[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E449-E451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PHIL ENGLISH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2000

  Mr. ENGLISH. Mr. Speaker, next month, I will have the privilege of 
visiting the Republic of Kazakhstan to witness firsthand this vigorous 
young nation's emergence, under the leadership of its President 
Nursultan Nazarbayev, as a bastion of democracy and free market economy 
in Central Asia. I am entering into the Record three articles written 
last week by Scott Hogenson, Executive Editor of the Conservative News 
Service (CNS), who just returned from Kazakhstan. Mr. Hogenson spent 
time in Kazakhstan reporting on that nation's rich ethnic and cultural 
diversity, its free media, and its strategic importance to the United 
States.
  At a time when we are paying upwards of $2.00 for a gallon of 
gasoline, Kazakhstan is a viable source of hope for us. This non-OPEC 
member is rapidly developing its enormous oil and natural gas reserves 
with the help of Mobil, Chevron, and other U.S. corporations. As 
reported by Mr. Hogenson, Kazakhstan is a ally of the U.S. and a 
secular Moslem nation that has befriended Israel and stood up against 
Islamist terrorists.
  Please take the time to read these fascinating articles and join me 
in saluting Kazakhstan's struggle to right itself after 70 years of 
brutal Soviet repression.

       Cultural Diversity Reflects Gains in Kazakhstani Democracy

                          (By Scott Hogenson)

