The Astana Times, March 27, 2013

The Astana Times

Silver medal of Denis Ten proves the power of belief.

Nauryz celebrations were held on main squares, parks and streets in all the regions and cities of Kazakhstan, and included concerts, shows, contests, trivia games, sport competitions, tree planting and holiday food fairs. See story on B4.

InsIde

+20C +40C

US$1 = 150.70 KZT1 Euro = 194.03 KZT1 Rouble = 4.88 KZT

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 № 5 (26) www.astanatimes.kz

NatioN Government Launches Major Civil Service

Reform UN to Launch Human Rights Project in

Central AsiaPage A2

EURaSia & WoRLD

Iran, P5+1 Prepare to Hold April Nuclear Talks in Almaty

Page A3

EDitoRiaL The aviation industry in

Kazakhstan and making it better

Page A6

oPiNioNS KUANGANOV: Demography Crucial for

National Progress

ZHAKYPOV: State Language Reaches a New Stage of Development

Pages A7

NatioN & CaPitaL Kazakhstan’s First Full-Length 3D Animated

Film Opens Paintball Warriors Invade Nation

Pages B1-B8

By Artur Abubakirov

OSLO – At a recent major inter-national conference in Oslo called “Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons”, The Astana Times talked to Ward Wilson, a famed scholar on the subject at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the author of a recent book “Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons” which received inter-ested reviews in The New York Times, among others. Here goes.

Can we call nuclear weapons the most effective weapons on earth and can we say they have been effective in maintaining a global balance of power and thus to pre-serve the peace in the world?

I would argue that nuclear weap-ons are not the most effective weapons on earth. They are the biggest, but the biggest is not al-ways the best.

It is certainly the case that many people imagine that nuclear weap-ons are enormously effective, enor-mously important, and politically crucial. But they are also clearly dangerous. They are big, they can blow up a lot of stuff but they are not that useful.

Global leaders used to believe that although nuclear weapons were really dangerous they were also very useful, so we had to keep them. Today, after statements by U.S. President Barack Obama and others, I think most people believe that the danger and the usefulness just balance each other out. How-ever, I would argue that nuclear weapons are dangerous and hardly useful at all. And that is why Ka-zakhstan’s story is so important, because it disproves the notion that nuclear weapons are important.

Continued on Page A3

“Kazakhstan’s story is so important, because it

disproves the notion that

nuclear weapons are important”

By Miras Abykov

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Denis Ten won the silver medal at the fig-ure skating World Cup held in Lon-don, Canada from March 11-17.

On his Facebook account, Ten thanked his fans for their support.

“Thank you so much for your sup-port. I am so proud to attain a new achievement for the figure skating history of Kazakhstan! It was my dream, my goal and without you - it wouldn’t come true,” the state-ment says.

Continued on Page B7

Ten Makes Kazakhstan Figure Skating History with Silver

By Sergei Gorbunov, Olga Berezhnova and

Natalia Ryzhkova

PAVLODAR – AKTAU – KA-RAGANDA – Kazakhstan’s mid-dle class - the main social base for further development of the country – is growing in strength.

In Western countries, the middle class accounts for 60 percent of the total adult population, well above the current level in Kazakhstan. However, in keeping with the stra-tegic objective set by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to make this country one of the 50 most com-petitive economies in the world, the government is actively pursu-ing policies to expand the middle class and expand its role in the community.

What is the middle class in Ka-zakhstan? Who belongs to it and what are its main identification characteristics?

English teacher Yekaterina Shevchenko told The Astana Times her family was not securely in the middle class. She said her family was not rich, “though it cannot be referred to in the category of poor either.” this Pavlodar resident said the classical definition of middle class implies some financial stabil-ity and equity, which her family does not yet have.

“Of course, we do not live in poverty,” she said. Her family con-sists of herself, her husband Alexei and their 11-year daughter. Her husband is an electronic engineer and a university graduate with an honors degree. But he must work at two jobs to support the fam-ily receiving a monthly income of 90,000 tenge ($596.42). Yekaterina Shevchenko is also busy, working at two jobs: She teaches English language courses and private les-sons (tutoring). Her monthly salary is also 90,000 tenge ($596.42).

Continued on Page B5

Middle Class Families

Optimistic about the Future

Nation Celebrates Nauryz

By Galiya Nurzhan

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s econo-my is projected to grow by a robust 6 percent this year, the government and the National Bank announced March 13.

In a statement, the government said its economic policy this year would focus on modernization through diversification and social programmes. It would follow a policy of seeking full employment, well-balanced regional develop-ment, making government admin-istration more effective and foster-ing increased economic integration with neighbouring nations and with the global economy.

The main engine driving eco-nomic growth will be investments into the non-energy sectors, the statement said. The government will work to maintain a favourable investment climate and increase oil revenues in the National Fund.

A new fiscal policy will be drafted.

The government and the National Bank plan to keep inflation within the margins of 6 to 8 percent. A bal-anced budget will be drawn up to im-prove the stability of public finances, anticipating a possible fall in global commodity prices this autumn.

The government is also introduc-ing, as planned, a Single Pension Savings Fund to increase fiscal sta-bility and increase the savings of individuals.

The government will continue to implement the major industrial projects it planned in the 2010-14 State Programme for Accelerated Industrial-Innovative Develop-ment (PAIID).

The government will also con-tinue to finance major road and rail projects and work to set up more joint ventures in industry with international investors. Major modernisation programmes will continue in agriculture within the 2020 State Programme for Agro-Industrial Development.

A long-term strategy to transition to a sustainable green economy is being developed to ensure sustain-able growth based on the rational use of natural resources. It will in-clude a new system to manage na-tional resources management, re-duce the use of energy and increase energy efficiency while developing new renewable energy sources and reducing pollution.

The process of issuing business permits will be revised and stream-lined. All permits that are not con-cerned with safety issues will be abolished and replaced by notifica-tions.

The government will continue to issue shares in the People’s IPO Programme and it will continue the 2020 State Programme for Afford-able Housing.

Remaining trade barriers and tar-iffs will be removed to boost trade and complete the process of inte-gration into the Single Economic Space and the Customs Union.

This year, the government hopes to complete work on the legal framework of the Single Economic Space and the Customs Union.

The statement said the govern-ment’s economic policies in 2012 had preserved positive trends in growth and social stability despite some negative trends around the world.

Kazakhstan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5 percent last year and industrial production increased by 0.5 percent. Service industries grew by 10 percent in 2012 while inflation remained at only 6 percent, a fall of 1.4 percent compared to 2011.

The country’s foreign currency reserves grew by 17.9 percent to $86 billion. The foreign currency assets of the National Fund rose by 32.4 percent to $57.8 billion.

The banking sector continued its steady recovery last year. To-tal bank assets increased by 8.2 percent, the total volume of loans grew by 13 percent, deposits in-creased by 7.2 percent compared with the figures for 2011.

The national budget deficit in 2012 came to 906.5 billion tenge ($6 billion) or 3 percent of GDP and the volume of foreign trade grew by 9.8 percent. The current account trade surplus came to $8.8 billion.

Social conditions have improved thanks to continued economic growth. Real money income in-creased by 6.8 percent, real earn-ings by 6.9 percent and average monthly wages exceeded 101,000 tenge ($670). The unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in December 2012. The successful implementa-tion of the Industrialization Map and the 2020 Business Road Map preserved economic growth and created new jobs.

The Fitch international rating agency increased the sovereign credit rating of Kazakhstan to BBB+ in 2012.

Continued on Page A4

Government Forecasts 6 Percent 2013 Growth

Internet Association Chief Predicts Bright Online Future By Yelden Sarybay

ALMATY – With growing Inter-net penetration influencing all so-cial spheres of life in Kazakhstan, the country is working to raise its online services to global standards. The Astana Times met Shavkat

Sabirov, president of the Internet Association of Kazakhstan (IAK) and asked him about the current situation and future prospects.

What does the IAK do?Today, the Internet Association

of Kazakhstan has 34 members and

the number is growing. These are professional communities. We are united in the association in our ef-forts to bring together all those who work in the Internet sphere because Kazakhstan, despite its vast territo-ries, is actually very small. We have only about 17 million inhabitants

and those who do business here have the same common interests. The as-sociation is meant to protect these interests, as well as representing its members in government functions and perhaps even in events that con-cern the international community.

Continued on Page B5

Wednesday, 27 March 2013The Astana TimesА2

NationDOMeSTIC

NewS IN BRIeF

By Nikolai Sergeyev

ASTANA -Progress has been made in modernising the media and its interaction with the state, the need for which was pointed out by State Secretary Marat Tazhin at a Feb. 22 meeting with media lead-ers.

The main focuses of the meet-ing were economic aspects of Ka-zakhstan’s media and its competi-tiveness, content and HR policies.

Since the meeting, the Ministry of Culture and Information has been working with media com-panies to revise their financing across the wide spectrum of ini-tiatives. The base cost per minute for documentaries has increased from 50,000 to 180,000 tenge. The cost of programmes on non-state television channels has also been increased 25 times.

An expert group was formed to

improve competitive procedures for public procurements. Another important area of focus is intellec-tualising the media and enhancing the expert presence therein. Topics for state owned news media were revised under Order 2013 and re-duced from 121 to 87 directions. Programmes with low viewership will be replaced. The Kazakhstan Broadcasting Company is launch-ing new programmes on socioeco-nomic topics with video confer-ences. News feeds and timing are also being reconsidered.

The Khabar news agency will offer its audience family quizzes, cooking shows, intellectual game shows and other programmes to upgrade its content. Non-state TV channels came out with sug-gestions to re-format analytical programmes. The websites of Ka-zakhstankaya Pravda and Egemen Kazakhstan newspapers are also

undergoing makeovers. New web-sites will be launched as 400 print media outlets transfer to online formats.

The Ministry of Education and Science will offer new approaches to the training of professionals in media through the Bolashak pro-gramme and internships for train-ing key engineering staff of media organisations and companies, as well as improving journalism cur-ricula in universities and interact-ing with employers to help develop professional standards.

Domestic television and radio content is to be consolidated with-in a single portal, www.otauv.kz. So far, the project has been running in pilot mode. The project ensures online placement of 37 television and radio channel feeds and pro-vides viewing capabilities to 500 users simultaneously, including time shift options.

By Rufiya Ospanova

ASTANA – Astana has hosted two high-level meetings to launch a wide-ranging programme of civil service reform in Kazakhstan.

On March 15, Alikhan Baimenov, the chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs (ACSA) and John Berry, the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) signed a Memorandum of Coop-eration in Astana. The two agencies agreed to exchange information and expand cooperation.

“Kazakhstan intends to create all conditions necessary for the effec-tive operation and development of its civil service regional centres,” President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in a message to the meeting, which was held at the Rixos Hotel in Astana and attended by U.S. Am-bassador to Kazakhstan Kenneth Fairfax. “Kazakhstan is interested in actively studying the best interna-tional practice and is ready to share its own civil service experience.”

UN Development Programme Permanent Representative Stephen Tull told the meeting, “Civil service reform is the engine of changes in society. The measures that we are discussing imply a constant search to improve civil services by citizens and society. The reform of public administration can be an engine for critical changes.”

“The idea of creating a regional hub is very important, since we are exchanging experiences between countries on a global scale. This exchange is the ability to increase efficiency and maintain reforms in

the civil service,” Tull said. “I also believe that this is an important area of intergovernmental coopera-tion to ensure peace. The regional hub will serve as an inter-institu-tional network for the continuous improvement of public service. This is an opportunity to improve the capacity of civil service agen-cies and ensure effectiveness for the public.”

The regional hub will create an institutional framework to exchange experience between the civil servic-es of the countries of the Common-wealth of Independent States (CIS) and Central Asia.

Previously, Bauyrzhan Baibek, former deputy head of the Presiden-tial Administration, discussed the impact of civil service reform on the work of local and regional govern-ments at the second international

conference “Assessing the Effec-tiveness of the Government.”

“Today, lots of money is allocated to the regions, but analysis shows that regional mayors do not have all the powers and resources they need. Now, we have the political consent, the transfer of powers from the cen-tre to the regions, from regions to districts can be carried out success-fully and the issue of local self-gov-ernance will be solved,” he said.

“What will be done here? Minis-ters and their deputies are the people who will be engaged in industrial pol-icies, improving legislation, and cre-ating favourable conditions (of gov-ernment). Executive secretaries will ensure that the system runs smoothly, that all government workers enjoy stable conditions and that all orders of the President are effectively carried out,” Baibek, who has since moved

to become the first deputy chair of the ruling Nur Otan party, said.

Regional governors and their ad-ministrations will provide stability work to solve regular problems. If the local mayor or governor can-not tackle an issue, he will ask the government, and they will make the appropriate changes in the law and form appropriate new policies.

Governors and mayors will have all the powers necessary to address the problems quickly. The efficiency of the use of financial resources, the performance of the state structure will improve, the conference was told.

“Currently, 10 percent of gov-ernment workers are based in the provinces. That means the state bu-reaucracy has 2,500 rural governors and mayors and 11,000 government workers who work in the countryside who really know the problems they deal with in local communities at first hand and know the problems inside the villages. Our task today is to grad-ually provide them with specific pow-ers, for they could solve most prob-lems on the ground,” Baibek said.

The civil service reform pro-gramme was designed to improve management, reform state agencies and boost the capabilities of civil service workers.

The previous effort at civil service reform in the 1990s failed because the principle of smooth transition from the old system to the new one was violated. Frequent rearrange-ments and staff reshuffle breached the principle of taking responsibility for the consequences of decisions.

The disruptions caused by that failed effort at reform cost the civil

service dearly. More than half the top managers including many of the most experienced and skilled ones left gov-ernment service to work in the private sector. Government workers suffered from managers who were inexperi-enced and lacked perspective, a poor system of selection and staff deploy-ment and from low salaries. Experts said the experience of developed countries pointed to the need to recruit more professionally trained managers to government service.

Successful policymaking in gov-ernment requires complete and objective information gathered by competent, well-trained personnel working in stable structures.

The old government system in-cluded 42 independently-operating executive bodies including 20 min-istries, 11 state committees, 11 gen-eral offices and a number of national commissions.

However, the experience of other countries shows that the creation of a rational system of state admin-istration capable of meeting the challenges of a free market society and employing efficient methods of management is a long and com-plicated process. The new reform programme recognises the need to start this process by implementing a number of priority measures.

The conference was attended by representatives from more than 30 countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel-opment (OECD), the World Bank (WB), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the U.S. Agency for Internation-al Development (USAID).

By Rinat Usmanov

ASTANA – A new project, “Human Rights Protection in Central Asia,” has been launched by the Central Asia Regional Office of the United Nations Office of the High Commis-sioner for Human Rights (UNOH-CHR). The project is financed by the European Union and will cover Ka-zakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Its aim is to strengthen the promo-tion and protection of human rights in Central Asia; its implementation in Kazakhstan will include directives such as promoting and protecting the rights of ethnic minorities and cham-pioning housing rights. The project began in November 2012 and will run until December 2013.

According to the OHCHR, the project will be implemented in Ka-zakhstan in cooperation with the As-sembly of the People of Kazakhstan, the Centre for Inter-ethnic and Inter-religious Relations of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Kazakhstan and the Agency for Construction, Housing and Communal Services (which has now become part of the newly es-tablished Ministry of Regional De-velopment). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan will also sup-port the project.

The project covers three main di-mensions: It will promote the imple-mentation of U.N. recommendations in the area of human rights and com-mission recommendations following the outcome of investigations into the events in Kyrgyzstan of June 2010, it will analyse the rights of ethnic mi-norities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and it will analyse cur-rent housing rights in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Among the expected results are the improvement of the countries’ strate-gies for protecting the rights of ethnic minority groups as a result of a better understanding of those groups’ needs and the use of the detailed statistics, as well as increased awareness and knowledge of the challenges inher-ent in protecting minority rights and fostering a tolerant society. Other expected results include following international standards and U.N. recommendations concerning the right to housing in the the legislature, programmes and in practice and in-creased awareness of the right to ad-equate housing in order to promote implementation of the right to suffi-cient housing.

The agencies involved in this project will support the three coun-tries’ governments in implement-ing recommendations relating to the rights of ethnic groups and the right to adequate housing. In particular, they will support analyses of the cur-

rent situation in the countries, publi-cation and distribution of the results of any analysis, regional conferences regarding minority and housing rights and workshops and lectures regarding housing rights and minor-ity rights, particularly within educa-tional institutions.

Recently, Head of the National Centre for Human Rights Vy-acheslav Kalyuzhny met with Dep-uty Regional Representative of the OHCHR on Central Asia Elizabeth Oliveira da Costa and experts on the issues of minorities’ rights and rights for housing in the Office of the Hu-man Rights Commissioner. At the meeting they discussed the Human Rights Protection in Central Asia project, which covers issues arising as a result of implementing recom-mendations regarding human rights and analyses of the current human rights and housing rights situations in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Kalyuzhny gave com-prehensive answers to questions put by human rights experts. He also informed them about the activity of Kazakhstan’s Human Rights Om-budsman in these areas.

Upon the results of the meeting, all parties agreed on the participa-tion of the National Centre for Hu-man Rights in the project. Prospects for further cooperation with the UN OHCHR for Central Asia were de-termined.

Despite the fact that the U.N. project is primarily aimed at the analysis and prevention of future international and inter-ethnic con-flicts, which have taken place in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, for Kaza-khstan this project is very important, as during the recent 67th session of the U.N. General Assembly held in New York, Kazakhstan became a new member of the U.N. Human Rights Council for 2013-2015. This U.N. decision not only confirms the country’s success in ensuring hu-man rights, but also imposes on Ka-zakhstan a responsibility to monitor the observance of human rights in all of Central Asia.

Another highlight of this pro-gramme is its analysis of the situation regarding promoting and protect-ing the right to adequate housing in the country. In Kazakhstan, the pro-gramme “Affordable Housing 2020” has already been launched and other similar programmes are underway. However, these programmes are not yet broadly understood or utilised. It is hoped that the U.N. project will help solve this problem.

OHCHR provides expertise and technical support to various U.N. human rights mechanisms as they undertake their standard-setting and monitoring functions.

efforts to Modernise National Media Gain Pace

UN to Launch Human Rights Project in Central Asia

Government Launches Major Civil Service Reform

By Sergei Gorbunov

PAVLODAR – The Affordable Housing 2020 programme has be-gun to be implemented in Pavlo-dar, where more than 560 families - 9,000 people - are on the regional centre’s waiting list for the pro-gramme. Local authorities are pre-paring for task of providing them all with housing by 2014.

Governor Yerlan Aryn, head of the region, addressed potential par-ticipants at a meeting organised by the regional akimat and the regional affiliate of the Housing Construc-tion Bank of Kazakhstan. “In a month we launch the construction of three multiunit buildings, which will be commissioned in 2014, and 560 young families will be provided with accommodation. Overall, 1,650 apartments will be built for young families in the region by 2020.” The governor added that eleven high-rise residential buildings are planned within the programme.

Participants at the meeting were informed that the cost of housing would be significantly lower than it is on the secondary market. The rental housing being built corre-sponds to the third and fourth levels of comfort; third-class comfort will cost 90,000 tenge per square me-tre and fourth class will cost about 80,000 tenge per square metre.

Through the programme, young families (the heads of which must be 29 years old or younger) will receive rental housing with subsequent pur-chase. Families may stay in the rental

units for up to eight years, during which time they will accumulate housing savings for obtaining housing loans. During the period of residence young families are ex-empt from rent.

Affordable Housing 2020 was launched in all regions of Kaza-khstan last year with the goal of

building 63 million square metres of housing in the country. This programme represents a new direc-tion in the construction and sale of rental housing on favourable terms for all citizens. Across the coun-try, 3,000 apartments are to be as-signed annually during the term of the programme.

Housing Programme to Take effect in Pavlodar by 2014

Young families will be amid the first social groups to enjoy rental housing on favourbale terms.

UNDP Permament Representative Stephen Tull (r) believes in civil service reform to be the engine of changes in society.

● President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued a decree on March 23 for the convocation of the 20th Session of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan in Astana. The session is scheduled to meet on April 24. The session will be on the theme of “Kazakhstan - 2050: one nation - one country - one des-tiny.” The government will organ-ize the event.

● Kazakhstan National Rail-ways (KTZ) has awarded Systra a contract to design and construct a 1,011 km (600 mile) high speed railway service between Almaty and Astana. The proposed 1520 mm gauge single-track line will carry trains up to 250 km per hour (150 miles per hour). A 10 km (six mile) bridge across Lake Balkhash will cut 300 kilometres (180 miles) off the current route between Ka-zakhstan's capital and its main commercial city.

● On March 21, President Nur-sultan Nazarbayev has signed amendments into law to allow the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to op-erate in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries of Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan and also has signed amendments to al-low the Use of Special Funds in Recipient Countries and Potential Recipient Countries. Kazakhstan is a member of the EBRD and has to approve its operations along with dozens of other countries. It is also one of the largest recipients of aid and loans to the Bank. Since the es-tablishment of the bank more than $15 billion were invested in the country, including free technical assistance in excess of $79 million. Today about 85 projects are imple-mented with a total borrowing of over $2.5 billion.

● On March 21, President Nur-sultan Nazarbayev has signed a new law to confirm the charter of the International Renewable En-ergy Agency (IRENA)”. Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Issekeshev said Kazakhstan would get more help from IRENA “to obtain grants for international development, research renewable energy potential, and access ex-pertise to reduce harmful effects on the environment.” IRENA helps countries develop their renewable energy resources.

● The Baikonur Cosmodrome may become a centre of EXPO 2017 activities. The space port has been already visited by delegations that have evaluated its use and as-sessed the costs of expanding its infrastructure up to international exhibition level.

● Kazakhstan will have around 100 universities remaining in the nearest two years. “The experi-ence shows that the majority of the commercial universities are unable to provide education of the required quality. That’s why we plan to slash their number from 66 to 30 in the nearest three years. In the end, the total number of the universities (commercial and pub-lic) will make 100 in two years,” Minister of Education and Science Bakytzhan Zhumagulov said at the government meeting on March 26. He noted that all students of the merged universities should be able to continue their studies. Accord-ing to Zhumagulov, “this is a strict requirement”. According to the Minister, the number of universi-ties has already been slashed from 149 to 136 in the course of their consolidation.

● An international space semi-nar is planned for Astana on April 10-11 2013: “Space Days in Kaza-khstan”. The seminar, which is tak-ing place on the eve of the anniver-sary of the first manned space flight by Yury Gagarin on April 12 1961, will also herald the launch later this year of Kazakhstan’s first re-mote sensing satellite. The launch of a second such satellite from Ka-zakhstan is planned for 2014.

● The painting “Chinese Girl” by Kazakhstan-born painter Vladimir Tretchikov was sold at auction in London on March 20 for almost a million pounds ($1.52 million). Tretchikov made the painting in 1952 and died in 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 The Astana TimesА3

exTeRNAL NewS IN BRIeF

Eurasia and world“Kazakhstan’s story is so important, because it disproves the notion that nuclear weapons are important”

From Page A1

If nuclear weapons give you safety and security, then Kaza-khstan should have kept them, and it should have suffered from a lack of safety and security over the past two decades since giving them up. But that has clearly not been the case. The past 21 years since na-tional independence have been the safest, most secure and most pros-perous in the nation’s history.

This was Kazakhstan’s condi-tion at the beginning of 1992: It had just become independent, it was right between Russia, a nu-clear power, and China, a nuclear power, and it had the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world. It had also inherited from the break-up of the Soviet Union a plutonium reac-tor and a fleet of strategic bombers. Even if it had given back the nu-clear missiles on its soil, within a year of independence Kazakhstan it could have had a large nuclear arsenal.

So why didn’t Kazakhstan fol-low that route? Why didn’t it build nuclear weapons? This is an im-portant question that people in the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France should ask themselves. I would hope that Ka-zakhstan’s story would be thought about more by ministers and dip-lomats.

There are states with nuclear weapons that oppose prolifera-tion. Is this an example of double standards?

There is a provision in the Nu-clear Non-Proliferation Treaty that requires the nuclear-armed states to work toward disarmament. In-creasingly, it seems as if the United States, Russia and China, Britain and France seem to think they have a right to have nuclear weapons because they are rational, careful, and mature and no one else should. And that is just clearly wrong.

We were talking yesterday about

Iran and someone said “Well you know, we were rational during the Cold War but increasingly there are irrational actors in the world.” And I wanted to remind him about Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev taking off his shoe and banging it on the podium when he was ad-dressing the United Nations. It seems to me that the notion that we are rational, that the P5 are rational and everyone else is irrational - that is just silly. Craziness, madness is not limited geographically. The real danger is not a madman with a nuclear weapon--with five nuclear weapons in Africa or Asia--the real danger is if you had a world leader like possibly some future U.S. president or Russian president who goes crazy. Then you end up with a real problem. Madness isn’t geo-graphically limited. People are not sane here and crazy there, crazy people occur everywhere.

