Astana calling no. 310

ASTANA CALLING

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Kazakhstan

Central Communications Service for the President of Kazakhstan

A WEEKLY ONLINE PUBLICATION / WWW.MFA.GOV.KZ ISSUE NO 310 / FRIDAY, JUNE 28 2013

Parliament Discusses Entrepreneurs’ Chamber New body to protect rights of private business

Interior Ministry Reform Moving Fast Minister outlines road safety issues

Romanian PM arrives in Kazakhstan Strong bilateral trade ties

Opening of Astana Opera House New theater among best in the world

News from the Government in Brief

Also in the News

Both chambers of parliament have been discussing the draft law on creating a National Chamber of Entrepreneurs

Parliament Discusses Entrepreneurs’ Chamber Both the lower and upper houses of parliament in the past week have considered the draft law on the formation of a National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan. The need to create such an organization was identified by President Nazarbayev in December 2012 when he set out his program, “Strategy: Kazakhstan-2050”. The aim is to ensure that the rights and duties of entrepreneurs are enshrined in law.

In the “Strategy”, the President made it clear that he sees entrepreneurship as the driving force in the economy. It is the President’s aim that by the year 2030, the number of small and medium businesses in Kazakhstan will have at least doubled compared to today. This is an essential part of leading society in Kazakhstan away from the idea that the state will solve all of their problems for them, an attitude very much left over from the Soviet period.

The role of the state should be to create the climate for business to develop, encouraging the level of business culture and stimulating initiative. Individuals should be given the opportunity to open their own businesses with the minimum of bureaucracy and state interference. Indeed, state officials who create artificial barriers to the development of private business should be brought to account.

The President identified the tax system as often being a hindrance to small businesses, and has instructed the government to make the necessary changes to the law to make it easier for private business at all levels to flourish. The system of permits and licences requires close examination; those that hinder the development of business without bringing any benefit to society as a whole should be rescinded.

Business itself should be given the responsibility for monitoring quality control, be it in working practices, services or the provision of finished goods. While the consumer has to be protected, too, business must be given the chance to develop.

The answer to these questions, the President believes, is in the creation of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (NCE).

Membership of the NCE will be obligatory for private business, which will ensure that the businesses themselves meet the required standards. But the NCE will also serve as the watchdog, both for quality of work practices and production and for ensuring that state interference is kept to a minimum.

The bill was passed by the Majilis in its second reading on June 19, and sent on to the Senate, who examined it on June 25. The President has instructed parliament to have the NCE formed by the end of this year, which has added urgency to the proceedings.

For the NCE to be brought into being, two laws will have to be passed by parliament. Firstly, the law, “On the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan”; then, to ensure that the NCE will be able to operate as it should, a law will have to be introduced, “On implementing the changes and additions to certain legal acts regarding the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan”.

Once the NCE is established, a national network can be set up for the organization.

“This bill is intended to create the institutional basis for the growth and future development of the business sector in Kazakhstan, consolidating both the actual businesses and organizing their effective cooperation with the relevant state bodies.”

Meyram Pshembayev, Majilis deputy ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 310 / 2

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Kalmukhanbet Kassymov, Minister of Internal Affairs

Interior Ministry Reform Moving Fast The “Strategy: Kazakhstan-2050” program means that every government ministry is examining carefully how it functions, not only to see how more efficient methods can be implemented but also to see whether international practice can be brought in to aid society in Kazakhstan. At a briefing on Monday at the office of the Central Communications Services, Minister of the Interior, Kalmukhanbet Kassymov, outlined plans for reform, including, in particular, changes in the area of road safety.

President Nazarbayev has set the Interior Ministry two aims in particular: to ensure that the standards according to which the Ministry operates meet international standards; and that in its work to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens that the Ministry – and, in its most public face, the police force – earns the trust of the people.

This has already meant that certain functions previously dealt with by the police have now been transferred to other ministries.

Drying-out centres for alcohol-related problems are now administered by the Health Ministry. Questions relating to detaining and rehabilitating children now come under the Education Ministry. Issues relating to criminals that the Justice Ministry previously dealt with are now the remit of the Interior Ministry, including questions of probation and electronic tagging of offenders.

Now the Interior Ministry is turning its attention to the way it handles road traffic issues. It will start by carrying out a road safety audit: an independent assessment of the state of both roads and transport, working on the principle that prevention is better than cure. It is planned also to introduce a more rational system of incorporating transport planning into town planning, both of cities and smaller towns. Town planning departments will refuse to accept any plans which do not include this.

