KazCham

Colibri Law Firm 

The government of Kazakhstan has approved a list of state companies to be offered for privatisation as part of its long-term privatisation plan for 2016-2020.

The plan approves a list of large state-owned companies and organisations that will be privatised, and includes the pharmaceutical company SK-Pharmacy, national space company Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary, state road enterprise Kazakhavtodor, Khorgos international centre of cross-border cooperation, the airport of Astana, the Almaty sanatorium, the Kazakh national film studio, the airports of Kostanai and Petropavlovsk, the Korkyt Ata airport in Kyzylorda, and the Duman entertainment centre in Astana.

The list for priority privatisation also includes the national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (through IPO), national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (IPO), national atomic company Kazatomprom (IPO), national post service Kazpost (IPO), airlines Air Astana (IPO) and Qazaq Air, national telecommunications operator Kazakhtelecom, the airports of Aktobe, Atyrau and Pavlodar, the Aktau international seaport, and the national agricultural holding KazAgro.

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In October 2014, the us National Aeronautic and Space Administration (nasa) released images of the Aral Sea taken by its Terra satellite. These were among the first to show the South Aral Sea’s entire eastern basin as bone-dry—a dramatic difference from a similar image taken in August 2000. “This is the first time the eastern basin has completely dried in modern times,” said geographer and Aral Sea expert Philip Micklin of Western Michigan University. “And it is likely the first time it has completely dried in 600 years, since the medieval desiccation associated with diversion of Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea.”

Aral, population just above 30,000, is the largest town on the northeast shore of the North Aral Sea, and some 73,000 people remain living in the surrounding region. Here, explained Darmenov, the Kazakh government and World Bank must work together with the Syr Darya river to save the sea. The river is the sea’s sole source of replenishment, and its fate is still largely determined by cyclical rainfall patterns, as well as snowmelt from the distant Tien Shan Mountains.

In 1976, according to a historical marker at the once-thriving port, Aral shipped 5,000 metric tons of wool, 340 furs, 3,000 sheepskins, 1,500 pairs of woolen gloves and 1,200 pairs of woolen trousers. Now, the tourists who stop by here can climb aboard the Lev Berg, a fishing boat painted bright blue, and look out over the desertified lakebed. Two rusting cranes that have not been used since the early 1980s hulk above the otherwise flat horizon.

But the waters that by the early 2000s had retreated 100 kilometers from Aral are now only 20 kilometers away, and they are coming closer.

“We inherited the problem of the Aral Sea from the Soviet Union, but as soon as we became independent, we adopted special programs,” said Zhanbolat Ussenov, director of the Eurasian Council on Foreign Affairs and former spokesman at Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry.

“We of course understood that we wouldn’t be able to save the sea on our own— from neither a financial nor an expertise point of view—so we created an International Save the Aral fund,” Ussenov explained. “We invited the World Bank and individual countries to help us with this environmental catastrophe. And I’m happy to say that today the Aral Sea is slowly returning to its original boundaries.”

The dream of saving the entire Aral Sea – both North and South – is unrealistic, said experts who know the region. But everyone seemed to agree that the first phase of the project Ussenov alluded to – officially known as the Syr Darya Control and Northern Aral Sea Project, or synas-1 – has been a success so far.

Ahmed Shawky M. Abdel-Ghany, a senior water-resources specialist with the European and Central Asian region of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, has managed the project from his Washington office since late 2010. He said synas-1 cost $83 million, and it included a subproject for restoration of the North Aral Sea.

“We’re not talking about the whole Aral Sea, just the northern part that fully lies in Kazakhstan,” said the Egyptian civil engineer, who’s worked in 20 countries during his 12-year career with the World Bank.

He said that one crucial element of synas-1, construction in 2005 of the 13-kilometer-long Kok-Aral Dam, increased the volume of water in the North Aral Sea by around 50 percent in three years.

“The northern Aral Sea was initially [in 2005] 38 meters above sea level. Now it could reach around 42 meters,” said the engineer. “As a consequence, salinity in the NAS has been reduced by around half, but all these numbers are subject to the hydrological variables that change every year.”

Colibri Law Firm

The Samruk Kazyna, Baiterek and KazAgro national holdings will be featured in the new privatisation programme, after which they will either be transformed into lean organisations or liquidated, according to the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The assets of the Samruk-Kazyna national welfare fund include: the KazMunaiGas national oil and gas company, the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy railway operator, Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC), Kazakhtelecom telecommunications operator, and the Kazatomprom national nuclear company.