The notion of limiting prolifera-tion is a good one, but the notion that some people get to keep nu-clear weapons forever and tell eve-ryone else what to do is stupid.

At this conference, many par-ticipants seem to agree that in a near future we should anticipate a nuclear conflict, possibly initiated by terrorists?

I do not know if the conference proves that is a serious possibility, but I certainly believe it could hap-pen. If you want to have a terrorist get a nuclear weapon, all you have to do is keep going exactly the way we are going now. Slowly but sure-ly, nuclear weapons are spreading to more and more countries. That means, there are far more chances of selling them out of the back door.

I am not just concerned about terrorists. There is a real danger these weapons could get used in a war. I’ve read too much history and I know of too many instances when leaders did irrational things.

This conference shows that there are countries that are concerned about nuclear weapons, particu-larly about the effect of nuclear weapons. What will happen and what will come out of it, I do not know, but I hope something good.

What is the value of this and other international conferences like this in making any practical steps forward towards the goal of nuclear disarmament? What could be a practical tool to achieve a nuclear weapons free world?

I would like to see a conference with historians and government of-ficials from every country that once had nuclear weapons, or that once had nuclear weapons programmes but gave them up.

There is a problem in nuclear-armed countries. They believe that

everyone wants nuclear weapons. They believe that people who do not have nuclear weapons are ei-ther too poor or too stupid to build them. Lots of people in Washing-ton whom I meet and around the world think this way.

I would like to see a conference that Kazakhstan takes a leading role in, that results in a book and tells the story about all the coun-tries that gave up their nuclear weapons and why they gave them up.

Such a book could contain 12-15 stories that all say, “We thought about having nuclear weapons, we had a few after the breakup of the Soviet Union or we built some of our own like South Africa, and then we thought about it and we decided that this is crazy.”

A conference that tells those sto-

ries would be an enormous step forward because then, whenever you meet someone at NATO or in the United States, Russia or Britain who claims that everyone really wants nuclear weapons, you could hand them that book and say, “No, it looks to me that a lot of people do not want nuclear weapons. In fact, there are more countries that had nuclear weapons or had nu-clear weapons programs and gave them up than have built nuclear weapons.”

Such a conference would pow-erfully make the argument that if there were a vote between the countries that have nuclear weap-ons, and those that don’t have them and don’t want them, then the sup-porters of nuclear weapons will lose. They will be outvoted. So I want someone to tell that story.

By Altynai Sultan

ASTANA – Iran and the P5+1 powers are preparing to hold the next round of their negotiations on Te-hran’s nuclear programme in Almaty, which already hosted their talks in February.

The latest round of P5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear programme at the ex-pert level was held in Istanbul on March 17-18. The P5+1 (also known as the EU3+3) presented to the Ira-nian side a more detailed version of the proposals they presented at the Almaty talks on February 26-27.

Experts from the P5+1 group of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States provided additional informa-tion on Iran’s revised proposals for confidence building. The two sides also discussed a number of technical issues. The Istanbul talks prepared the way for further rounds of talks in Almaty on April 5-6.

The negotiations follow Iran’s re-fusal to end its uranium enrichment programme as required by the UN Security Council.

The P+1 countries and Iran all agreed to have Kazakhstan host the April talks in Almaty as well as the February ones.

Kazakhstan has played an active and leading role in non-prolifera-tion issues and was one of the first countries to unilaterally and totally renounce nuclear weapons when it gave up the fourth largest nuclear ar-senal in the world in the early 1990’s.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev took another historic step towards nuclear disarmament when he issued a decree to close the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on Aug. 29, 1991 in Almaty.

The February Almaty talks on Iran have attracted the attention of the world press. Nearly a hundred jour-nalists from Reuters, BBC, Xinhua, AFP, CNN, Regnum, Al Jazeera Net-work, Bloomberg, Voice of America, Wall Street Journal and other media corporations covered the February talks.

Participants in the Almaty talks did not reveal any details about the nego-tiations but said they had made posi-tive progress.

“We collectively have developed a number of constructive suggestions for Iran. Today, we have voiced our concern to the Iranian side, which, in turn, should study and analyse our proposed measures and provide an answer at the next meeting in Al-maty,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said at that time.

Saeed Jalili, secretary of Iran’s Su-preme Security Council and head of the Iranian delegation at the Almaty talks acknowledged the positive re-sults of the February talks.

Jalili and Ashton thanked Kaza-khstan for agreeing to host the April round of talks.

Almaty is the main scientific, cul-tural, financial and industrial centre in Kazakhstan and the largest city in the country.

Iran, P5+1 Prepare to Hold April Nuclear Talks in Almaty

Catherine Ashton and Saeed Jalili agreed to meet again for the next round of talks in Almaty on April 5-6.

By Malika Rustem

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s For-eign Minister Erlan Idrissov last week wound up his tour of northern Europe in Oslo after sharing Kaza-khstan’s plan for a green economy with the region. The key message from Kazakhstan’s delegation to Finland, Norway and Sweden, aris-ing from President Nazarbayev's programme of intensive economi-sation of foreign policy, was the same: Kazakhstan hopes to attract more green technology to comple-ment the development of its green economy and the forthcoming EXPO 2017.

In Oslo, Idrissov first met with Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe. They discussed cooperation in tradition-al spheres, including oil and gas, as

well as renewable energy sources such as biofuel and hydropower. (Norway produces 97 percent of its electric power using water resourc-es.) The heads of the two ministries agreed on further cooperation in order to attract Norway’s expertise and technologies to the ongoing development of the environmen-tally friendly and innovative en-ergy sector in Kazakhstan.Minister Idrissov next met Marit Nybakk, vice president of the Storting, Nor-way’s Parliament, to discuss inter-parliamentary interaction, nuclear non-proliferation, regional coop-eration and other issues. Nybakk positively emphasised the inten-sive exchange of delegations of various levels between Kazakhstan and Norway and expressed hope for the further development of the bilateral relationship.

At his meeting with Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide, Idrissov discussed a wide range of bilateral and in-ternational issues, including en-hancing bilateral trade turnover, talks related to Iran’s nuclear pro-gramme, aid to Afghanistan and cooperation within Central Asia. Eide applauded the forthcoming opening of the full-fledged Em-bassy of the Republic of Kaza-khstan to the Kingdom of Norway this year. During the visit, For-eign Minister Idrissov delivered a speech at the Norwegian Insti-tute of International Affairs about development and strengthening bilateral relations. The Foreign Minister was also interviewed by The Dagens Næringsliv daily newspaper and Norway’s national television channel.

Foreign Minister Brings Green economy Message to Northern europe

● Rapil Zhoshybayev, execu-tive secretary of the Foreign Min-istry and commissioner in charge of EXPO 2017, met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Ministers Cheng Guoping and Si Hanshen, director of the Administrative Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Li Chao during his working visit to Beijing on March 18-19. The two sides discussed increased bilateral cooperation and consular work, improving visa procedures and ex-panding tourism and business rela-tions. Zhoshybayev thanked China for supporting Astana’s candidacy to host EXPO 2017 and discussed joint preparations for it.

● Kazakhstan and Russia are planning to establish joint enterpris-es to modernise and maintain their military equipment, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Defence Minister Sergey Gromov told the Majilis plenary session on March 20. The 2013-15 draft programme will create a plant to repair engines for military air-craft at the West Kazakhstan Engi-neering Company in Uralsk and set up a new Aviation Technical Centre in Astana. Russian companies will participate in the venture which will cover the repair of military helicopters. The projects will be carried out under an agreement on Kazakh-Russian military-technical cooperation signed at Orenburg on Sept. 11, 2009.

● President Nazarbayev has con-firmed that he will take part in the 12th session of the Boao Forum for Asia. This will take place in China April 6-8, 2013 on the topic of “Asia Seeking Development for all: Restructuring, Responsibil-ity and Cooperation”. Kazakhstan was one of the 28 signatories of the founding document of the Forum, which is aimed at improving eco-nomic integration and mutual de-velopment of the Asian states.

● Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov met Minister for Eu-ropean Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb during his offi-cial visit to Finland on March 17-19. Parties discussed the bilateral cooperation and their development prospects in context of the upcom-ing on state visit of Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland to Kaza-khstan, on April 16-18. The Min-isters also exchanged their views on cooperation within the interna-tional organizations and discussed the relevant issues of the interna-tional relations. Stubb enthusiasti-cally reacted to the strategic plans of Kazakhstan to develop “green economy” and renewable energy sources. Prospects of this coopera-tion are expected to get raised dur-ing the forthcoming President Sauli Niinistö’s visit to Kazakhstan, who will be accompanied by heads of the largest companies in Finland.

● According to the United Nations Human Development Index 2012, Kazakhstan ranked 69th out of 187 countries and territories listed. Most former Soviet republics joined the group of countries with “high hu-man development”. These include Estonia (33rd place), Lithuania (41st), Latvia (44th), Belarus (50th) Russia (55th), Kazakhstan (69th), Georgia (72nd), Ukraine (78th), Azerbaijan (82nd) and Armenia (87th). Countries with “medium level of development” include Turkmenistan (102nd), Moldova (113th), Uzbekistan (114th), as well as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which have jointly occupied the 125th position.The first three coun-tries in the ranking are Norway, Australia and the USA, whereas Chad, Mozambique and Niger are the bottom three. Human Develop-ment Index (HDI) is a comprehen-sive measure of literacy, education, expectancy and quality of life, by which the country can be rated as “developed” or “developing”.

● Foreign Minister Erlan Idriss-ov paid an official visit to Norway on his tour of Northern Europe on March 21. The foreign minister said Kazakhstan seeks to attract more environmentally clean tech-nologies to develop its green econ-omy and prepare for EXPO 2017. Idrissov met Norwegian Petroleum and Energy Minister Ola Borten Moe and discussed cooperation on oil and gas, hydroelectric energy and biofuels. Some 97 percent of Norway’s electric power is pro-duced from hydropower and biofu-el. Idrissov also met Marit Nybakk, Vice President of the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament and dis-cussed inter-parliamentary rela-tions nuclear non-proliferation and regional cooperation.

i would like to see a conference with historians and government officials from every country that once had nuclear weapons, or that once had nuclear weapons programmes but gave them up...i would like to see a conference that Kazakhstan takes a leading role in, that results in a book and tells the story about all the countries that gave up their nuclear weapons and why they gave them up.

Ward Wilson believes a world without nuclear weapons is not a utopia and sees hope in examples like that of Kazakhstan.

Erlan Idrissov (l) and his Norwegian colleague Espen Barth Eide discussed a wide range of bilateral and international topics during their meeting in Oslo on March 22.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013The Astana TimesА4

EconomyBUSINeSS

NewS IN BRIeF

By Galiya Nurzhan

ASTANA – The Samruk Kazyna National Sovereign Fund is em-barking on a massive programme of railway and port construction this year, its chairman Umirzak Shukeyev told an expanded meet-ing of directors in February 2013.

Shukeyev said 2012 had been a year of great success for the fund when its enterprises generated a total gross income of 850 billion tenge ($5.63 billion), 11 percent higher than projections. The net income for 2012, excluding sec-ond-tier banks came to 697 billion tenge ($4.62 billion), 14 percent higher than projected and 11 per-cent higher than in 2011.

“Last year we worked success-fully to fulfill the tasks set by the president and the government,” Shukeyev said. “Over the past year we have solved a number of sys-temic issues. The Fund Act and the 2022 Development Strategy were approved. New dividend, inno-vation, industrial and investment policies were developed.”

Shukeyev said the increase in in-come was achieved despite lower prices and reduced exports of ura-nium on the world market. Global oil prices remained at their 2011 levels and the country’s oil produc-tion was cut. The fund also incurred additional costs in setting up two new development companies fol-lowing the unrests in Zhanaozen in December 2011.

“The operating fund return (EBITDA) increased from 17.8 percent in 2011 to 18.0 percent in 2012,” Shukeyev said. “The fund’s consolidated net assets (equity), excluding the second-tier banks, are estimated to reach 6.1 trillion tenge ($40 million) for the year, an 8 percent increase on 2011. The fund’s plans were over-fulfilled by all its major subsidiaries. Oil and gas condensate production reached 21.4 million tons. Tariff and pas-senger turnover increased by 5 per-cent and 14 percent respectively compared to 2011. Uranium output increased by 10 percent on 2011 and electricity production totaled 14.5 billion kW/h. This was 8 per-cent higher than in 2011,” he said.

In 2012, the fund’s Corporate Governance Rating increased from 53 to 62 percent compared to 2010. The leader among the fund’s com-

panies in corporate governance rat-ing was the Kazatomprom National Atomic Company at 70 percent.

In early 2012, the most serious risks and challenges the fund faced were the situation with the BTA bank and issues of financial stabil-ity. Shukeyev said BTA’s debt had been successfully restructured, im-proving its prospects. The bank’s capital was reinstated from $ -8.2 billion to $ +1.5 billion, its foreign debt was reduced from $9.1 billion to $750 million, and the maturity of the loan was prolonged until 2022. BTA’s funding costs were reduced on average from 10 percent to 5.5 percent and its liquidity options were improved. The fund’s share in BTA’s capital increased from 81.5 to 97.3 percent.

Samruk Kazyna is also restructur-ing its assets, Shukeyev said. “The work to improve the long-term val-ue of the subsidiaries will continue through the improvement of their corporate governance, productiv-ity, profitability, cost-effectiveness and sustainability,” he said.

The fund plans to ensure the sup-plies of all basic needs in industrial products through regular procure-ment by its companies. “All the companies of the fund will have to ensure the growth of local content in line with their strategies,” the chairman said.

Shukeyev said the fund was drafting new procurement rules us-ing a new selection system to im-prove the quality and competitive-ness of its goods and services.

Within the framework of the 2013-22 programme to upgrade existing businesses and establish

new ones, the fund plans to de-centralize production facilities and move to more long-term contracts with its subsidiaries.

In 2013 and 2014, the fund plans to sale shares in 26 assets and 311 non-core facilities of KazMunayG-as and Kazatomprom. Shares in social facilities will be first offered to local agencies, and then will be sold on the free market.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev also instructed Samruk Kazyna to implement the People’s IPO Pro-gramme of share issues in 2012. KazTransOil (KTO) was the first company to sell its share offerings on the stock market in the fall of 2012. The demand for its shares was oversubscribed by 213 per-cent. KTO raised 59.4 billion tenge ($390 million). A total of 34,676 applications were received from individuals who comprised 79.3 percent of the total public offer-ing. They bought 22.1 billion tenge ($150 million) of shares.

In 2012, as part of the 2010-14 State Programme for Accelerated Industrial-Innovative Develop-ment (PAIID), seven investment projects totaling $2.3 billion were carried out by the fund, including the construction of two major rail lines from Zhetygen to Khorgas and from Uzen to the border with Turkmenistan. They have an an-nual traffic capacity of up to 10 million tons and 7 million tons re-spectively.

On December 4, the fund opened a factory making electric locomo-tives in Astana’s Special Economic Zone. On December 25, another factory to make silicon-based pho-

tovoltaic modules opened in As-tana. A new ecological centre to deal with oil spills in the north of the Caspian Sea was opened.

Shukeyev said that the fund has already begun to implement Presi-dent Nazarbayev’s directions for its work this year.

“The first goal is to attract high-ly qualified foreign specialists to work in the fund’s companies,” he said “We have analyzed the companies’ needs and are work-ing out the conditions for recruit-ing foreign specialists and getting them to train our local personnel. We plan to attract high-level for-eign executives to work with us on business development, logistics, airport management, new fields in chemistry, mid-level managers for power and communications as well as in market development. We also need to recruit professionals in the fields of sustainable development, human resource management, fi-nancial control and reporting, and risk management.”

The fund also plans to build the Astana - Almaty high-speed rail link and is carrying out a feasibil-ity study on it which will be com-pleted by the end of June.

Work started last year on build-ing new railway lines between Zhezkazgan and Beineu and from Arkalyk to Shubarkol as part of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (Kaza-khstan State Railways) capital in-vestment plan for 2013.

The Aktau International Sea Commercial Port will transfer its investment in expanding the port to KTZ by the end of March to ac-celerate the second and third stages of the project.

The fund will finance a new Tobol-Kokshetau-Astana gas pipe-line. Work on it will start this year.

In order to strengthen energy security, President Nazarbayev in-structed the fund to “complete the circle” of national power supply systems for the centre and west of the country. The fund is producing a projection for the power genera-tion and electricity consumption needs of the Mangistau and Atyrau regions. It is drafting the terms of accession of Western Kazakhstan to the Common Power Grid. Work to construct a 500 kW North-East-South power connector will start in the second half of this year.

The fund is drawing up a propos-

al for the location and design of the country’s first nuclear power plant and will present it to the govern-ment by May 1.

The fund is also drafting a new 2012-15 Comprehensive Energy Efficiency Plan to reduce energy consumption by its companies. It is producing a new master plan to use alternative energy.

Samruk Kazyna is also focus-ing on preparing for EXPO 2017. It will provide full energy supplies through alternative energy sources used at power plants.

The fund is also working on di-versifying the national economy.

“The revenues of Samruk Kazy-na’s companies (along with those it jointly controls) contribute 23 per-cent of the country’s GDP,” Shuk-eyev said. “The companies must become the locomotives of diver-sification and industrial and inno-vative development of the coun-try. The fund’s total investment programme includes 157 projects worth $101 billion, of which 74 projects worth $54 billion are cur-rently being implemented.”

In 2013, as part of the Programme for Accelerated Industrial and In-novative Development Programme (PAIID), four investment projects worth $1.7 billion will be imple-mented by the fund. They are: the reconstruction of a sulfuric acid plant with a capacity of 180,000 tons per year; the construction of three substations to provide power to homes in Almaty and the sur-rounding region; a factory to make road bitumen at the Aktau Plastics Plant with a capacity of 406.5 tons per year; an oil refinery to make 255,400 tons of petrol and diesel fuel and 330,300 tons of vacuum gas oil per year; and the rebuilding and modernisation of the Atyrau oil refinery to make the basic pet-rochemical products of benzene, paraxylene and high-octane gaso-line meeting Euro-3 standards.

The fund is financing four other major industrial projects in 2013 costing $645 million: an electric switches factory making 1,500 units per year; an optical instru-ments factory; modernizing the Semey Engineering factory; and completing the second stage of the LTE/GSM/UMTS 2012-21 programme to create a new fourth-generation Long Term Evolution mobile network.

Samruk Kazyna Sets 2013 Goals

Government Forecasts 6 Percent 2013 GrowthFrom Page A1

However, government experts warned that problems in the global economy could still negatively im-pact Kazakhstan.

The global economy has slowed down again following its recovery from the 2008-9 financial crisis. Lower global growth is expected

to remain widespread till 2020. The International Monetary Fund fore-casts 3.5 percent global economic growth this year, slightly higher than the 3.2 percent rate in 2012.

The Fitch agency cut its growth forecast for the world economy in 2013 to 2.4 percent from its previ-ous estimate of 2.6 percent. How-ever, the negative impact of global

trends is expected to be less in Ka-zakhstan compared to 2012.

Well-timed market reforms and growing foreign trade, and invest-ment are the main forces generat-ing continued economic growth in Kazakhstan. In some listings, the country ranked third among the 25 most dynamic economies last year behind only China and Qatar.

Kazakhstan rose in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2012 In-dex from No. 58 in 2011 to No. 47 out of 183 countries listed. It had the most favourable rating of any of the 12 nations in the Common-wealth of Independent States.

The World Bank also put Kaza-khstan among the top 20 most attrac-tive countries in the world for invest-

ment. Since independence, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Kaza-khstan totaled $170 billion. In 2012, the country invested $18 billion in its own foreign investments. Kaza-khstan’s business-friendly economy offers access to the nation’s natural resources. The country’s political and economic stability, continued growth and strategic location are also attractive to foreign investors. The country’s exports are still domi-nated by oil, natural gas, uranium, metals and precious minerals.

According to the National Agen-cy for Export and Investment KA-ZNEX INVEST at the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, foreign trade totaled $135.5 billion in 2012, a 7.5 percent increase com-pared to 2011. Exports increased by 5.2 percent to $92.7 billion while imports increased by 12.6 percent to $42.8 billion. The country’s foreign trade surplus for 2012 is expected to remain around $50 billion, the same figure as in 2011.

The United Nations Broad Eco-nomic Categories (BEC) index said 74 percent of Kazakhstan’s exports in 2012 were in raw mate-rials worth $68.3 billion. Some 84 percent of these were crude oil, 5 percent were ores and concentrates, 3 percent were petroleum gases, 3 percent were wheat and the remain-ing 5 percent was other items. Proc-essed goods amounted to 26 percent of exports worth $24.4 billion, a 10 percent increase on 2011.

The balance of trade reflected the growing diversification of the domestic economy.. The propor-tion of trade with the countries traditional partners - the CIS and Baltic nations - remained high. The main trade partner of Kazakhstan is Russia. Trade continues to grow with other nations, especially China, Turkey, Belarus, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy, the United States, Britain and South Korea.

In July 2010, the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia was launched. Government experts have projected that it will increase the combined GDP of its member states by 19 percent by 2015.

● Kazakhstan will reimburse the fuel and lubricant shortages due to tolling operations in China, Prime Minister’s Serik Akhmetov’s official website announced on March 20. “We agreed on the need to transport 1.5 million tons of crude oil to China for processing at the production fa-cilities of the Chinese Dushanzi re-finery within the tolling operation,” director of the Department of Oil Industry Development under the Ka-zakh Oil and Gas Ministry Kuandyk Kulmurzin said. Kulmurzin said Ka-zakhstan will process and transport one million tons of petroleum prod-ucts to China by the end of this year

● Kazakhstan plans to establish an Institute of Energy and Energy Efficiency, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Issekeshev told local media on March 20. He said the new institute would be set up on the basis of an earlier energy company. “Today, there is a group of professionals, engineers and scholars who were able to establish contacts with the leading organisa-tions of Japan, Germany, France and South Korea, to examine their expe-rience in creating an internal energy market,” Issekeshev said. “Special attention is paid to creating the rel-evant infrastructure which includes the development of the energy sec-tor within the State Programme for Accelerated Industrial-Innovative Development. This sector should be developed in advance. We also need accurate calculations,” he said.

● The government will decide the site for the new civilian nuclear power station by this summer, Dep-uty Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and New Technologies Asset Issekeshev told local media on March 19. “The government has not yet determined the site for the nuclear power station,” he said. “The decision has not been made yet. Work on the plan and further configuration of the plant is under way.” Issekeshev said President Nursultan Nazarbayev had ordered the government to make the deci-sion by the middle of this year. “A working group which includes representatives of our Ministry, the Kazatomprom National Atomic Company and specialists has been established,” he said. “They must determine the site for the future plant and the configuration of the station. The choice will be made af-ter careful analysis and taking into account all important criteria.” He said after the decision is announced, an international tender to build the power station will be announced.

● MIE Holdings Corporation, an independent upstream oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas in China, Kaza-khstan and USA, announced that its subsidiary Emir-Oil had signed a new production contract with the Ministry of Oil and Gas to develop the Emir oilfield, covering an area of 3.53 square kilometres (1.36 square miles) with a term of 17 years. Emir-Oil holds an exploration contract re-cently extended through Jan. 9, 2015 covering 808 square kilometres (312 square miles) of the Aksaz-Dolinnoe-Kariman (ADE) area excluding the existing Aksaz, Dolinnoe, Kariman and Emir oilfields. MIE is listed on the main board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

● The Kazakhmys Metallurgical Corporation plans to invest one bil-lion tenge ($6.62 million) in Kaza-khstan’s Zhezkazgan region explora-tion, the company reported on March 20 following the meeting of its man-agement with First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Devel-opment Bakytzhan Sagintayev and Head of Karaganda region Bauyrzhan Abdishev. “The exploration work is planned to be carried out in the cen-tral part of Zhezkazgan region includ-ing the Zhezkazgan and Zhilandinsk groups of fields. A mining operation is underway in the Itauyz field, the second stage of work will be carried out at the Zhomart mine, and a feasi-bility study is being developed for the Kipshakpay and Karashoshak depos-its,” the company said. Kazakhmys will invest $6 billion in these projects over the next five years. It will also invest $30 million in modernisation programmes and $100 million in developing the energy sector of the Zhezkazgan region. Kazakhmys is a leading international natural resourc-es group with significant interests in copper, gold, zinc, silver and power generation. It is the largest copper producer in Kazakhstan and one of the largest in the world with 17 oper-ating mines, 10 concentrators and two copper smelters.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 The Astana TimesА5

BusinesseCONOMY

NewS IN BRIeF

Kazakhstan produced 21,236 ve-hicles, including trucks, commercial and passenger cars, in 2012. State agencies purchased 12 percent of the production—2,553 cars—and bought 1,365 units of imported transport.