       Almaty, Kazakhstan (CNSNews.com).--Ivan Bernardovich 
     Zinkevich describes Kazakhstan's transformation from 
     communism to democracy as one that resulted in his Polish 
     heritage being ``reborn.''
       The re-birth of ethnic and cultural identity among 
     Kazakhstan's minority populations was demonstrated in no 
     small part Sunday afternoon when a crowd of about 100 ethnic 
     Poles rose to their feet as a nine-member youth choir sang 
     the Polish national anthem during a cultural celebration in 
     Almaty, an act that would have been considered criminal a few 
     decades ago.
       Zinkevich, the 60-year old chairman of Almaty's Polish 
     Cultural Center, called this and other public displays of 
     cultural heritage a ``very significant'' freedom for 
     Kazakhstanis, who have been laboring to make democracy work 
     since the nation declared its independence from the former 
     Soviet Union in 1991.
       While the vast majority of Kazakhstan's 15.6 million 
     residents are either Kazakh or Russian, people representing 
     more than 100 other ethnic groups also live in this sparsely 
     populated central Asian nation whose geography makes it the 
     ninth largest country on Earth.
       But Zinkevich made it clear that he and the estimated 
     47,000 ethnic Poles living here do not want to be separate 
     from the rest of the nation. Speaking through a translator, 
     Zinkevich said Poles ``want to be Kazakhstanis but also want 
     ethnic identity,'' within Kazakhstan.
       Born in Kazakhstan in 1940, Zinkevich is the son of Polish 
     parents who, like millions of other non-Russians, were 
     deported to this region of the former USSR in 1936 under the 
     dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. More than half a century 
     later, the mass deportation of people to Kazakhstan has 
     resulted in a population that is among the most diverse in 
     the world.
       While many of the new nations created from the demise of 
     the Soviet Union have struggled with varying degrees of 
     ethnic strife, Zinkevich said there are ``no conflcits,'' 
     among Kazakhstan's ethnic peoples, a view shared by the 
     leader of the country's National Democratic Party.
       Hasen Kozha-Ahmet, who heads one of the numerous 
     oppposition parties to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 
     described the country's indigenous Kazakh population as 
     ``very tolerant,'' though he said through a translator that 
     there is a ``distrust of some ethnic Russians among some of 
     the nation's Kazakhs, who comprise roughly 52 percent of 
     Kazakhstan's citizens. Russians are the second largest ethnic 
     group in the country, representing about 31 percent of the 
     population.
       A staunch Kazakh nationalist and anti-Communist, Kozha-
     Ahmet attributed some of the distrust he described to ``the 
     humiliation of the Kazakh people,'' under Soviet rule. But 
     Kozha-Ahmet said he is generally pleased and optimistic about 
     continued harmony between the many ethnic groups living in 
     Kazakhstan.
       Although general tolerance among the various peoples plays 
     a large part in keeping Kazakhstan essentially free of ethnic 
     strife, the growth of free-market economies also plays a part 
     in maintaining social and political stability.
       Sergy A. Tereschenko, chairman of the majority Otan Party 
     that supports Nazabayev's administration, said continued 
     emphasis on economic reforms and creating stronger markets 
     are not only key elements of the party's platform, but also 
     represent ``the most difficult issue,'' for his party and the 
     nation.
       ``If a majority (of citizens) does not have work, they 
     express dissatisfaction,'' said Tereschenko, a former 
     communist who assumed leadership of the Otan Party after 
     serving as Nazarbayev's first prime minister.
       Speaking through a translator, Tereschenko likened the 
     ``establishment of a middle-class,'' in Kazakhstan to the 
     Biblical account of the Jews' 40-year sojourn through the 
     desert.
       ``It is very difficult to show benefits to capitalism,'' 
     said Tereschenko, an agricultural businessman who said he 
     repudiated the economic precepts of communism after studying 
     and learning the business structures of the United States and 
     other democracies during the course of his travels abroad.
       The economic challenges facing the people of Kazakhstan and 
     their associated political challenges for the Otan Party are 
     not small. With a population that is shrinking due to 
     emigration by some from Kazakhstan and the continuing 
     recovery from the nation's economic contraction following its 
     independence from the old USSR, Tereschenko emphasized the 
     importance of writing legislation and policies ``that are 
     clear to the people.''
       ``To accept law is one thing. To explain it is another,'' 
     said Tereschenko, who added that a primary need for the Otan 
     Party is to ``prove the value (of democracy) by 
     demonstration.'' The Otan Party holds 32 seats in the 77-
     member Majilis, or lower chamber of Kazakhstan's Parliament. 
     By comparison, Kazakhstan's Communist Party holds four seats 
     in the Majilis.
       In attempting to overcome the difficulties of throwing off 
     communism and introducing the relatively unknown precepts of 
     free-market economic policies to a people who have enjoyed 
     little freedom for the past two centuries, Nazarbayev had 
     issued a sweeping package of proposed long-term reforms known 
     as the ``Kazakhstan 2030'' plan.
       Nazarbayev's proposals address a wide range of needs and 
     goals for the nation, covering national security and domestic 
     stability, management of the country's large oil and mineral 
     reserves, the development of a professional class of 
     government employees, education, health care and other social 
     issues, increased economic growth through open markets, and 
     improving the country's communications and transportation 
     infrastructure.
       In delivering his Kazakhstan 2030 proposals, Nazarbayev 
     spoke to all citizens in asking the country to ``share my 
     vision for the future of our society and the mission of our 
     state,'' but there also is a strong emphasis on the younger 
     generation of Kazakhstanis and the need to ``say once and for 
     all what future we want to build for us and our children.''
       The long view of Kazakhstan 2030 is reflected in part by 
     Nazarbayev's recognition

[[Page E450]]

     of the ``enormous domestic and external difficulties,'' 
     facing the country. ``Many representatives of our generation 
     won't live to the time when this strategy will be realized,'' 
     Nazarbayev said. ``Our children will estimate its reality and 
     the correctness of the work implemented by us.''
       While the complete implementation of Nazarbayev's plan 
     remains a distant vision, some of the benefits of the 
     president's stewardship over this infant democracy could be 
     seen in the faces of dozens of teenagers practicing Greek 
     line dancing Sunday at Almaty's House of Friendship, a multi-
     cultural center in the heart of Kazakhstan's largest city.
       The youth smiled as they worked out to the quickening pace 
     of music from Zorba the Greek, executing the sometimes 
     complicated maneuvers of the dance and correcting the errors 
     brought to their attention by their instructor.
       The act of espousing a culture foreign to one's homeland 
     may seem small among better established democracies but its 
     significance is not lost on Kazakhstanis who lived through an 
     era in which openly embracing one's heritage was forbidden.
       As Polish Cultural Center Chairman Ivan Zinkevich said, the 
     newfound freedom to celebrate their ethnicity is ``a big 
     happiness,'' for Kazakhstanis travelling the sometimes-rocky 
     road to democracy.

