase of hydrocarbon production on the Kazakh shelf of the Caspian Sea, oil could be transported on tankers across the Caspian, Nazarbayev said. After production on Kazakhstan`s shelf of the Caspian increases to 20 million tonnes a year or more, `it would probably make sense to think about the pipeline,` Nazarbayev said.
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan To Start Border Demarcation In April
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 2: Tashkent hosted the second session of joint Uzbek-Kazakh demarcation commission on 23-27 February, Uzbek Foreign Ministry told UzReport.com. The delegations of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan adopted the Plan on demarcation, as well as agreed to start field works in April 2004 on marking the Uzbek-Kazakh state border with border signs, which was also approved by the governments of both countries. The Foreign ministry noted that the session on Uzbek-Kazakh border demarcation had been held in a constructive and friendly atmosphere. `The joint session of Uzbek-Kazakh demarcation commission, which was constructive and friendly, once more proved that the Uzbek-Kazakh state border is the border of friendship, peace and good neighbourhood,` the Foreign Ministry`s statement said. To date Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed two agreements on demarcation of borders - the agreement on Uzbek-Kazakh state border was signed on 16 November 2001 and the agreement on separate areas of Uzbek-Kazakh state border was inked on 9 September 2002.
Uzbekistan And UN: 12 Years Of Cooperation
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 2: National flag of sovereign Uzbekistan was raised in front of the UN building on 2 March 1992. Starting from this moment, Uzbekistan joined the United Nations` Organisation, which, coming to this day, unites 191 states, Jahon reported. The Republic of Uzbekistan closely cooperates with the UN in numerous important issues of modern society, among which are fighting against international terrorism, drugs and organised crime, as well as issues of regional security. The President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, during his speech at the UN, put forward a number of initiatives, which were supported by the world community. Among them were proposals to announce Central Asia as the nuclear-weapon-free zone and to establish the `6+2` group for settling the Afghan conflict, as well as the initiative to establish an international centre for fighting terrorism. In 1993, the UN opened its office in Uzbekistan, which started coordinating the work of international programmes in the fields of environment, privatisation and private sector development, culture and science.
GUUAM Parliamentary Assembly To Hold Constituent Meeting
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 2: The constituent meeting of GUUAM parliamentary assembly will be held in Kiev this spring, RIA Novosti reported quoting Vladimir Litvin, chairman of Ukrainian Supreme Rada. Litvin noted that GUUAM `is inferior because of absence of activity in its work of parliaments of member countries`. GUUAM includes Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova.
Aliyev Wraps Up Visit To Kazakhstan
Radio Free Europe
Baku, March 2: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev ends a two-day visit to Kazakhstan today. Bilateral trade and economic relations were central to the talks.Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev ends a two-day visit to Kazakhstan today after meeting with his counterpart Nursultan Nazarbaev, Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov, and Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev. Both sides signed a declaration of friendship and strategic partnership as well as cooperation agreements on the energy, transport, military, and humanitarian-cultural sectors. After his talks with Nazarbaev, Aliyev told a press conference his visit will serve as a `new milestone` in the development of relations between the two states. `The implementation of energy and transportation projects today will, to a large extent, help ensure a higher level of security and cooperation in the region,` he said. `Of course, the involvement of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan in resolving energy problems, issues, and projects in the Caspian region is a decisive factor in the development of energy resources in the Caspian area.` Nazarbaev agreed that the visit will raise bilateral relations to a new level, stressing there are no obstacles, either political or economic, to a heightened partnership. Concerning oil and gas cooperation, he said: `We have agreed to expand our relations in three directions. First of all, [in] the oil and gas field. The Azerbaijani side has a wide experience in the field, it has facilities for the production of oil and gas equipment, it has specialists, and we can work together to achieve greater success and exchange our experience and equipment.` Nazarbaev underlined that the development of energy transport will make it possible for Kazakhstan to obtain access to world markets via the Caucasus. He also supported the project to build the 1,760-kilometer Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which is to link Azerbaijan`s offshore Caspian oil fields with the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan via Georgia. `The second area [of cooperation] is transportation,` Nazarbaev said. `We can develop a transportation system between Aqtau and Baku that will allow Kazakhstan to get an alternative outlet, via the Caucasus, to the world market. This is a railway transport project, but the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is also of huge interest to us.` Kazakhstan transported 3 million tons of oil in 2003 -- almost one-third more than in 2002 -- across Azerbaijan. The oil is delivered by tankers from Kazakhstan`s Caspian Sea coast to Baku and then transported by railway to Georgia`s Black Sea coast. The Kazakh and Azerbaijani defense ministers also signed an agreement on military cooperation. Interfax cited the Kazakh defense minister, army General Mukhtar Altynbaev, as saying this document creates a basis for deepening cooperation between the two states as part of NATO`s Partnership for Peace program. Altynbaev noted that the agreement also envisages closer military and technical partnership between the two states` navies in the Caspian Sea, including the exchange of expertise in training military personnel. Both countries have naval schools. The two presidents also confirmed they would stick to bilateral agreements on the contentious issue of the Caspian Sea`s legal status, which has been in limbo since the 1991 Soviet breakup.