The list of car models assembled in Kazakhstan continues to grow. It seems likely that the public sec-tor preference in the future will tend increasingly toward domestically produced vehicles. Kazakhstan already produces cars in a wide price range, including small sedans, SUVs and executive cars such as the SsangYong Chairman.

The production of trucks, light commercial and special vehicles, including cars for the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Ministry of Emergencies, is growing. Design offices of production plants are ac-tively developing modifications to specialised vehicles to adhere to the requirements of state structures. Last year, the Ministry of Health and au-

tomakers signed a memorandum on cooperation regarding the confirma-tion of intent to supply ambulances.

In order to meet the needs of citizens, local businesses and the public sector,

some automakers plan to switch from semi-knocked down (SKD) to com-pletely knocked down (CKD) assem-blage, including welding and painting of vehicle bodies, later this year.

By Lyubov Dobrota

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN - Fruit trees bananas, persimmons and pomegranates are flourishing at the Saryagash Zher Syiy plant nursery in southern Kazakhstan.

“This year we anticipate the first crop of bananas,” the Saryagash head Tanabai Shyntasov told the Astana Times.

“It is not a commercial project and there will be very few farmers willing to start the commercial cul-tivation of bananas. But the seed-lings of persimmon, pomegranate and lemon fruit are already in de-mand,” he said.

The nursery uses advanced tech-nologies. The plants are grown in hydroponic pods, drip irrigation is installed and the greenhouse is warmed by special heaters designed by Nikolai Khramov. Soon, Shyn-

tasov plans to expand the project and build more greenhouses.

“We need additional 55 hectares (135.9 acres) of land for further de-velopment,” Shyntasov said. “We want the nearby areas to increase production and offer new varieties of seeds.”

The Saryagash Zher Syiy is cur-rently dealing with a large order: A businessman from the neighboring Kazygurt district decided to plant his land with 70,000 seeds of the Starkrimson winter breed of apples.

In 2012, Shyntasov constructed a vegetable storage silo where the required temperature could be set and then used it to store crops and seeds.

Already, that young orchard is yielding 60 tons of fruits per hec-tare (2.47 acres) this year. In 2012, its first crop of apples yielded al-most 20 tons per hectare.

A few years ago, Saryagash Zher Syiy bought 17,000 dwarf rootstocks in France. A special sprinkler was installed to provide climatic conditions similar to the French climate. With proper care, the plants will last up to 15 years.

The nursery is an example of the effective cooperation of horti-culture and viticulture. The farm grows world famous varieties of apples and also local ones.

“We have developed various schemes for green house horticul-ture,” Shyntasov said. “The best option, I believe, is when 2,500 bushes are planted on one hectare. Naturally, we use drip irrigation to save resources and reduce labour costs. The state now subsidises this kind of commercial horticulture only if a drip irrigation system is installed. The legally stipulated minimum area of the nursery is five hectares (12.35 acres). I think it is too small and inefficient, the cost of irrigation and electricity will only be recouped over far too long a period.”

Shyntasov wants to unite all nurseries in the country and es-tablish a national association co-ordinated by the Kazakh Research Institute of Horticulture and Viti-culture. Southern Kazakhstan has all the necessary conditions to develop this kind of agriculture, he said. The Saryagash Zher Syiy needs more land to open a dem-onstration garden and nursery and plant saplings of different varieties to change popular attitudes about these kinds of crops.

Today the nursery is already growing seedlings of apple, ap-ricot, plums, pears, peaches, cherries, grapes, lemons, persim-mons, pomegranates, bananas, junipers, arborvitae, willows, and Japanese quinces. Southern Ka-zakhstan can look forward to a fruitful future.

By Maral Zhantaykyzy

ASTANA – On March 1st the Na-tional Bank of Kazakhstan issued a commemorative coin to mark the 100th anniversary of People’s Artist of the USSR, Kazakh com-poser Mukan Tolebayev. The bank also released a new, two-volume catalogue price list of the country’s coins, which depicts all the coins issued by the National Bank of Ka-zakhstan up to 2013. In December of last year, the bank launched an online shop on its website to pro-vide another outlet for those wish-ing to buy investment or commem-orative (collector’s) coins.

Because of the financial crisis and fluctuations in world economies, people are concerned about the fu-ture of their savings. Volatility in ex-change rates and falling real estate prices are driving people to look for alternative ways to invest. One of those ways is in coins. According to experts, in 2000s, the price of gold rose almost sevenfold, from $250 to $1,660 per ounce. Therefore, the purchase of investment coins is an investment and accumulation of money in the form of gold and sil-ver of the highest quality.

The National Bank of Kaza-khstan annually produces dozens of new coins in different series,

which are very popular within the country as well as abroad. The in-vestment coins are made of metal of the highest purity: 999.9 assay. They are imprinted with the name, face value, weight, year of issue and identification of the issuer. They are simple in decoration, but are of standard quality coinage and are uncirculated. The production of uncirculated coins is afforded to only 58 mints in the world. The commemorative coins are minted in the highest quality coinage. In such minting, the coin has a mir-ror finish with very precise details. The silver coins are 925 assay.

The commemorative and invest-ment coins of Kazakhstan can be purchased at cost in the National Bank on the day of their appear-ance in the market. Prices can be-gin to rise quickly the next day. For example, the investment coin in denominations of 10,000 tenge from the Silk Road series to date has a price of 263,000 tenge in the branches of National Bank. The Red Wolf coin released by the Na-tional Bank in 2005 was originally worth 28,000 tenge. Today on the market it can sell for over 150,000 tenge. The appeal of the coin is that it is made of gold (999 assay) with two one-millimetre diamonds. The Millennium coin (50 tenge) was

worth 3,000 tenge in 2011; at the end of 2012 it sold for 7,000-9,000 tenge. According to experts, the growth in value of Kazakhstan’s coins over the past few years av-erages 17-18 percent per year.The price of coins reflects not only the weight of their metal but also their artistic value. The value of a coin is also influenced by factors such as its uniqueness, age, physical ap-pearance and circulation.

According to numismatists (coin or currency collectors), bank ex-amination procedures to determine the authenticity of Kazakh coins are definitely excessive from a consumer perspective.

“The fact is that invesment coins are produced at a high level of technology, and professional col-lectors or jewelers can determine if the coin is genuine without any costly equipment,” numismatist Sergey Perkhalsky says. “Even with historical coins, where there is an objective need for special equipment... most collectors are not focused on the chemical ex-amination and on the exact version of the coins’ stamps. Even using a 3D machine in the production of counterfeit stamps it would be very difficult to repeat the coin ex-actly, so the majority of fakes can be distinguished from the originals

by their appearance. Commemo-rative coins are made using high-tech processes, especially when applying small details. But the main thing is that there is no point to forge these coins since it is much easier and more cost-effective to forge ingots.”

On its website, the National Bank publishes detailed lists and descriptions of investment and commemorative coins. The valua-ble souvenirs are completed in full compliance with their high status and come with a special capsule and a quality certificate from the National Bank of Kazakhstan in Kazakh, Russian and English.

As of March 2013, the National Bank produced 254 varieties of coins, including 130 of silver (925 assay), 49 of gold (999 assay), 62 of nickel silver, eight bi-metallics of silver and tantalum and five bi-metallics of nickel-brass and nick-el-silver.

In the CIS, only Kazakhstan and Russia mint investment coins; not many countries in the world do. The Kazakhstan Mint has been accepted into the Association of Mints.

Kazakhstan has its own place in prestigious international numismat-ic exhibitions, where seven of its domestic coins have been awarded

a number of prestigious awards. On January 2011, the commemorative coin Attila from the Great Military Leaders series was named the best coin of the year in the Most His-torically Significant Coin category by the World Money Fairs com-mittee of the exhibition in Berlin. The First Cosmonaut, a commem-orative silver coin from the Space series, won in the Special Review category of the International Prize Vicenza Numismatica 2012 coin competition in Italy.

Now, the Kazakhstan Mint has foreign customers who are ready to sell Kazakhstan’s coins abroad. The Mint of Poland buys White Stork and Sultan Baybars coins from the National Bank for distribution or sale outside of Kazakhstan.

In 2013, the National Bank is also planning to produce the sil-ver coin Shurale (a mythical crea-ture from Tatar and Bashkir tales) within the Tales of the Peoples of Kazakhstan series; the silver coins Ice hockey, Olympic Games 2014 and Pole vaulting, Olympic Games 2016 to replenish the Sports series and Petropavlovsk, Taldykorgan and Taraz to add to the Cities of Kazakhstan series.

At a recent National Bank meet-ing it was decided to issue com-memorative coins marking the 10th anniversary of the Congress of Leaders of World and Tradition-al Religions, the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency and the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Se-curity Treaty.

National Bank’s Coins Are works of Art, Investment Vehicles

Bananas, PomegranatesFlourish in South

Domestically Produced Cars Gaining Popularity in Public Sector

Even palm trees could be found at the Zher Syiy plant nursery in South Kazakhstan.

By Aliya Musepova

This year, Chevron is celebrat-ing 20 years in Kazakhstan in the remarkable partnership that began on April 6, 1993, when President Nursultan Nazarbayev and then Chevron Corporation Chairman and CEO Kenneth T. Derr, signed the agreement that established the joint venture company Tengizchev-roil (TCO). The 40-year foundation agreement to develop the supergiant Tengiz and the Korolev oil fields made Chevron the first major in-ternational oil company to invest in the newly independent Kazakhstan. Today Chevron remains the nation’s largest foreign investor.

In 1997, Chevron also became a partner in the Karachaganak Petro-leum Operating consortium (KPO) developers of Karachaganak, one of the world largest oil and gas fields.

Commenting on this important milestone Chairman and CEO of Chevron Corporation John Watson said: “Today, we’re proud of so many things we’ve been able to achieve together. We’ve seen our shared vision grow from an idea on paper to enormous and complex facilities. As partners, we safely produce from some of the most technically challenging oilfields in the world. And we set standards throughout the industry. Chevron and our partners have also helped create thousands of jobs and bil-lions of dollars in revenue for Kaza-khstan. And in that relatively short period of time, the republic has be-come a global energy leader. It has strengthened and begun diversify-ing its entire economy.”

Chevron and its partners have invested more than $20 billion to develop the reserves and increase production from Tengiz. TCO and its partners have executed a progres-sion of strategic projects of historical scope and scale in pursuit of higher production in tandem with finding transportation paths to world mar-kets from landlocked Kazakhstan.

2001 marked a turning point in the history of Chevron and TCO. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC; Chevron share 15%), began operation of the 935-mile (1,505 km) crude oil export pipeline that runs from Tengiz to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in Russia. Because of the CPC system, TCO could reduce oil transportation expenses and increase the export opportunities necessary to expand production.

Expansion began in July 2002, with groundbreaking in Tengiz for the Second Generation Plant (SGP) and Sour Gas Injection Facilities (SGI/SGP), a $7.4 billion project that increased TCO’s crude oil pro-duction capacity by approximately 80 percent. Coinciding with TCO’s 15th anniversary year in 2008, the TCO team brought SGI/SGP online -- all while achieving excellent safe-ty, environmental and production performance. The SGI/SGP projects

brought TCO’s daily production capacity to more than 75,000 tons (600,000 barrels) of crude oil and 22 million cubic meters (800 million cubic feet) of natural gas.

To move this new production to market, CPC received approval in 2011 to begin a $5.4 billion three- phase expansion project that will increase pipeline capacity progres-sively until 2016.

Throughout the years, Chevron has simultaneously grown produc-tion and significantly contributed to the diversity, growth and strength of Kazakhstan’s economy. Develop-ment of Tengiz from 1993 to 2012 resulted in direct financial payments to the Republic of Kazakhstan of more than US $77 billion, contracts for local enterprises worth more than US $13 billion, and safe and dignified working conditions for employees, most of them Kaza-khstan citizens.

When TCO was founded, the workforce was about 50 percent na-tional employees with about 2,300 Kazakhstanis, including contractors, working at Tengiz. Today, TCO’s workforce is 87 percent Kazakhsta-ni, with nationals holding 76 percent of supervisory positions.

To help diversify Kazakhstan’s economy, in 2003, Chevron invest-ed US $24 million in the construc-tion of its Polyethylene Pipe Plant in Atyrau (APPP). The first such plant in Kazakhstan it uses state-of-the-art equipment and innovative technolo-gies and is staffed entirely by citizens of Kazakhstan. The plant produces high-density polyethylene pipe for use in building Kazakhstan’s infra-structure as well as for export. With an expansion project completed in 2011, APPP began producing metal-plastic bonded pipe for use in heat-ing and hot water supply. Chevron is building another plant in Atyrau managed and operated by national employees that will produce up to 30,000 iron gate valves per year for water supply and natural gas trans-portation.

Chevron also is helping diversify the Kazakh economy through its investment in the Samal Wind Park project. The project is in the early evaluation phase and is estimated to generate between 30 and 50 MW of electricity. The project supports the nation’s strategic renewable energy initiative.

Of no less importance than the production of energy resources are the social investment programmes that Chevron and its partners have implemented over the past two dec-ades. Over the years, Chevron and partners have invested more than $500 million in social investment projects throughout Kazakhstan. In addition, Chevron has initiated and continues to implement long-term social investment programs benefit-ting various regions of the country-- programs in education and career training, provision of basic human needs and small-and-medium-size business development.

Chevron in Kazakhstan Marks 20th Anniversary● Kazakhstan’s trade with its

two Customs Union (CU) part-ners Russia and Belarus exceeded $1.6 billion in January, a rise of 7.7 percent on January 2012, the Kazakhstan Statistics Agency said. The KSA said minerals accounted for 42.2 percent of exports to the other CU countries, metals and metal goods comprised 24.3 per-cent and chemical goods another 14.5 percent. Minerals were also Kazakhstan’s largest import from its CU partners.

● Production of pharmaceuticals in Kazakhstan has almost trebled since the start of the State Pro-gramme of Accelerated Industrial-Innovative Development (PAIID), the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies said. Pharmaceuti-cals are a priority sector in PAIID. The proramme has met the goal of half of pharmaceutical drugs used in the country to be produced do-mestically by next year. “This indi-cator was almost achieved in 2011 when 49 percent of pharmaceuti-cals were domestically produced. The value of pharmaceuticals pro-duced domestically in 2012 came to 29.4 billion tenge ($190 mil-lion), almost three times greater than in 2008,” the ministry said. In 2012, 93 Kazakhstan compa-nies exported 291.2 million tenge ($1.93 million) of pharmaceutical products to foreign markets.

● The creation of a Kazakhstan, Russian and Belorussian inte-grated financial market within the Single Economic Space (SES) is planned for 2020, Eurasian Eco-nomic Commission Minister for Economy and Financial Policy Timur Suleimenov said at the 8th Kazakhstan’s financial forum, held on March 14. Suleimenov said the Eurasian Economic Commission was working with representatives from the three SES member coun-tries on an agreement on financial market activity requirements to provide a basis for harmonizing different national laws on the sub-ject. The process will proceed in three stages.

● The retirement age for women will be raised by six months every year starting from Jan. 1, 2014, Minister of Labour and Social Security Serik Abdenov said on March 12. Over the next decade, the retirement age for women will rise from 58 to 63. In most coun-tries, the retirement age is 65-67, irrespective of gender, Abdenov said. He said women accounted for 70 percent (1.253 million) retirees in Kazakhstan out of a total of 1.8 million people. However, women hold only 3.8 million individual re-tirement accounts, 45 percent of the total number and the average wom-en’s pension savings is 25 percent lower than men’s. The gap in pen-sion savings is caused by a shorter period for pension contributions as women retire earlier than men and gender pay differences.

● Kazakhstan will revise its ex-isting tax benefits this year. “In order to increase the role and ef-fectiveness of tax incentives in the development of non-resource sec-tor in 2013, the current tax benefits will be revised,” the government and National Bank said in their re-port on economic policy for 2013. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has instructed the government to audit all tax programmes to pro-vide favorable taxation terms, es-pecially in the fields of new tech-nologies and industrialization.

● Latest research from the Min-istry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan has revealed that in schools which have adopted e-learning, the success rate of students has risen by 15%. Dep-uty Minister of Education Sayat Shayakhmetov said it had been planned to introduce e-learning in all schools by 2020. But with these latest figures showing that the gap is growing between students ex-posed to e-learning and those who are not, it is now planned to speed up this process so that e-learning will be available throughout the system of secondary education by 2016.

● A committee for protection of financial services consumer’s rights has been set up at Kaza-khstan National Bank on March 14. The committee will work to secure proper protection for the rights and interests of financial services consumers and services of micro-financial entities. Gulbanu Aimanbetova has been appointed as its chairperson.

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Wednesday, 27 March 2013

А6 The Astana TimeseDITORIAL

ASTANA – Last year, the capi-tal of Kazakhstan was chosen as the venue for international exhi-bition EXPO 2017, to be held in 2017. The General Assembly of the International Exhibitions Bu-reau (BIE) picked Astana over the Belgian city of Liege by 103 votes to 44. For the first time in the history of world industrial ex-positions going back to in 1851, Kazakhstan became the first de-veloping country to host one.

EXPO Commissioner Rapil Zhoshybayev told KAZINFORM about the importance of the exhi-bition for Kazakhstan and plans to prepare for the event.

You were the national coordi-nator to promote Kazakhstan’s bid to host the EXPO in Astana. How did you do it?

Let us recall what President Nursultan Nazarbayev said after the results of voting had become known: “The victory of Astana in this intense competition is far from accidental. First, it is the rec-ognition of the capital as (a glo-bal) centre and that it is worthy of its world ranking. Certainly, the economic success of our state played a role in the choice of As-tana. Finally, it is important that Kazakhstan offered a very topical theme for the exhibition – “Future Energy.” So, as the president said, “The choice of Astana was the fruit of the efforts of all the people of Kazakhstan.”

By itself, the exhibition theme “Future Energy” reflects the most actual problem of the rational use of energy resources by human-ity, and its solution is a strategic priority for many countries. The EXPO will also address underly-ing themes on a global scale, such as the lack of access to electricity and the reduction of poverty. The world needs new ways of devel-opment – it needs a green econo-my and green development. Kaza-khstan, despite its rich resources of raw materials for energy pro-duction, shares common interests and aspirations with other coun-tries. The risks of depleting tradi-tional energy resources are great, and the consequences of their use are harmful to the environment. This is why Kazakhstan decided to use the EXPO to raise interna-tional awareness on these issues.

Why is this event important for Kazakhstan?

You know, there’s a saying, “To see people and to show off.” It is just about the exhibition. First, the exhibition demonstrates the latest records of achievements in science and technology, and sec-ond, it is also is a way of looking ahead. Our experts even believe that some Kazakhstan exhibits will belong to the day after tomor-row.

Incredible as it may seem, the show is not as costly as it seems at first glance, and with good planning, it will have a positive economic effect. First, the winning country attracts significant in-vestment into the econ-omy of the city that hosts the event, with large foreign inves-tors participating in the project. Second, new infrastructure will be constructed for Astana and tens of thousands of jobs will be created to build the exhibition facilities and maintain them. Third, a powerful incentive for the inflow of foreign tourists is created for the whole country. Now, we will have a large-scale project to carry out in accordance with the terms, guidelines and regulations sup-plied by the International Exhibi-tions Bureau.

Is it your role as commissioner to monitor compliance with these regulations?

The post of Commissioner of EXPO is a key in the process of interaction between the interna-tional participants with the host country. The commissioner rep-resents the host state and ensures the fulfillment of its obligations to prepare and hold the international exhibition.

We have provided a guarantee

to ensure conditions for the life and work of the exhibitors cover-ing tax regulation, the provision of assistance to developing coun-tries and other matters. We will take all the necessary measures to supply the necessary visas and to issue permits for the activities of construction workers and engi-neers, the exhibitors and covering customs and taxation issues.

Why is there is a need to ap-point a commissioner to help or-ganise and oversee exhibition?

A: The history of the EXPO movement began in London, where the first international exhi-bition was held in 1851. Over time, the number of exhibitions has in-creased, and it became obvious that it was necessary to take some measures to establish control over them. In 1928, in Paris a conven-tion on international exhibitions was signed which established the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) and it set up simple rules that govern the approval, crea-tion and specifications on holding them. To ensure that these rules are respected, there is a need to appoint an authorized representa-tive of the host country. Thus, the procedure for appointing commis-sioners is common practice and they have repeatedly proven their worth at previous exhibitions.

What functions does the com-missioner have to fulfill?

As a commissioner, I met with the Secretary General of the Inter-national Exhibitions Bureau Vice-nte Loscertales. He called the vic-tory of Astana a triumph, because in the 20 years of his leadership he has not seen any city win by such a wide margin. During his January visit to Kazakhstan, Mr. Loscer-tales became convinced that the process of preparation had started well. He assured us the BIE will support us in our negotiations with participating nations. He told us it was of particular importance for the president and government of the host country to express per-sonal support for the event.

I have also held informative meetings with tourism industry officials from Britain and Austria. Similar meetings are planned with officials from other countries. We are interested in the experience of these countries as highly de-veloped tourist destinations and as potential partner to help us implement our own Kazakhstan projects.

As commissioner, I have also continued the work I started as na-tional coordinator to promote Ka-zakhstan’s application. These are, first, ensuring the implementation of the agreements reached while lining up support for our bid. We established diplomatic relations with several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, the Carib-bean and South America. With many countries, we have agreed to establish and develop coopera-

tion in the economic, cultural, and educational sectors. Secondly, I am responsible for coordinating the programme of assistance to developing countries. One of the main principles of the internation-al exhibition movement is to en-sure equal and fair participation of countries willing to participate in EXPO. The host country should, therefore, create the conditions for developing countries, as their participation will add diversity and enrich the content of the ex-hibition.

Part of my job is providing presentations on the progress of preparing EXPO exhibits to the BIE General Assembly. Between

the General Assemblies, I will be participating in regular work-ing meetings and negotiations to prepare for EXPO 2017, and for other of current and future exhibi-tions. This is a good opportunity to gain experience in the conduct of such complex events. For ex-ample, currently we are working on the organization of the Kaza-khstan Pavilion at the World Expo in Milan in 2015. But most impor-tantly, we will continue to work with countries to attract them to EXPO 2017 and to achieve the maximum possible number of in-ternational participants. With each country, we will sign individual agreements on participation in EXPO 2017 in Astana. In addi-tion, within the framework of his competence, the Commissioner is involved in the consolidation of Kazakhstan’s initiatives related to the topic of the exhibition, as well as their integrated promotion in international markets.

Is Kazakhstan ready to host the EXPO?

A: President Nazarbayev has said the BIE’s decision places great responsibility upon us, be-cause it involves trust and the hope that EXPO 2017 will truly be a unique phenomenon in the international exhibition move-ment. The exhibition will impact upon large and key sectors of the economy and on industry, tourism, small and medium businesses, the hotel and service industry and the creation of new jobs.

The first requirement for any city applying to host an EXPO is to have the full support of its national government too. There any EXPO project should be a national project supported by the government, regional and local authorities.

That was why our government created the State Commission and the Organising Committee for EXPO and why it has drafted and approved a five year national plan from 2013 to 2018 to organise the event. Working teams have been formed in state agencies and do-mestic businesses will participate in the work.

President Nazarbayev has said, “It is important to turn EXPO

2017 into the centre of transition into the Third Industrial Revo-lution, which includes the alternative econ-omy, the creation of appropriate high-tech materials, renewable energy and relevant training programmes.” Based on this, the EXPO area will be constructed with green economy and smart power buildings served with renewable energy to match the theme of the exhibi-tion. The construction of such a unique, high-

tech project is a good opportunity to make a great leap in technologi-cal development.

After the show, we will get a new district of the capital with modern buildings and infrastructure, and facilities for the implementation of innovative ideas. It is important that qualitatively new technology and innovations will enter the life of the whole country.

The interview first appeared in KAZINFORM news agency on March 11.

The author is Kazakhstan’s EXPO 2017 Commissioner.

exPO Commissioner Sees New era Starting from 2017 event

Travelling across Kazakhstan is a lively affair, to say the least. To visit the family, attend a wedding, goon a business trip or simply for leisure, there are enough reasons for voyaging around the vast, 9th larg-est country in the world. Fifty six percent of the popu-lation live in 86 settlements that have the status of a city. A modern nomad can choose to travel on the road by bus or by car, take a train to his or her destination, or, where the logistics allow it, fly. With such a mas-sive amount of territory to cover, one could easily be pardoned for thinking that the aviation industry is well developed. But even Beken Seidakhmet, the chairman of the Committee of Civil Aviation under the Ministry of Transport and Communications, admits: “We have problems in the aviation industry.” The problems, ex-plored in this editorial, are threefold: outdated equip-ment, economic sensibility, and lack of human capital. The government, and business, are already on it.

