Astana calling no 331

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 331 / FRIDAY, NOV 22 2013

Foreign Minister visits Budapest, Brussels and London EU visits in the spotlight

20 Years of the Tenge Establishing a national currency was no easy task

A New Chance for Kazakhstan’s Orphans Tolerance is a “Golden Rule” in Kazakhstan

NGO seeks to improve lives of orphaned children

The History of the Turkic and Turgesh Khanates

Multi-ethnic Kazakhstan is a global example

(Part II)

News from the Government in Brief

Also in the News

Historic Kazakhstan

Foreign Minister Idrissov (R) is greeted by Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, Linas Linkevicius (L)

Foreign Minister visits Budapest, Brussels and London Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister, Erlan Idrissov, has been on a three-stop visit to Europe this week, taking in Budapest, Brussels and London.

Mr Idrissov started with a two-day visit to Hungary on November 18-19. The visit began with a meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, where questions of bilateral cooperation in political affairs, trade and culture were the main topics of conversation. The two men also discussed the forthcoming visit to Hungary in 2014 of Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbayev. Mr Orbán was glowing in his praise for Kazakhstan and for relations between the two countries. Describing the people of Kazakhstan as “a brotherly nation”, he said that Hungarians followed closely not only Kazakhstan’s economic, political and social achievements, but that they had cheered on Kazakhstan’s sportsmen and women as they achieved success in last year’s Olympic Games.

Mr Idrissov and Mr Orbán agreed that the most promising areas of economic cooperation between the two countries were in technology transfer, promoting joint projects in both agriculture and in the oil and gas sector, and also in pharmaceuticals, tourism, construction and transport.

On Wednesday, November 20, Mr Idrissov was in Brussels for the 7th Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the European Union-Central Asia (EU-CA) working group. The EU-CA group was set up shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union within the Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) program, which aimed to support the five newly-independent Central Asian states in their economic and social development during the transition period.

In 2007, TACIS was replaced by the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI) with an overall objective of alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable economic and social development. The DCI focuses on development areas such as health, education, social cohesion and employment, which are key areas for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as the promotion of democracy, good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law.

In the same year, the Regional Strategy Paper for Assistance to Central Asia in the period 2007-2013 was published. This singled out for special attention three main areas of intensified policy dialogue and enhanced co-operation: the Rule of Law, Education and the Environment.

Mr Idrissov also used his visit to Brussels to hold two bilateral meetings. He met the Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Linas Linkevičius, as Lithuania currently holds the Chairmanship of the EU and will soon host the EU Summit in Vilnius in December.

Mr Idrissov’s second meeting was with the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs.

“The European Union welcomes Kazakhstan’s ‘green economy’ initiative and our incremental, gradual and measured approach to implementing the concept. The European Union has paid great attention to Strategy ‘Kazakhstan-2050’. Of course, Europe understands that Kazakhstan’s goal of entering the 30 most developed nations not only relates to economic development but to the development of all aspects of life and institutions in Kazakhstan.”

Erlan Idrissov, Minister of Foreign Affairs

ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 2

Back to Contents

From Brussels, the Foreign Minister flew to London for an official visit.

His program began on the morning of Thursday November 21, with a meeting in the Houses of Parliament with the Chairman of the UK Foreign Affairs Committee, Richard Ottaway, before he went on to the Foreign Office for a meeting with the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague.

After addressing the prestigious London think-tank, Chatham House, Mr Idrissov opened the new Embassy of Kazakhstan in London, where he held a meeting with the Senior Minister of State, Baroness Warsi.

Relations between Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom are warm.

Kazakhstan’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has made a number of visits to the UK, the most recent being an informal visit in July this year, when he held talks at 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister, David Cameron. This came just three weeks after Mr Cameron had made the first ever visit to Kazakhstan by a serving British Prime Minister.

Foreign Minister Idrissov and Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor OrbĂĄn

The hub of the Kazakhstan-UK relationship is trade. Trade turnover between the two countries reached USD 2.3bn in 2012, which was nearly 10% up on 2011. And in the first six months of 2013, trade was up again, to about 1.5 times what it was in the first half of 2012. Britain has become the third largest investor into the economy of Kazakhstan, after the Netherlands and the USA, principally in the oil and gas and mining sectors. In almost 20 years from 1993 to 2012 direct British investment into Kazakhstan amounted to USD 11.7bn.

ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 3

Back to Contents

20 Years of the Tenge It is 20 years since Kazakhstan first introduced the Tenge as its national currency. Following a presidential decree, the currency entered circulation on November 15, 1993, replacing the Russian rouble. Despite the difficult economic situation of the 1990s, the Tenge has become a stable and reliable currency at the same time as Kazakhstan has developed into a modern society.

People need money in their pocket to carry on with their daily lives but people rarely think about the difficulties of creating a new currency after a country gains its independence. What will the currency be called? How and where will it be printed?

And what will it look like? These were all serious, practical issues which had to be decided before Kazakhstan could move ahead with its own currency.

It was decided to name the new currency the “Tenge”. The word tenge in the Kazakh and most other Turkic languages means a set of scales. The origin of the word is the Turkic “te ” which means being equal or balance. Thus, the idea behind the name of the Tenge is similar to other currencies, such as the lira, the pound and the peso. The name of the currency is also related to the Russian word for money, “den’gi”, which itself was borrowed from Turkic.

Physically creating the currency was the next challenge to solve. Banknotes cannot simply be produced on a printing press; they have to be printed in a mint, using special paper and technology. It has to be made as difficult as possible for the notes to be copied. Similarly, coins cannot just be stamped out of metal. And after the break-up of the USSR, Kazakhstan faced its first major issue: there was no mint in Kazakhstan where money could be printed, nor did the country possess the necessary technology to make the notes or the coins.

After discussions with a number of foreign producers, an agreement was signed with a British firm, Harrison and Sons, to produce the banknotes in the United Kingdom. But at first the two sides could not agree on the design of the notes.

Kazakhstan’s designers wanted ornamental pictures on the notes. But the British designers managed to persuade them that it was best to have portraits on one side of the notes, for the simple reason that the technical peculiarities of the printing make the notes much harder to forge. So notable figures from Kazakhstan’s history were chosen for one side of the notes and on the reverse side of each note is a picture either of a natural scene or of a significant piece of architecture in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s own mint was opened in 1995. From this time, the Tenge has been produced in Kazakhstan. The first notes were replaced in 2006 by a new issue, in similar denominations but more complex designs. The currency’s value has fluctuated against other currencies since its inception, but a significant step forward was made on September 2, 2013 when the Kazakhstan National Bank moved the Tenge from a managed float and pegged it to the US Dollar and the Russian Rouble. As the Tenge celebrated its twentieth birthday, its value stood at approximately 153 to the US Dollar; 4.7 to the Rouble; and 207 to the Euro.

“The most important characteristic of any currency is its security, in the widest possible sense: from its purchasing power and its stability to it being difficult to forge. In this, Kazakhstan has something the nation can be proud of.

The Tenge has become one of the most secure currencies in the world.”

Central Communications Service of the President of Kazakhstan ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 4

Back to Contents

The forum in Astana on “Tolerance and the Media”

Tolerance is a “Golden Rule” in Kazakhstan As the United Nations marked International Day for Tolerance on November 16, a number of observers hailed Kazakhstan as a shining example of inter-ethnic and inter-denominational tolerance. Kazakhstan is home to 130 different nationalities; and each member of these ethnic groups is encouraged not only to uphold their own traditions and language and pass them on to their children, but to respect and value the traditions and values of all other nationalities.

There are two official bodies which help to encourage the people of Kazakhstan to respect different nationalities and religions.

Firstly, there is the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, which was established by President Nazarbayev on March 1, 1995.

The Assembly gives all ethnic groups a voice within the political system, including having nine seats in Parliament. It also ensures the protection of the rights and freedoms of all citizens, regardless of their nationality. At a briefing this week, Yegor Kappel, a deputy from the Majilis, the lower house of parliament, said that the principle of protecting the rights of all the different ethnic groups in Kazakhstan was a “golden rule” of parliament.

The second body, which was created by President Nazarbayev in 2003, is the Congress of World and Traditional Religions, an international initiative designed to strengthen understanding between world cultures and religious and ethnic groups. In the Soviet Union religious belief was not encouraged; but President Nazarbayev recognized that post-Soviet Kazakhstan had a mainly Muslim population but with sizeable representations of other world religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism. Hundreds of places of worship – mosques, churches, synagogues and temples – have been built in Kazakhstan since the country gained its independence in 1991. The Congress gathered for the first time in September 2003. Its fourth and latest meeting was in Astana in May 2012.