Turkmen President Denies Dispute With Neighbouring States
Radio Free Europe
Ashgabat, March 2: Speaking at a ceremony in Ashgabat on 2 March to inaugurate the new premises of the Military Institute, Saparmurat Niyazov said Turkmenistan has no disputes with its neighbors and that `attempts to set Turkmenistan and neighboring Uzbekistan, Iran, and Afghanistan against each other will end in failure,` Interfax reported. In June 2003, Niyazov ordered increased controls at border crossings with Iran and Afghanistan and restrictions on the number of citizens of those countries allowed to enter Turkmenistan.
Kingdom, Kazakhstan To Boost Cooperation
Arab News
Riyadh, March 2: The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan yesterday discussed ways of boosting cooperation between their two countries. Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev reviewed `developments on the Islamic and international scenes... as well as ways of enhancing cooperation between the two countries in all domains,` the Saudi Press Agency said. The crown prince and other high-ranking officials welcomed Nazarbayev on arrival at Riyadh Air Base for a visit lasting several days. The Kazakh president is accompanied by a 50-strong delegation that includes Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokayev. Kazakhstan, which boasts three huge oil fields in and around the Caspian Sea, is becoming a major exporter. The Central Asian country`s oil fields are gradually being developed to supply the international market, with US firms such as ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil playing a prominent role. Prince Abdullah awarded Nazarbayev the Kingdom`s top medal - Qiladat Badr Al-Kubra - reserved for `top leaders of the Islamic nation` and received Kazakhstan`s top award. The visit coincides with meetings of a joint economic commission in Riyadh. The two countries agreed to form five working committees to boost cooperation in commercial, economic, educational, cultural, information, youth, sports and technical fields. The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Hashim Yamani and Teymur Khan Hanibitouv, governor of Astana City in the former Soviet republic, according to Kazakh diplomats. Dr. Yamani highlighted the existing fraternal relations between the Kingdom and Kazakhstan. He underscored the importance of exploring all means of enhancing trade exchanges between the two countries. Hanibitouv said the Kingdom was Kazakhstan`s most important strategic partner. He highlighted his country`s plans to develop national industries, agriculture and infrastructure projects and urged Saudi businesses to contribute to its development.
Kazakh PM Orders Start Of China Pipeline This Year
Interfax
Astana, March 2: Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov has told the government and national oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz to begin building a section of the Atasu - Alashankou - Dushanszi oil pipeline from western Kazakhstan to China this year. The project was discussed Tuesday at a government session, according to Akhmetov`s press service. `Considering the need to diversify Kazakh oil exports and integrate the pipeline systems of Kazakhstan, Russia, and China, Akhmetov has told the ministries and KazMunaiGaz to draw up documents as soon as possible to begin building the pipeline this year,` according to the press release.
Turkmenistan To Supply 600 Mln Kwh Of Electricity To Turkey
Interfax
Ashgabat, March 2: President of Turkmenistan Saparmurad Niyazov and Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler have signed a protocol under which Turkmenistan will supply 600 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year to Turkey starting in 2004, a source in the presidential administration told Interfax. Turkey also hopes to import natural gas from Turkmenistan, he said. Under an agreement signed in December of last year Turkmenistan agreed to supply 300 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to Turkey each year. Turkmenistan exports electricity to Iran and Turkey using the power line from Balkanabat in Turkmenistan through Gonbad and Khoi in Iran to Baskale in Turkey.
Tbilisi Concerned About Ajarian Leader`s Uncoordinated Visit To Moscow
Interfax
Tbilisi, March 2: Georgian National Security Council Secretary Vano Merabishvili has called Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze`s visit to Moscow `abnormal.` Abashidze did not inform the Georgian authorities of his visit. `In this case, he could have at least informed the Georgian authorities of the visit,` Merabishvili said. He strongly denied all of Abashidze`s statements about the intent of the Georgian central authorities` to deploy armed forces to Ajaria. `The central authorities do not intend to deploy forces to Ajaria, or any other region,` Merabishvili said. The head of Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze, left Batumy for Moscow last Sunday to meet with mayor Yury Luzhkov.
Georgian President Plans To Visit Azerbaijan
Interfax
Tbilisi, March 2: Georgian president plans to visit Azerbaijan Tbilisi. (Interfax) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili plans to leave for Baku on March 4 on a two-day official visit to Azerbaijan, a Georgian State Chancellery source told Interfax on Wednesday. One of the central subjects for negotiations during the visit will be the continued construction of the Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan oil pipeline, the source said. Saakashvili intends to begin his short stay in Azerbaijan with a visit to the grave of former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev, after which he will meet with President Ilham Aliyev and other top officials. Saakashvili will return to Tbilisi on March 5.