The Baiterek national management holding includes: JSC Development Bank of Kazakhstan, JSC Investment Fund of Kazakhstan, JSC Housing Construction and Savings Bank, JSC Kazakhstan Mortgage Company, JSC KazExportGarant, JSC Entrepreneurship Development Fund Damu, JSC National Agency for Technological Development, JSC Kazakh Fund of Mortgage Guarantees, JSC Kazyna Capital Management, JSC Baiterek Development, and JSC Public Private Partnership Advisory Center.

The KazAgro National management holding includes: the National company Food Contract Corporation JSC, KazAgroProduct JSC, KazAgroFinance JSC, Agrarian credit corporation JSC, Fund for Financial Support of Agriculture JSC, KazAgroGarant JSC and Kazagromarketing JSC.

 

TengriNews

American billionaire and investor Jim Rogers is thinking about investing in Kazakhstan. He came to Kazakhstan for the Astana Invest 2015, an international investment forum held on October 29-30 in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.

“I have never invested in Kazakhstan before for many reasons. And one of them is that Kazakhstan used to be closed for other countries. But everything has changed and now I am considering a lot of options. I even have a list of companies, where I might invest. Everything is possible,” Jim Rogers said in an interview to Tengrinews.

Speaking about the oil-producing Central Asian country, he said: “I am very happy to be here. I have been here more than 5 or 6 times. When I think about Kazakhstan, the first thing that comes to my mind is of course its steppes. They are so wide. I drove around a few times, and they are very vast,” he said.

Earlier this year, in an interview to CNN Jim Rogers advised to invest in emerging economies, including Kazakhstan. “Places you could look at now are Iran, some African countries, Kazakhstan. These are not very big markets, but they are starting to open up and change,” he said then.

Kazakhstan’s New NGO Law: Facts and Speculation, by Usen Suleimen, Ambassador-at-large of Kazakhstan.

The Diplomat

The growth and strength of civil society in Kazakhstan is one of the clearest symbols of the country’s progress since independence. There are now, according to government figures, well over 30,000 independent civil society groups, which work across a diverse range of issues from providing social and community help to promoting human rights and championing environmental causes.

This growth has been actively encouraged by the government as a vital part of continuing to build a modern, progressive and democratic country. State funding has been provided to support the development of civil society groups and to help them take over increasing roles in the country. Government bodies seek their advice and involvement, locally and nationally, to help improve policy.

With this increasing role, of course, comes increased responsibility and accountability to demonstrate that government money is being used wisely as well as to ensure grants are being given fairly. This becomes even more vital as the Kazakh government continues its drive to devolve more decision-making to local level and to non-state bodies. In recent years, however, there have been examples where NGOs have spent public funds well outside what was intended.

It is against this background that the present piecemeal laws that govern NGOs in Kazakhstan are being streamlined and modernized. This will usher in a new level of transparency into the way government grants are distributed – through the creation of a new non-government body to oversee it – but will also require civil society organizations as well to make public information about their own financing and where and how the money is spent.

This requirement has raised concerns both within Kazakhstan and abroad. Fears have been raised that the intention is to muzzle the work of the NGOs within our country or to prevent them continue to receive support from international bodies or partners. This is simply not the case.

The new law does not change the legal framework for NGOs, increase their requirements to register officially, change their tax-free status or allow the government to interfere in their work. It will continue to be NGOs themselves, which decide how their money should be spent.

The role of the new body to oversee the distribution of central grants – which will be made up of a mix of government officials and representatives from civil society – will be limited. It is not intended to monitor NGOs but instead advise government where its grants should be distributed and make public where government money goes. By bringing this into the open, it will increase public confidence and tackle concerns about favoritism. It can also act as a clearing house for wider donations.

Rough Guides

Straddling the cultural crossroads between Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan is an intriguingly cosmopolitan place. This vast country, which stretches from the Caspian Sea to China, is one of Asia’s most diverse, where ethnic Kazakhs and Russians rub shoulders with Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Tatars, Germans and many more in an enviably harmonious mix.

Almaty, its biggest city, may have ceded capital status to its flashy young rival, Astana, but it remains the country’s cultural and financial center, and custodian of the Kazakh soul. Spectacularly set beneath the snow-capped peaks of the imperious Zailysky-Alatau mountains, it’s a relaxed, pleasantly green city of fancy malls and fountains, black-windowed SUVs and broad, busy boulevards. It’s the sophisticated, modern hub of a booming petro-economy for sure, but one with enough surprises to make Almaty a highlight of any visit to Kazakhstan.