The Ministry is introducing or revising a number of practical rules that drivers will have to be aware of. Traffic fines for minor offences will be halved if paid on the spot or within 24 hours of the offence; or lowered by 30% if paid within seven days. Any driver who is caught three times using his mobile phone while driving will lose his licence for six months.

A possible reform – which is currently being tried out on an experimental basis in Pavlodar Region, and appears to be well received – is amalgamating the functions of the traffic police with those of the ordinary police force. This has the effect of not doubling up resources unnecessarily and also seems to help fulfil the President’s aim of creating greater trust in the police from the public. With this in mind, there are plans to carry out annual public opinion polls, by independent organizations, to assess the level of the people’s trust in the police.

The Minister acknowledged that a crucial area for reform in the Interior Ministry is in the republic-wide use of new technologies, be it for storing information or, on the roads, for video observation. Local operational centers now have cameras situated on roads throughout Kazakhstan. However, Mr Kassymov pointed out that it had taken ten years to put these in place.

“The current law ‘On the bodies of the Interior Ministry’ was passed 18 years ago. Not surprisingly, this law does not always correspond to the times we are now living in. So, in line with the instruction of President Nazarbayev, we have drawn up the new bill. This is currently being looked at in the Majilis.”

Kalmukhanbet Kassymov, Minister of Internal Affairs

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Victor Ponta, Prime Minister of Romania

Romanian PM arrives in Kazakhstan The Romanian Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, arrived in Astana on June 27 for talks with Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov. It was the first time that Mr Ponta or any of his predecessors in the post had visited Kazakhstan, although the Presidents of each country have made official visits on a number of occasions.

Relations between Kazakhstan and Romania have developed on a sound footing since diplomatic relations were established in 1992. The countries have been mutually supportive of each other in international arenas, such as at the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Romania was one of the EU countries to support Astana’s successful bid to hold EXPO-2017.

Trade between Kazakhstan and Romania has been healthy. The turnover in 2012 was over USD 3 billion, with the bulk of that being exports from Kazakhstan to Romania. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan imported over USD 65.5 million worth of goods from Romania.

This showed a rise in total trade of some 30% on 2011, and was more than twice the turnover for 2010.

The main areas of cooperation between the two countries in business are in the energy field; machine-building; metals; transport and logistics; and light industry. There are 13 Romanian-Kazakhstani joint ventures in Romania, engaged in trade; furnituremaking; making clothes and shoes; and medicines. In Kazakhstan there are 32 joint ventures, mainly working in the oil and gas sector. Business relations are particularly strong in Aktau, where there are companies such as Delta Spetsroi in the construction industry; the KazRom trading house; Imsat-Kazakhstan, making electrical equipment; and Energosmart Kazakhstan, an electrical engineering firm.

By far the biggest business venture between Kazakhstan and Romania, though, was completed in July 2009, when the Kazakhstan oil and gas company, KazMunaiGas, completed the total purchase of the Romanian oil company, Rompetrol. (KazMunaiGas had already purchased 75% of the company in 2007.) In fact, this is the biggest foreign acquisition ever made by a company from Kazakhstan. Rompetrol is engaged in oil refining; chemical production; the sale of oil products on markets and to consumers; and trades oil and oil products on world markets. The Rompetrol Group now has 42 judicially recognized companies and is registered in 13 countries. Rompetrol refines over five million tons of oil a year and distributes over seven million tons of oil products.

The Rompetrol Group is currently constructing 350 petrol stations throughout the Balkans, of which 150 are in Romania itself.

In 2008, the Group built and now runs a sea terminal at the port of Constanta on the Black Sea, which exports between 90,000 and 165,000 tons of oil each year. The KazMunaiGas-Rompetrol story is certainly one to bring a smile to the faces of the Prime Ministers of both Kazakhstan and Romania.

“Bucharest attaches strategic significance to its relations with Kazakhstan, describing Kazakhstan as Romania’s main partner in the Central Asian region. Recently, Romania has underlined that it is ready to take on the role of promoting Kazakhstan’s interests in Europe.”

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan

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Opening of Astana Opera House Kazakhstan’s stunning new opera house, “Astana Opera”, was opened by President Nazarbayev on June 21, and was immediately rated as being on a par with the world’s leading opera houses, such as La Scala in Milan, Covent Garden in London or the Bolshoi in Moscow. The impressive building, based on Greco-Roman principles and decorated throughout in the national style of Kazakhstan, represents an international collaboration, being the work of some of the world’s finest architects and designers from Albania, Italy, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Russia and Switzerland.

