Astana Condemns Moscow Metro Attacks, Offers Condolences
(President Reaffirms Full Support for Russia in Fighting Terrorism)
CIS Countries Support Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship, Summit Proposal
(Astana says it is ready to host Armenian, Azerbaijani leaders for Karabakh talks)
Kazakhstan, U.S.StartBuilding High-Tech Bio Facility
(U.S. Ambassador says Obama, Nazarbayev to meet in DC on April 12)
Nuclear Medicine Develops in Kazakhstan Based on Experience, Innovations
(Special conference in Astana showcases unique equipment)
Eurasian Media Forum to Focus on OSCE, Media Responsibility
(9th annual gathering of politicians, media experts to take place in Almaty in April)
Successful Kazakh Film Director to Work in Hollywood and Home
(Bekmambetov builds on experience in Russian, Western, and Kazakh industries)
Astana Condemns Moscow Metro Attacks, Offers Condolences
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev sent a telegram of condolences to the Russian leadership in connection with the Monday morning rush hour suicide blasts at the Moscow metro that killed at least 35 and wounded scores of innocent people.
President Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan stood shoulder to shoulder with Russia in the fight against terrorism.
The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakh Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev also condemned the bomb attacks on the Moscow metro system.
“I am deeply shocked by these inhumane attacks, and I condemn them harshly. In this hour of sorrow, I offer my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims, and to the Russian people and government,” Saudabayev said.
Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry also announced there were no Kazakh citizens among the victims of the Monday blasts.
CIS Countries Support Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship, Summit Proposal
CIS foreign ministers announced their countries’ firm support for the idea of an OSCE summit this year as they met in Moscow on March 26 for their regular ministerial meeting.
Foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), discussed a number of topical issues related to interaction and coordination of foreign policy of the CIS member states, measures aimed at resolving the situation in Afghanistan, and initialed a number of multilateral agreements to be signed by heads of state and government.
Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev thanked his colleagues for their countries’ support of the Kazakh chairmanship of the OSCE. Speaking of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s proposal to hold an OSCE summit this year, Saudabayev noted serious progress in defining its substantive content. In terms of potential issues to de discussed at the summit, he listed modernizing the 1999 Vienna document, the promotion of universal values of tolerance and intercultural dialog, the stabilization and rehabilitation of Afghanistan, and reviewing new European security architecture, including Russia’s proposal on signing a new treaty.
The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office also reminded of the chairmanship’s intention to spare no efforts in seeking peaceful settlement for the protracted conflicts existing in the CIS area.
He recalled that last February he visited South Caucasus to learn firsthand about the real situation in the conflict zones there and obtained a clear understanding of the current position of the parties.
“As part of a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the basis of Madrid Principles, we will give every assistance to the work of the OSCE Minsk Group and are willing to hold a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Astana this year,” Saudabayev announced.
Following the collective meeting, the ministers signed a joint statement on the celebration of the 65th anniversary of victory in the Second World War, listened to the report on the course of implementation of the Conception of further development of the CIS, agreed on a document regulating the activities of CIS election observation missions. The ministers have discussed a total of 18 issues, and initialed agreements relating to inter-state search of people investigated for criminal offences.
While in Moscow, Kanat Saudabayev also held a series of bilateral talks. During a meeting with Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko of Ukraine the sides discussed state and prospects of bilateral cooperation.
Saudabayev stressed that, unfortunately, today the economic cooperation between the two countries “does not correspond to the real potential and real interest” of the parties. In his turn, Grishenko stressed the need for closer cooperation between Kazakhstan and Ukraine, including in the framework of international organizations.
With his Kyrgyz counterpart Kadyrbek Sarbaev, Saudabayev discussed prospects of cooperation both in bilateral and multilateral formats. Saudabayev invited him to participate in informal meeting of foreign ministers of the OSCE this July in Almaty. The Kyrgyz minister reiterated his country’s support for the successful Kazakh chairmanship in the OSCE.