1. You can get a taste of life on the Silk Road

There’s no better introduction to Kazakhstan’s multifaceted ethnic patchwork than the bustling Green Bazaar market hall, where traders from across Central Asia and as far afield as Korea gather to hawk their wares.

Fresh produce is abundant: the foothills around Almaty lay strong claim to be the ancestral home of the apple (the city’s name literally means “father of the apple”) and the fruit here can grow to giant proportions.

Don’t miss sampling kurt, pungent but curiously addictive balls of dried cheese beloved of nomads out on the Kazakh steppe, though only strict meat-eaters should venture to the cavernous butcher’s hall, where long counters drip with slabs of horsemeat, undoubtedly the local favorite. Finish off with a glass of fresh kvas, a soft drink made from fermented bread, from one of the stalls outside. It knocks the socks off the widely available commercially produced bottles.

2. The ski slopes are fit for royalty

Barely half an hour’s drive from the city, the ski resort of Shymbulak hit the headlines in 2014 when Prince Harry took then girlfriend Cressida Bonas for a spin on the slopes. The resort is unexpectedly ritzy, and the skiing among the best in Central Asia. Almaty’s chilly, sunny winters guaranteeing cold, crisp snow well into April and invariably good conditions.

At any time of year, it’s well worth escaping the city smog to ride the 4km series of ski lifts, with their fetching leopard-print cabins (in homage to the seldom-seen snow leopards that still roam these mountains), up to the 3180-metre Talgar Pass. Various rocky hiking trails lead up into the surrounding peaks, snow-capped even in summer, and the views are spectacular.
3. You can visit the world’s second tallest wooden building

Flattened by earthquakes more than once, Almaty is not a city awash with historic buildings. Standing proudly defiant in leafy Panfilov Park, one dazzling exception is the Cathedral of the Holy Ascension – a confection of pastel-hued gables, brightly painted tiles and gilded domes – that rises almost 60m and was built without a single nail.

A magnificent gilt altarpiece dominates the opulent interior, where (predominantly) women – their heads covered in beautiful scarves – light candles and worship in hushed reverence. It’s a great place to experience Kazakhstan’s refreshingly open attitude to religion: Muslims and Atheists often visit along with their Russian Orthodox friends.

4. There’s some impressive socialist realist art and architecture

A stone’s throw from the Ascension Cathedral, Almaty’s Soviet War Memorial looms dramatically in front of the forbidding bulk of city’s former army headquarters: a powerfully built, jutting-jawed Red Army infantryman leaps, grenade in hand, from a relief of grim-faced soldiers. Oddly this is the city’s prime favored spot for wedding pictures.

For a more nuanced taste of Soviet art, head to the Kasteyev State Arts Museum, undoubtedly the city’s finest. The museum is named after Abilkhan Kasteev, regarded as Kazakhstan’s preeminent painter, and among the vast collection is a fascinating room devoted to his depictions of Soviet life, from epic canvases of the rapidly industrializing landscape to intimate portraits of peasant life.
5. The Russian baths are the finest in Central Asia

Perhaps Almaty’s one truly unmissable experience, the Arasan Baths complex is the most elaborately styled bathhouse in the region, built in the 1980s as a grand statement of late Soviet ambition. Pick up a towel, slippers and conical felt shapka (hat) and leave your modesty behind in the changing room.

There’s a Finnish sauna and a marble Turkish hammam but they’re invariably empty – you’ll find your fellow bathers in the ferociously hot Russian parilka (steam room), vigorously thrashing each other with vyeniki(bundles of oak or birch leaves), a wince-inducing ritual said to improve circulation.

The masochism doesn’t end there though: once out of the parilka, it’s de rigueur to upturn a pail of gasp-inducingly cold water over yourself. Finish up with a refreshing dip in the cool plunge pool, beneath a domed atrium so grand it wouldn’t feel out of place in imperial Rome.

Edward travelled to Almaty with Air Astana, who fly from London to Almaty via the capital, Astana, three times per week (from £370). Visa-free travel to Kazakhstan for visits of up to fifteen days is now available for nationals of nineteen countries, including the US, UK, Australia and others.

LAND OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY

The Great Gain Not the Great Game: How Kazakhstan is Charting its Own Course in the World, by Erlan Idrissov,The Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan

Diplomatic Courier

It is a sign of Central Asia’s and Kazakhstan’s increasing role and importance in the world that more and more is written about our region. But what is striking – and at times frustrating – is how reporting and analysis can be distorted to fit narratives which have little relationship to what’s actually happening.