French Ambassador Speaks On Uzbek-French Relations
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 1: The second session of the Intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the French Republic was recently held in Paris. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Uzbekistan Jacques-Andre Costilhes spoke to BVV on the aspects of multilateral relations between the two countries. - I will be glad to speak about this event because I attended it. The session lasted for about two days, but the programme of the visit was very saturated. The commission`s co-chairman, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiev informed participants about the economic situation in Uzbekistan, development of collaboration with international financial institutions and the measures undertaken in the country on improvement of investment climate. The French side appreciated the aspiration of the Uzbek government to continue economic reforms, in particular, in the spheres of liberalisation of trade, banking and administrative systems, agriculture and privatisation of national enterprises. The sides exchanged opinions on the state and perspectives of bilateral ties, emphasised the necessity to stir up trade, economic and investment cooperation, discussed concrete socioeconomic projects, including those on terms of self-financing with international institutions, agreed upon deepening collaboration among ministries and departments in the field of financial and customs regulation. A joint protocol was signed on the results of the session. The Uzbek delegation also attended a joint business seminar of Uzbek and French entrepreneurs, held in the headquarters of the French Entrepreneurs Movement (Mouvement des Entreprises de France - MEDEF). As to political accompaniment of this event, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of France Renaud Muselier received the head of Uzbek delegation Elyor Ganiev. During the talks Renaud Muselier noted the presence of political and economic conditions for deepening trade and economic and investment cooperation between the two states. Meetings with Francois Loos, French Minister on Foreign Trade, in the Senate, as well as with heads of leading French companies and organisations, such as Dagris, Thales, Airbus and others, were also held within the framework of the visit. All of these happened three months after introduction of convertibility of Uzbek national currency - the soum, which had a very positive effect on the whole visit of the Uzbek delegation. - Two French government officials visited Uzbekistan over the past year; besides, French Minister of Defence, Michele Alliot-Marie, also paid an official visit to our country. - Issues of defence were discussed during that visit. Military Cooperation Committee is working, with its sessions held in Paris and in Tashkent. The programme on teaching French was launched in the Uzbek Armed Forces Academy two years ago; three language laboratories have been opened. Good knowledge of French is mostly important for officers that plan training in higher military schools of France. I believe such contacts have not only military, but also great political value.
Bilateral Agreements Are Basis For Resolving Caspian Problem
Itar-Tass
Astana, March 1: Bilateral agreements of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia for the Caspian division constitute the basis for a comprehensive solution of the problem by all the five littoral states, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said in Astana on Monday. `I believe there exists a very good basis for the comprehensive solution of the matter`, the Azeri president said. He said the existing agreements between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, Russia and Azerbaijan `are based on norms of international law and international practice`. `These bilateral agreements fully cover all the questions that can be reflected also in a multilateral agreement`, he said. No one questions the principle of the Caspian division now, namely the sectoral principle. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan adhered to this view from the start. Other countries joined later.
Nazarbayev, Aliyev Sign Kazakh-Azeri Friendship Declaration
Itar-Tass
Astana, March 1: Presidents of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan Nursultan Nazarbayev and Ilkham Aliyev have signed a bilateral Declaration of friendship and strategic partnership. Aliyev arrived on a two-day state visit to Kazakhstan on Monday. The governments of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan also on Monday signed agreements on cooperation in the military sphere and scientific-technical cooperation. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, said Nazarbayev, `have common tasks and common problems.` `I am certain that this visit will raise our relations to a new level,` he stressed. `There are all prerequisites for this and neither political or economic obstacles,` the Kazakh president said. In the words of Aliyev, `this visit and signed documents will serve as a new landmark in the development of relations between the two states.` The side have signed a long-term program of cooperation in the spheres of culture, science and tourism and the protocol on further development of cooperation in civil aviation. Astana and Baku also signed an agreement on the trade-economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation.
Azeri President To Discuss Kazakhstan`s Joining Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan Project
RIA Novosti
Baku, March 1: President of Azerbaijan Ilkham Aliyev left for Kazakhstan on a two-day official visit on Monday. Before the flight he told journalists that he was going to discuss a wide range of issues. He will hold negotiations on bilateral relations since Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are countries significant for each other. The point at issue will be the situation in the region, cooperation in power engineering and Kazakhstan`s joining the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project. According to Mr. Aliyev, Azerbaijan wants oil of other states to go via its territory so that to become a transit country. He also pointed out that for Kazakhstan, who is going to greatly increase oil output in the future, it is also important to have alternative export routes. A
Coordinating Meeting On Elaboration Of Common Strategy For Implementation UNDAF Held In Bishkek
Kabar Agency
Bishkek, March 1: A coordinating meeting on elaboration of common strategy for implementation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) was held at the UN House in Bishkek. The ways of practical implementation of the cooperation basis of the United Nations with a purpose to successful implementation Millenium Development Goals, Comprehensive Development Framework and National Poverty Reduction Strategy were discussed. Heads of UN Agencies, World Bank, heads of international and non-governmental organizations are attended the meeting, in particular, Head of the Kyrgyz Presidential Administration Toichubek Kasymov, his Deputy Alikbek Jekshenkulov and Vice-Premier Joomart Otorbaev. `This meeting is extremely important on the way of harmonization of efforts of all partners in the field of development within the framework of UNDAF`, - said Jerzy Skuratowicz, UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic. UNDAF for 2005-2010 is a joint document of the Government and the United Nations, which provides a collective, coherent and integrated United Nations System response to national priorities and needs, including the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) and the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF).
US Peace Corps Volunteers To Assists In Re-build Of School
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 29: The community of Ishtihan and United States Peace Corps volunteers will work together to re-build the Lyceum No. 1 of Ishtihan with an all-volunteer labour force. The building phase of the Ishtihan School Project will officially begin with a ground-breaking ceremony that will be held on the grounds of the new school site in the centre of Ishtihan on 5 March 2004. There will be a small ceremony and a few short speeches by involved members of the Ishtihan community as well as local government officials. The project is expected to be completed by next winter with the majority of it construction to occur during the summer months. Currently, the plan is to begin holding classes at the newly built school at the beginning of the next school year. Led by a group of teachers and a dedicated school director, the Ishtihan School Project will build a new school for the children of Ishtihan. The Japanese Embassy`s grant assistance for grassroots projects programme awarded the Ishtihan Lyceum No. 1 a grant in the amount of US$70,759 on 12 September 2003.