The Commonwealth of Independent States was established in Almaty on December 21, 1991. Apart from being instrumental in peaceful settlement of most contradictions during the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, the CIS has played an important role in arranging political consultations, promoting economic cooperation, and keeping cultural ties between the former Soviet republics. The CIS Foreign Ministers Council was created in 1993 to discuss and coordinate foreign policy activities of the member countries.
Kazakhstan, U.S.StartBuilding High-Tech Bio Facility
Kazakh and U.S. officials came together in Almaty on March 30 to attend the ground breaking ceremony for the Central Reference Laboratory, a new sophisticated facilitydesignedto significantly increase the security of the Kazakhstan’s collections of especially dangerous pathogens.
High level officials including Kazakhstan’s Minister of Health Zhaksylyk Doskaliyev, Chief State Sanitary Doctor and Chair of the Committee of Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance Dr. Kenes Ospanov, and Mayor of Almaty Akhmetzhan Yessimov, as well as U.S. Ambassador Richard Hoagland, U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency Director Kenneth Myers, III, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Cooperative Threat Reduction Director, William Faircloth, gathered in Almaty for the event.
Instead of laying the first bricks into the foundation of the new laboratory, officials planted trees in a symbolic gesture alluding to peaceful purposes of the new facility. The decision to build a lab came through after a visit to the Kazakh Center for Zoonotic and Quarantine Infections (KCZQI) in Almaty in August 2004 by U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, one of the co-founders of the Cooperative Threat Reduction programme, under which Washington funds elimination and securing of weapons of mass destruction or dangerous materials in the former Soviet Union.
“Today, after long delay, we break ground to construct Kazakhstan’s Central Reference Laboratory, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, which will dramatically increase the security of Kazakhstan’s collections of especially dangerous pathogens and strengthen the scientific capabilities of Kazakhstani and Central Asian scientists,” U.S. Ambassador Hoagland said, as he explained the delay was by “permanent bureaucracies on both sides”.
The new facility will be built on the grounds of the KCZQI.
“Under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan and the United States have worked together with great success for nearly two decades to secure and eliminate all forms of weapons of mass destruction. In recognition of this historic partnership, Presidents Obama and Nazarbayev will meet in Washington on April 12 during the Nuclear Security Summit,” Hoagland added in his statement.
Nuclear Medicine Develops in Kazakhstan Based on Experience, Innovations
Kazakhstan’s nuclear medicine has entered a new phase in its development with the opening of the Positron Emission Tomography Center (PETC) in Astana last Friday.
The Center, presented by the Minister of Health Zhaksylyk Doskaliyev, is likely to make a breakthrough in the early detection of cancer and other diseases. An official opening ceremony was followed by an International Conference on the Development of Nuclear Medicine involving domestic and foreign oncology specialists.
The new clinic, located in the DiagnosisCenter of the National Medical Holding, is the first medical facility of the kind not only in Kazakhstan but in Central Asia as well. Opening the Center, Zhaksylyk Doskaliyev noted it was a momentous event for the Kazakh medicine, which will allow significantly advancing the evolvement of domestic diagnostics, thus providing unique opportunities for clinical studies and basic research.
“The center will provide services both for Kazakhs and foreigners, mainly of course from Russia and neighboring countries of Central Asia,” the Minister said.
The Positron Emission Tomography Center in Astana is designed for 1,500 medical procedures annually, or nearly six patients a day. All medical services in the Center will be provided at no charge within guaranteed medical assistance to each citizen of Kazakhstan, including oralmans(ethnic Kazakhs, who have returned to Kazakhstan from abroad during the years of independence).
Positron emission tomography is a nuclear medicine imaging technique which produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. It is both a medical and research tool, used heavily in clinical oncology for medical imaging of tumors and the search of metastases, and for clinical diagnosis of certain diffuse brain diseases such as those causing various types of dementia. Radionuclide diagnostics is one of the most technology intensive and objective methods in modern medicine widely used far across the globe, officials stressed.
Speaking at the conference later in the day, Doskaliyev told the participants the government had provided large resources for the guaranteed medical assistance every year, and noted that in 2010 the allocations reached nearly 157 billion tenge (147 KZT = 1 US$).