The building covers a territory of 64,000sq.m., of which 800sq.m. is taken up by the main stage in the great opera hall. This has seating for an audience of 1,250 and the orchestra pit, constructed on three tiers, can hold 120 musicians. Everything in this hall has been installed with acoustics in mind: the parquet flooring is made from beech wood and birch; the cherry panelling inlaid with brass; even the seating, mirrors and decorative moldings fit the acoustics of the hall. Everything which can reflect or absorb sound has been taken into consideration. Even the angle of tilt or rotation of the seating has been calculated to maximize the acoustics.

As well as the main hall, there are two side – or “pocket” – stages, which can also be used to hold scenery during a performance on the main stage. This helps with smooth scene changes and the creation of a seamless production. The building houses a further eleven halls, which can be used either as rehearsal rooms or to stage smaller productions; the chamber hall, for example, can seat an audience of 250.

The opera house has been decorated throughout using Sicilian marble, gold leaf and only the finest wood. The ceilings have been hand-painted by Italian craftsmen, using traditional color combinations in pastel tones.

In his speech opening the opera house, President Nazarbayev described it as, “the largest cathedral of culture in Central Asia”. He added that the period of independence has seen the genuine Renaissance of Kazakhstani culture. There are now 41 organizations at the republican level and 7,000 at the local level engaged in cultural activity. Some 75,000 people work in this sector. Last year alone the state spent over KZT 35.5bn on culture. The President made clear the place he sees for the culture of Kazakhstan: “Today the culture of Kazakhstan should become a part of global cultural heritage. This should encompass all the fields of art: music, theatre, cinema, literature and painting.”

Astana Opera plans to stage two major ballets and two operas each year, as well as smaller productions in the side halls of the theatre. Tickets should be within reach of opera lovers throughout society, ranging in price from eight to 100 US dollars. All opera productions will be put on in their original language. For the very first performance in the Astana Opera, the opera “Birzhan and Sara” was chosen, a classic Kazakh tragic love story. The official world premiere of the opera house will take place on October 21 2013, with the staging of Giuseppe Verdi’s, “Attila”.

“Our aim is to create a wonderful artistic ambience within the theatre. We have the chamber hall which can seat 250 people. This will help the theatre to live its life to the full. On a day-to-day basis, that’s where our artists will be working. I want every single musician in our orchestra to be able to perform as a soloist, enabling each of them to blossom.”

Tolegen Mukhamedzhanov, Director, Astana Opera ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 310 / 5

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News from the Government in Brief President visits East Kazakhstan Region President Nazarbayev made a tour of the East Kazakhstan Region this week. His first visit was to the regional mother and child center and maternity hospital. The President stressed the importance of constantly improving health standards in the country and commented on the decline in mortality for infants and mothers and the increase in life-expectancy which Kazakhstan has experienced in recent years.

In Ust-Kamenogorsk the President visited a creative learning centre for schoolchildren, aimed at broadening children’s education. As a gift, the President presented the centre with a bus. In line with the drive for improving technology and technology transfer in Kazakhstan, President Nazarbayev went on to the “KazakhstanSolarSilicon” plant, where he was shown the latest photovoltaic plates. From here, the President went on to Semey, where he visited the power station. This was built in 1934, but the generators were replaced in 2011-2012. The President told the staff of the power station that he remembered being told on a previous visit to the town that there were problems with energy supply. He hoped that the people of Semey were now satisfied with what had been done for them.

“Performance 2020” Gathers Momentum As of June 20, the “Performance 2020” program, which is designed to modernize technology, industry and managerial practices, had attracted 53 investment projects from 15 regions of Kazakhstan and from eight different industry sectors. These break down into 16 projects in the construction industry; 14 in machine-building; six in agriculture; five chemical projects; four in the pharmaceutical industry; four also in timber processing; three in energy and two in metallurgy. The program was inaugurated in 2011 with the aim of increasing productivity and output of the relevant industries by 1.5 times by 2015 and doubling productivity by 2020.

Civil Servants through the Eyes of Society A new element in the courses for Kazakhstan’s civil servants will be the subject, “State service through the eyes of the media and business”. Introducing the subject, the Chairman of the State Service Agency, Alikhan Baymenov, said that they wanted people going into state service to have an idea from the start how they are looked on by society; how the media, business and the people who will depend upon their services view them. As a way of monitoring civil servants and their work, a social council has been formed, with journalists and business people represented on it. The intention is to create a network of such councils in order to facilitate a dialogue between state officials and civil society. The councils will also interact with individual citizens and non-governmental organizations.