                                  ____
                                  

       Nazarbayev Slaps US State Department Report on Kazakhstan

                          (By Scott Hogenson)

       Astana, Kazakhstan (CNSNews.com).--A US State Department 
     report on Kazakhstan was singled out for criticism Tuesday by 
     President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who called the report one 
     that was ``full of untrue facts'' about the country.
       Nazarbayev said the Clinton Administration briefing faslely 
     accuses Kazakhstan of holding political prisoners, torture, 
     broad government control of the news media and misstates the 
     process by which judges and other officials are appointed.
       While acknowledging generally good relations between the US 
     and Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev warned that the inaccuracies in 
     the State Department's report on this central Asian country 
     ``makes the distance between the two nations larger,'' and 
     said he wanted an opportunity to ``make a presentation'' to 
     correct the record.
       US State Department officials were not available for 
     comment by press time, but its 1999 report on human rights 
     noted irregularities in that year's presidential elections 
     and claimed Nazarbayev held the power to legislate by decree.
       Federal judges and other appointed officials in Kazakhstan 
     must be ratified by the Senate, according to the Kazakh 
     constitution. The process is similar to that in the US, where 
     federal judges and other presidential appointees are subject 
     to confirmation by the Senate.
       Kazakhstan also faced criticism from the Organization for 
     Stability and Cooperation in Europe, which monitored last 
     October's parliamentary elections and said ``interference by 
     executive authorities in the broader electoral process must 
     be halted.''
       But Nazarbayev, a former communist leader in the old USSR, 
     pointed to the range of political parties represented in the 
     Kazakhstan Parliament as evidence of the country's continued 
     progress in strengthening democracy here.
       The Kazakhstan Majilis, or lower house of Parliament, 
     includes members from four political parties, including 
     communists. The majority Otan Party, which supports 
     Nazarbayev, holds 32 seats in the 77-member body.
       Nazarbayev made his remarks through a translator during a 
     news briefing with members of a Visiting Writers Delegation 
     from the United States Tuesday afternoon in the capital city 
     of Astana.
       Other members of the delegation included American Spectator 
     founder and publisher R. Emmett Tyrrell and Hoover 
     Institution Senior Research Fellow William Ratiliff from 
     Stanford University.
       Nazarbayev acknowledged some shortcomings in recent 
     elections in Kazakhstan, and government officials attributed 
     most of the irregularities to misunderstanding of the 
     process. Kazakhstan declared its independence from the former 
     Soviet Union in December 1991 and has been instituting 
     democratic and free-market reforms for the past nine years.
       Kazakhstan has also been the focus of criticism by the US-
     based group Human Rights Watch, which reported last year that 
     the government was engaged in censorship and manipulation of 
     the electoral process. However, the presence of independent 
     media in Kazakhstan was evident in Astana and Almaty, the 
     nation's largest city and business center.
       News photographers from independent television stations in 
     Kazakhstan were routinely visible around the nation's capital 
     this week, and a news conference attended by an estimated 20 
     reporters was in progress outside Nazarbayev's office 
     immediately prior to the president's briefing with the US 
     Writers Delegation.
       Aides to Nazarbayev also said the president meets monthly 
     with reporters from private media to conduct the equivalent 
     of general news conferences.
       While most media were controlled by the government during 
     Kazakhstan's inclusion in the former Soviet Union, the 
     country has made progress in transferring news outlets into 
     private hands since repudiating communism, and independent 
     news organizations have sprouted in large numbers since 
     communist rule here was replaced with democracy.
       According to the Ministry of Culture, Information and 
     Public Accord, the number of newspapers in Kazakhstan has 
     increased from 20 to 1,000 during the past decade, with an 
     estimated 70 percent now under private ownership.
       Similarly, Culture, Information and Public Accord Minister 
     Altynbeck Sarsenbayev said the government currently operates 
     one television news outlet while about 100 additional private 
     television companies exist today.
       Prior to joining the Nazarbayev administration, Sarsenbayev 
     ran The Horizon, which he described as the only independent 
     newspaper in Kazakhstan under communist rule in 1988.