The minister of transportation and communications, Askar Zhumagaliyev, who recently expressed his dis-appointments at a conference with airline operators, highlighted the obsolete technology and practices in-herited from the Soviet Union. “What is this?” he says, “They [the academy of civil aviation] are still using the An-2 to teach? And the simulator of Tu-134! Nobody op-erates these planes in Kazakhstan any-more, except for the emergency air services!” Indeed, the aviation indus-try leaves much to be desired, howev-er, there are certain realities to keep in mind when consid-ering this delicate subject.

A few recent events have drawn extra at-tention to flying in Kazakhstan. Tragic plane crashes of the border offic-ers' plane and a passenger plane have made the current condition of the air travel industry stand out and the issue of traveler safety and security more relevant. Mr. Zhumagaliyev highlighted the lack of seriousness in considering the subject, “At the previous meeting last year, we said that the airlines will apply strict require-ments, which at the time were being developed. These requirements have met obstruction in the newspapers. They wrote that it is too early to introduce these inter-national rules in Kazakhstan, and instead should come in 2025. And what do we have now?”

The flights between cities in Kazakhstan must be over relatively short, regional scale distances. These factors tend to explain the need for regional scale air-craft.

“On the one hand the economics of this type of fly-ing call for simple aircraft of the utmost reliability in order that fares can be kept to an attractively low level. Conversely, the seasoned air traveller has come to ex-pect good-quality cabin conditioning, low noise level and smooth flights unaffected by weather; he does not take kindly to the more rudimentary surroundings generally offered, and these can have a positive de-terrent effect on the new travellers who do not know quite what to expect.” (“Guide to Feederline aircraft,” Flight International 1972)

The above excerpt from Flight International, pub-lished in 1972, resonates with the situation of today’s aviation industry in Kazakhstan. What is different is this: if anything, the demand for comfort has grown even more as more and more middle-income fami-lies appeared willing to spend time over money when travelling across the steppe. The article continues, “To provide the surroundings which will attract more passengers to the short-haul sectors means that pres-surised aircraft must be employed, and yet the very complexity of such types makes their use unlikely to be economic.”

The pressurized cabins for smaller aircraft is a con-cept introduced withYak 40, which itself is a relatively old aircraft. Out of the 1011 planes built by the Sara-tov aircraft factory between 1967 and 1978, only 65 to 77 remain in service.

Mr. Seidakhmetov has stated that the An-24 and Yak-40 planes will be banned in Kazakhstan starting from November 2013. This will effectively remove planes that do not meet the International Civil Avia-tion Organization standards but the chairperson of civil aviation committee acknowledged that the deficit of aircrafts continue. The problem is thwarted due to the high duty on aircraft imports. The fact is that until Kazakhstan entered the Customs Union (CU), the duty on imported Western airliners was zero. With the crea-tion of the CU, Russia insisted on the introduction of a fee of 20% for aircraft. Belarus and Kazakhstan are only able to hold on to the old rules until July 1, 2014. “We wanted to extend the privilege to 2019, but so far the results of negotiations with Russia have not yield-ed positive results,” said Seidakhmetov. “As such, we will be offering to upgrade the fleet through Samruk-Kazyna and Kazakhstan Transport Leasing Company in the current year.”

In March 2013, Chief of the General Staff Colonel General Saken Zhasuzakov discussed the state of safe-ty, how to improve the reliability of the aviation sys-tem and ensuring the safety of the state aviation in the country. “Currently, the Air Force of the Armed Forces maintains an effective system of aircraft in quality con-dition. We are actively updating the fleet: these are the helicopters “Eurocopter” and C-295 aircraft. We train pilots qualitatively. In other words, the country and the army have all the conditions for the full organization of the state aviation system,” said Zhasuzakov.

A KazEngineering insider has revealed that since 2011, talks have been held with American airplane manufacturer Cessna. However, during the process of signing memorandums of mutual understanding for the purchase of the western AN-2 comparable aircraft, the Grand Caravan, Russia decides to modernize the AN-2. Now while the Kansas airplanes performance characteristics are not worse than the Antonov models, they cost more. The Kansas plane costs a little less than 2 million dollars, while the updated Russian ana-log is 40-50% cheaper and hence make it the obvious choice. The main difference between the planes is only in the level of comfort, which is a subjective factor. Nevertheless, even if we did buy from the Americans, it still would not have been the latest in technology.

Another alternative to importing is of course the pro-duction of domestic airplanes. In this regard it makes sense to start with small planes and gradually develop regional medium range planes. Developments in this field have started in the Aktau Special economic zone where the KazEnergoRegion investment company, with the support of the then Mangistau region gover-nor, Baurzhan Muhamedzhanov, are planning to build a manufacturing plant of Slovenian Pipistrel planes.

The model has won a best airplane award in the 4-seater category at the European Avia-tion Expo in 2012.

Kamariya Sagan-dyk, the head of the investment company “KazEnergoRegion” explained, “Having studied the overall economic situation in Kazakhstan, we have taken the deci-sion to open the main production of light aircraft in the SEZ “Seaport Aktau”. Along with the eco-

nomic benefits, we have taken into account the favour-able geographical position of the city of Aktau with its convenient location on the coast of the Caspian Sea and access to the shores of other countries. We have not yet started the production itself, but today we al-ready have orders for our planes for the next 5 years. The main customers of our aircraft are in countries such as Russia, China, Azerbaijan, and India.” Work-ing at full capacity, the plant will be employing 300 people and make up to 200 planes a year.

To be fair, for five Kazakh airlines operating on the passenger market, 84% of their park consists of West-ern technology. “Air Astana” and “Scat” companies alone have partially updated their fleet with the acqui-sition of eight Western aircraft each in 2012. In 2013, these companies will receive additional 11 modern planes. Realistically, Kazakhstan doesn’t need a lot of planes because the population is relatively small. It needs the right planes. Moreover, it needs the right people.

As the Minister of Transport and Communications duly noted, new recruits lack training. Starting with the most important figure in an aircraft, the captain. Not only is it hard to obtain a flying license in Kaza-khstan, it is also hard to maintain, as the law requires that every month the license has to be backed up by flight hours. With such a conditionality, very few peo-ple even apply to train for piloting. A hard to attain im-portant document required to be a pilot in Kazakhstan could be easily revoked for lack of practice. How that practice is supposed to be achieved if a pilot is not working is another interesting question.

On the ground, specialists also lack training and a comprehensive system of logistics which needs to be improved.

In an attempt to standardize the system of logistics throughout Kazakhstan, the government made a prin-cipled decision on the creation of a holding company for local airports. The management company, created by “Samruk-Kazyna” will operate 11 public airports. The holding plans to attract foreign management. At present, according to the chairman of Kazakhstan Competition Protection Agency Bolatbek Kuandykov, over a half of Kazakhstan airports incur losses because of excessive state regulation. “Basic services of air-ports are qualified as natural monopolies and regulated markets sector that are subject to state regulation of prices. This has caused 12 out of 21 airports to become unprofitable. The excessive regulation of the airports' activities made most of the airports loss-making.”

To boost competition, and liven up the aviation in-dustry, according to Seidakhmetov, “We are consider-ing the possibility of intraregional connection.” The government recognizes the need for public invest-ments. “It is necessary to develop small aircrafts, to reopen airports. Work is already being done with aki-mats. Each oblast determines for themselves which airports will be developed. We have received applica-tions for 32 aerodromes from local airlines. We want to prepare a proposal to the budget committee for the development of the flight maintenance and design es-timates for the reconstruction or creation of ground runways. Today we have 8 airports with local airline flights, by 2020 there will be 40. Local akimats can subsidize these intraregional flights.”

The problems faced by the aviation industry of Ka-zakhstan as a whole cannot be met without collective efforts of the people involved. This includes the Minis-try of Transport and Communications, private airlines and investors, and most importantly the passengers. The flag of Kazakhstan features a proud eagle glori-ously gliding in the clear blue sky. Soon, this could be a representation of a new age in the Kazakhstan’s navigation industry.

The aviation industry in Kazakhstan and making it better

For five Kazakh airlines operating on the passenger market, 84% of their park consists of Western technology. “air astana” and “Scat” companies alone have partially updated their fleet with the acquisition of eight Western aircraft each in 2012. in 2013, these companies will receive additional 11 modern planes. Realistically, Kazakhstan doesn’t need a lot of planes because the population is relatively small. it needs the right planes. Moreover, it needs the right people.

the construction of such a unique, high-tech project is a good opportunity to make a great leap in technological development.after the show, we will get a new district of the capital with modern buildings and infrastructure, and facilities for the implementation of innovative ideas. it is important that qualitatively new technology and innovations will enter the life of the whole country.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

А7The Astana Times

opinions

By Farkhad Kuanganov

President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s state of the nation address on December 14 laid great importance on state support for mothers and children. This is a cru-cial issue for our society.

This is a pragmatic and vision-ary approach to solving the issue of the country’s leadership in the 21st century. International expe-rience shows that states with a high population growth can suc-cessfully resist any social crises and disasters. Women play a cru-cial role in maintaining the family which is the basic building block of any state and society. Thanks to the president’s initiatives, the gov-ernment is implementing effective measures to support families with many children.

A breakthrough came with the introduction of a progressive scale of one-time child benefit (from 30 monthly calculated indices (MCI) for a child up to 50 MCI, or 93,000 tenge ($616.38) for the fourth and subsequent child), and monthly payments for childcare up to a year in the amount of 8.5 MCI for the fourth child. Thanks to economi-cally precise thresholds of pay-ments, the birthrate in some areas has grown by almost 50 percent in three years. In the South Kaza-khstan region, it has grown from 21 births per 1,000 people in 2006 to 30 births in 2009.

This is a pressing issue for the North Kazakhstan region, because for 20 years, the region’s birth rate has been falling relative to other parts of the country. This was ex-plained by general depopulation and a major outflow of popula-tion from the region, especially of young people. Since 2000, the population of the region has de-creased by more than 20 percent, from 716,000 to 576,000. Under such circumstances, the challenge of supporting mothers and encour-aging higher birthrates is now more important for North Kazakhstan than ever.

In order to achieve this goal, the Generations Fund regional pro-gramme for 2010-14 was launched in 2010. It transfers payments of 160 MCI to personal deposit ac-counts. Starting on Jan. 1, 2013, this comes to almost 300,000 ($1,990) for each child in the fam-ily, where four or more children were born. This programme also applies for adopted children.

At an interest rate of 10 percent with an annual capitalization, up to the legal age, this sum can reach $10,000 per child. With the adop-tion of the new law on education savings, there will be an opportu-nity to increase the available inter-est rates by another 7 percent. It is easy to calculate that 160 MCI or 298,560 tenge ($1,900) at the interest rate of 17 percent with an annual capitalization will appreci-ate during 18 years to more than

$33,000. Therefore by the time the child reaches its legal age and be-gins independent life, those funds will be able to give them a good start, especially when significant investments are needed to create a family, get higher education and start a new home.

Because of these measures, the birth rate in North Kazakhstan increased by 10 percent, and the region rose in the national ratings by two points, outstripping in 2011 the Kostanay region, and in 2012 the city of Almaty.

We hope that the positive results that we have achieved and our experience will be used in other regions of the country with a low birth rate, and will help create good incentives for the adoption of orphans by our citizens.

No less important for North Kazakhstan has been the macr-oeconomic efficiency of the Gen-erations Fund programme as the growing savings in banks promote the growth of lending and invest-ment in small and medium sized business.

It should be noted that this pro-gramme is not unique. Since the late 1970s, similar tax incentive programmes have been used in the United States. Their author, American economist Gary Becker was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1992 for his important contribu-

tions to family economics. He has said that the birth rate is high in states where the economic benefits from having children exceed the full expenses on their care.

Thanks to such approaches, for the past 30 years, the United States has maintained the highest birth-rate in the developed world. Tax incentives encourage the birth rate in the families of rich and middle class Americans. They help cover the costs of parenting and the edu-cation of children. Demands for adoption in the United States are so high that there are almost no orphans in the country, and the United States leads in international adoption.

In France, the country with the highest birthrate in continental Europe, there is also a state pro-gramme called Big Family which encourages large families. It of-fers subsidies and tax incentives to large families as part of an overall government policy to stimulate the birth rate. Each subsequent child reduces the tax base of the household, so that a family with four children practically does not pay taxes. This privilege applies to all citizens, regardless of their in-come, even to millionaires.

In 2012, a Center of IVF (in-vitro fertilization) was opened in the city of Petropavlovsk as part of the Generations Fund programme. This greatly increased the chanc-es of women becoming mothers. Modern scientific achievements, applied in such centres can over-come the problems that previously seemed insurmountable.

The cost of the economic incen-tives offered through the Genera-tions Fund programme is not great. For each additional one million people in population growth, it does not exceed $600 million. That is less than the cost of the road from Astana to Borovoye.

The task of successfully promot-ing national birthrates belongs to the national and regional commis-sions for women affairs, family and demographic policy. At the initia-tive of the National Commission, the government has recommended that all the regional authorities support the Generations Fund pro-gramme. This applies especially to regions that still have low birth rates. The implementation of the programme in these regions will be closely monitored.

Today, there is a clear understand-ing that the support of the family is an important state function, because it gives confidence in the future. In the face of the global financial cri-sis, investments in demographic potential are the most reliable and profitable assets and they are not subject to depreciation.

The author is Deputy Governor of the North Kazakhstan region and Chairman of the Regional Commission for Women Affairs, Family and Demographic Policy.

By Mirbolat Zhakypov

In the strategy Kazakhstan 2050, President Nursultan Nazarbayev called the expansion of the state language use one of the priori-ties for further development of the country. Stressing the impor-tance of multilingualism as one of the advantages of Kazakhstan, the president asserted that the of-ficial language is the core of this system that unites and cements the nation.

It is important to note that this position is generally supported in Kazakhstan’s society, including among representatives of the many ethnic groups that make up the multiethnic people of this country. It is no coincidence that each year the scope of the state language use steadily expands, especially in the public administration system. The flow of documents is the heart of this process.

The first attempts to revive the Kazakh language within govern-ment were undertaken back in 1921. Unfortunately, due to cir-cumstances, they did not progress further. Later, in 1957, the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh So-viet Socialist Republic once again made a special decision on the production of official documenta-tion in the Kazakh language. The initiative was warmly welcomed at that time. However, it weakened over time and between 1970 and 1980 completely lost its relevance. The native language of half the na-tion was now only encountered on the domestic level.

After gaining independence, the Kazakh language was done justice by being given the status of a state language and since then its standing has slowly but stead-ily improved. The nationwide movement for the revival of the language has expanded. In 1991-1992, the proportion of students in Kazakh language schools was 28 percent; 20 years later, it has reached 70 percent. A set of dic-tionaries on different branches of the language has been published, there is active replenishment of a database of Kazakh terminology and higher education specialists are trained on the Kazakh lan-guage. Kazakhstan’s first law on languages was adopted in 1997; in 1998, the first state programme for updating and developing languag-es for 1998-2000 was adopted, the second, adopted in 2001, covered 2001-2010.

Today, the state programme for 2011-2020 is being implemented. It aims to address such timely is-sues as teaching the state language, increasing demand for the lan-guage, improving and systemising the lexical fund, developing the language culture, further unifying official terminology, studying the history of the language, transition-ing to the Latin alphabet, training for simultaneous interpretation,

expanding the state language in preparation of regulations, using it for international agreements and in business and other steps.

Government bodies have gradu-ally shifted business correspond-ence to the official language. How-ever, there is still a lot of formalism in this case. It’s no secret that in many public institutions most doc-umentation is prepared in Russian and then translated into Kazakh. I have to underline that this issue could be solved, step by step.

Today, a whole terminology base for the state language has already been formed. Many dic-tionaries, including those in elec-tronic form, have been published, and some manuals exist. These are all prerequisites for preparing documents directly in the Kazakh language. It remains only to begin and to mobilise; to begin at the be-ginning, as it is said, and overcome the psychological barriers, the fear of making a mistake. There is no need to be afraid of making gram-matical or spelling mistakes: they are all fixable (editorial specialists will catch them). Experience and confidence can be gained gradu-ally by composing relatively small documents first. Success will then lead to writers being proud of their knowledge. In the end, starting this process is patriotic.

A few years ago, the Document Processing Department suggested that our colleagues prepare one- or two-page documents (memos, orders and short reports, for ex-ample) directly in the state lan-guage. This was supported by the Presidential Administration. Six months were given to begin implementing the practice. Of course, we had been preparing documents in the state language long before, but not always and not by everyone. Now we have made it mandatory. It turned out that there were no special diffi-culties for our colleagues - eve-rybody started to prepare small numbers of documents in the state language. After six months of suc-

cessful work, we suggested that they increase the number of pages written first in Kazakh to five. By the end of 2012, the Presidential Administration was preparing 60 percent of its internal documents in the state language. Documents prepared in Kazakh and translated to Russian represented 26.4 per-cent and documentation only in Russian was 13.6 percent (gener-ally documents of large volume).

In response to the intellectual opponents of this measure, who say that “government authorities do not speak state language, they even do not write in Kazakh,” I must say that in comparison with other public authorities, the Presi-dential Administration receives all documents in the state language. One quarter of correspondence is received in both languages. There-fore, we can justifiably speak of a positive turn not only in the minds, but also in the practical activity of government agencies.

Language training is promoted by courses organised for our em-ployees. We have a language labo-ratory where 15 people at a time can be engaged in training and practice. Our department has pre-pared methodical and auxiliary aids and a dictionary of frequently used terms and phrases in docu-mentation to help our employees. All of them are published on the administration’s internal website. In addition, our specialists are car-rying out the very important work of unifying the official terminol-ogy of the Kazakh language.

Knowledge of the state lan-guage is included in the list of requirements for applicants to vacant state positions. All newly hired employees receive instruc-tion within the department, where the specifics of their work in the office is explained in Kazakh. Our ethnically Russian colleagues in the administration are fluent in the state language and able to prepare documents in Kazakh.

Our process of gradually ex-panding the application of the state language is being adopted by other central and local government bodies.

Our staff provide methodical help to central government author-ities. We give lectures at the Acad-emy of Public Administration and form the jury at competitions held by ministries and agencies and the city akimat (city hall) dedicated to the Day of Languages.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We should not have any doubt about the successful future of the state language. It has already started to take its rightful place in the life of the state and the majority of Kaza-khstan citizens.

The author is head of the Docu-ment Processing Department of the Administration of the Presi-dent of Kazakhstan.

By Serik Kumekov

Kazakhstan is forging ahead to become a regional and global leader in developing solar power and other sustainable energy tech-nologies.

On March 7, a pilot line for the production of solar modules was launched at the Kazakh National Technical University (KazNTU).

In the new national Strategy 2050 that he unveiled on December 14, President Nursultan Nazarbayev set the important goals of raising scientific research studies in the country to the international level and to ensure the effective inte-gration of Kazakh scientists in the world scientific process. Work in this field has already started and Nazarbayev University is working in accordance with international standards as a system guide. These standards will then be shared with other universities of the country, especially research universities and those specializing in technological innovation, research and develop-ment like KazNTU.

Innovative approaches and tech-nologies at our institution are de-signed to train highly qualified specialists for the accelerated in-dustrial and innovative develop-ment of Kazakhstan.

KazNTU prepares bachelors, masters and PhD degrees in dif-ferent fields of engineering, eco-

nomic studies, and science in seven research and educational subdivisions that have the status of institutes. All of them deliver educational services at an interna-tional level and relevant research to meet the needs of the domestic economy. They prepare competent professionals and education stu-dents of high potential.

Our work is guided by the na-tional Development Strategy for 2011-15. We have set up a new Institute of High Technology and Sustainable Development at the in-itiative of KazNTU Rector, Acad-emician Zheksenbek Adilov.

Bachelors, masters and PhD stu-

dents are trained on the most topi-cal fields of science and technology including nanotechnology, space, nuclear research and technology, the environment, energy-efficient technologies, biotechnology, ap-plied chemistry, applied physics and teachers training for vocational education.

Our institution contains modern equipment. Notable scientists from the United States, France, Ger-many, Portugal, Russia and other countries come to give lectures and conduct joint research.

We have introduced elective courses in foreign languages into our curriculum, and operate ex-change programmes for our stu-dents and faculty with other uni-versities around the world. In the first semester of the current aca-demic year, more than 10 students from our institute have undergone training at U.S., European and South Korean universities.

Today it is possible to get an internship without going abroad. Many foreign companies operat-ing in Kazakhstan offer such pro-grammes to KazNTU students in the fields of energy, electricity and maintenance of automated sys-tems.

KazNTU also operates joint programmes within the country at high tech centres such as its Kazakh-French educational centre where Schneider Electric equipped

the classrooms. SE is one of the leading providers of electrical and power equipment in the world.

Our Master’s Programme in In-dustrial Ecology is conducted in partnership with the Sweden Royal Technical Institute, the Delft Tech-nical University of the Netherlands and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona. Leading specialists of KazNTU’s Applied Ecology Department participated in a series of workshops in these universities and prepared the cur-riculum for our students. This pro-gramme will give a constant flow of qualified experts to develop the green economy in Kazakhstan.

KazNTU also cooperates fruit-fully with the scientific and techni-cal centre of thin-film technologies of the Ioffe Physical-Technical In-stitute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the field of renewable energy.

KazNTU has already launched a pilot production line of solar modules that are competitive in the marketplace. The university is encouraging internships in innova-tive parts of the energy sector.

Our masters and PhD gradu-ates undergo a one-year internship at the University of Texas in the United States where they are intro-duced to the latest developments in solid oxide fuel cells and conduct scientific research in this field.

Other graduates receive further

training at the Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, where they work in basic and ap-plied research to develop high-efficiency solar photovoltaic gen-erators. These fields are extremely important for Kazakhstan.

Today’s fuel cells have an ef-ficiency of 60-80 percent. Experts believe this level can be improved and that fuel cells will be widely used and will be able to compete with conventional electric gen-erators. Therefore, this technology may become one of the most im-portant aspects of developing sus-tainable future energy.

KazNTU also carries out re-searches in the field of nanophysics and nanotechnology in its Centre for Nanotechnology and Engineer-ing Laboratory where its scientists have already obtained results of global importance.

They have used magnetrons, ion-plasma deposition and subse-quent thermal annealing to obtain a polycrystalline hetero-junction based on oxides of copper and zinc with unique electro-physical characteristics. This will have im-portant applications in nano- and micro-electronics. Based on the theoretical analysis of the crystal structure of zinc oxide and copper, our scientists are seeking to prove the feasibility of a hetero-junction between substances with different crystal structures for the first time.

Hydrothermal and sol-gel tech-niques are being used to modify thin layers of oxide and zinc sulfide for use in solar photovoltaic power generators. These layers have a na-no-crystalline structure, which has been confirmed by atomic-power microscopy and X-ray analysis. According to the measurements of the spectrum transmission in the visible scale of wavelength, the transparency of the layers reached 85 percent. This substance is ex-pected to have practical applica-tions as transparent electrodes.

KazNTU will present some of the results of its research in green energy at the second International Conference on “High Technol-ogy – Key to Sustainable Devel-opment” in May. It will bring to-gether scientists from Kazakhstan and around the world to discuss issues of sustainable development, space technology and research, in-formation technology and telecom-munications, nanotechnology and nanostructured materials, energy efficiency and renewable energy, industrial ecology. The conference will also explore the participation of KazNTU and other institutions in EXPO 2017.

The author is the director of the Satpayev Institute of High Technol-ogy and Sustainable Development at Kazakh National Technical Uni-versity

Demography Crucial for National Progress

State Language Reaches a New Stage of Development

Kazakhstan Becomes Green energy Leader

a breakthrough came with the introduction of a progressive scale of one-time child benefit (from 30 monthly calculated indices (MCi) for a child up to 50 MCi, or 93,000 tenge ($616.38) for the fourth and subsequent child), and monthly payments for childcare up to a year in the amount of 8.5 MCi for the fourth child. thanks to economically precise thresholds of payments, the birthrate in some areas has grown by almost 50 percent in three years. in the South Kazakhstan region, it has grown from 21 births per 1,000 people in 2006 to 30 births in 2009.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

А8The Astana Times

expo 2017

By Rufiya Ospanova

ASTANA – Public hearing took place in Korme exhibition centre on March 19 regarding the use of EXPO 2017 objects after the ex-hibition. The hearing held in the form of the dialogue, where the participants discussed the opportu-nities for development of tourism, involvement of Kazakhstan popu-lation in preparations to the EXPO 2017, development of alternative energy sources and many other is-sues.

Some people present at the meet-ing proposed to use the EXPO ob-jects for cultural purposes. The people of Kazakhstan have no place to spend spare time, except for cinemas, and trade and enter-tainment centres. For example, it was proposed to open art galleries, theatres, concert halls youth cen-tres with free Wi-Fi access and af-fordable prices for entertainment.

March 19 business incubator present their projects to foreign in-vetors and national companies.