Yeraly Tugzhanov, Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of the People

The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan chose to mark this year’s UN Day for Tolerance by organizing a conference in Astana on “Tolerance and the Media”. Participants included journalists and academics; members of parliament; representatives of the Assembly; diplomats; and foreign specialists. Addressing the conference, the Deputy Chairman of the Assembly, Yeraly Tugzhanov, said that since achieving independence Kazakhstan had developed a unique formula for peace and agreement, which has been called, “The model of social agreement and national unity of Nursultan Nazarbayev”.

“Political stability, social agreement and national unity: this has become Kazakhstan’s national way of life,” Mr Tugzhanov continued. “Kazakhstan has succeeded in turning its cultural, ethnic and religious diversity into a resource for creation and development, rather than a destructive force.” These principles are one of the cornerstones of the Strategy “Kazakhstan-2050”.

The conference discussed the role of journalists’ clubs in promoting the ideas of peace and agreement in the media. One of the panels presented “the Kazakhstan model” of tolerance and agreement for foreign journalists and the press attachés of foreign embassies. Participants discussed ways to promote these values on the internet and in social media, and strategies for protecting them against the threat of the growth in nationalism. Kazakhstan’s journalists, as one participant said, have a mission to strengthen the concept of social agreement.

“I am thrilled by the cultured way in which national policy has been constructed in Kazakhstan. Much of this is thanks to the work of your President, who has a very sensitive and exact feeling for this ‘social barometer’ and who supports every effort that is aimed at preserving peace and harmony in society.”

Vladimir Reshetov, Journalist from Latvia

ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 5

Back to Contents

A New Chance for Kazakhstan’s Orphans Orphaned children in Kazakhstan may soon have a realistic chance of living in a family, rather than spending a childhood in an orphanage. Until now, the vast majority of Kazakhstan’s estimated 34,000 orphans were sent to state-run orphanages which had changed little since they were set up in Soviet times back in the 1930s. Research suggests that 70% of children who have gone through that system have ended up as economically inactive adults, as the system teaches the children little about social interaction or even how they should look after themselves.

Alina Khamatdinova, Director of the Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan

Now hope is being offered by a new non-governmental organization (NGO), called “A Child Should Live in a Family”, which is a coalition of existing NGOs, lawyers, journalists and members of parliament. The coalition has been brought together by Alina Khamatdinova, who has been working with NGOs in Kazakhstan for the past 17 years. Ms Khamatdinova was interviewed by The Astana Times. She told the newspaper, “The main idea of the project is to conduct a big reform of the whole orphanage system. Society has changed, people have changed, everything is changed, but the system is still the same.”

The plan for the next ten years is to move children out of institutions and into families. Ms Khamatdinova describes orphanages as “a disaster” for a child; children brought up in families do much better in life. But the system was not set up for adoption or fostering of orphans. “There are children who don’t have parents and parents who want to have children – why wasn’t there a connection? That was the starting point. That’s why we started this project,” Ms Khamatdinova said.

In fact it was easier for foreigners wanting to adopt children in Kazakhstan than it was for local people. On the one hand, there are simple bureaucratic obstacles: the paperwork involved is enormous; while foreigners have agencies that will assist with this, citizens of Kazakhstan do not. In addition, there are laws in place that prevent capable and loving foster parents from taking in an orphan. For example, anyone looking after an adopted or fostered child must be no more than 45 years older than the child, which prevents many grandparents from taking in their grandchildren. All carers must provide proof of their income, which rules out many families in villages who have the means to provide for a child but may not have the training to fill out the documentation proving their income.

Also, because Kazakhstan does not have a system of foster families, a family which takes in a child receives only KZT 17,000 a month, approximately USD 110, while the government pays KZT 150,000 (about USD 970) to an orphanage for each child that lives there.

Another huge hurdle to be overcome is the popular perceptions that either all children who live in orphanages come from bad families, or that it is impossible to help teenagers who have grown up in institutions. The NGO is now planning a media campaign to challenge these ideas and to show stories of families that have adopted children successfully. Ms Khamatdinova sees signs of hope. “Over the last six months, we have convinced the government. They wouldn’t listen to us three or four months ago; they thought we were only criticising them. But now they’re active members of our movement, we have a memorandum with them, and they are working with us on this issue.”

Ms Khamatdinova is under no illusions that it will be easy, as no NGO has yet changed the system in Kazakhstan. But the fact that “A Child Should Live in a Family” brings together people from different areas of society is encouraging. As she says, “This is the first union focusing on long-term reform for the whole society together.”