It has, for example, become increasingly popular for journalists to see events in our region through the prism of a revival of the Great Game in Central Asia. It is through this narrative of major powers fighting for influence that recent visits by the leaders of China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Japan, as well as the U.S. Secretary of State are seen.

I can see why this makes a neat headline but that does not make it true. Kazakhstan is not a silent by-stander in anyone else’s strategy. We are a country successfully making its own independent way in the world.

We have purposely built good relations and strong economic ties with countries, big and small, to the east and west, south and north. We have close links with both Russia and China. Europe is our biggest trading partner and the US our second biggest foreign investor after Europe.

This is not an accident but the result of our multi-vector foreign policy. Our economic progress – which has seen our GDP rise 19-fold since independence – is also based on being open to trade, investment and ideas. This commitment continues which is why, in the last year, we have helped found the Eurasian Economic Union and become full members of the WTO.

Far from being at the centre of a re-run of the Great Game, Kazakhstan is, if you like, at the heart of what could be a Great Gain for all in terms of regional and global stability and prosperity, and is adamantly promoting this vision for all to embrace. This is why, in the last couple of months alone, President Nazarbayev has held extremely productive meetings with President Xi Jinping, President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – and has had very successful back-to-back visits to London and Paris as well, for example, to Qatar.

These countries and their leaders all want to strengthen their relationships with Kazakhstan – as we do with them – as a partner and friend. As Secretary Kerry explained, for example, the U.S. is not pursuing a “zero-sum game” in central Eurasia but believes greater engagement by all will benefit all. This is a message which we wholeheartedly welcome and which I hope all those watching and commenting on Kazakhstan will hear.

Business Intelligence

The Kazakh Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexei Volkov, has announced that Kazakhstan will be officially recognized as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 15 December.

In addition, Volkov said that Astana expects the European Union to recognize Kazakhstan as a country that has a market economy, and therefore hopes to be granted a permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status from the US through the cancellation of the Jackson–Vanik amendment.

The Jackson–Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974 is a 1974 provision within US federal law intended to affect US trade relations with countries with non-market economies that restrict the freedom of emigration and other human rights.

This amendment primarily affected the USSR and, as a consequence, the post-Soviet countries. The US repealed this amendment for Russia in 2012.

Trend News

Kazakhstan and Afghanistan have discussed the possibilities of intensifying the trade and economic cooperation, Kazakh presidency said.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani touched upon the relevant issues on the international agenda, including the regional security.

Nazarbayev said that his country has always supported Afghanistan in its hard times.

He noted that $20 million worth food products have been delivered to this country from Kazakhstan since 2002 and $50 million was allocated for study of Afghan students in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan will continue to render assistance for ensuring Afghanistan’s development, Nazarbayev added.

Kazakh president pointed out that Afghanistan’s subsoil is rich with mineral resources, while Kazakhstan has specialists who can be involved in geological exploration work.

During the meeting, the two presidents also discussed combating terrorism.

Ghani for his part said that Afghanistan remains committed to its policy of cooperation with Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries in general.

During the official visit of Afghanistan’s president to Kazakhstan, the sides signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in civil defense, emergency management and an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the sphere of culture.

The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan stood at $336.7 million in 2014, compared to $251.4 million in 2013.

In September Kazakh Deputy Chairman of the Public Service and Anti-Corruption Agency Alik Shpekbayev visited Washington D.C. During his visit Mr. Shpekbayev met with Deputy Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI Timothy Delaney.

The two officials discussed white collar corruption crimes as well as Kazakh and foreign anti-corruption programs. The FBI representative said that the Bureau was capable of tracking dollars leaving Kazakhstan regardless of their destination.

During his meetings at the FBI’s and the US Department of Justice, Alik Shpekbayev spoke about the recent developments in the anti-corruption system of Kazakhstan, especially in the areas where government officials interact with the population and companies.

The American partners praised the comprehensive approach of Kazakhstan to molding its anti-corruption system and noted that anti-corruption measures of both countries were similar.

They expressed interest in deepening the bilateral strategic partnership through exchange of experience and information, coordination of investigations in both countries and establishing education programs. Furthermore, the American side expressed its willingness to provide training to the staff of Kazakhstan’s anti-corruption agency.

Deputy Chairman of the Kazakh Anti-Corruption Agency also agreed to start bilateral consultations that Kazakhstan and the United States agreed upon back in February 2015 when the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty was signed.