Representatives of the health-

care system concentrat all health-care facilities the EXPO 2017 objects for convenience in reach-ing them (to create a medical city inside Astana), because currently all medical facilities are located at a distance from each other and it is sometimes problematic to reach them in cases of emergency.

An idea, supported by most of the present people was to estab-lish on the territory of EXPO 2017 a small natural and historical 5D park inside the building, where the visitors will be able touch flowers, trees, see real mountains but in a smaller dimension, feel the real flora and fauna of Kazakhstan. Most tourists who come to Kaza-khstan have no much opportunity to visit all regions of our land and this 5D park will help them under-stand the history and see the nature of our country. This will also help attract tourists to Kazakhstan.

Furthermore, the building project for “EXPO-city” to include construction of housing estates in now under development. In the course of perfection and improve-

ment of the Astana transportation infrastructure by the year 2017, the launching of the light-rail tramline with a throughput up to 50 trams is planned.

The session also discussed the main aspects of the National Plan for the preparation of EXPO 2017, in particular, the issues of develop-ment of the registration dossier, cooperation with the office of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE), as well as the organization of the competition for the best archi-tectural solution for the construc-tion of facilities and development of the territory of EXPO-2017.

The discussions were concen-trated on the cultural, social, leisure and public administration issues, i.e. how to use the EXPO objects in cultural purposes, and how to attract interest of youth of Kaza-khstan to the culture. Further, the subjects of tourism, healthcare and other issues were also highlighted at the meeting.

The goal of the event was to hear the ideas and thoughts of citizens concerning the assignment of the

EXPO objects. The EXPO repre-sentatives perfectly organized the event and shared the information on the way of preparing to EXPO to be held in 2017. A speaker, rep-resentative of EXPO in Kazakhstan was speaking on the importance of the support to exhibition not only from the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, but also from mem-bers of the government, NGOs and people of the country. They claimed the process of preparing and holding EXPO 2017 will be transparent, with the permanent participation of interested parties.

EXPO 2017, “Future Energy”, reflects the greatest challenge fac-ing humanity today. The theme’s title and content tie in perfectly with the title and recommendations of the report of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Group, “Energy for Sustainable Development.” During the event the urgency of the theme “Future Energy” was highlighted and par-ticipants completely supported the idea of paying attention to domes-tic inventors and give way to their

future, for example in the country we have many inventors with bril-liant ideas with regards to power generation from water, wind, etc. It was proposed to further use the EXPO territory for the purpose of Research Institutions for the Kaza-khstan inventors, who are still un-heard and unknown in our country, and provide them with opportuni-ties to freely come and share their ideas without passing long burden-some procedures before registering the inventions.

One of the main goals of the Astana – EXPO 2017 expand co-operation with industrialized and developing countries.

“Holding EXPO 2017 in Astana will encourage the innovative de-velopment of the republic.”

Earlier the invited participants were representatives of various spheres, i.e. teachers, representa-tives of NGOs, journalists, political experts, housewives, civil servants and focus groups were formed for the more opinions and for the live-ly discussion.

Kazakhstan has been a member

of the International Bureau of Ex-positions (BIE) since 1997. The country has participated in EXPO since 2005: EXPO-2005 (Aichi), EXPO-2008 (Zaragoza), EXPO-2010 (Shanghai). At EXPO-2008 in Zaragoza, Kazakhstan won a third place bronze medal for inte-rior and exterior decoration, out of 104 participating countries in its category. It was during his visit to EXPO-2008 in Zaragoza that the President Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke of hosting a similar event in Astana.

exPO complex may become cultural center

By Sergei Gorbunov

PAVLODAR - The production team of the Television and Radio Complex of the President of Kazakhstan and Pavlo-dar National Company have started to shoot a documentary film under the working title “Green Energy” in the Pavlodar region, which is the leader in the use of alternative energy in Kaza-khstan.

The film features scientists from Sultanmakhmut Toraigyrov Pavlodar State University who are involved in scientific research. They established the Centre for Energy Supply, which

includes four wind generator setups and 10 solar panels. The electricity generated is used for lighting a student philharmonic and concert hall and in the work of a water sterilisation device created by specialists at the university. Among the researchers’ plans is the creation of a dam-less hydroelectric power plant on the Irtysh River. The university scientists will present their developments in the field of green energy at the international exhibition EXPO 2017.Journalists were inter-ested in innovative projects carried out with the participation of Pavlodar National Company, its future plans

and prospects for alternative energy projects, in particular the construc-tion of wind turbines in a rural area of Ekibastuz city on the border with the Akmola region.

A preliminary agreement has been reached regarding the trip to China of a joint crew of the Television and Ra-dio Complex and Pavlodar National Company to continue shooting the film at JSC TBEA, the largest solar energy research base in China and one of the partners of the Pavlodar scientists in the development of alternative energy in the region.

“Green energy” Kicks Off Production in Pavlodar

exPO news in brief

Nurlan Kapparov

In 2017 the world’s eyes will be on a young nation with a bright future - Kazakhstan. A former Soviet Republic turned engine of economic prosper-ity, Kazakhstan and its capital city of Astana will host Expo 2017 on the theme of “Future Energy”. This will be the first time that an international exhi-bition of this kind takes place on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

The theme of Expo 2017, “Future Energy”, is well suit-ed to the host country and the region it is leading toward a brighter, cleaner, more pros-perous future. Kazakhstan is uniquely positioned to host this exhibition. As a significant oil producer, it is looking to the future and starting the process of greening its economy.

Located in the strategically vital area between Europe and Asia, Kazakhstan has come a long way in the 20 years since it gained independence. When the Soviet Union fell apart, many wondered if Kazakhstan had the long-term viability necessary to establish itself as an independent country. In little more than two decades, it has begun the process of democratization and created a booming economy that has been named one of the world’s 20 Most Attractive Investment Destinations by the World Bank. It is now considered one of the world’s fastest growing economies (along with China and Qatar) and has benefited

from over $160 billion in for-eign investment since 1991.

As part of the next stage of the modernization process, Kazakhstan has committed to building a green economy and taken the initiative to create the “Green Bridge Partnership”. This partnership, which gained support at the Rio+20 confer-ence on sustainable develop-ment in June last year, brings together governments, interna-tional organizations, and private businesses to find transnational solutions to sustainable growth. It is also intended to provide a platform to discuss and imple-ment the best available green technologies and best green practices in Central Asia

And it is on this platform that Expo 2017 will be built. The exhibition is expected to attract five million visits. It will serve to highlight the en-ergy and environmental issues facing Central Asia and, at the same time, attract the world’s best experts on energy effi-ciency technologies. Its physi-cal structure will reflect the chosen theme. It will be host-ed on a self contained site that will be fully self-sufficient in terms of energy. Each build-ing will have solar cells and the site will be powered by its own wind farm. Participants will be able to travel around the site via sustainable trans-port and dine on organic food.

Because the Expo tradition is built around innovation, Ka-zakhstan and Astana in particu-lar make ideal hosts for Expo 2017. As a brand new capital

city that is leading an economic revolution in Central Asia, As-tana’s Expo will allow visitors to experience the possibility of a future world with a cleaner, more secure energy supply. An exhibition on this scale will build international awareness of the energy and environmen-tal challenges that need to be faced in the region. It will also attract some of the best exper-tise available in the world on subjects such as energy saving technologies and alternative energy solutions, including so-lar, wind and biomass.

By hosting Expo 2017, Ka-zakhstan will leave its mark on the international environmen-tal agenda. Hopefully, the im-pact will be long-term and will help find solutions to some of the pressing energy and envi-ronmental needs of the region.

The article first appeared in Diplomatic Courier on 23 March.

The author is the Minister of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan to Host expo 2017 on Future energy

During the working visit, the delegation of the companies’ group of Samruk Kazyna, headed by the Chairman of the Board Umirzak Shukeyev, met with the UK business community on March 7 in London. Charles Hendry, MP and Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Great Britain headed the British side. During the meet-ing, the sides discussed issues of the cooperation on projects in the fields of financial and legal services, energy and mining, en-vironment, green economy, infra-structure, education and training of highly qualified specialists. In particular, the Kazakh side ex-pressed interest in the project to produce low-carbon hybrid buses on fuel. The projects related to EXPO 2017 preparations, in par-ticular the construction of the ec-ological campus “green district” in Astana were of great interest for British businessmen. “We will carefully consider all of the pro-posed projects to reach specific agreements during the visit of Prime Minister of Great Britain to Kazakhstan. We support the investors willing to invest in the technology transfer, creating the new jobs, developing local skills.

We have specific tools, such as co-investment, guarantees, signing long term contracts, etc.” Umir-zak Shukeyev said. Charles Hen-dry said the meeting was intended to promote the dialogue between businesses in Kazakhstan and the UK to a higher level. “Both sides have great ambitions and the interests in cooperation. You are wise to want to develop the new areas and business lines, and our companies are ready to offer its technology and experience,” Hendry stressed. The delegation of Samruk Kazyna also visited the “oil capital” of the UK, the Scottish city of Aberdeen, the hub for the development of oil fields in the North Sea, located at the distance of several hundred kilo-metres from the coast. They are concentrated in a large number of the offices and oil service compa-nies. The trip participants learned about the experience of Aberdeen in order to use it in the construc-tion of a similar energy hub in Ak-tau. In addition, the negotiations were held with the leaders of City Hall and the major oil service companies for their participation in the construction and operation of the Kazakh hub.

BThe Astana Times

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Nation & CapitalKazakhstan Businessman Finds Hi-tech Success

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Kuzin Wins First Speed Skating Gold for Country

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Paintball Warriors invade Nation

Page B6

By Manshuk Bekentayeva

ASTANA – With the reloca-tion of the capital from Almaty to Astana back in 1997, ambas-sadors and diplomatic missions moved to the new political centre of the country. Over the years, the number of activities held by mis-sions in Astana has increased with the pace of human migration to this city on the steppe. The Annu-al Charity Fair is one of the main social events organised by diplo-matic missions in Kazakhstan and has already become a capital tra-dition. Eleonora Kopecká, organ-iser of this event and wife of the ambassador of the Czech Repub-lic, spoke to The Astana Times on the need for events like the Annual Charity Fair and the importance of charity itself.

Continued on Page B5

Annual Charity Fair Provides Tradition of Giving

By Madina Seidaliyeva

ASTANA - The first full-length 3D animated film ever made in Kazakhstan premiered before the Nauryz holiday on March 21.

The film, called “Er Tostik and Aydahar,” is based on the Kazakh national fairy tale called “Er Tostik.” The project was a cherished dream of veteran director, 64-year-old Zhaken Danenov. It took three years to make with a production team of 50 people and cost $1.2 million.

The film tells the story of Bapy, the khan of the underground world, who has a plan to swallow the sun, the egg of the Samruk bird. Then he will put the world in eternal dark-ness and expand the borders of his kingdom. However, Khan Bapy knows that once in a thousand years a batyr (warrior) is born who can stop him. Bapy does everything he can so the warrior will not be born to foil his evil plans. But the warri-or Tostik is born anyway and grows by leaps and bounds. Soon the bird Samruk has to lay a new sun-egg before the final battle with Aydahar (the great sky dragon) that will de-cide the fate of all humankind.

Continued on Page B3

Kazakhstan’s First Full-Length 3D Animated Film Opens

Cafés and Anti-cafés Create Communities in Astana

By Maral Zhantaykyzy

ASTANA – Has the Internet be-come so dominant that face-to-face communication needs a comeback movement? The “anti-café” move-ment that has now reached Astana certainly suggests as much.

Anti-cafés are a new type of guesthouse designed for cultural activities, meetings and leisure or work. They have gained popular-ity in the CIS countries over the last two years. Unlike at ordinary cafés, guests at anti-cafés don't pay for food and drinks, but for the time they spend there. People gather at anti-cafés to enjoy socialising with the old and new friends or to enjoy some solitude and a new book.

The first anti-café in Astana, Just a Moment, opened in 2012 and for the last six months has been a fashionable, popular venue for Astana’s youth. Just a Moment has cozy sofas, tea with cookies, a small screen with a projector, Wi-Fi, a small kitchen for self-catering, board games and other amenities for guests who want to hang out. At present, young professionals don’t need to pay to meet interesting people, drop by a social event or organise a presentation. Anyone is welcome to gather a group for a cup of tea; guests can bring food, play

games on the X-box or watch and discuss a movie. Children are wel-come – there are options for guests of all ages. Just a Moment also has an open art area where thematic evenings, seminars, workshops and exhibitions are held regularly. The anti-café is open to creativity and new ideas: anyone can offer a sug-gestions for a programme.

Regular events at Just a Mo-ment include the Anti-Popcorn Cinema Club, which takes place every Thursday and airs films dur-ing which there are no distractions – not even popcorn. The speed-dat-ing organisations Love is Sought and Sweet Sunday regularly fa-cilitate romance. Recently, Just a Moment celebrated the national holiday Nauryz. It organised a feast and prepared the traditional drink nauryz-kozhe. Guests also brought their own dishes and treated each other to those.

Clients at Just a Moment rent the space to host a variety of events. Famous people sometimes attend, as when the Global Shapers Com-munity invited Kenneth Alibek to discuss microbiology and immunol-ogy in everyday life.Another meet-ing point in Almaty and Astana is the café franchise Marrone Rosso, one of the most popular venues for young professionals and residents

looking for great locations and gour-met coffee. The cafés attract dozens if not hundreds of people for lunch, which is not always a break from work but frequently an opportunity to continue discussing projects.

“It is great to have places where you feel comfortable not only meet-ing with friends but with business partners and colleagues to discuss work issues. The atmosphere makes you feel relaxed and facilitates talks

and relationships with partners,” says Assel Zhanatkanova, a head of department in one of the central banks.Marrone Rosso is also belov-ed by expats and guests of the city because of the people-watching it affords over Astana's main alley.

“I like the place because of the location and atmosphere; you can easily sit next to a stranger if there are no free tables or sit at the bar and talk to the barista. Humans are social creatures and for many it is hard to come somewhere alone, but here you can enjoy your meal while watching what’s happening outside or work on your laptop. Also, for the first time, I've seen computer

tablets for fast ordering, which also could be used as a way of texting another table, a sort of means of on-line acquaintance with a person you like,” Kairat Ordabayev, a guest of the café, told The Astana Times.

The appearance of such places as Just a Moment and Marrone Rosso is connected with the developing communication and entertainment culture in Astana. With the growing number of residents and guests of

the city, it is necessary to provide diverse services and new oppor-tunities for relaxation. Over time,

cafés – and anti-cafés – will create new means of communication and foster creativity.

Modern Day Batyrs: Ancient Kazakh Martial Art Survives

By Alex Lee

Kazakhstan is a modern, peaceful and peace loving nation. Its more than 130 ethnicities of multiple re-ligions live side by side and its in-

ternational relationships are equally weighed between East and West. But there was once a less peaceful time across the Eurasian steppe. A time when Kazakh batyrs, or war-riors, were forced to defend their

motherland against foe after foe as the great open lands were being set-tled. And it is from those times that sprang Kazakhstan’s own martial arts - zhekpezhek, or One on One.

Continued on Page B7

By Sergei Gorbunov

PAVLODAR – The Units of Coke Calcination Refinery-Pavlodar (UCCR-PV) recently announced its readiness to launch a project with a production capacity of 280,000 tons a year of green coke. The project is scheduled to be commissioned for the first quarter of 2014.

The project is being implemented under the state programme of accel-

erated industrial innovative devel-opment and has been approved by the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies. It is also included on the Industrialisation Map for 2011-2014. More than 40 projects were proposed for implementation in Pavlodar's Special Economic Zone.

The project is an important step in the production of domestic alu-minum with the use of local raw materials. Today, the Pavlodar alu-

minum smelter (JSC Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant) uses coal-baked anodes and the semi-finished prod-ucts it requires, the so-called “green anodes,” are imported from China.

This project will solve the prob-lem of the domestic aluminum in-dustry's dependence on external sources, as the UCCR-PV will pro-vide the aluminum smelter with the quantities it needs to begin produc-ing its own anodes.

New Project will Increase Green Coke Production, Independence

Russian Drama Theatre named after Maxim Gorky

March 27 at 18.30 Tragicomedy “Goodbye, gulley” by Konstantin SergienkoMarch 28 at 18.30 Play “A Streetcar named Desire” by Tenessee WilliamsMarch 30 at 18.00 Play “Ivanov” by Anton Chekhov March 31 at 18.00 Play “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov

Kazakh Music and Drama Theatre named after Kairat Kuanyshbayev

March 29 at 18.30 Play “Akan Seri - Aktoty” by Gabit MusrepovApril 3 at 18.30 Play “The love melodrama” by Kanat ZhunisovApril 5 at 18.30 Play “Kyzdar-ai” (The Girl – in Kazakh)April 9 at 18.30 Play “The Avalanche” by Tuncer Cücenoğlu

Exhibition Complex “Korme”

March 27-29 The 14th Kazakhstan International Exhibition “PromStroyIndustry – Astana 2013”April 9-13 The 4th Kazakhstan International Exhibition and conference “KazAtomProm 2013”

The Astana Metropolitan CircusFrom March 21 “Flame and ice”

The Central Concert Hall KazakhstanApril 1 at 19.00 The Gala-concert of 3-th Music Festival

named after Nurgisa Tlendiyev “My country”

The Palace of Schoolchildren named after Makhambet UtemisovMarch 27 at 19.00 concert of the Kazakh folk instrumental ensemble “Sary Arka”

Things to watch in March - April

Marrone Rosso Astana is a meeting point for coffee and dessert lovers of all ages.

Annual Charity fair attracts people of all ages with an aim to do good.

“Just a moment” anticafe is the best venue for people who want to organize events in an unusual manner.

Creative guests of Marrone Rosso on St .Valentine’s Day celebration.By

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Wednesday, 27 March 2013The Astana Times

By Anel Adilbayeva

ASTANA – On February 27, the multi-brand boutique Red Carpet opened in one of Astana's major malls, Sary Arka. The new boutique offers its customers collections by Aida Kaumenovа, Oxana Korby, Asem Nurseitova, Nail Baiku-chukov, Aigerim Kasimbaeva and Zhanna Shopanova. The shop it-self is designed in an oriental style, decorated with gold highlights and brightly coloured carpets. To cel-ebrate the opening, a presentation of collections and a charity auction were held.

Aigul Kasymova was the first to present her collection of lei-sure wear. She also presented her print “Birds of Paradise,” which is likely to be very popular this sea-son. Asem Nurseitova presented a collection of handmade jewelry, headbands and hair accessories decorated with faceted crystals and synthetic and natural stones, one of the major trends of the season.

Oxana Korby presented a pret-a-porter collection and Nail Baiku-chukov, the young designer from Kyrgyzstan and a protege of Di-nara Satzhan, presented a collec-tion with a light floral print.

At the end of the presentation, a charity auction was held. The funds raised were sent to the char-ity foundation of Aruzhan Sain.

The first lot was a black dress from Nail Baykuchukov made of lace fabric with an open back. Sev-eral ladies, including Aida Kaumen-ova, bid on the dress but it went for 60,000 tenge to a blonde girl in the audience. A turquoise dress with a collar and belt was also bought for 60,000 tenge. Two headbands by Asem Nurseitova, one with silver glitter and one shiny with crystals, went for fifteen and twenty thou-sand tenge, respectively, to ladies from the audience. The host of the evening noted that almost all of the units were purchased by blonde guests.

After the auction, guests were

invited to the store to check out the collections and purchase items to their taste at a ten percent dis-count.

Items in the boutique are priced to be affordable for everyone. The owner says “You can be just as fashionable as Miroslava Duma [the Russian-born it-girl] ... wear-ing clothes made by our designers, you can be original and exclu-sive.”

The owner of boutique is Dinara Satzhan, a well-known journalist and TV presenter who became fa-mous for her work at the Khabar News Agency. Satzhan started her career at the age of 16, shooting the music programme Music Sta-tion on the Shahar channel. She also led television news broadcasts at the Khabar and Astana channels. Satzhan manages two projects on the Astana channel, “Status Quo” and “Sagan Senemіn” (“I believe you” in Kazakh).

The Astana Times asked Ms. Satzhan how she manages to be

a popular TV presenter and the owner of a fashion boutique at the same time.

Dinara, how long had you been thinking of opening a store?

Three years ago I opened a sin-gle-brand boutique in Astana, sell-ing the brand Aida KaumeNOVA. It was my first experience and I have to say it was very good. For the store, I chose clothes that I like myself. Aida Kaumenova has innumerable fans in Astana. This time I decided to introduce the residents of the capital to other Kazakh designers that I really like. I decided to collect all of them in one place. The Red Carpet show room presents the latest collections by Aigul Kasymova, Oxana Cor-by, Aida Kaumenova, Jaka Fash-ion, Nail Baykuchukov and Asem Nurseitova.

Why have you called the store Red Carpet?

Red Carpet has been on the mar-ket for two years already. Origi-nally, I had planned to offer only evening gowns in the boutique but now the concept has changed, though the name remains.

How did you manage to collect all the designers you have in your store?

Aida Kaumenova is my close friend; I wore her clothes back in 2009 when I was shooting news for Khabar. Oxana Corby de-signed and sewed an exclusive dress for me for the Miss World contest, which I have given to the Presidential Centre of Culture. I also know Zhanna Shopanova of Jaka Fashion. Several years ago I hosted the “Altyn Sapa” Presi-dential Awards in a dress of her design. I believe that clothing by Aigul Kassymova helped me win the “Mrs Kazakhstan” contest. Nail Baykuchukov is my discov-ery, a very talented and promis-ing designer. Asem Nurseitova has been making chic jewelry for me for several years. You see, I am bound by certain events with

all the designers, but above all I am their client. I wear things that they have created.

What guides you in selecting clothing for the boutique?

Intuition and personal taste. Nothing more.

Is it profitable to be the owner of a fashion boutique?

Business is always benefi-

cial, especially if it is for the soul.

Who are your main clients?Successful women.

What is your favorite brand?It is difficult to answer that, but

I would say that now in my ward-robe I have more from the collec-tions of Aida Kaumenova and Nail Baykuchukov.

B2People

By Laura Tussupbekova

ALMATY – Serikbai Bisekeyev has become the first Kazakhstan businessman to win the Ernst & Young Company’s prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” award.

Bisekeyev who is based in St. Petersburg, founded and runs the Arman (Dream) Company. It man-ufactures equipment for IT systems integration. The company started by supplying such equipment from Germany. Then in 2005, it moved into production as well.

Bisekeyev was a sports star at school and studied at the Kalinin Polytechnic Institute in Leningrad (the former name for St. Peters-burg). He dreamed of becoming a design engineer in the auto indus-try. “I wanted to invent a Soviet Mercedes,” he said.

During the economic crisis that followed the end of the Soviet Union, Bisekeyev became a local businessman. After graduation, he established a company with a part-ner to provide cell phone services. He helped pioneer the develop-ment of GSM cellular communica-tions in the Commonwealth of In-dependent States and then opened his own unique network of cell phones stores.

“We always financed our busi-ness with our own money, unlike other competitors who took loans and at that period were ahead of us in development,” Bisekeyev said in an interview. “But the crisis in 1998 changed everything. Despite the fact that we were making good progress, I decided to continue my studies as I was distinctly aware of my lack of business knowledge.”

In 1999, Bisekeyev graduated from a training course at the Stock-holm Business School and decided to launch his own project.

“I had a major resource: the knowledge of how to build a com-pany in accordance with interna-tional practice,” he said. “I knew that any business based on the buy/sell principle cannot be innovative, but I wanted to create innovative technologies.”

“We already had a prospering company at that time,” the busi-nessman said. “In addition to mo-bile communications, we sold ad-

vanced technology services (ATS) and equipment for mass market, but nobody was seriously engaged in industrial solutions then. This niche was free and I decided to take it.”

At first, the company only sold imported dispatcher equipment to industrial enterprises that continued to use old Soviet analogue systems. However, oil and gas companies had large investment budgets to mod-ernize their facilities and Bisekeyev decided to focus on them. It proved a successful strategy.

Over the next five years, the Ar-man Company became a supplier of the largest companies in Russia. Then, Bisekeyev said, he “dared to a mad step” to manufacture Russian digital dispatch communications under the Armtel brand name. He gathered a team of the best pro-grammers from around the world, contractors to make mainframes and manufacturers of communica-tion boards.

“We did not employ the staff for all stages of production, in con-trast to our competitors. This gave us more flexibility in dealing with manufacturers, and we were able to concentrate on the quality of prod-ucts,” Bisekeyev said. “All this took effect, and the reputation and brand image of our company be-gan to grow, as well as the number of our customers.”

The company grew to become a manufacturer and world leader in systems integration. Today, it employs 230 highly trained work-ers. Their products are in demand around the world. And Bisekeyev does not intend to rest on his lau-rels. He now hopes to bring his en-trepreneurial and high tech exper-tise home to serve Kazakhstan.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev has tasked the government with find-ing entrepreneurs to promote Kaza-khstan’s innovations at the interna-tional level and to create a critical mass of innovators who can intro-duce the latest technologies and ex-pand production. Bisekeyev believes he has a role to play in this process.