Significantly, in a positive, longer term trend orphanages are starting to close across Kazakhstan. In July this year it was announced that ten children’s homes would be closed in Kazakhstan because they are no longer needed. Official figures from the Ministry of Education show that in the past five years the number of orphans has decreased by five thousand. Both the government and the NGO sector in Kazakhstan hope that this trend will continue.

“We have a lot of charity organizations that help orphanages, that help children with disabilities and so on, but nobody is looking at the system, at mistakes in the system. We want to focus on changing the system. Most people think that it is impossible to change the system in our country – that is also one of the stereotypes.”

Alina Khamatdinova ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 6

Back to Contents

Historic Kazakhstan

The History of the Turkic and Turgesh Khanates - Part Two: The Rise and Fall of the Turgesh Khanate

Astana Calling has regularly looked back at Kazakhstan’s history from ancient times to modern day as part of government efforts to equip Kazakhstanis with a firm understanding of the country’s past. Last week’s Astana Calling focused on the history of the Turkic Khanate (552-704 AD), which brought new peoples and cultures into the territory of modern Kazakhstan and took Turkic-speaking peoples to the borders of Europe. This week, we look at the rise and fall of the Turgesh Khanate (704756 AD) – a short-lived empire which checked the power and authority of the Arabs, a dynamic military force that was starting to push eastwards into central Asia.

At the time of the Arab conquests of Arabia and Persia in the 7th century, the Western Turkic Khanate was in steep decline and threatened by Arab incursions into Central Asia. Emerging from the Western Turkic Khanate, the “Turgeshes”, a WesternTurkic tribe from the Onoq or “Ten Arrows” tribal group, managed to assert their authority in the region from Tashkent to Turfan and Beshbalik (both in modern-day China). It was the Turgeshes that played a central role in taking the fight to the Arabs under its founder Wushile Khagan (699-706 AD).

In 705 AD, the Arabs moved further into Central Asia, attacking the Transoxiana region (modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) east of the Amu Darya river. Qutayba ibn Muslim, Arab governor of Khurasan, captured Balkh in 706 and marched on to threaten the Sogdian city of Paikent, near the historic trading city of Bukhara. The Turgeshes came to the rescue of the Sogdians by uniting with their forces and inflicting serious damage upon the Arab armies. However, within a few years the Arab forces had conquered Bukhara.

The next decades saw regular battles between the Turgeshes, their central Asian allies and the Arabs. The Turgeshes also faced threats from the Eastern Turkic Khagan Kapagan, and even Chinese forces. But under the celebrated Turgesh leader Suluk Khagan (715-738 AD), the Turgeshes were able to fight back strongly against the Arabs, inflicting a famous defeat on the Arab forces in 723 AD. However, the victory was short lived. In 732 AD and again in 737 AD, the Arabs inflicted serious defeats against the Turgeshes, forcing Suluk Khagan to retreat to the Turgesh capital Suyab in the Chu river valley, where he was eventually killed by one of his generals, Baga Tarkhan. After Suluk Khagan’s death, a civil war started among the Turgeshes. In 756, the Turgesh state fell apart due to internal weaknesses caused by civil war and by the pressure of Turkic Karluk tribes. The Turkic Karluk tribes went on to establish a new state in what is now eastern Kazakhstan in 766 AD. In the centuries to come, the lands of modern-day Kazakhstan would be dominated by Arabs, Oghuz Turks and the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan, among others. Yet, the main success of the Turgesh Khanate lay in preserving the administrative, military and socio-cultural traditions of the Western Turkic Khanate. In many ways the Turgesh Khanate should be seen as the last successor state to the Western Turkic Khanate.

ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 7

Back to Contents

News from the Government in Brief Kazakhstan plans 2014 WTO entry Kazakhstan should complete all of the documentation for entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) next year, according to the Minister for Economic Integration, Zhanar Aitzhanova. Speaking in the lower house of parliament, the Majilis, Ms Aitzhanova said that the timeframe for actual entry into the WTO still depends on the results of talks on agricultural subsidies and certain export tariffs.

