Official Statements:

By invitation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, His Highness Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani visited Kazakhstan

The leaders of the two countries discussed a variety of issues of bilateral relations between Qatar and Kazakhstan and also exchanged views on important regional and international problems. This visit by His Highness Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is a demonstration of the interest of the two sides to deepen and strengthen cooperation between the two countries in policy, economy and cultural humanitarian area for the benefit of the two nations.

During the talks, Qatar’s side expressed their will to become a full member of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia. Qatar’s application for the membership will be considered in August this year by the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of CICA member states.

The sides expressed their interest to develop collaboration within international and regional organizations including the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Kazakhstan very high appreciates Doha’s role in the development of dialogue between civilizations and confessions and invites Qatar to cooperate by joining the Congress of world and traditional religions.

Qatar’s sides demonstrated their support of Kazakhstan’s initiative on holding Forum of Ministers of Foreign Affairs named “The Shared World: progress by diversity”, which is to be held in September 2008 in Astana and is aimed at discussing the problem of international relations, modernization, economic cooperation, mutual cultural adaptation and the role of the medis in this process.

The sides agreed to hold political consultation on a regular basis between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs on different problems of international and regional scale that are of mutual interest, and also on issues of further development of bilateral cooperation. Qatar’s side on their turn announced the opening of Qatar’s Embassy to Kazakhstan in Astana following the establishment of Kazakhstan’s Embassy in 2007 in Qatar’s capital city of Doha.

It is necessary to establish joint Kazakhstan-Qatar Business Council in order to intensify business contacts between our countries.

There is a great potential for cooperation in investments area. An Agreement on encouraging and mutual protection of investments and Agreement on cooperation in the area of standardization, metrology and certification were signed by the Governments of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the State of Qatar. Also the Sustainable Development Fund Kazyna open JSC and authorized body of the State of Qatar inked a Memorandum on mutual understanding and establishment of Kazakhstan-Qatar investment fund.

It is planned to hold Day of Qatar’s Culture in Kazakhstan in May 2008. This will assist to further cultural cooperation and mutual understanding between the two nations.

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko visited Astana

The official visit of the Ukrainian Leader is associated with the opening of Ukraine’s Year in Kazakhstan. The heads of state agreed on this during the official visit of President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Ukraine in February 2007.

Currently, Ukraine is one of important political and economic partners of Kazakhstan. Mutual trade actively develops. Last year, the volume of commodity turnover reached 2.6 billion dollars what is by 64% greater than the same figure in 2006. Kazakhstan became the seventh largest trade partner of Ukraine internationally and the second one among CIS countries.

Within the framework of the visit the Presidents adopted the Joint Statement of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev and the President of Ukraine V.Yushchenko in which the main results of the negotiations were stated.

President of Kazakhstan pointed out that in the course of negotiations the sides confirmed their intention to implement all agreements that were achieved before including the Plan of Action for Kazakhstan-Ukraine for 2007-2008 in which the priority spheres of bilateral economic cooperation in different realms were determined. Head of the State summed up the results of the Year of Kazakhstan in Ukraine held in 2007 and put a special emphasis to its economic effect – the bilateral goods turnover increased up to 64 % compared to 2006.

The sides also spoke for activation of the work of Kazakhstani-Ukrainian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. Presidents also agreed to strengthen the work on the number of joint projects in energy, transit of Kazakhstani oil, exploration of oil and gas deposits, joint manufacture of oil and gas equipment.

In the framework of the visit of Ukraine’s President, Heads of the States Nursultan Nazarbayev and Victor Yushchenko took part in the Kazakhstani-Ukrainian business forum.

130 domestic companies took part in the business-forum. The Ukrainian side was presented by 80 companies that worked in the spheres of mechanical engineering, construction, agriculture, transport, energy, light industry and other realms of economy.

It was noted that it is necessary both for Kazakhstan and Ukraine to strengthen cooperation in transport, fuel and energy, agroindustrial complex, aerospace and other spheres. All necessary preconditions for doing business were prepared by the governments of both countries.

Favorable tax and investment climate, developed banking and financial system of Kazakhstan provide perfect opportunities for active participation of the Ukrainian business circles in implementation of projects that we plan to realize,’ said Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Within the framework of the strategy on growth of competitiveness new development institutions and social-entrepreneurial corporations appealed for providing regions’ economic development have been established in Kazakhstan. The state-private partnership is being developed.

Despite the world crisis, Kazakhstan continues to achieve good macroeconomic success. The GDP growth in 2007 accounted for 8.5 %. The growth in all the branches of economy has been achieved. The work on further strengthening investment climate is being done. Having saved financial resources, nowadays Kazakhstan itself has become a participant of other countries’ markets.

Head of the state expressed confidence that today’s business-forum would result in signing new contracts, implementation of joint projects and strengthening cooperation between the representatives of business circles of Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

During his visit to Great Britain, Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State Kanat Saudabayev participated in the “Dialogue of state figures” of the project for nuclear security, which was held in historical Lancaster House in London on the 2nd of March and met with politicians and experts in the area of non-proliferation.

The project for nuclear security was recently initiated by four reputable American politicians namely former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Defense Minister William Perry and Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Samuel Nunn and aimed at the intensification of global movement against weapons of mass destruction. This initiative was supported by many politicians and experts in the area of non proliferation.

Space should be a realm of peaceful cooperation of the human race – Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister

At the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin noted that Kazakhstan regards as important the work done by the USA and Russia under the agreement on reduction of strategic offensive arms.