Azerbaijan President To Visit Kazakhstan
RIA Novosti
Astana, February 29: President Ilkham Aliyev of Azerbaijan will pay a state visit to Kazakhstan on March 1-2. Mr Aliyev`s visit agenda will be dominated by bilateral relations issues, the Kazakh president`s press office said Sunday. On Monday, Mr Aliyev will meet with the host country`s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The presidents will sign a series of bilateral agreements at the meeting. Apart from that, the Azerbaijani leader will hold a meeting with Kazakh Senate Speaker Oralbai Abdykarimov. On Tuesday, the president will meet with Kazakh Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov and the staff of the Lev Gumilev Eurasian National University, visit the presidential culture center and an independence monument. He will be shown the new Kazakh capital`s development plan, and lay flowers to the monument to the defenders of the fatherland.
Kazakh President Arriving Tomorrow
Arab News
Riyadh, February 29: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is due to arrive for a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia tomorrow at the invitation of the Saudi government. The aim is to boost political and commercial links between the two countries. While here, Nazarbayev will hold talks with Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, and other senior Saudi officials, according to a spokesman from the Kazakhstan Embassy in Riyadh. Talks will focus mainly on political and commercial relations and how the Kingdom can help that Central Asian republic, which stretches from the Chinese border to the Caspian Sea. It has a rich agro-based economy backed by a strong industrial sector as well as huge oil and gas resources. The spokesman said the presidential delegation would be composed of some 50 members including Kazakh Foreign Minister Tokaev Kassymzhomart. On the sidelines of Nazarbayev`s visit, a meeting of a Saudi-Kazakh Joint Commission will also be held with the aim to identify areas of cooperation.
Kazakh Oil Chief Says Too Early To Build Pipeline To Iran
Interfax
Almaty, February 29: The head of Kazakhstan`s national oil company KazMunaiGaz said the time to build an oil pipeline to Iran has not yet come. `As far a transporting oil via the Iran route is concerned, this route is in use today, but it would be premature to talk about building a pipeline,` Uzkabai Karabalin told the local press. `Existing tanker shipments will remain the most realistic way of delivering Kazakh oil [in the Caspian] in the foreseeable future,` Karabalin said. More than a million tonnes of oil were shipped by tanker to the Iranian port of Neka in 2003, he said. Kazakhstan plans to ship up to 2 million tonnes of oil to Neka under its swap deal with Iran in 2004.
Kazakhstan Officially Permits Russian Oil Transit
Interfax
Moscow, February 29: Kazakhstan has officially permitted Russian oil transit from 2004. A source in Kazakh government circles told Interfax that this is covered by a cooperation agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan, signed at the end of 2003. According to the document, the Kazakh side will allow the transit of oil along the routes - Omsk-Pavlodar-Atasu (on the Chinese border), and Omsk-Pavlodar-Shagyr (in south Kazakhstan). In line with the plan for oil transportation from Russia in 2004, a total of 1.41 million tonnes should be transported to Kazakhstan in the first quarter. Of this total, Lukoil will account for 420,500 tonnes, Surgutneftegaz - 255,400 tonnes, Yukos - 264,200 tonnes and Sibneft - 469,900 tonnes. The source said that more than likely most of this would transit through Kazakh territory.
Uzbek FM Pays Three-day Official Visit To Latvia
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, February 28: The delegation of Uzbekistan led by the Foreign Minister Sadyk Safaev paid an official visit to Latvia on the invitation of Latvian Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete on 25-27 February. The Uzbek delegation held negotiations with Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, spokesman of Seim (parliament) Ingrida Udre, Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete, Transport and Communications Minister Roberts Zile, Economics Minister Ivars Gaters and spokesman of Riga Duma Gundar Boyars. The sides discussed issues related to the upcoming visit of President Islam Karimov to Latvia. According to Uzbek Foreign Ministry, the visit will take place in April 2004. While discussing perspectives of the Uzbek-Latvian cooperation, expansion of dialogue between foreign ministries and other issues of mutual interest, the Latvian side hailed the efforts of the Uzbek government in strengthening the country´s independence, and internal and foreign policy. Uzbek and Latvian officials expressed their interest in further expansion of trade and economic relations. They also noted that Latvia´s joining the European Union would expand the volumes of mutual trade turnover. The sides agreed to hold the fourth Uzbek-Latvian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation in September 2004. During the visit, Uzbekistan and Latvia also considered implementation of joint projects in Afghanistan, as well as creation of joint ventures, the Foreign Ministry said. The Latvian side also expressed interest in measures undertaken by Uzbekistan in developing transport communications and readiness to assist in development of issues regarding creation of railway-container transportation systems.
Tukmenistan, UN Sign Five-year Cooperation Programme.