Kazakhstan’s existing export tariffs are likely to be maintained for most goods, but those for oil and oil products may be raised, as may those on certain metals. (primeminister.kz)

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs meets UN Special Representative Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexey Volkov, met the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Miroslav Jenča this week in Almaty. The two diplomats met during an Economic Forum that took place on November 1922 dedicated to “Comprehensive and Sustainable Development through Regional Cooperation.” The Forum is part of the Chairmanship of Kazakhstan in the UN’s Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPEKA). (mfa.gov.kz)

Kazakhstan’s Industrial Policy under the spotlight An international conference on the Industrial Policy of Kazakhstan took place in Astana on November 21-22. The conference considered a number of key issues related to the future development of the country’s industrial policy, and was attended by government representatives, leaders of Kazakhstan’s industrial companies, academics and representatives of development institutes, local authorities and specialists in the field from Kazakhstan and abroad.

Development of the state plan for industrial and innovation development; industrial cooperation in the Single Economic Space; and ways of improving Kazakhstan’s industrial policy were among the topics covered at the conference. (ortcom.kz)

Raising Judges’ qualifications The Sixth Judges’ Congress of Kazakhstan took place in Astana on November 20. On the eve of the Congress, a seminar was held on raising the qualifications of judges at the regional level. The Congress was addressed by President Nazarbayev, who spoke about the further development of the legal system in the context of the Strategy “Kazakhstan-2050”. (inform.kz)

ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 8

Back to Contents

Also in The News…

• President Nazarbayev inspects reconstruction of Taraz airport On November 21, President Nazarbayev inspected the reconstruction of Taraz airport during a working visit to the Zhambyl region in the south of the country. The airport will benefit from a newly-extended runway which reaches a length of 3.5km.

Once construction is completed in early 2014, the airport will also benefit from a new passenger terminal built to the demands of domestic and international travel. (akorda.kz) • First Atyrau Investment Forum takes place On November 21-22, the “ATYRAU INVEST-2013” international business forum took place in Atyrau, the city known as “the oil capital of Kazakhstan”. Both the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies, Asset Issekeshev, as well as the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Nurlan Kapparov, took part in the Forum.

The green economy was one of the main topics of the Forum. Other subjects discussed included new investment projects; the development of public-private partnership (PPP) in Kazakhstan; and cooperation in the Customs Union. (ortcom.kz, atyrauinvest.kz) • Almaty one of six cities bidding for 2022 Olympics Six cities were confirmed on November 15 as candidate cities to host the Winter Olympics in 2022. These are Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty; Beijing; Krakow, Lviv, Oslo and Stockholm. Oslo hosted the 1952 Winter Games while Beijing and Stockholm have each hosted the Summer Games. A shortlist for the 2022 Games will appear in July next year before the winner is announced at the 127th IOC Session in Kuala Lumpur on July 31, 2015. (bbc.co.uk) • Kazakhstan granted observer status at African Union On November 14, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Egypt, Berika Aryn, presented his credentials as Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the African Union. The African Union was formed in 2002 from the Organization of African Unity, which was founded in 1963. The Union brings together 54 countries on the African continent. More than 70 non-African countries and international organizations have been granted observer status by the African Union, including Russia, the USA, China and Japan. The EU has observer status, as does UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross. (mfa.kz) • EEC and Eurasian Bank sign memorandum A memorandum of cooperation was signed this week between the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and the Eurasian Bank of Development. The two sides plan close cooperation over assessments of investment projects; financial proposals on integration projects; and also cooperation on how such projects are carried out in EEC member countries. (kazpravda.kz) • Ferry complex to be built in Mangistau Region The Akim (Governor) of Mangistau Region has announced the building of a ferry complex in the port of Kuryk on the Caspian Sea. The KazMunaiGaz company is also planning to build a ship-building and repair yard in Kuryk, at a cost of over KZ 42bn. (primeminister.kz) • Ritz-Carlton Hotel opens in Almaty The newest luxury hotel to open its doors in Almaty is the Ritz-Carlton. The hotel is in the 37-storey Esentai Tower, the tallest building in Central Asia. The top floors are given over to Ritz-Carlton Residences. Though privately-owned, residents will have full access to the Hotel’s amenities. The property is a joint venture between Ritz-Carlton and international real estate developer, Capital Partners. The Hotel is a sister hotel to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Moscow. (The Astana Times) • Kazakhstan skater wins gold in Italy Kazakhstani skater, Denis Ten, has taken first place in the senior men’s competition at the 16th international “Merano Cup” ice figure skating tournament in Italy. The tournament took place in South Tyrol on November 14-17. Currently, Ten is ranked fifth in the world in the ISU ranking. Ten is also a member of the prestigious “Astana Presidential” professional sports club. (kazinform.kz)

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

ASTANA CALLING / ISSUE 331 / 9

Back to Contents