The Minister emphasized that taking into account that the said agreement expires late 2009 the talks should be intensified on the treaty’s future. “We believe that a new document should envisage specific measures to reduce strategic delivery vehicles and nuclear warheads. We also welcome discussions within the Conference on Disarmament on status and pace of nuclear reduction. Nevertheless, these measures alone are not sufficient to make the process irreversible. More efforts are needed to make the world free of nuclear weapons”.

The Minister noted that the initiative to start talks on drafting an agreement to ban fissile materials production is very timely. Herewith, he stressed that the other three key issues should not be overlooked either – namely nuclear disarmament, prevention of arms race in space, negative security assurances.

“We appreciate the efforts taken by Russia and China to elaborate a draft agreement on prevention of arms race in space. This issue is growing important as more countries get involved into and hinge on implementation of space projects. As the country accommodating the Baikonur cosmodrome and as a nation successfully developing its space program and cooperating with other nations in the realm of space exploration, we are confident that safety in space should be one of the central issues covered by the Conference. Space should be a realm of peaceful cooperation of the whole human race”, the Minister said.

When delivering a speech at the Conference, Marat Tazhin noted that “Kazakhstan has set an example of utmost responsibility before the current and future generations; the nation has convincingly demonstrated that true safety rests on peaceful foreign policy, internal stability and sustainable economic and political development, rather than on nuclear arsenals”.

In support of the statement, the Kazakh Minister reminded that “history of independent Kazakhstan is inseparable from nuclear disarmament. At the dawn of independence, in August 1991, President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an epoch-making decree to close the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site; this move sealed the only true strategic choice of non-nuclear status. With time the wisdom of making such a choice is getting more obvious”.

However, M. Tazhin noted, “as an active player of disarmament efforts, Kazakhstan is sorry to see the lack of any tangible results in the realm – in the last decade the Conference’s work has been almost paralyzed. Nuclear disarmament is at stagnation stage. The international community has been unable to resolve certain issues related to disarmament and non-proliferation in default of consensus and political will”.

In this context, the Kazakh Minister emphasized that inequality laid in the foundation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty results in that nuclear powers do not regard it necessary to abide by non-proliferation commitments. All this feeds the destructive sentiments and feeling of “unfairness of the NPT” in certain areas of the world. The worst is that nations aspiring to possess weapons of mass destruction do get serious arguments. Therefore at the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, President of Kazakhstan called nuclear powers to advance towards a world free of nuclear weapons by setting an example and to take measures to enforce the NPT and strengthen non-proliferation regime”.

International Women's Day

International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world, including Kazakhstan.

People who leave in Kazakhstan is always feel respect to women, as mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. The history of Kazakhstan is full legends and stories about ancient queen of Saks warriors Tomiris, heroes of the Second World War Manshuk Mametova and Aliya Moldagulova, musicians Dina Nurpeisova, Bibigul Tulegenova, Roza Baglanova, Aiman Musohadzhayeva, sportswoman Aliya Yusupova.

The Kazakh Constitution, Article 14 (2) states: “No one shall be subject to any discrimination for reasons of origin, social, property status, occupation, sex, race, nationality, language, attitude towards religion, convictions, place of residence or any other circumstances.”  

An official state policy adopted in 1997 states that constitutional prohibitions on sex discrimination must be enforced/supported by effective government measures. The president and other government members acknowledge the concept of women’s rights. To achieve parity between men and women in terms of political, social, and economic roles and benefits, the State created a department to gather information and advise the President on the status and progress of women in the country. The National Commission for Family and Gender Affairs under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan was formed in December of 1998 with the intention of examining women’s issues. It has been active in promoting women’s status and does incorporate certain women’s NGOs within its initiatives. For example the Feminist League regarded the National Commission as a chief factor in establishing the integrity of the government’s first submitted CEDAW report.

The adoption of the 2006-2016 Strategy for Gender Equality in Kazakhstan a first in its history had become one of the most important developments in the country’s democratic transformation, she said.  The Strategy aimed not only to ensure equal rights as granted by the Constitution, but also to provide equal opportunities.  The Government had approved a 2006-2008 strategy implementation plan and it encompassed 45 large-scale activities involving women’s political and economic advancement, protection of women’s reproductive health, combating violence against women and the achievement of gender equality in family relations.  Those measures would be implemented by government agencies and funded by national and local budgets, with the involvement of non-governmental organizations.

To strengthen the National Commission’s efforts, gender focal points had been established in government agencies, with the responsibility of implementing gender policies.  The Parliament’s Majilis was now considering a draft law on equal rights and equal opportunities for women and men, which envisaged the establishment of an equal rights body that would monitor the enforcement of, and compliance with, the law on equal rights and equal opportunities.  It would be a government agency with field branches and adequate material and financial resources.

To ensure women’s employment, great emphasis was placed on the development of entrepreneurship, particularly small-scale business.  The establishment of a small-scale entrepreneurship development fund had greatly facilitated efforts in that area.  Women worked very closely with numerous microfinance organizations active throughout the country.  As a result of steps taken, women now accounted for some 40 per cent of all entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan.   The draft law on equal rights and opportunities contained articles that made it mandatory for employers to implement specific programmes in order to bridge the gap in wages of women and men by making sure that they had the same professional training and eliminating unskilled and low-paid jobs.  All possible measures were being taken to improve women’s health.  Measures were being taken to improve health-care services provided to rural women.

Concluding, Kazakhstan was party to over 60 international human rights treaties.

Date of issue: 2008-03-07