Good News for Sports Fans Kazakhstan is launching its first TV channel devoted entirely to sport. The Minister of Culture and Information, Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed, announced that the “Kazsport” channel will start broadcasting on July 1. It is the first time that Kazakhstan will have had its own sports channel. The channel will broadcast in two languages all of the major sporting events in Kazakhstan and many from abroad. It will also broadcast sports news bulletins and specially commissioned films about sport. The channel will operate for 14 hours a day and will be able to be received by 65% of the population.

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Also in The News…

Singer from Kazakhstan set to wow the world

When American music producer John Steele walked into a nightclub in Almaty, while touring Central Asia scouting for new talent, he didn’t expect to find a singing sensation, PRWEB reports. But it took just one song from Nursi – the stage name of the singer/songwriter Nursulu Shaltayeva – for Steele to realize that he had done just that.

“The way she sang live sounded like how we spend hours in a studio recording someone to get that perfect vocal performance, and the reaction from the crowd was amazing,” said Steele. “I was waiting for Nursi to hit a bad note and it never happened. She just kept building and taking the song to a whole new level and making the hair on your arms stand up.”

Now Steele is set to take Nursi to a whole new level, having signed her to record for him on an allegedly million dollar deal, which will include two solo album releases, a film and a release for Nursi’s group, NG. And even now, right at the start of what could prove to be global fame, Nursi is giving something back. So moved was she by the pictures she saw of the devastation caused by the recent tornado in Oklahoma, that she has recorded a song, “Hero”, written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and is donating all the proceeds to the victims of the disaster. As she said, “If I can give only a small amount of hope and comfort to people with this recording, then I have done my job as a singer. If I can raise money to help the children and families in need, I will be doing my job as a human being.”

(Nursi’s Oklahoma song is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zday5PRNEd4)

• Kazakhstan-Germany meetings in Astana A series of Kazakhstan-Germany meetings has been taking place in Astana in recent days. As well as a routine session of the Inter-governmental Kazakhstan-Germany Working Group on Economics and Trade, the Business Council on KazakhstanGermany Strategic Cooperation has been meeting; as has the Bilateral Committee on improving the qualifications of directors and managers. The German delegations have also been holding meetings separately with a number of Kazakhstani officials. Next week, the Berlin Eurasia Club will meet in Astana, a group formed at the initiative of President Nazarbayev. (mfa.gov.kz) • Kazakhstan-US scientific cooperation agreed The Kazakhstan-American Joint Commission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation has been meeting in Astana this week. The two sides agreed on three priority areas for further cooperation: bio-medical research, such as on infection and chronic diseases; “green chemistry”, which concerns the protection of the environment in the chemical industry; and the protection of the resources of nature whilst developing the economy. (kazinform.kz) ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 310 / 7

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• Kazakhstan and Turkey in customs agreement Kazakhstan and Turkey have agreed to strengthen their cooperation on customs issues. The agreement came as a result of a visit to Astana by a delegation from the Turkish Ministry for Customs and Trade, led by the Minister, Hayati Yazici. (kazinform.kz) • Astana hosts Kazakh language and literature Olympiad The Tenth International Olympiad of Kazakh Language and Literature has been taking place in Astana. Teams of schoolchildren have been taking part from the Kazakh diaspora in Germany, Austria, Holland, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Russia (from Moscow, Omsk and the Altai Region), Hungary, Mongolia and China. Diplomas and certificates will be awarded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan. (kazinform.kz) • Kazakhstan players at Wimbledon There were mixed fortunes for the two women from Kazakhstan competing in the first round of this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships. Yaroslava Shvedova beat her Dutch opponent, Kiki Bertens, 6-4, 6-3; but Galina Voskoboyeva was beaten by the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. (kazinform.kz) • Kazakhstan weight-lifting gold Anna Nurmukhambetova from Kazakhstan won the gold medal at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Astana. Ms Nurmukhambetova lifted a total of 249kg, 114kg in the “snatch” and 135kg in the “jolt”. Earlier, in the men’s events, Farkhat Kharki won the silver medal for Kazakhstan and Yevgeny Yevstafye v the bronze. (zonakz.net)

ASTANA CALLING A WEEKLY ONLINE PUBLICATION / WWW.MFA.GOV.KZ Please send comments and questions to pressa@mfa.kz

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