“I was happy to learn Kazakhstan won the bid to host EXPO 2017 and doubly happy about its theme of “Future Energy.” Kazakhstan has the best conditions in the world to develop alternative energy. So we

decided to participate in this pro-gramme and to build a wind farm in Kazakhstan,” he said. “We have also started manufacturing opera-tions in Kazakhstan.”

“We have established near Al-maty a factory to make energy units with new air-cooled gen-erators. Usually, generators used around the world are cooled by oil. And their maintenance costs as much as the generator itself,” he said. “We offer a new busi-ness model based on the ‘cost of ownership’ concept. This includes capital costs, expenditures on fuel and consumables, and personnel costs. In our programme, the state will not have to make any con-tracts for expensive servicing. It will receive effective service and save public money.”

“Kazakhstan invites experi-enced consultants and they help to make the right policies, but the country’s laws are somewhat be-hind,” Bisekeyev said. “President Nazarbayev is taking effective ac-tion to increase Kazakhstan content in production and to create skilled jobs, which are not followed in Russia and I am impressed by this. Also effective control is necessary over the execution of his initiatives and orders.”

“Kazakhstan has plenty of pos-sibilities,” the businessman said. “I am sure that hard-working, dedi-cated people will always have the opportunity for self-fulfillment there. We need to learn, gain knowledge and strive to become professional. We need to realize that everything depends on us and we can influence all the processes around us. Nobody will build the future for us.”

Kazakhstan Businessman Finds Hi-Tech Success

“Red Carpet” Fashions Accessible to All at New Boutique

Serikbai Bisekeyev

Designers, whose collections are presented at the “Red Carpet” enthusiastically cut the blue ribbon at the opening of the store.

Dinara Satzhan is an example of a successful woman and a great mother. On the photo she is with her son at the opening of the store.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 The Astana TimesB3

Culture

By Vyacheslav Lebedev

TARAZ – Young fashion de-signers from Kazakhstan, Russia, China, Spain and other countries showed their collections at the first Aspar International Fashion Festival, organised by the Taraz Municipal Department of Culture. Winners of the Vanguard and Prêt-a-Porter competitions received monetary prizes and gifts from Symbat Fashion Academy.

The catwalk of Balasagun Cen-tral Concert Hall witnessed a riot of colour over two days of host-ing the creations of Kazakhstan’s young fashion designers. For two days the jury chairman, Chief De-signer of Asyl-Design Fashion House of Taraz Aidarkhan Kaliev, and jury members including Head of the Architectural and Construc-tion Academy Professor Gulnara Ibrayshina, Chairman of the As-sociation of Textiles and Clothing from China Jin Ton Zhi, Spanish art expert Inmaculada Castrejon and Art Director of Symbat Fash-ion Academy Balnur Asanova as well as other masters, were ap-plauding along with the audience to the creations of future fashion designers.

In the Vanguard nomination, all 19 participants managed to create a modern image of Aysha Bibi beau-ty. The jury took special notice of the web felt dresses collection by Gulshat Dzhuraeva from Almaty and the works of Shymkent de-signers.

Designers presented exquisite

embroidery, original ornaments, layering with felt and muslin, art décor and vintage dresses of panne velvet that were a hit with the audi-ence.

“Apart from styled chapans (quilted dressing gowns) and eth-nic embroidery, in co-authorship with Mavluda Kasymova, we have shown casual clothes in fabrics that are unfortunately no longer produced these days,” said Yelena Ladik, a designer from Samarkand. “We made them of a so-called gift stock of cloth remnants, from ‘grandmothers’ trunks’.”

Winner of the Vanguard category was Kyzylorda student Sagynysh Orazbekova. Taraz student Gulim Balykbaeva won the Prêt-a-Porter competition. Both were awarded cash prizes of 300,000 tenge. Oth-er prize winners were Dana Bey-senbaeva and Ulbosyn Nalibaeva (Shymkent), Anastasia Umrihina (Almaty), Irina Ten and Xenia Danshina (Taraz).

In addition to cash awards of 200,000 and 100,000 tenge, win-ners were given special prizes pro-vided by Symbat Fashion Academy and Asyl-Design Fashion House.

By Marzhan Imanbayeva

ASTANA – The well-known Kazakhstan’s and Dutch director Peter Berman is to begin shoot-ing a television series titled “The Olympians.” The series will fo-cus on the stories of three friends, Ilya, Sasha and Serik, whose pro-totypes are Olympic champions Ilya Ilyin, Alexander Vinokourov and Serik Sapiyev. Ilya Ilyin has already agreed to take part in the filming; Alexander Vinokourov’s son may play the role of his father. The director is planning to invite the famous actor Jackie Chan and other foreign stars to be part of the production.

Last year, Berman visited the United States to sign a new con-tract with a Hollywood company that plans to make movie based on Berman’s book “Hard Loop,” which became a bestseller in the U.S. and the Netherlands in 2011. The film will tell the story of a young boxer who is seriously in-jured. His grandmother treats him and imbues him with her own psy-chic abilities; later, he is educated by a Chinese master of martial arts. The boy grows up to be a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.

Berman knows the fighting world from the inside: he moved to the Netherlands, the home of his ancestors, to compete on the pro-fessional MMA circuit. Seriously injured after three years, he left professional fighting behind, but he still takes part in competitions for veterans.

Many of his fans think that his book, “The Ultimate Fighting,” is autobiographical. Mosfilm wrote

a series based on this book, but the Hollywood company Gold-en Films bought the project and made a movie out of a few of its stories. Filming took place in the Netherlands, India, Japan, France and China. The story is of a young fighter who worked for the explo-ration of one of the Asian countries of the former Soviet Union.

Berman is an honoured coach of Kazakhstan, famous athlete, writer and producer. He writes books and makes films about sports, includ-ing Kazakhstan’s sports and ath-letes. His first book, “Mr. Aikido,” told the story of an athlete who had been raised in an orphanage and was written in collaboration with famous Russian television journal-ist Vladislav Listyev. His second book, “Knockout,” was made into a film in Europe and explored the lives of Soviet actors and sports-men who did not return to their country

In 2009, the documentary “As-tana Team: Chasing the Leader,” based on Berman’s book “Lie and Truth of the Great Loop” pre-miered in the Netherlands. In Ka-zakhstan, the film was presented at the Eurasia International Film Festival in 2010. Berman has di-rected several documentaries about Alexander Vinokourov and other Kazakhstan’s athletes, including the comic documentary “Sport Through Laughter and Tears.”

As head of the International Foundation for the Protection of Athletes’ Rights, Berman actively supported Kazakhstan’s cyclist Al-exander Vinokourov when he was accused of violating competition rules.

By Maral Zhantaykyzy

ASTANA - This year marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the famous Kazakh film director, Sul-tan-Ahmet Khodzhikov. On March 11, an evening commemorating the memory of this master of Ka-zakhstan’s cinema was held at the Cinema House in Almaty. Friends, colleagues, family members and filmmakers laid flowers at his me-morial plate on the Walk of Fame in front of Kazakhfilm studios.

Guests at the event saw the pre-miere of Bulat Nusimbekov’s new documentary “War and Peace of Sultan Khodzhikov.” The film fo-cuses on the life and work of the great director and the creation of his great drama, “Kyz Zhibek” (“Silk Girl” in Kazakh).

During World War II, the eight-een year-old Sultan-Akhmet Khodzhikov went to the front and fought in the famous Eighth Pan-filov Guards Division. He returned from the war as a Commander of the Guard and was awarded sever-al military honours, including the Order of the Red Star.

On the advice of his older brother Kulakhmet, who worked in cin-ema, Khodzhikov went to the di-rectorial faculty of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. To-gether, Khodzhikov and Leningrad director Pavel Bogolyubov made the film “Girl-Zhigit” (Girl-Brave in Kazakh).

The film “Mother and Son” was Khodzhikov’s first independent work, written from his own script.

The short film about pioneers of the Virgin Lands programme problema-tises the important issue of the educa-tion of young generations and praises the romanticism of the work of Soviet youth. The film “We are From Seven Rivers” depicts Kazakh participation in the Great October Revolution. The Kazakh legend of the tragic fate of the beauty Aisulu formed the basis for Khodzhikov’s film “Chinar on the Rock.”

The director always actively sought to reflect the past and the

present of the Kazakh people on screen. He plumbed the national epic, the pearl of Kazakh folklore, and based his most important film, “Kyz Zhibek,” on the story by Gab-it Musrepov. This legend of two lovers he and his brothers had heard from their grandmother when they were children. The brother who en-couraged Khodzhikov to get into film and who went on to become the first Kazakh film designer, Ku-lakhmet Khodzhikov, had wanted to produce a movie based on this legend, and for many years had col-lected works of Kazakh folklore and did graphic illustrations of them.

This film, which instantly made Khodzhikov famous all over Kaza-khstan, the Soviet Union and beyond, is still the hallmark of Kazakhstani cinema. Making the film was a long and difficult job. The director fought off Soviet censorship, which was trying to distort historical truth and demanded serious revisions. Sultan-Akmet Khodzhikov suffered a heart attack during filmmaking but still managed to defend his ideas. The di-rector himself selected the actors and approved the casting of the young unknown Meruert Utekeshevа for the lead role, Kyz Zhibek. The final film had strong characters, vivid emotions and exciting dramatic collisions. The film memorably embodies the Kaza-kh Romeo and Juliet, but also shows the synergy of the team as a whole: the beautiful costumes of production designer Gulfayrus Ismailova, the beautiful nature cinematography, the moving music of the classicist of Ka-zakh culture, Nurgisa Tlendiev; all of these contributed to the film’s stun-ning success.

“Kyz Zhibek” became the top-grossing film in the history of Kaza-khstan’s cinema, and is still one of the nation’s favourites. The DVD sits in many personal film collections.“Kyz Zhibek” won three awards at the Fifth All Soviet-Union Film Festival in Tbilisi: a special diploma for a vivid imaginative rendering of a historical theme for production director Sultan Khodzhikov; a diploma for contribu-tions to the dramatic arts by an actor

for Kenenbay Kozhabekov and a diploma and cash prize for the best artwork for artist director Gulfayrus Ismailova.

At the film’s first preview at the Belgian Art Research Institute, world-renowned man of art and Belgian painter Roger Somville said, “Today’s films bear from the screen a cruelty, but I’ve now seen a picture made with respect for people. All others should learn this from the Kazakhs. What a fresh breeze is blowing from the East!”

“Cinema is an art. The people must understand it. ‘Kyz Zhibek’ is not only a Kazakh film; it touched our feelings,” the French viewer said.

“It could be said that such reels are

born once in a hundred years!” Pres-ident of Kazakhfilm Yermek Aman-shaev said in his opening speech at the commemoration evening.

In 1972, Sultan-Ahmet Khodzhik-ov was awarded the State Prize of the Kazakh Soviet Socialistic Re-public for the film “Kyz Zhibek.” Nevertheless, after “Kyz Zhibek,” Sultan-Ahmet Khodzhikov was not able to produce any more pic-tures for the public. He wrote many scripts that were always rejected by Kazakhfilm’s art council. He wanted to make a documentary film about World War II and his brothers-sol-diers. He also did not have time to complete his trilogy about Kazakh wrestler Qajimuqan Munaytpasuly.

Taraz Fashion Show Introduces New Names

Kazakh Cinema Remembers a Famous Father Author-Fighter to Shoot Series about Kazakhstan’s Olympians

A legend of two lovers “Kyz Zhibek” became the top-grossing film in the history of Kazakhstan’s cinema.

Designers demonstrated their view on traditional costumes.

Kazakhstan’s First Full-Length 3D Animated Film Opens

From Page B1

“The idea of making an animat-ed film based on the Kazakh fairy tale came from the film studio management,” director Danenov said. “At the beginning, I worried that after a long period of stagna-tion in the Kazakh film industry, it was risky to start the production of animated films from scratch. But looking at the confidence of the management and the grandiose scope with which Yermek Aman-shayev (director of Kazakhfilm studios) has fostered the rise of the Kazakh cinema, I decided to take part in this project.”

First, it was decided to shoot the movie in a regular format. Then, the director and his team had the idea to produce it in the now popu-lar 3D format. An Almaty private studio team working under a talent-ed, young director called Rustam Turaliyev made the adaptation.

Turaliyev had a background in advertising and has worked in an animation studio in Moscow for years where he mastered 3D tech-nology. He and Danenov recruited a talented group of young produc-

tion editors and technicians well versed in the Kazakh language, cul-ture and traditions. The screenplay in Russian was edited by the well-known playwright Lavrenty Son.

Well-known Kazakhstan ac-tors Lydia Kaden, Nuketai My-shbayeva, Kadyrbek Demesinov, Akkenzhe Alimzhan, Dulyga Ak-molda, Dimash Akymov and Kai-rat Dombai provided the voices for the main characters in the Kazakh language version of the film. In the Russian-language version, the main characters were voiced by Leah Nelskaya, Nina Zhmerenet-skaya, Igor Lichadeev, Anastasia Temkina, Oksana Boychenko and Anatoly Krezhenchukov.

Kazakhfilm has planned a ma-jor promotional campaign for the film and is releasing a new line of merchandising products including comics, exercise books, diaries, clay models, watercolour paint-books, and albums featuring its characters.

Kazakhstan animation was cre-ated half a century ago. The first cartoon made in the country by pi-oneer animator Amen Khaydarov was called “Why is the Swallow’s

Tail U- Shaped?” It won interna-tional prizes and enjoyed com-mercial success, being shown in 48 countries. Since then, the animation division of Kazakhfilm has grown from six to 60 people. Most of them are graduates of the Almaty School of Art and the All-Union State Institute of Cinema-tography (VGIK).

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the making of animated films almost stopped. It fell to a rate of only one or two short car-toons per year. American, Japanese and Russian cartoons filled the country’s TV screens. However, Kazakhfilm is now expanding its production of animated films.

The new wave of animated films being produced focuses on two themes, folklore and contemporary subjects. The work is supported by the government under its Cultural Heritage programme.

In 2010, Kazakhfilm created a new production unit using ad-vanced technology and started re-cruiting a new generation of ani-mators. The unit will also be used to create special effects for regular films.

Graphics of the national 3D cartoons soon to stand in one line with those produced in Western countries.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013The Astana Times

From Page A1

The family has a two bedroom apartment, purchased in 1998, af-ter their wedding. Six years after their marriage the couple bought a country site with a house. Alexei originally had a used car, which was periodically replaced by more recent models. They currently drive a 2004 model.

The family has a refrigerator, a TV set and other appliances and standard furniture in their flat. They bought them all for cash, as Alexei does not like buying on credit.

“Most of our total monthly in-come is spent on food and utility payments,” Shevchenko said. “The utility expenses together with the fee for the parking lot cost about 25,000 tenge ($165.67), without consider-ing expenditures on gasoline.”

“We do not have enough money to travel abroad,” she said. “For our holidays, we go to the Borovoye resort, Bayanaul or Bukhtarma. We are also careful about our health, as serious treatment requires consid-erable resources.”

“I do not buy expensive or styled clothing in the retail trade network. We use online shops, as, for ex-ample, it is cheaper to buy clothes from the U.S. through the Internet,” Shevchenko said. “I do not know what category of people on income and living standards is referred to the middle class but it is most likely that our family can be considered as middle class. We have everything for everyday life. What additional criteria are needed?”

However, she then added, “I do feel concern about the future, as our current salaries do not guaran-tee stability and may change at any time. We also need to think about saving to give decent education to our daughter.”

Gulshat Ismailova from Aktau dreamed of becoming a doctor, but did not pass the second round of her exams and was not admit-ted. Her father advised her to be-come a geologist. “Why not,” she asked herself. “That is a very suit-able profession for the Mangistau region.” With help from her father, she entered the Institute of Geol-ogy.Gulshat enjoyed her early field work in the mountains. They stud-ied rock ores and in the evening sat around campfires singing hiking songs. They dreamed of opening new fields with huge oil and natu-ral gas reserves.

After graduation Gulshat came to a research institute and plunged into scientific work. Her earlier im-age of a geologist was associated with a weather-beaten face and a

huge backpack but she learned that a modern geologist often wears a business suit and uses a laptop. At first, she worked as an ordinary re-searcher, then as a senior one. Now, she is the head of the geology de-partment at a major oil company.

“I do not complain about my sal-ary,” she said, “Of course, when I started my career, I had to save money and deny myself some things. Now, our family can afford major purchases.”

Gulshat has no doubt that her family belongs in the middle class. “This is the driving force of the economy. And of course, I include my family in it. After all, what do we mean under this term? These are the educated people who ben-efit our society, produce things and bring new ideas to production.

And, accordingly, the work of such professionals is well-paid.”

Gulshat believes the middle class are people who do not worry about the future of their children because they can provide decent education for them. Gulshat and her husband are proud of their two children, their daughter Aigerim, a fourth-grade student and their son Daulet who is in second grade. Her husband has a construction worker degree. He has fulfilled his life’s dream and became a private busi-nessman.

The family can afford trips abroad, but they still prefer to stay in Kazakhstan. Every summer, they try to go to Almaty.

“For me, the material aspect is not the main thing,” Gulshat said, “I do not seek luxury and what I earn is enough for me. My husband and I have a sustained and stable income. I’m sure that even if we want to have a third child, my husband will fully support our family. But still I want to be fulfilled in my profession.”

Serikzhan Zhakenov of Karagan-da is an engineer and a director of the KarGorMash-M Company. He is not rich by Western standards. But he is financially independent and re-gards himself as middle class.

Zhakenov has his own opinion: He defines members of the middle class in Kazakhstan as “those people who are optimistic about the future: they know what to do and with whom to work. They boldly plan their life.”

“I know already what I will do in a year or two, because I know how to achieve that goal,” Zhakenov told The Astana Times. “I do not have huge capital, but my financial status and income allows me to or-ganize my life in keeping with my idea of style and comfort.”

Zhakenov’s wife is now in retire-ment. They live in a house which

they built on a plot of land which they planted with hundreds of trees and decorated with lawns. Their son lives independently with his family in Astana.

Zhakenov takes pleasure in the success of his company and en-joys his work. On holiday, he and his wife travel abroad, often to the Czech Republic and Germany. A graduate of the Karaganda Poly-technic Institute, he is grateful to it for an excellent education. With 40 years of experience as a mechanical engineer he puts his heart and soul into the development of his busi-ness. The country’s stability and se-curity are very important for him.

“The welfare of the state depends on the middle class and it prevents a wide gap from developing be-tween the rich and the poor,” Zhak-enov said. “The state only benefits by creating conditions for this layer of society. I think that this category should also involve representatives of the civil service and from small and medium sized businesses. So far, teachers, doctors and the self-employed, unfortunately, do not yet belong to this social class.”

Talgat Doskenov, president of Kazakhstan Association of En-trepreneurs and director of the Atameken Union in the Karaganda region told The Astana Times that the middle class is also the foun-dation of a market economy. This includes those who can afford the construction of their own house, who own one to three cars and who can equip children with a good ed-ucation abroad.

“Of course, the income deter-mines the social status,” Doskenov said. “A highly-qualified lawyer, coach or businessman involved in the transportation industry or a re-tired person who owns five to sev-en flats and rents them out on lease

can all be referred to as belonging to the middle class.”

The middle class gives society the major advantage of psycholog-ical stability, Doskenov said. “This population stratum does not usu-ally participate in protests and does not erect revolutionary barricades. The middle class is the foundation of the economic and political well-being of the state.”

edItorIAl note A decade ago, in his interview

with the international business newspaper the Financial Times, President Nazarbayev said “We now want to create a society where the upper level accounts for 10-15 percent, the lower, perhaps for 10-15 percent, and the middle class between them should make up 60-70 percent.”

The president’s plans have be-come reality. In the past decade, the average salary in Kazakhstan in dollar terms has increased by 440 percent. People have more oppor-tunities to use public goods, make expensive purchases, travel and have savings in the bank accounts.

During this decade, the gap be-tween the wealthiest and poorest layers of society declined.

The Gini Coefficient is used by sociologists to measure the distri-bution of income in any society. The closer the index is to zero, the more evenly incomes are distrib-uted; and the higher the index rat-ing, the more incomes are concen-trated in the hands among a small wealthy elite.

Kazakhstan’s Gini Coefficient gives it the most equal distribution of incomes among the 12 nations in the Commonwealth of Independ-ent States and puts it among the 50 fairest countries of the world in its distribution of national wealth.

B4Country

Middle Class Families Optimistic about the Future

By Aset Kalymov

ALMATY REGION - The Kaz Silicon Plant, which reopened in April 2012, is planning to increase its production volume of high-qual-ity refined silicon up to 10,000 tons per year. In Bastobe village, the plant processes gangue quartz mined at the nearby Sarykol field. According to experts, the deposits of this raw material equal about 1.7 million tons and will be enough for the plant’s work for more than 50 years.

Silicon is an important semicon-ductor and the main raw material used in manufacturing photovolta-ic panels (solar panels). Solar pan-els have great potential for growth: their share of world electricity pro-duction is expected to reach up to 30 percent by 2040.

In October 2011, the plant became a subsidiary of the Kazatomprom National Company and a major par-ticipant in the KazPV project aimed at establishing a fully integrated renewable energy production line. According to the general director of

Kaz Silicon LLP, Danel Skakov, the refined silicon is sent to Astana for further processing, where at the end of 2012 a plant was launched to pro-duce photovoltaic modules for As-tana Solar LLP. The design capacity of Kazakhstan’s first solar wafers is 50 MW with an increase up to 100 MW planned for the future.

The plant has an automated proc-ess control system, which allows it to produce an additional output of mikrosilica (silica fume) of up to 2,000 tons per year. This mate-rial is used in dry mortar, ceramic plates, tiles and refractory masses. Skakov says that the gas treatment facilities and high-tech stoves meet European standards and do not produce harmful emissions. This is an important issue, as residents of Bastobe district remember well how in 2006 the district centre was covered with suffocating smog when Kaz Silicon first began pro-duction. The company is planning to export the output to Western Eu-rope, Southeast Asia, the United States and Germany.

Silicon Production Grows in Karatal District

By Manshuk Bekentayeva

ASTANA - Nauryz is celebrated in countries of Central Asia on the day of the astronomical spring equi-nox. In Kazakhstan, it’s an official public holiday, so the celebrations were held on main squares, parks and streets in all the regions and cities of Kazakhstan. The celebra-tions included concerts, shows, bike races, contests, trivia games, sport competitions, tree planting and holi-day food fairs. Due to celebrations, March 21-23 were announced as days off according to Kazakhstan’s legislation.

Public celebrations started on March 21 in Astana. The celebra-tions continued on March 22 next to the city administration building, in the Lovers Park and in other parks of the capital. The main events took place next to Kazakh Eli monument (Kazakh land in Kazakh), in which four hundred performers took part.

“I congratulate all the people of Kazakhstan on this wonderful holi-day. All offenses are forgiven on this day. Families and friends meet and ask each other for forgiveness, wear their best clothes, go out, plant trees, clean up springs and streets,”

Nursultan Nazarbayev said address-ing the participants of celebration at Kazakh Eli square in Astana.

On March 19, an exhibition of contemporary art called “Golden Collection of Names” took place in Astana organized in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the Karaganda re-gional museum of fine art. The ex-hibition featured 52 works created from 1930 to 2012. On the next day, a unique light show started, which will fascinate guests and residents of Astana until April 1.

Five thousand people gathered in Almaty for Nauryz celebration on March 22. People crowded the whole Astana square and the cel-ebrations got underway outside the square, where residents were enter-tained by taking short rides on hors-es and camels. The celebrations in-cluded a fair of jewellery, paintings and souvenirs. Celebrations also included the shows and contests, competitions of the national sing-ers and national dances. The cooks presented different recipes of the "Nauryz kozhe" dish: some of them were made of sour milk and groats and some included meat.

Young people enjoyed traditional

Kazakh swings called Altybakan. The construction was strong enough to hold 10-12 people at a time. Children competed in shooting toy bows, while adults took part in sports games. Many of them wanted to recall the childhood by playing "assyk", an ancient bone-throwing game. Young people competed in lifting 24kg kettle bells; some of them managed to lift them over 40 times.

While major celebrations of Nau-ryz were only coming to residents of western Kazakhstan, and Mangis-tau in particular, many people there have already celebrated “Amal mei-ramy” (forerunner of Nauryz) on March 14. Traditionally, Kazakhs of the western territories were the first to mark the coming of spring. They would then pass congratulations on to their relatives in other regions. One of the main parts of the celebra-tion is the “korisu” or handshake. Historically, on this day, residents of western Kazakhstan visit elders to greet them with a handshake, ask for blessings in the new year and wish them good health. This day is also traditionally seen as a day to forgive grievances against others.