Itar-Tass
Ashgabat, February 28: Turkmenistan and the U.N. has signed a five-year framework cooperation and development programme. The document was signed by Turkmenistan`s Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov and head of the Ashkhabad-based U.N. office Haled Filbi on Saturday. `This is the first long-term document on Turkmenistan`s simultaneous partnership with various U.N. structures, including cooperation in such important social spheres as health protection, education and environment control,` Filbi said at the signing ceremony. `Aims of the 2005-2009 programme are completely in keeping with the basic provisions of Turkmenistan`s social-economic development strategy for the period up to 2020,` Turkmenistan`s Foreign Minister said at the ceremony. The parties also discussed implementation in 2004 of the U.N. projects on people`s private correspondence, children`s vaccination, technical assistance in the organisation of training and know-how activity in statistics, standardisation and environment control.
Turkmenistan: Pressure Mounts For Release Of Journalists
IRIN News
Ankara, March 5: International criticism over the arrest of two Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalists in Turkmenistan continued on Friday, with activists calling for their immediate release. `These men should be freed immediately,` Soria Blatmann, Central Asian researcher for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international advocacy group for journalists, told IRIN from Paris, describing Turkmenistan as having one of the worst press freedom records in the world. `This is one of the worst situations we have even seen.` Her comments follow the arrests of Rakhim Esenov and Ashyrguly Bayryev on 26 February and 1 March respectively, in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, by agents of the Turkmen National Security Ministry (NSM). The activist warned that the risk of the two men being tortured or mistreated was also of concern. `At this stage we are really deeply worried,` she said. Vitaliy Ponomarev, the head of the Central Asia Programme for the Russian Memorial human rights centre, a group closely monitoring events in Turkmenistan, agreed, stating the decision to arrest them had been made by Turkmen President Separmurat Niyazov himself. `He personally signs orders to arrest and actually no official can reconsider this decision until the President orders them to do so,` he told IRIN from Moscow. Asked what needed to be done, however, most placed responsibility clearly at the feet of the international community. `The only solution is pressure from the international community and western countries as well as Russia because Rakhim Esenov is a Russian citizen and a fellow of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation,` Ponomarev maintained. RSF`s Blatmann agreed, calling for greater international action.
Envelope With White Powder Planted In TV Office In Kazakhstan
RIA Novosti
Astana, March 5: An envelope containing white powder, sent by the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation, has been planted on the office of the Art-Studio television channel in Chimkent (a regional centre in the south of Kazakhstan). Called to the site, Emergency Situations Board officers, policemen and physicians inspected the office and seized the envelope. All the three employees having direct contact with the envelope have been hospitalised. They will spend five days in the isolation hospital. None has developed any disease symptoms but the doctors are going to monitor their state of health to rule out infection. The contents of the envelope has been sent to the sanitary-epidemiological inspection. Results of the check will be known several days later. On information of the Kazinform news agency, the enveloped was brought by an unidentified woman, who passed it to the advertising sector. In Chimkent on March 2, a person engaged in the circulation of Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets was sentenced to three years in prison. Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Islamic Freedom Party) was established in 1953 in Jerusalem by Appellation Court judge Takiuddin an-Nabhadi. After his death in December 1977 Palestinian Abdulkarim Zallum, residing in Jordan, became the amir (leader) of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
OSCE Centre In Almaty Hosts Roundtable On Forensic System Advancement
Kabar Agency
Almaty, March 4: The OSCE Centre in Almaty, together with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), is to organize a roundtable in Almaty on 5 and 6 March on the development of a forensic expertise system in Kazakhstan and on prospects for independent forensic expertise advancement. This event will be held jointly with the Kazakhstan Ministry of Justice and the non-governmental organization Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law. `The efforts by Kazakhstan to reform its forensic expertise system in order to improve the observance of rights and freedoms of individuals in criminal and civil proceedings is fully in line with commitments made by Kazakhstan within the framework of the OSCE`, said Ambassador Anton Rupnik, Head of the OSCE Centre in Almaty. The roundtable will contribute to recently launched efforts by Kazakhstan to create a state concept on improving the forensic system to guide future legislative reforms in this field.
Tajik Policemen Die In Duel
Reuters
Dushanbe, March 1: Two policemen died from gunshot wounds after what appears to have been an old-fashioned duel in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, police said Monday. The pair were guarding the mayor`s office late Sunday when they fired at each other. A police official said the motive for the duel was unclear. `As a result of a pistol duel, the two died in a hospital from their wounds,` the police official told Reuters. He said the two were noncommissioned officers, aged 29 and 33.
Deadline Extended For Re-registration Of Foreign NGOs
IRIN News
Ankara, March 1: A government decree requiring all foreign NGOs operating in Uzbekistan to re-register by 1 March has been extended by one month, a government official told IRIN on Monday. `The deadline for re-registration [of foreign NGOs] has been extended for one month because some organisations simply couldn`t technically prepare some documents,` Ilkhom Zakirov, the foreign minister`s press secretary, explained from the capital, Tashkent. According to a statement by the Foreign Ministry the same day, the decision to extend the term to 1 April had been made to provide the necessary conditions, given the presence of some technical problems of (foreign) NGOs related to their paperwork. Earlier this year, the authorities announced that all foreign NGOs operating in the country were supposed to register with the Justice Ministry by 1 March, according to an existing law on foreign NGOs. Previously they used to register with the Foreign Ministry. In 1999 the Uzbek parliament adopted a law which said that international non-governmental, non-commercial organisations, their representative offices and branches operating in the Republic of Uzbekistan should be registered with the Justice Ministry. The Foreign Ministry said that the Justice Ministry`s relevant departments had been instructed to provide any assistance needed by NGOs undergoing the procedure of re-registration, and remove any bureaucratic obstacles, adding that the measure was not aimed at impeding any organisation`s work.