                                  ____
                                  

     Kazakhstani President Suspects Terrorism Aimed at Oil Exports

                          (By Scott Hogenson)

       Astana, Kazakhstan (CNSNews.com).--Kazakhstani President 
     Nursultan Nazarbayev Tuesday said he suspects certain 
     Islamist terrorist activities outside the country are 
     intended to impede the country's growth as a major oil 
     producing state.
       Citing the example of Chechen rebels warring with Russian 
     troops in Chechnya, Nazarbayev said through a translator that 
     he suspects some terrorist activities are designed ``to make 
     obstacles to oil transportation,'' by creating political 
     instability in areas where future Kazakh oil pipelines are 
     being considered.
       Nazarbayev make it clear he intends to make Kazakhstan's 
     growing oil industry competitive with other major oil 
     producing states and said that while ``we don't see any 
     direct threat to Kazakhstan,'' the government needs to work 
     harder to combat ``terrorism and banditism'' as part of that 
     plan.
       Nazarbayev is Muslim, as are an estimated 47 percent of 
     Kazakhstanis, making it the predominate religion practiced 
     here.
       This is a snapshot of pipeline politics: While American 
     consumers are struggling with rising gasoline prices at the 
     pumps, Nazarbayev and other government officials in 
     Kazakhstan's capital city of Astana are struggling with the 
     more onerous challenge of getting their massive oil reserves 
     out of the ground and into the global marketplace.
       The challenges in developing Kazakhstan's oil reserves, 
     estimated to be among the largest on the planet, are 
     compounded by a combination of financial, political and 
     diplomatic considerations, according to officials interviewed 
     by CNSNews.com.
       The potential revenues and increased employment for 
     Kazakhstanis associated with the country's growing oil 
     industry are key components in the economic future of the 
     country and are part of a broader political priority as well.
       Minister of Culture, Information and Public Accord 
     Altynbeck Sarsenbayev said the most important goals for 
     Kazakhstan are to ``strengthen our independence and free-
     market economy,'' and the government's attention to oil 
     reflects its importance in achieving those goals.
       As an emerging democracy that declared its independence 
     from the former Soviet Union in 1991, this landlocked central 
     Asian country is highly dependent on foreign investments to 
     meet the multi-billion dollar cost of developing Kazakhstan's 
     potential as a major player in the international oil arena.
       Kazakhstan's Agency on Investments believes it will cost as 
     much as $160 billion to fully tap the country's oil reserves, 
     and agency Chairman Doulat O. Kuanyshev said efforts to 
     attract foreign investment in Kazakhstan represent ``the best 
     opportunity to make a political statement'' for Nazarbayev.
       ``Oil is always politics, not only money,'' said Kuanyshev.
       Kazakhstan has projected oil reserves of 110 billion 
     barrels by 2015, which would place it among the top three 
     oil-producing nations in the world, and the Nazarbayev 
     administration has attempted to create what it hopes will 
     become a political and economic climate that is conducive to 
     the full exploitation of the country's vast reserves.
       The development of Kazakhstan's potential as an oil 
     producing nation is so important, the Kazakh constitution 
     offers numerous legal protections for foreign investors and 
     the Parliament has passed laws offering sizable tax 
     advantages to firms willing to make investments in the 
     country.
       Among the ``privileges and preferences'' afforded outside 
     investors through the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on 
     Investment are five-year long income and property tax 
     holidays of up to 100 percent, additional tax holidays at a 
     reduced rate, conferred land rights, and waivers on customs 
     fees and tariffs on the importation of materials needed to 
     continue building Kazakhstan's oil producing infrastructure.
       These incentives are evidence of Kazakhstan's efforts to 
     establish a viable democracy and free market economy after 
     having broken away from communism less than a decade ago. 
     ``There is no way we can go back to the system we escaped 
     from,'' said Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, the chairman of 
     Kazakhstan's Majilis, the Lower House of the Parliament.
       Tuyakbai is the equivalent of the speaker of the US House 
     of Representatives and is a member of the majority Otan 
     Party, which supports Nazarbayev.