Residents of the South Kaza-

khstan region celebrated the Nauryz holiday in a new way. Celebratory ceremonies start nine days prior to Nauryz as every day has its own significance. Governors, heads of cities, districts and villages will con-gratulate war and labour veterans on the first day of celebration. Mem-bers of youth communities helped senior citizens with household du-ties. “Memorial Day” is the second day of celebration. The commemo-rative dinners held in the memory of the border guards killed in the airplane crash in December 2012. In addition, the national aitys contest dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the Tole bi district and the 300th anniversary of Abylai Khan began on this day.

In Kostanay, to mark the cel-ebration of Nauryz on March 19 an exhibition was organized, which included products from 120 lo-cal producers of agricultural goods from the regional centre and the dis-tricts. The fair attracted visitors with low prices on products, almost 20-30 percent below the current market prices.

In Karaganda, lessons of friend-ship, peace and harmony took place in schools of the region. In the in-stitutions, festivals and competi-tions, dedicated to Nauryz celebra-tions took place. In Karaganda, the regional competition-festival “Kүy

қaynary” held among the artists of kyui (national competitions with dombra) and the collectives with na-tional instruments on the city stage.

In Aktobe, on March 20, women with many children were awarded the state awards under thof presi-dential decree. Four mothers of large families were given “Altyn Alka” gold medals and five women received “Kumis alka” silver med-als.

On the first day of Nauryz, in Tal-dykorgan, elderly people were given presents, while on three streets of the city “white-winged yurts” were installed so anyone could taste the koumiss (mare’s milk) and Nauryz kozhe (Kazakh special milky soup). Beautiful women in bright costumes delighted guests with folk dances.

In Ust-Kamenogorsk, youth con-structed a yurt, which represented not only Kazakh national culture, but also contemporary popular forms of street art. Exhibitions of clothing and cuisine were organized with different types of national cui-sine offered to the guests of celebra-tions. For the talented young people, a karaoke contest was held.

Nauryz was also celebrated in a special way abroad, for example, “Nauryz-2013” holiday took place at “Rossiya” concert hall in Mos-cow. The Moscow-based foreign embassies and cultural associations

arranged the event with the support of Moscow authorities. Dancers and singers from CIS member countries as well as from Kazakhstan delighted the audience with their performanc-es. Within the festivities, the guests were able to attend a traditional fair and savour delicacies of the national cuisine of various nationalities.

The tradition to celebrate Nau-ryz with a very festive gala event, launched two years ago in Washing-ton, continued this year with a major gala at the Organization of Ameri-can States (OAS) historic building on March 17. U.S.-based Nauryz Commission, a multicultural not-for profit organization established for promoting Nauryz in the United States hosted its second celebration of Nauryz at the Library of Con-gress, which coincided, with the first anniversary of the Commission. Special highlights of the celebration included a message from President Barack Obama delivered by Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor and assistant to the President.

The Kazakhstan Embassy in Tur-key held the Nauryz celebrations on March 20, with guests of the event including heads of state agencies in Turkey, members of Parliament, ambassadors of Azerbaijan, Be-larus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, representatives of culture and arts, public, and academic circles.

Nation Celebrates Nauryz

Gulshat Ismailova believes she and her husband earn enough money not only to raise two of their children, Aigerim and Daulet, but also to have a third child.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 The Astana TimesB5

society

Annual Charity Fair Provides Tradition of Giving

From Page B1

How and when did the idea of holding a charity event on New Year’s Eve arise?

I arrived in Astana on March 19, 2008 and, of course, I had to adapt to a new city and to life here, as well as to the duties that come with being the spouse of an ambassador. As a woman, I thought of organis-ing a useful activity and the idea of charity came up. This event [the Annual Charity Fair] is held not only by us, the Czech Republic, but by all embassies accredited in As-tana, because all of us are women and mothers, and we want to help children. When we first arrived in Astana, we lived in the Radisson Hotel for a month. At that time the director general of the hotel was Austrian. We had a talk with him and manager Farah Willey and agreed that we would jointly organ-ise a charity bazaar and the Radis-son Hotel Charity Ball. I set the date as the first Sunday of Decem-ber. This bazaar is a long-lasting tradition almost all over the world but here we have been holding it for only five years. Nevertheless, we have had really good results and I can proudly say that everything is going very well with it.

Who is involved in the organi-sation of the event?

Earlier this year we created the LaDiCA club, which stands for La-dies Diplomatic Club Astana and unites spouses of ambassadors, embassy staff and representatives of organisations working in Ka-zakhstan. I am the president of the club. We have our own charter, a beautiful badge and a website, www.ladica.kz. The club is mainly engaged in charity work and or-ganising the bazaar, which brings together all embassies. Full club members pay membership dues.

Do you cooperate with state bodies, NGOs or private compa-nies in Kazakhstan?

Our club is a non-profit and non-political organisation with the pri-mary objective of conducting char-ity work. However, we work with all who approach us and anyone who asks for help. Certainly we try to listen to everyone, and af-ter researching the issues we help the most disadvantaged. I am very glad that the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs trust us; we are grateful for it. We all do this not for advertisement but to help the children of Kazakhstan.

How are funds raised at your events distributed?

The funds are distributed by the committee. Prior to that we discuss and check the information on all participants of the fair. We ask for what purposes the money will be used. We do not refuse to help any-one but we check all orphanages. Everyone knows that participants have the opportunity to ask ques-tions or tell us about people in need. We help orphanages, homes for the elderly and sick children who need surgery and rehabilitation.

Are you involved in any other projects?

I think the charity project is enough for us. This project is al-ready at such a level that it is an endless job. For example, today I met with the vice-rector of the law department. Last year, we paid for the studies of two students, and now we have decided to prolong the payments until they graduate. Now we will consider providing payments for two more students for a one-year period. All of them are from low-income and needy families. They will receive certifi-cates on the Nauryz holiday.

On that note, I’d like to wish all residents of Astana and Kazakhstan success, good health, happiness and well-being. I congratulate all on the beautiful holiday and wish Kazakhstan only prosperity in the future.

From Page A1

The Internet is rapidly developing, and it is necessary that the laws af-fecting its progress must be adopted in a correct manner and in accord-ance with our recommendations. As a social organization, we can voice our proposals and recommendations on questions of development. It is another question as to whether our comments and remarks will be lis-tened to, but working in our capac-ity, we do everything we can so that our recommendations and opinions are considered.

We have participated in drafting a new law on electronic money, which is fully functioning now. We have played an active role in the project about copyrights on the Internet. We have started a special Internet resource called www.zakonoproekt.kz for the purpose of hosting public discussions.

The IAK actively engages in the fight against unlawful content, in-cluding content that propagates ter-rorism, extremism, violence, child pornography, and similar content. In principle, unlawful is by defini-tion forbidden, but we believe that not only do the government law-enforcement agencies have to fight it, but society as a whole. To this end, we have created another project called www.safekaznet.kz through which every user can complain and report that they have found unlaw-ful content. So we as a civil society recognize our job is to monitor these activities.

We also hold roundtables trying to connect the Internet community. We work with practically every govern-ment agency. We work with commu-nities that are not our members, but that doesn’t prevent us from working with them.

Will the switch of the Kazakh lan-guage to the Latin alphabet have any effect on the development of the Kaznet?

I think it will have a significant ef-fect and a very positive effect at that. After all, we shouldn’t forget that Latin is the basis of the world fund of scripts. Then there are other coun-tries that have already gone through

this, whose examples we can follow. We are not the first, and probably are not the last. I don’t think, for exam-ple, that Turkey lost anything from their language's switch to Latin. Tur-key only won.

Just think about it: Today, in the Kazakh language we have only three official printing fonts: Times New Roman, Sans-serif, and something else. These are fonts that work cor-rectly in any programme such as Word, Excel and MS Office. And they also have to work correctly in designer software.

Today, every sphere of business is connected to a computer. And every programme that you use has to have the Kazakh fonts because they work correctly. Ideally, we should have around a thousand fonts to be able to use any of them. In this light, the Cyrillic alphabet in which the Ka-zakh language is used today creates difficulties because developing a sin-gle font and its public use costs about $40,000. So if we want to develop even just a hundred fonts, it becomes a giant number. It is understood that developing Kazakh fonts that would work in different programmes is the responsibility of the government. And to do so, it would have to spend large sums of taxpayer money.

The switch to Latin allows us to quickly and efficiently use all of the fonts that are already available. It will be most difficult for the gen-eration that lives through the switch, for those who use Cyrillic. But then again, you can already see a lot of Kazakh content being written in Latin, and many are already using translit typing, which in essence is the switch to Latin. It will be dif-

ficult, but I don’t think it’s a global problem that will turn the world up-side down.

Access to the Internet in Kaza-khstan reaches only 50 percent of the population. Is that a problem for society?

We have a term called “penetration of the Internet,” and I think last time it was announced at 40 percent to 50 percent. This doesn’t, however, mean that out of 17 million people 8.5 mil-lion go online. No, penetration of the Internet is a specific parameter that is based on certain conditions. For example, a person must go online at least five times a day from a home or work office, and there are certain criteria. Take me for example, I have two mobile phones, both of which I use to access the Internet. I can also use my tablet device, I can use my work computer, and I can go online from home. And everywhere I have different accounts. These accounts are counted together, summed into one and calculated.

Today, we don’t have a problem with access to the Internet. Moreo-ver, the speed of service providers gives a good opportunity for every-body to go online. The latest 4G, the LTE standard, which is provided by a Kazakh company, gives mobility and a good channel of communica-tion. Today, I tried it on my own mo-bile device, and uploaded and down-loaded at approximately 15 Mb each way. I think this is a very decent speed which is good. Also, consider-ing that access to the Internet is pro-vided in packages with television, phone services, and so on, it is easy to connect. Even in different regions of Kazakhstan, mobile phone op-erators allow free access to the most popular social sites like Facebook

and Mail.ru, regardless of the traf-fic. So the provinces today add to the number of users of the Internet be-cause it is cheaper for you to send a message through an instant message service rather than by SMS.

What do you think about the de-velopment of the children who grow up with the Internet? What do you think the future will be like?

You know, this is a stick with two ends. On the one hand, this is a her-itage of technology and a level of development of a society creating a so-called global information soci-ety where every country builds its own online society, including Ka-zakhstan. And access to the Internet is a benefit of these mobile phones, gadgets and tablet devices.

In principle, a mobile smart phone filled with complicated fancy func-tions is becoming a norm. From the point of view of children and young adults, we have a branch in the In-ternet Association that fights the pro-liferation of unlawful content, and we try to fight for a safe Internet. In 2010, all service providers and host-ing providers signed a declaration of safe Internet. We have it on the website on www.safekaznet.kz, they have taken the moral responsibil-ity to provide a safe Internet to our children.

Other than that, we also have con-stant monitoring so that all Internet resources have a strict policy against child pornography, pedophilia and comparable pathologies. Europe and North America have taken an imme-diate and clear stand about their po-sition. They warn users that in case of an upload of unlawful content that not only will it be deleted, but the information will be passed on to the appropriate authorities.

Unfortunately, many of our re-sources have only a single line that states the administration of the web-site does not have responsibility for any content. In essence the fight for free speech allows for permis-siveness where anything goes. It is impossible to not have responsibil-ity for any content. If your resource hosts evidence of terrorism, extrem-ism, child-porn do you not have re-sponsibility? No, let’s state clearly on the rules of using a website or some conditions what you are responsible for and what you are not.

Is there anything you would like to share with our readers?

All I can say is that in the last few years I have attended many interna-tional forums and events on behalf of the Internet Association of Ka-zakhstan. I actively participate in conferences and seminars. I have recently come from Vienna where for a few days within the framework of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) we looked at issues concerning the In-ternet. This included questions of regulation of the Internet, the safety of the upcoming generation, issues of self-regulation, blocking and fil-tration and other subjects.

I think today the Internet realm is becoming so important and funda-mental to us that it is impossible not to notice what goes on there. Today, an overwhelming number of people are getting their news from the Inter-net and the traditional means of mass media are weakening: It is no longer a secret. The people are going on-line for their news: They meet each other over the Internet and even get married through the Internet. What seemed absurd even a few years ago, “So you met over the Internet?

What? Wow, isn’t that something!” Today, it seems normal. The interac-tion that is happening today is taking place through this means of com-munication. A lot depends on the Internet.

I would like to say that the Internet Association of Kazakhstan is devel-oping, but it is impossible to do so if it is isolated from the rest of the country. We need close cooperation with different countries. We need to know the laws and regulations of different countries so that we easily harmonise with them.

Within the framework of the Customs Union and the Single Eco-nomic Space, questions of cyber-crimes come to the forefront. A cy-ber criminal does not know borders but in reality they do exist. There’s Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus in the Customs Union and there are new laws being prepared for this sphere. For this reason I think that in the near future, the discussions that are being held on an international level, all countries will have to come an understanding about what is obvi-ously unlawful content, a position on cyber criminals and on questions of free speech and freedom of expres-sion on the Internet will depend on the policy of individual states.

For some countries, certain things are unacceptable because of their religious, say Islamic, values. Some countries may even have regional divides. China has its own China-net, they have their own policy. But even with all these different laws and norms, I don’t think that countries can’t agree on something. I think in the near future, laws regarding copy-rights or terrorism will be adjusted on a level of accords, decrees, and contracts that work on an interna-tional level.

Internet Association Chief Predicts Bright Online Future

Shavkat Sabirovso

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Wednesday, 27 March 2013The Astana Times

By Nadezhda Khamitova

ASTANA –Paintball has found a home in the capital of Kazakhstan.

Paintball is a team game, where players are eliminated or “killed” when they are shot with gelatin “bullets” – capsules containing paint. The aim of the game is to eliminate all opponents by marking them with paint. Each player has a gun called a paintball marker.

A game can be played indoors and outdoors but most players pre-fer outdoor action on natural ter-rain.

Design of the playing area de-pends on the scenario for the game. Military and terrorist themes often involve the use of a bus and tires as shields for players. A popular version focuses on the capture of the opposing team’s flag defended in stylized forts. The length of the games can vary. In major champi-onships and tournaments they can last all day.

To date, more than eight paintball clubs operate in and around Astana including The Attack, Blockpost, Snipers, Shooter, Patriot and Ba-rys.

Blockpost offers its players

two versions of the game, Au-todrome and Fort which is de-signed for a maximum number of 60 players.

Blockpost’s playing area is on the steppe about 20 minutes of driving outside Astana. Games are

played through the summer and even much of winter. Participation in a game costs 3,000 tenge ($20) per person, covering 1,500 tenge ($10) for two hours of game time, including the renting of uniforms and providing an instructor, and

1,500 tenge ($10) for 100 gelatin bullets. The club’s website at www.bpost.kz provides all necessary in-formation on location, prices and additional services.

The Shooter club offers its cli-ents a standard game for 2,500 tenge ($16.57) and 2,000 tenge ($13.25) for corporate players. It also offers discounts for students, who only pay 1,500 tenge ($10) each. Additional information is available on the club’s website at http://paintball-kz.info/).

“I am a fan of paintball. It’s painful sometimes but for me the most important thing is to feel the adrenaline in my blood, the fun of unity with the team and the joy of scoring a goal,” Aiman Khamzina told The Astana Times. “After the game, I go with my friends to the barbeque. It’s all a much more in-teresting way to spend the weekend than just drinking tea at a cafe.”

“For me, the game is a cure to the stress of work,” Alisher Be-gasymov told The Astana Times. “I have tons of energy but the volume of work I have sometimes doesn’t let me enjoy meetings with friends. A few hours spent outside play-ing paintball recharge me and my friends for the whole week.”

B6Tourism

Paintball is a an active sports and a “stress killer” for people, who are not afraid of bruises and looking for great memories.

By Lyubov Shashkova

“Protected Corners of Kaza-khstan,” a new book of photos by Vladislav Yakushkin and texts by well-known writer and naturalist Boris Shcherbakov, brings to vivid life some of Kazakhstan's most unique and remote reaches and by showing their beauty seeks to in-spire a spirit of protection and con-servation in its readers.

Included in the album are the splendours of the Semirechie re-gion, the Kolsay Lakes and Charyn Canyon, Altyn-Emel National Park in Southeast Kazakhstan, the Aksu-Zhabagly Reserve and the deserts of Southern Kazakhstan, the Cas-pian Sea, the Ustyurt plateau, the Aktolagay region of Western Ka-zakhstan, Borovoye, Bayanaul Na-tional Park, Karkaralinsk, Alakol Lake, Markakol Lake, Katon Ka-ragai, the West Altay Reserve and the colourful deserts of Eastern Kazakhstan.

Vast territories of the country, from the Caspian Sea in the west to the snowy peaks of the Tien Shan and Altai Mountains in the east, from the deserts of the south to the

steppe plains of Western Siberia in the north, amaze with the rich-ness and diversity of their land-scapes, flora and fauna. Presenting the book to its readers, Professor Vladimir Kazenas writes that “An inquisitive naturalist and artist-photographer finds objects wor-thy of his attention everywhere. But there are parts of Kazakhstan where nature has created a fan-tastic beauty of landscape with a rich and unique world of plants and animals. The book tells about such protected corners. Its author, the well-known photographer and naturalist, explorer and member of the Professional Photographers of the United States, Vladislav Yakushkin, traveled all over Ka-zakhstan. He visited not only tour-ist destinations but also the most remote and inaccessible corners.” Yakushkin found and took photos of everything from rare butterflies and flowers to majestic rock piles, intricately dissected hills and spec-tacular sunsets. These photos dem-onstrate the technical skill of the photographer and his talent as an artist who manages to capture na-ture in its most positive and emo-tionally expressive form. And as all the photos are provided with ex-planatory captions giving valuable information, the book is not only a great keepsake of Kazakhstan, but a geography and biology guide.

The authors hope to inspire a love of nature and respect for its inhabitants at a time when natu-ral environments are increasingly threatened by pollution, urban sprawl and human apathy. “Let’s believe that there will be changes in the consciousness of people and books like the new photo album by Vladislav Yakushkin will help,” Kazenas concluded.

Scientists Ikar Borodikhin, Ivan Bevze and Polina Veselova helped the authors of the book identify the animals and plants pictured.

A Peek Into Country’s “Protected Corners”

Paintball warriors Invade Nation

By Olga Malakhova

The book “Zhetysu. Monuments and Museums” is a complete and colourful edition of the history of Almaty region, which has not yet been published in the country be-fore. Turning its pages one can “visit” more than twenty museums of the region and see over a thou-sand of its sites.

In fact, according to the chief edi-tor of the Golden Book Vyacheslav Titenev, the number of monuments in the region of Zhetysu is ten times more than that in the official register. He discovered this when he took photos of them in four dis-tricts of the region and saw monu-ments in the small towns, which were not included in the list. For example, in the town of Panfilov in addition to the bust of the war hero he found five other monuments and in the national park “Altyn Emel” the keeper showed him the newly found petroglyphs.

Thus, there was a new look at certain things and new openings when the book was published. For example, Vyacheslav Titenev was surprised by details of biography of Nauryzbay Batyr, a true hero and commander, whose life was devoted to the fight against Dz-hungars. The authors of the book not only provided the photo of the monument erected at the entrance to the Kaskelen, but also informa-tion about him: they carefully stud-ied the lives of the characters and events of that era.

The land of seven rivers - Zhe-tysu, - located in the foothills of the Zailiskii Alatau has beautiful nature and many unique historic sites.

“The new book, of course, will draw great interest among poten-tial tourists, both domestic and for-eign,” says Vyacheslav Titenev. It will be also in demand in schools and universities.

As written in the introduction to the book, the historical and cultural heritage of Zhetysu is the founda-tion of historical memory of peo-ple and true patriotism. The history of the country and its study should become necessary and available to

the general public. The memory about achievements of our ances-tors will allow the society to better understand its purpose. It is note-worthy that the whole history of this region over the past century in given successively in the publica-tion.

Realizing the importance of ar-chaeological, architectural, natural objects, and having information on the events associated with them, young people will be aware of the need to protect historical and cul-tural heritage.

The Almaty oblast is the third richest region in this sense along with the South Kazakhstan and Zhambyl regions. Saki mounds, in one of which was found the Golden man, petroglyphs on the rocks of the Tamgaly Tas and other places, Singing Dunes, the camp of Genghis Khan and Charyn Canyon - all these attractions related to the

history and culture of the region provide insight into spiritual life of ancestors.

Today the “Cultural Heritage” state programme and the adopted regional project on the protection of Zhetysu monuments have drawn a lot of attention to the regriches cultural riches. The project’s main purpose is to create an integrated system to study cultural heritage of the Almaty region. In recent years, about 50 new monuments were erected, including to batyrs Raiym-bek, Karasai and Nauryzbay, biys Balpyk and Eskeldy, Kablisa zhy-rau (Ush Baiterek), Kadyrgali Zha-lairi and Suyunbaev Aronuly. Res-toration works were conducted on the sites of Talhir, Koilyk, mounds Issyk, Turgenev and Maibulak camps. All this is told in the book “Zhetysu. Monuments and muse-ums” published in three languages, Kazakh, Russian and English.

Book discovers historical heritage of Zhetysu region

By Colin Berlyne

Kazakhstan, believed to be the birthplace of the apple and the country from which the first man was sent into space, is now also thought to be the land where man first tamed the wild horse.

Archaeologists have discovered new evidence of a horse-herding culture in the steppes of Central Asia where Kazakh ancestral tribes emerged more than 5,500 years ago. This is far earlier than the evidence for the domestication of horses or their use in war in Ancient China, Egypt or the Mesopotamia.

Alan Outram, a British archae-ologist from the University of Exeter, told National Geographic Magazine in October 2009 that his research team had discovered evi-dence that pushed back the earliest signs of the widespread riding and milking of horses by 1,000 to 2,000 years from previous estimates. Ou-tram and his colleagues published their research in the October 2009 issue of the prestigious internation-al journal “Science.”

Outram and his colleagues exca-vated the remains of horses from the Botai region of northern Ka-zakhstan. Radiocarbon dating es-tablished that these remains were around 5,500 years old – a period far earlier than the Old Kingdom of Egypt or the ancient Sumerian culture of Mesopotamia and even before the Mohenjo-Daro civiliza-tion of modern Pakistan.

The teeth of these small steppe horses showed unmistakable evi-dence of having been subjected to bits – an indication that they were used either for riding or pulling carts. They also found broken piec-es of pottery used by the Botai cul-ture that still contained elements of fat from horses and their milk. This was clear evidence that the steppe horses were already being used at this early date to provide both meat and milk - substances which remain prized in Kazakh cuisine and culture today.

The researchers also found that the horse bones they exca-vated were slender - a sure sign throughout history of domesti-

cated and carefully bred horses, not of wild ones that had not been subjected to controlled and selec-tive breeding.

Outram’s discoveries are also consistent with a wider emerging body of evidence that many of the key developments in human civi-lization and agriculture took place across the vast steppes of the heart-land of Asia, and not just in the riv-er valleys of the Middle East and southern and Eastern Asia, as ar-chaeologists for so long assumed.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of towns, and therefore of urban civilization, in the territories of modern Kazakhstan far earlier than experts previously assumed. And even before Outram's work, clear evidence had been uncovered that the horse was domesticated in the Asian steppes at least 3,100 to 3,600 years ago in the Botai region - a period of time parallel with the New Kingdom of Egypt and the Minoan Empire of ancient Crete.

This previous evidence was more circumstantial than the latest findings. The early findings uncov-ered primitive tools for working leather that suggested, first, that cattle were being domesticated to provide the leather and hides and, second, that the leather was be-ing worked to make harnesses that could only have been used on hors-es, not cattle.

Western and Kazakh archae-ologists had merely hoped to find more confirmation of these first findings in the Botai region. But the Outram team was surprised by the amount of confirmation they actually uncovered and, most of all, by the far earlier dates that their data belonged to.

The new finds also suggest that the traditional practices of the an-cient Kazakh tribes - eating the meat of their horses and drinking their milk as well as using them for transportation - go back thousands of years to the dawn of civilization. They also suggest that the spirit of innovation and technology in an-cient history did not come only from towns and densely populated river valley cultures on the rims of Africa and Asia, but also from the

heart of the “grass ocean” of the steppe.

Though the larger world's dis-covery of Kazakhstan’s early do-mestication of the horse is recent, Kazakh scholars have long argued that their homeland was the origin of the taming of the horse. The lo-cation, climatic and environmental demands of steppe life would have logically focused the ingenuity and expertise of its people in this direc-tion as essential skills to their sur-vival. The latest findings confirm these long held local beliefs.

As National Geographic noted when it reported Outram’s dis-coveries, the domestication of the horse and their subsequent employ-ment as draught animals or beasts of burden “transformed human society by speeding up transport, making long-distance trading more feasible and opening up new styles of warfare.” This development has therefore long been recognized as being one of the most important advances in early human history.