Turkmenistan Bans Beards
Ananova
Ashgabat, February 29: A new law banning men from having unkempt hair has been passed in Turkmenistan. The country`s president Saparmurat Niyazov announced that long hair, beards and moustaches will no longer be allowed. The law was reportedly passed on the grounds that hair gives outsiders the `wrong impression` of the country and is `unhygienic`. It also applies to foreigners and barbers are being set up at airports and border crossings to make sure the new ruling is adhered to. The bizarre law is the latest in a list of strange regulations passed by MPs under pressure from Niyazov, who has been in power since 1985. Other laws include a ban on ballet and a tax on foreigners wanting to marry women from Turkmenistan.
Kazakhstan Vows To Crack Down On Human Trafficking
Radio Free Europe
Astana, February 28: Government officials and representatives of NGOs and international organizations took part in a 28 February seminar on human trafficking organized by Kazakhstan`s Justice Ministry, khabar.kz reported. Participants admitted that they have no data that would give even an approximate idea how serious that problem is in Kazakhstan. Only two criminal cases involving human trafficking in Kazakhstan have ever come to trial.
Tajik Official Downplays Afghan Drug Transit Through Tajikistan
Radio Free Europe
Dushanbe, MArch 4: Tajik Drug Control Agency Director Ghaffor Mirzoev told a 3 March news conference that Afghanistan exports only 15 percent of its drug output through Tajikistan, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 4 March. The comments came at a news conference to present a UN report that cites the Afghan-Tajik border as a major heroin transit point (see `RFE/RL Newsline,` 3 March 2004). According to Mirzoev, 85 percent of Afghanistan`s drug output reaches the outside world through other countries, including Iran, Turkmenistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Mirzoev also noted that 90 percent of the Afghan drug output transported through Tajikistan proceeds on to Russia. According to the International Narcotics Control Board, 9.6 tons of narcotics were confiscated in Tajikistan in 2003, including 5.6 tons of heroin.
UNODC, ICDC Present Report On World Drug Situation
Uzbek Report
Tashkent, March 3: International Committee on Drug Control (ICDC) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) presented a report on drug situation in the world for 2003 on 3 March in Tashkent. The report highlights the connection between the growth of drug use and crime and HIV/AIDS spread; covers use of drug containing medicaments in healthcare; use of precursors and a number of other issues. Kamol Dustmetov, head of the National Centre for Drug Control under the Cabinet of Ministers, noted the growth of drug-related crimes in Uzbekistan. In 2003, 8,893 drug-related crimes were registered against 8,716 in 2002, he said. Tashkent city, Tashkent region, Khorezm region, Ferghana Valley, Samarkand region and Bukhara region accounted for the most cases. Uzbek law-enforcement bodies seized 1,080.5 kg of drugs in 2003, which is 241 kg more than in to 2002. The major part of the drugs (336 kg) was heroin. 1,339 persons were detained during the Black Poppy operation in 2003 for involvement in illegal drug circulation. 940 officials were called for administrative responsibility for non-acceptance of measures against wild drug containing plants. Dustmetov said that, according to Internal Affairs Ministry, Afghanistan was the main drug supplier. The growth of poppy cultivation and opium production was observed last year in this country, he added. According to UNODC, poppy was produced on 80,000 hectares of lands in Afghanistan and 3,600 tonnes of opium were produced. The opium production increased in Afghan provinces bordering Central Asia. The largest share of drugs comes to Uzbekistan via Surkhandarya region, Tashkent region, Samarkand region and Ferghana Valley. 117 foreign citizens were arrested for drug crimes in Uzbekistan last year, of whom 80 were citizens of Tajikistan. Dustmetov added that 118 Uzbeks were detained in Kazakhstan and 11 in Tajikistan for drug trade. Heroin was the mostly used drug, accounting for 60per cent in Uzbekistan. However, intravenous use of heroin has decreased. The number of HIV-infected among intravenous drug users increased two times.
Turkmenistan: Major UN Drug Report Raps Ashgabat For Lack Of Cooperation
IRIN News
Ankara, March 3: Turkmenistan`s lack of cooperation with the international community in its fight against illicit drugs has drawn sharp criticism from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an independent UN body monitoring global drug proliferation. `Turkmenistan is a party to the three main drug control conventions already since 1996,` Herbert Schaepe, Secretary of the INCB Board, told IRIN from Vienna. `As a country in an extremely important geographical location, with more than 700 km of a common border with Afghanistan, we would expect Turkmenistan to fully comply with the provisions of the international drug control treaties and to cooperate closely and actively with other countries, as well as the international drug control organs, including [the] INCB, in the fight against illicit drugs.` Explaining the problem, Ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir, another INCB board member, told IRIN in Ankara that the Board (INCB) had sent two different missions to the country in the years 2003 and 2004 with a view to assisting the authorities in the fulfillment of their obligations. However, Board members received little help from the Turkmen authorities, he claimed, noting that requests for appointments with senior officials had also been declined. `Unfortunately, our efforts to start such a dialogue have not been successful so far,` Schaepe concurred.