[[Page E451]]

       Despite the large oil reserves in Kazakhstan, the country's 
     three main oil refineries are operating far below capacity, 
     according to government data. Oil deliveries were more than 
     50 percent below the combined capacity of the Shymkent, 
     Pavlodar and Atyrau refineries in 1998, and the government 
     calls upgrading the country's refining operations ``a top 
     priority.''
       Currently, Chevron and Mobil/Exxon are among the largest US 
     investors in developing Kazakhstan's oil reserves.
       Large as the challenge of drilling for oil is, a greater 
     challenge lies in delivering these reserves to customers 
     around the world. Kazakhstan is landlocked, so all of its oil 
     must be delivered via pipeline or shipped through the Caspian 
     Sea and through other oil producing states in the Middle 
     East.
       Oil is currently exported from Kazakhstan via a single 
     pipeline running through Russia. But Kuanyshev said the 
     completion of a second pipeline to the Black Sea is expected 
     to have what he called ``an enormous impact'' on Kazakhstan's 
     role as an oil-producing nation.
       Kuanyshev said the Black Sea pipeline, scheduled to begin 
     operations in the autumn of 2001, would nearly double the 
     country's current oil output and open global markets for 
     Kazakh oil for the first time in the country's history.
       The politics of further pipeline development include some 
     of the most complex issues facing Kazakhstan. An analysis of 
     various pipeline options indicates that some proposals, like 
     one examining a pipeline through Chechnya, are unworkable at 
     this time because of continued warring there.
       The Chechens have not recognized Russian rule over them 
     since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the absence 
     of independence for Chechnya makes the chances for such a 
     pipeline route slim.
       Other options are complicated by US foreign policy, 
     including various proposals involving Iran, a route that is 
     considered by many to be the most direct way of delivering 
     Kazakhstan's oil to world markets.
       US sanctions against Iran and American opposition to more 
     Iranian pipelines makes such options less viable, according 
     to Kazakhstani officials, but an aide to Nazarbayev said the 
     president is ``satisfied with overall US relations'' at this 
     time.
       Even if a Kazakh pipeline to Iran could be established, 
     it's not likely Kazakhstan would consider membership in OPEC, 
     with one government official saying that Kazakhstan's 
     strategy for oil production and exportation is 
     ``inconsistent'' with current OPEC policy.
       Upon completion of the Black Sea pipeline next year, 
     Kazakhstan is expected to focus on a long-range project to 
     build a pipeline that would run directly to the Mediterranean 
     Sea via Azerbaijan and Turkey.
       A pipeline connecting Kazakhstan to the Mediterranean would 
     represent a significant leap for the country, officials said. 
     Not only would such a pipeline increase the country's total 
     oil exports, it also would alleviate the strategic risks that 
     can be associated with having to ship products through the 
     Black Sea and the narrow passage that connects it to the 
     Mediterranean.
       The internal political implications are also considerable 
     for Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev's Press Secretary, Asylbek K. 
     Bisenbayev, said the means of exporting oil are even more 
     important than increasing production if the country is to 
     continue moving forward with free-market reforms.
       ``Oil is important to developing a middle-class in 
     Kazakhstan,'' said Bisenbayev, underscoring the need to 
     shrink the income gap between rich and poor. With the 
     expansion of the country's middle-class also being a 
     political imperative for the majority Otan Party, the future 
     of democracy in Kazakhstan hinges in large part on tapping 
     the oil beneath it.

     

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