It is striking that the archaeologi-cal evidence to solve this age-old mystery was found in Kazakhstan, the same country that today is home to the Baikonur Cosmodrome from which cosmonaut Yury Gagarin was launched to become the first human being in space half a cen-tury ago.

The popularity and significance of the horse in Kazakh culture today remains strong. New hippodromes - or racetracks - have opened in Almaty, the nation's largest city, and in Kazakhstan's new capital Astana. Equestrian sports centers have sprung up and horse trekking in the nation's national parks and mountains are popular pastimes.

Kazakhstan has emerged from the mists of history as both the most modern and ancient of na-tions along the fabled Silk Road. And its long-cherished equestrian culture has now revealed to have provided a giant gallop forward for human progress.

The Kazakh Steppe: The Land where the Horse was Tamed

Vast territories of the country, from the Caspian Sea in the west to the snowy peaks of the tien Shan and altai Mountains in the east, from the deserts of the south to the steppe plains of Western Siberia in the north, amaze with the richness and diversity of their landscapes, flora and fauna.

The land of Zhetysu located in the foothills of the Zailiskii Alatau has beautiful nature and many unique historic sites.

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Wednesday, 27 March 2013 The Astana TimesB7

Sports

Ten Makes Kazakhstan Figure Skating History with Silver

From Page A1

Three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada edged Ten out for the first place medal. In the short programme, Chan scored a record 98.37 points. However, in the long programme, the judges gave high marks to Ten. When the two exercises were summed up, the skater from Kazakhstan had garnered 266.48 points and missed gold by only 1.3 points. Spanish skater Javier Fernades took bronze.

“I am proud of how I performed at this World Cup,” Ten said. “I did not expect to finish this season well. Of course, the second place in the short programme was the biggest surprise for me. And I couldn’t do correctly the long programme dur-ing the whole season.”

This season has been difficult for Ten because of injuries to his legs. He wasn’t able to perform well in figure skating’s Grand Prix or the Four Continents Championships.

“The beginning of the season was rough. I struggled with inju-ries and equipment problems. Took off a month in December but when I got back on the ice, right after the first competition in 2013—I injured myself again. The whole season seemed to be a nightmare! It was truly a tough time... but I never lost faith and didn’t give up. I believed in myself and always knew that my family and coaches are always there for me, their support was just incredible!” reads the statement on his Facebook page.

Nevertheless, Ten came fully pre-pared to the World Cup. His short and free programmes constituted a single coherent composition that is admired by experts and deserves high marks. And the Kazakhstan figure skater coped perfectly with difficult technical elements. Af-ter the short programme, Ten was ranked second and was able to hold that position after the free skating programme.

“We did a huge amount of work before the World Championships. I completely changed my daily plan, schedule, training system, diet and practically my life. My on-ice trainings became longer and more intense,” he said.

Kazakhstan’s figure skating coach, Kenesh Sarsekenova, com-mented the victory, saying “Eve-rybody is happy for Denis Ten’s victory. It is the first such result in figure skating in the history of in-dependent Kazakhstan.”

After the victory, Ten’s ranking in the International Skating Union rose from 16th to the sixth place. On social networks, he admitted that he did not expected such a result from himself and hopes to repeat the success at the Sochi Ol-ympics in 2014. At the end of his post, Ten advises his fans. “Always believe in yourself! Remember that you can always go beyond expec-tations.”

By Yuri Lifintsev

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s best skier Alexey Poltoranin is having a remarkable season with victories in the World Cup, International Ski Federation (FIS) competitions, and winning two bronze medals at the World Championships in Italy.

In an online interview, Vladimir Smirnov, Kazakhstan’s 1994 Ol-ympic champion in the 50 km ski race, paid tribute to the achieve-ments of his successor.

How do you assess the perform-ances of medalist Alexey Pol-toranin and of Nikolay Chebotko at the FIS World Cup in Val di Fiemme?

I watched the first part of the championship on TV but I saw the final race firsthand at the stadium. The whole stadium erupted in cheers for the leaders of the mara-thon: Johan Olsson from Sweden, Dario Cologna from Switzerland and Alexey Poltoranin from Kaza-khstan. The race was very exciting and challenging. It was a real suc-cess for Kazakhstan. I saw how hap-py the fans were. Everyone knew that Poltoranin was a great sprinter but his capacity for endurance in the race had only been recognized in advance by a few. So it surprised and impressed many people.

When you retired, every jour-nalist in Kazakhstan asked you to identify your successor but it was clear that in those days you felt there were no real candidates to fill your role. Do you believe that successor has finally appeared?

I have already noticed a long time ago an excellent skier in Kazakhstan called Alexey Poltoranin, but time is needed for any athlete to reveal their full potential in the world of interna-tional sport. Now the time has come for Poltoranin: I can truly say, he is Kazakhstan’s hope in international skiing for the next five years. It is very significant that his talent has emerged on the eve of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.

In the Soviet years, Kazakhstan’s best international skiers were Ivan Garanin and Vladimir Sakhnov. But we have never had such a uni-versal racer as Alexey Poltoranin. In the current season, he won vic-tories in several World Cup stages in the individual and team sprints, and in the 15 kilometre in classi-cal style. Is it possible to compete in every kind of race today?

I can tell you that there are no desperate attempts in this sport. Everything has its own natural character and if the athlete pre-pares and trains smartly, then suc-

cess will surely come. I think that in the current winter season Alexey (Poltoranin) showed his abilities both over speed, and over endur-ance. He also found more time to prepare his skis.

Eastern Kazakhstan was always rich with ski talents. Nevertheless, earlier the centres of preparation for skiers were Rudniy, Balkashi-no, Shchuchinsk, all in the north of the country. Has the time come to look for competitors from those areas for the Sochi Olympics?

Yes, Eastern Kazakhstan has al-ways had excellent traditions in ski sports. It is natural due to the weath-er conditions of the region. But we should also pay more attention in the future to skiing talent from the north as well and to invest money for the development of the local sports in-frastructure there. The return on those efforts will certainly come.

What are Poltoranin’s special strengths as an athlete?

Alexey is comprehensively de-veloped already. Therefore, he only needs to learn to reap the fruits of his big victories today and to plan correctly his priorities for a season.

After he won bronze at the World Cup in Italy Poltoranin told a press conference that he hopes to win two medals in Sochi and would like to win gold. In Vancouver, in 2010, he was only one place away from a medal in the individual sprint. Can he take that step in the 2014 Olympics?

Alexey has great chances to do well in Sochi. But I repeat, he must establish the priority of achieving his goals there over his current rac-es. In my opinion, he should focus on the sprint contests and on the 50 kilometre race.

Ski Champion Vladimir Smirnov Gives Nod to Successor

From Page B1

Through the centuries on the wilds of the steppe, Kazakh men, particularly batyrs, had to learn to defend themselves, their families and their loved ones – not only against invading armies but from internal tribal squab-bles. And to spare lives, as well as not lose good fighting men to tribal disputes who could be put to better use defending against invaders, Kazakh tribes came up with a unique way to settle inter-tribal scores – zhekpezhek, which in Kazakh means “one on one.”

Why shed the blood of many when a dispute could be set-tled by a fight between just two men? So a zhekpezhek fight would mean victory or defeat for a whole tribe, while sacrificing only one man. And indeed, these zhekpezhek matches were fights to the death. The weapons to be used would be pre-determined and the batyrs in the fight would do their utmost to kill their op-ponent, thus sparing the lives of their fellow tribesmen. It re-quired moral and physical cour-age to go into these one-on-one battles with the weight of your kinsmen on your shoulders.

Though the need for such zhekpezhek matches passed and the practice was deemed too bru-tal as modern times arrived, the spirit lives in the efforts of mod-ern Kazakh warriors who have revived the ways of their ances-tors to bring back this traditional martial art. Minus the to-the-death part.

today’s ZhekpeZhekZhekpezhek is often referred to

as the ultimate fighting of Central Asia because it combines elements of wrestling, judo, jiujitsu and kick-boxing and because there are few rules. The strongest fighter almost always wins. The basic rules of zhekpezhek are as follows: there are two five-minute rounds in a match. If a winner is not determined after 10 minutes, a third round is add-ed. If there's still no winner after a third round, the referees decide the outcome of the bout. There are four referees governing the match, including three side referees and one in the ring. There aren’t many rules, but there are a few: no eye-gouging, no elbowing, no knees to the head, no strikes to the back of the head, no hair-pulling and no hits below the belt. Everything else is considered fair game. Fights are held in a ring, usually with hel-mets and elbow pads, though safety equipment isn’t always used. Zhek-pezhek might best be described as a blend of mixed martial arts and the ancient, no-holds-barred Greek Olympic wrestling sport known as pankration. Like other martial arts, it requires lots of training and practice. Bouts usually start with kicking and end up on the mat with fighters wrestling until one brings the other to submission. You’ve got to be tough, patient and wise to win at zhekpezhek.

a Modern Revival

The Kazakh ZhekpeZhek Fed-eration was established in 2004 with the help of the government

and renowned kick boxing coach, distinguished boxer and former Soviet Union paratrooper karate champion Sabyrzhan Makhmetov, who was named the federation’s first president. The federation was formed to re-introduce the once-popular martial art to a new gen-eration. And so far it’s working. Local and regional municipali-ties support zhekpezhek training centers across the Kazakh steppe, workouts are free and young kids are joining zhekpezhek programs. Numerous youth tournaments are now held around the country.

More serious adult tournaments are also held annually, including a major tournament held in April in eastern Kazakhstan. The tournament attracted participants from many martial arts disciplines, including judo and jiujitsu, as the flexible, nearly no-holds-barred nature of zhekpezhek accommodates many fighting styles. This flexibility helps the sport capture the interest of a broad range of martial artists. An-other tournament was held over the summer in the Almaty region which attracted some of the sport’s greats, including the federation’s current president Yelmurat Kaiypzhanov.

the New Batyrs

Yelmurat Kaipzhanov, president of the ZhekpeZhek Federation and former international kickboxing champion

As a two-time European kick-boxing champion, Asian cham-pion, international champion and Kazakh kickboxing champion,

Kaipzhanov is not a person you want to mess with. But that wasn’t always the case.

“In school, I was the weakest kid and my peers always mocked me, made fun of me, beat me and tried to extort money out of me,” Kaipzhanov, now 37 years old and living in Astana said.

“I would go home and watch Bruce Lee movies and I would dream about kicking back like him, about fighting back. But every time I faced (the bullies), the same thing would happen and I would get beat up. So I decided to stop dreaming and actually start doing something about it!”

So he began training in various martial arts and quickly realized he had a talent for it. “As I matured and got better and better, my ambi-tions got larger. I wanted to raise the Kazakh flag over my head and become the world champion.” His hard work paid off and Kaipzhanov became the European champion in 1996 and 1998 and twice waved the Kazakh flag over his head as a champion.

Kaipzhanov’s skills came in handy not only in the ring, but in the streets in the years immediately following Kazakh independence when things weren’t as stable as they are today. “Since then, Kaza-khstan has changed a lot. We don’t fight anymore; it is not necessary unless I am in the ring. It’s much safer now in Kazakhstan.” Today, Kaipzhanov focuses on developing and passing zhekpezhek on to the next generation.

“I wish the young starting ath-letes a lot of patience and persever-ance. Zhekpezhek is really tough,

but we [the federation] do eve-rything to make it as available to the kids as possible, so everyone can train and be proud of this na-tional sport,” he said, adding that he hopes zhekpezhek will become the pride of Kazakhstan similar to judo in Japan or tae kwon do in Korea. “We are planning to make zhekpezhek an international sport, taking it to international-level tour-naments and inviting some UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] fighters to try and see if they can handle it.”

Aidar Makhmetov, Asian kick-boxing champion, three-time world shidokan karate champion and PhD in political science from the University of Cologne

Aidar Makhmetov is another Ka-zakh batyr who is helping revive zhekpezhek. Makhmetov began practicing traditional judo at the age of nine and fell in love with martial arts. “I don’t know exactly, it feels like the call of the soul,” he said of his attraction to the com-bat arts. Unfortunately, he dislo-cated his shoulder nearly eight years into his judo career and had to give up the sport because the moves were too dangerous for his arm. Mixed martial arts were just coming to Kazakhstan at the time and were becoming popular. So he switched sports and took up the an-cient Greek Olympic wrestling and combat sport of pankration. “Even Socrates might have been an Ol-ympic champion in pankration,” noted Astana resident.

But he didn’t stop there. He also took up kickboxing and by 1998 had become the sport’s Asian champion. And in 2002 and 2003,

Makhmetov was the world’s pro-fessional shidokan style karate champion, after having held the sport’s amateur world title. He was then invited by the president of the World Karate Federation to repre-sent Kazakhstan in the prestigious Samurai-Grand-Prix in Tokyo. “I always feel proud and excited to represent my country. It was a big honour for me to represent Kaza-khstan to the world. To feel my country’s flag on my shoulders af-ter winning the fight was awesome. It was one of the happiest moments in my life!” he tsaid. “It was my big dream to become the world cham-pion... I was really happy to finally achieve my dream.”

When it comes to zhekpezkek, Makhmetov says that it is very similar to other disciplines and that will help increase its popularity. Makhmetov has been able to enjoy the sport as a result of the training and flexibility gained through his early martial arts training.

But Makhmetov isn’t just a fighter. He holds a PhD in politi-cal science from the University of Cologne and is currently the direc-tor of the Department of Public Relations for the national Sover-eign Wealth Fund Samruk Kazyna, the largest state-owned investment fund in Kazakhstan.

His advice for the country’s next generation of fighters, including Kazakhstan’s new crop of zhek-pezhek masters: “Just believe in yourself. You have to have a big dream and you have to put every-thing you have toward achieving it. It can be difficult along the way. But (the obstacles) can’t break you; they can only make you stronger.”

Modern Day Batyrs: Ancient Kazakh Martial Art Survives

By Askar Beysenbayev

ASTANA – One by one, Ka-zakhstan’s athletes are claiming

their space on the world stage. The young nation’s newest sport-ing first comes in speed skating: for the first time in Kazakhstan's

speed skating history, a native son has brought home a gold medal. Denis Kuzin of Kostanay became the world champion in the 1,000 metre distance at the World Sin-gle Distance Championships that started on March 21 in Sochi, Russia. Kuzin started in the ninth pair and finished in 1 minute, 9.14 seconds, while Olympic Champi-ons Mo Tae-bum (South Korea) came in a close second and Shani Davis of the United States took third.

Two weeks ago, in the finale of the Speed Skating World Cup, Kuzin won a place at the upcom-ing Olympic Games in Sochi. To-day’s victory raised the skater from Kostanay to the status of main con-tender at Sochi in 2014.

Kuzin has been participating in world championships as part of Kazakhstan’s national team since 2007. In 2011, he won gold at the Asian Winter Games in the 1,500 metre distance. Last sum-mer, Kuzin injured his shoulder and took a sabbatical. His coaches persuaded the athlete to return, a risk that now seems justified by his new gold medal, which rep-resents a significant achievement in history of professional sports in Kazakhstan.

Kuzin wins First Speed Skating Gold for Country

Kuzin is the main hope of Kazakhstan’s speed skating.

Alexey Poltoranin

Wednesday, 27 March 2013The Astana TimesB8

Capital

By Alex walters

The city of Astana has come a long way over last years. It has grown from town to city and has been become of the world’s most architecturally interesting urban centers.

What many visitors don’t know, however, is that Astana as a living, developing city is far from com-plete. The city is developing slow-ly under master plans drawn up by one of the globe’s most prominent architects and the vast Kazakh steppe you see out your hotel win-dow will soon be filled with parks, homes, businesses and life.

the View from the Pyramid

The 62-meter-high Palace of Peace and Harmony, also known as the Pyramid of Peace, fascinates thousands of visitors annually with its bold design and vision of a rec-onciled, peaceful world. However, most of its admirers don’t realize that the Pyramid of Peace is actu-ally the exact center of the city of Astana. The official center of the city is represented by a single point at the bottom of the pyramid.

Like many of Astana’s new build-ings, the Pyramid is spectacularly lit up at night and contains the na-tional opera house, a museum of culture and other unique attractions. In the first decade and a half that Astana has served as the capital of Kazakhstan, however, the Palace of Peace and Harmony has stood alone on the southern bank of the Yessil River surrounded only by flat plains and park land. But in the next phase of Astana’s growth and development, that is going to radi-cally change. The land around the Pyramid of Peace and other previ-ously empty districts are going to buzz with construction workers and machines as the city surges ahead in the next phase of its development.

That development will be a liv-ing testimony to the vision of three men: Kazakhstan’s founding President Nursultan Nazarbayev

who had the vision to locate a new capital in the heart of the Eurasian steppe embodying the spirit and heritage of the Kazakh people. Kisho Kurokawa, one of the great-est architects of his time and the man who drew up the master plan for the gleaming new city.

Kurokawa died in 2007 at the age of 73 but his architectural agency continues to work closely with the chief planner, the government of Kazakhstan and the city of Astana in advancing the development plan. For his part, former chief architect of Astana Vladimir Laptev has em-braced Kurokawa’s vision of an aes-thetically futuristic city that blends with the four seasons of the year and the changing rhythms of nature. He has given practical guidance to this vision by comparing plans for build-ing up Astana to the plan for the German city of Berlin. Berlin, like Astana, is a city with flowing water and green, leafy parks, sprinkled with woods and forests throughout. This integration of urban and rural, man and nature, East and West in harmony remains central to Astana’s plans and the men who had the vi-sion to bring it forth.

Astana is determined to make the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation the central jewel in a stunning com-plex that will eventually be filled with equally stunning architecture. This vision grows out of master-architect Kurokawa’s spiritual concepts. Kurokawa said his plans for Astana would provide “a new direction of architectural style that will inspire the visions and percep-tions of the 21st century.”

Master Plan for Capital Growth

The Palace of Peace and Har-mony– will soon be on a central square that will serve as the heart of Astana.

“The center of any city is the main square,” Laptev told to The Astana Times. “In the case of our city, the main square is Tauelsizdik Square and it is also the location of the Ka-zakh Eli monument. It is important

to ensure that the locations where the Palace of Peace and Harmony and the Palace of Independence already stand will be recognized as being on the main square in the symbolic and actual centre of the city."

To accomplish this the city has a master plan designating the lo-cation, design and construction of Astana’s public buildings, educa-tional institutions, sports and tour-ism complexes, as well as its rec-reation and transportation centers. That plan calls for the construction of new buildings surrounding not only the Palace of Peace and Har-mony, but also revitalization of the area on the north side – or right bank – of the Yessil River where Astana will expand business, trad-ing and information centers, as well as industrial and warehouse facilities, Laptev said.

Following the master plan of re-nowned and late architect Kisho Kurokawa, the city is divided into six planning areas guiding new construction until at least 2020.

According to the plan, the South-west District of Astana would en-compass the center of the Olympic complex, the multipurpose Abu Dhabi plaza and the presidential library. It would also include a sports complex, track and field athletics arena, botanical gardens and an aqua park. The Southwest District will be filled with and shaped by large parks, including lakes for recreation and sporting activities in both winter and sum-mer, as well as the city’s zoo.The Northwest District will continue to be significant to the city's develop-ment with importance being given to the construction of schools. The interaction with nature throughout the city will also be an important component here and will find prac-tical expression through the plant-ing of hundreds of coniferous trees to cushion the sounds of traffic.

The northern area of Astana will continue to be designed around the twin axes of major urban roads into the heart of the city from the Ak-molinsky and Pavlodar areas. The north of the city will also contain a modern high-tech industrial park.

Also included in plans for the city’s future center is an area cur-rently slated to incorporate build-ings which are planned to host the international exhibition EXPO 2017, as well as the covered Baty-gay urban complex which will spread over 154 hectares. Bring-ing the city of Astana to its full potential is a lifetime of work. But Laptev remains full of en-ergy and optimism and shares the original vision of Nazarbayev and Kurokawa for the future of the country’s capital.

Happy Commuters Make Healthy City

A city’s population is its beating heart and head. But a city’s trans-portation system, including its network of roads and railways, is its bloodstream carrying all living things to and from their homes and work places.

Even the most beautiful and well-planned urban center will be-come a dangerous clot of frustra-tion, stress, ill-health and misery if its transportation system is ignored or under-funded. The planners of the city of Astana know that and are determined Kazakhstan’s daz-zling new capital will escape that fate.

Astana’s development is be-ing carried out within three major plans. And construction of a state-of-the-art transportation infrastruc-ture is integral to those plans.

“First, we have developed a plan to guide the contiguity of the development of the city through the creation of new residential ar-eas: second, the construction of a planned, integrated, urban trans-port infrastructure; and third, the establishment of town-planning regulations to govern and guide the development of the city ter-ritories,” Laptev said. “The most

interesting part of the master plan is its transport infrastructure,” Laptev continued. “This has to be designed to accommodate a twice-daily pendulum-rhythm migration, or commute, from a 30-kilometer to 60-kilometer zone to allow smooth, convenient journeys for large numbers of workers into the city from the suburbs and satellite complexes where they live. But it must also ensure the convenience and practicality of short-term trips to recreation areas.”

This transportation master plan is defined along eight structural axes called Korgalzhinsky, Pavlo-dar, Kokshetausky, Kostanaysky, Karaganda, Ereymentausky, Ko-sshy and Maybalyk. On each of these, Astana is creating systems of three parallel streets. One of them will serve as the central high-way carrying public transportation.

The other two lanes of each major arterial highway will consist of lat-eral one-way traffic lanes. The plan also includes the construction of five transfer terminals from public bus routes to easily accessible rail-way transportation systems. These terminals will also include multi-level parking garages for cars and bicycles.

Much of Astana’s new trans-portation infrastructure will be focused in its northern districts. This is where major railways will be located to serve both commuter needs and the requirements of a major industrial park. And through it, at least two major highways al-ready drive straight to the heart of the city. These ambitious but prac-tical plans are designed to expand the services and livability of the capital to satisfy the needs of its residents.

Astana: City with a future

Capital’s Population Grows According to official data, the population of Astana city exceeded

780,000 in February. The number of residents in the city has increased by 500,000 since Dec. 1997, when the capital was moved from Almaty to Astana. According to the Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan, by 2020 the population of the capital will approach 1,198,000 people.

By Rufiya Ospanova

ASTANA – The city of Astana on March 20 launched a unique light show that will run daily at 9 pm through April 1 in the square near the Baiterek Monument and at Lovers’ Park.

It is the first time any such light-ing display was shown publicly in Kazakhstan.

The city akimat (government) prepared the event to celebrate the national holiday of Nauryz, the spring New Year, as a surprise for the city. The Lovers’ Park and the Baiterek monument were illuminat-ed by thousands of brilliant lights.

The light show begins at both locations with musical accompa-niment. The lighting cycle at Bai-terek lasts 8.5 minutes and the en-tire display lasts two hours.

Baiterek is a tall tower with a sphere at the top representing an egg of the Samruk bird from a na-tional fairy tale created by famous sculptors Moustafa Hadi and Paul Marchandise. Lighting designer Koert Vermeulen and scenogra-pher Marcos Vinals Bassol created an animated, dynamic lighting pro-

gramme for the tower. Vermeulen created visual and multimedia ef-fects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Youth Ol-ympic Games in Singapore.

“I came here at the invitation of the mayor of Astana, to celebrate your national holiday Nauryz with you,” Verlmeulen said introducing the show. “The time is perfect for in-stalling light because it is possible in these weather conditions to see all the power and beauty of our display. This young city and its amazingly beauti-ful architecture have inspired me and I have used Kazakh classical music as a background. You will also see the symbols and ornaments of Kazakh culture and decorations from the col-umns integrated into the light show.”

“To bewitch the crowds, we al-ways experiment with new methods of visual designs, forms, technolo-gies and materials from the unique locations where we work,” Vermeu-len said. “We pay special attention to several key elements: original-ity, visual impact, uniqueness, and integrate our lighting with existing architecture. We play with new forms, technologies and materials. Combining our skills allows us to

translate the artistic experience in order to create our unique vision of light and to create a work of art.”

The light show involves a com-bination of multiple lights. Pow-erful flashlights illuminate it with continual changes of colours. The show uses the latest lighting ef-fects.

Vermeulen said 98 light projec-tors were involved and the show took two weeks to prepare.

“The number 98 symbolizes the year Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan,” he said.

Vermeulen has developed light-ing systems for buildings and loca-tions including the Church of Saint Maryial, the De Klanderij, Opti-mum and Sanko Park commercial centres, La Defense in Paris and major parks throughout Europe, Turkey, Middle East and Asia. In April 2005 he provided the lighting for the Le Reve show in the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Vermeulen has also created light shows to honour King Albert II of Belgium and for the opening cer-emony of Belgium’s six month presidency of the European Union in 2010.

New Light Show Illuminates Popular Monuments

Guests and residents of the capital have an opportunity to witness a unique light show daily at 9 p.m. through April 1.