Willian Paton: Drugs Trigger Corruption Spreading In Tajikistan
RIA Novosti
Dushanbe, March 3: Drugs have influenced the development of corruption in Tajikistan, UNDP Resident Representative in the Tajik Republic told journalists on Wednesday. In 1999-2003 the UN has allocated 10 million dollars on anti-drug programs in Tajikistan, including 4 million dollars on the activities of the Tajik President`s Drug Control Agency (AKN). The pay-off of this project is 1.5 billion dollars, Paton stressed. `The agency`s work is very successful and donors are willing to continue it in the future,` he said. `Tajikistan does not conceal the amount of seized drugs, however, only 15 per cent of drugs produced in Afghanistan are transited via Tajik territory,` said AKN director, Lieutenant General Gafor Mirzoyev. The main flow of drugs goes via Iran, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, he added. `We don`t want drugs transited via Tajikistan to be a source of terrorists and extremists` financing,` he said. In his words, in 2000-2003 AKN officials exposed and neutralized 82 organized groups consisting of Tajik, Uzbek and Russian citizens. Speaking about cooperation with the Russian State Committee for Trafficking of Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (GKN), Mirzoyev said that an agreement will be signed between the two departments in late March. `After that, AKN will open offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk and GKN in Dushanbe,` he noted. According to AKN deputy director, Major General Rustam Nazarov said that Tajikistan is expecting Afghanistan to sign a memorandum on anti-drug cooperation for a year already. Two AKN communications officers have been working in Kabul since February 18, 2003, he added.
Heroin Shippers Target Tajikistan
Afghan News Network
Kabul, March 3: The United Nations annual report on the illegal drug trade has recorded a huge rise in the heroin trade through Central Asia, especially Tajikistan. Guards along the river that divides Tajikistan from Afghanistan picked up nearly six tonnes of heroin in 2003, 1,000 times more than in 1996, when the first seizures were made. This means that almost all the heroin crossing Central Asia is coming through here in boats, by car and on pack animals - and the amount confiscated is probably just a small fraction of the real trade. The heroin, the UN notes, is also much purer than in recent years, suggesting a more sophisticated and established refining process going on the borderlands on the Afghan side. The producers make heroin from opium, using a chemical called Acetic Anhydride, made in the United States, Mexico and Europe. To stop this chemical getting into Afghanistan, the UN has been working with Afghanistan`s Central Asian neighbours on a blocking plan called Operation Topaz. Tajikistan is helping the UN in Operation Topaz. Only Turkmenistan, of all the Central Asian states, has not joined the programme, even though Acetic Anhydride has been found there, and it does not report at all to the UN drug control board. The UN says it is concerned by the Turkmen position and has urged the government to co-operate as soon as possible.
Tajik Police Seize About 30 Kilograms Of Drugs In Farkhor District
Itar-Tass
Dushanbe, February 29: Police detained a drug trafficker and seized nearly 30 kilograms of heroin in the Farkhor district of Tajikistan, a source at the organised crime department of Tajikistan`s Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass on Sunday. According to the source, police have managed to plug up another channel of drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Russia, seizing this batch of narcotics. All in all, Tajik law enforcement bodies have detained about 300 kilograms of drugs since the beginning of the year.
Kyrgyz Uranium Waste Processing Project Needs Expert Revision - Parliamentary Committee Chairman
Interfax
Bishkek, March 1: The project under which uranium waste would be processed inside Kyrgyzstan needs to be reviewed by experts, Viktor Tolokontsev, chairman of the parliamentary Industry Committee, told Interfax on Monday. `Following a contract signed between the Kara-Balt Mining Plant and a German company, radioactive articles that cannot be processed, such as helmets, gloves and tools, are to be sent to Kyrgyzstan. Consequently, all these things will pile up in the country,` he said. `Plant engineers say the uranium-containing graphite crucibles to be sent from Germany will contain a maximum of 5per cent uranium. They will be processed with an acid and the waste will be moved to dumping grounds,` Tolokontsev said. The interested agencies and independent experts must thoroughly analyze possible negative consequences of the contract, he said.
Turkmen Nurses Devastated By Decree
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Ashgabat, March 5: Turkmenbashi`s decision to replace medical staff with conscripted soldiers has led to at least one reported suicide. The Turkmen president`s decision to lay off around 15,000 nurses and medical orderlies has devastated their families and increased the concerns of the public. At least one of the dismissed nurses has reportedly committed suicide as a result, while desperate sacked workers have taken to picketing healthcare centres, as hospitals are called in the former Soviet republic, demanding their jobs back. President Saparamurat Niazov - who styles himself as Turkmenbashi, or `Leader of the Turkmen` - has been implementing a series of unpopular medical reforms, the most recent of which decreed that the medical staff be removed and replaced with conscripted soldiers. All technical staff, who were not normally given medical duties, have been laid off and replaced with conscripted soldiers - a move which may have saved the authorities a great deal of money, but has frightened the public, who fears that the already poor health service will suffer as a result. The ongoing reforms have not led to an improvement in the service, and the latest move has reduced confidence even further. Medical centre heads told IWPR that from now on, only one nurse would be available to attend two or three medical rooms. But they maintained that they were doing their best to minimise the impact of the cuts by hanging onto the most experienced personnel with the broadest skills.
Troops To Replace Turkmen Medics
Kabar Agency
Ashgabat, March 2: President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan has ordered the dismissal of 15,000 medical workers. It is likely that at least some of the hospital work left behind would now be done by conscript soldiers. The Turkmen leader said the move would reduce state spending on healthcare and the workers will not be replaced. Cheaply-employed conscripts perform a number of jobs in Turkmenistan - from policing traffic on the streets to working in factories. However, it is not clear how much training the soldiers will receive before entering the health service. Cheap labour The cuts come in every department of the health service but some special groups are targeted - nurses, midwives, school health visitors and orderlies. This means that very many of those now redundant are women treating other women and children. President Niyazov says the cuts are part of a restructuring of the health service which is being privatised.
Kazakhs Afraid Of Moscow Tragedy Repetition
RIA Novosti
Astana., February 29: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed the government to organize a target check of the construction quality of public facilities designed to service large numbers of people. The Kazakh president`s press service said Sunday that the check will be carried out in the wake of the recent tragedy in the Moscow water park, when the collapsing roof of a multifunctional entertainment complex built by Turkish builders killed 27 people and injured 40. Earlier, the Kazakh emergencies agency started checking buildings constructed by Turkish companies, which account for some 60per cent of newly built residential houses in Kazakhstan`s capital Astana.
Special FocusCentral Asia: New Report Shoots Down Assumptions About Arms Proliferation
A new report counters preconceptions that Central Asia is a `hotbed of gun proliferation and misuse.` The study uses Kyrgyzstan as a case study and finds that, despite suffering from socio-economic problems and ethnic tensions, there is little evidence that this has led to increasing violence and gun proliferation.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp022804.shtml South Caucasus: Is Any Real Progress Being Made In Tackling Corrpution
Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are required to combat corruption as members of the Council of Europe, but none of them has yet achieved many breakthroughs. All three countries faced various levels of criticism for failing to tackle the issue at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp022904.shtmlSaakashvili Opponents In Georgia Say President Is Using Anti Democratic Methods To Advance Democracy
President Mikheil Saakashvili is facing resistance to his fast-paced attempt at implementing far-reaching political and economic reforms in Georgia. Critics of the president complain that Saakashvili is embracing anti-democratic methods in order to promote democracy.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav030104.shtmlProtests Over Working Conditions Unlikely To Slow Caspian Pipeline
Builders of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline have portrayed the project as the linchpin of socio-economic development in the region. Of late, however, the BTC venture has been hit by worker discontent. Laborers in both Azerbaijan and Georgia have charged that companies involved in the laying of the pipeline are engaging in unfair work-place practices.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/business/articles/eav030104.shtmlWhile Russia Watches, Kazakhstan And Azerbaijan Explore New Ties
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have taken steps to expand bilateral ties, raising hopes in Baku that Astana will be a major exporter via a US-backed trans-Caucasus pipeline. While hailing the pipeline`s potential, Kazakhstani leaders remain reluctant to fully commit themselves to the project. In any event, Astana appears committed to diversifying its energy export options.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/business/articles/eav030304.shtmlPolitical Tension Rises Between Georgian Government And Recalcitrant Region Of Ajaria
With parliamentary elections in Georgia fast approaching, a confrontational mood is building in the country`s recalcitrant region of Ajaria. The regional leader, Aslan Abashidze, remains intent on defending his authority. The central government under President Mikheil Saakashvili appears equally determined to ensure that Ajaria holds fair elections.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav030204.shtmlPolitical Motivation Behind Mosque Closure In Azerbaijan
A Baku court has ordered the eviction of Islamic worshipers from a mosque located in the heart of the capital`s old town. Worshipers are vowing to resist the decision, saying it is politically motivated. The mosque has operated outside the control of state oversight bodies, and its imam is vocal critic of President Ilham Aliyev. Judge Yusif Karimov of Sabayil District Court ruled March 1 that the Juma mosque must close its doors to worshipers.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/rights/articles/eav030204.shtmlTajikistan, Russia Probe Military Partnership
The extradition of a former top Tajik government official to Dushanbe may be related to a battle of wills between Tajikistan and Russia that could determine the fate of Russian armed forces in the Central Asian country. Russia is pressing to establish a military base in Tajikistan to help prevent the further erosion of its regional influence.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav030404.shtmlCorrespondents Arrested, Harrased In Turkmen Crackdown Against RFE/RL
Two RFE/RL correspondents are currently in jail in Turkmenistan, arrested as part of a campaign of harrassment carried out against RFE/RL Turkmen Service members by the Turkmen National Security Ministry (NSM). It is feared that both correspondents will be tortured while in Turkmen custody.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/rights/articles/pp030404.shtmlPolitical Tension Rise Between Georgian Government And Recalcitrant Region Of Ajaria
With parliamentary elections in Georgia fast approaching, a confrontational mood is building in the country`s recalcitrant region of Ajaria. The regional leader, Aslan Abashidze, remains intent on defending his authority. The central government under President Mikheil Saakashvili appears equally determined to ensure that Ajaria holds fair elections.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav030204.shtmlKazakhstan`s Parliament Prepares To Pass Controversial Election Code
Kazakhstan`s parliament is preparing to pass an electoral code that supporters of President Nursultan Nazarbayev portray as proof of their commitment to holding transparent elections. Though the bill contains important concessions to opposition forces, the law, on the whole, appears to safeguard government interests. After sifting through over 600 proposed changes to the electoral code, a joint session of parliament approved the second reading of the revised election law on February 20.
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http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav030504a.shtml
Report Dated 5 March 2004