Leading medical experts from Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Slovakia shared experience with their Kazakh counterparts during animated discussions at the conference. The participants paid particular attention to the current state and urgent challenges of modern diagnostics in Kazakhstan, having considered establishing an Association of Diagnostic Centers of the country. According to them, within the next few years, positron emission tomography centers, similar to the one opened in Astana, will be launched in other cities of the country as well.
Addressing the conference, Vice President of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine Patrick Burge noted: “The opening of PETC is, above all, of paramount importance for the patients’ health, while for doctors it opens wide perspectives in scientific research.”
In the meantime, the Kazakh health officials intend to join the European Association of Nuclear Medicine, which, in turn, implies co-development and joint introduction of new efficient methods of treatment in Kazakhstan.
“A similar centre, even twice as large as this one, is being developed in the town of Semey. In Almaty, we are establishing a Centre of nuclear medicine and biophysics,” one of the conference participants and a prominent Kazakh physicist Kairat Kadyrzhanov said.
Kadyrzhanov currently leads the National Nuclear Centre (NNC), the organization that in 1992 took over most of the nuclear research infrastructure in Kazakhstan, with main bases in Almaty and Kurchatov, the former centre of the infamous Semipalatinsk test site.
Dr. Kadyrhzanov also said one of the atomic reactors run by the NNC would be used for developing nuclear medicine in Kazakhstan.
“Although it is nearly fifty years old, we are going to modernize it significantly, and with its new capacities we can solve the problem of producing new nuclear medicaments”, he added.
Nuclear medicine development in Kazakhstan has a notable potential based on that grim history of nuclear testing. It can rely on the vast experience, accumulated by Soviet researchers on the basis of their studies of health effects of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site in 1949-1991. Nearly 1.5 million people were affected, and doctors have registered considerably higher levels of cancer occurrence in the country’s eastern regions where the test site was located. Major research activities are concentrated in the formerly secretive Research institute of radiation medicine and ecology in Semey and the Institute of nuclear safety and ecology in Kurchatov, which is part of the National Nuclear Centre.
Today, the technologies that used to harm people’s health are used by scientists and doctors to early diagnose cancer and other diseases. With the introduction of modern equipment and innovations, developed in cooperation with their foreign colleagues, the Kazakh doctors are capable of expanding the use of nuclear medicine possibilities to improve the health of the population.
Eurasian Media Forum to Focus on OSCE, Media Responsibility
The Ninth Eurasian Media Forum will take place in Almaty on April 27 – 28, again bringing together world’s leading media players, political figures, academics and experts from East and West for professional dialogue, business contacts and social interaction.
This year the delegates will discuss Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship, specifics of Iran’s political culture, its future and the role in the development of the Middle East; media laws and media freedom concerns; epidemics and pandemic of fear spread by media; development of social networks and issues of responsible journalism; ethics and political image, and others.
This forum is a dialogue platform where experts discuss the most acute topics of the Eurasian continent. It is aimed at exploring new approaches to international relations, promoting equality of access to reliable public information throughout the area and encouraging the highest standards of journalism.
This year, the number of applications for participation has increased dramatically, director of the Eurasian Media Forum Ruslan Zhemkov said. Up to eight hundred guests have expressed their wish to participate in the Forum, despite the introduction of a 580 participation fee for all guests except moderators and speakers.
Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Chairman of Kazakh-British Society Lord Fraser and the first U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan William Courtney have already confirmed their presence on the event.
The forum will also bring together senior representatives from the OSCE, representatives of such media as International Herald Trubine, CNN, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, and others.
As expected, the greatest draw of interest, apart from Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the OSCE, will be the question of responsibility of the media.
“We will talk about the media attacks, which included a threat from ozone holes and swine influenza, in particular, and about who benefits from such a massive epidemic of fear,” EAMF general producer Vladimir Rerich said.
Ehud Olmert, Mohammad Khatami, Richard Holbrooke, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mark Perrin de Brichambaut of the OSCE, and many other politicians and media personalities attended previous Eurasian Media Forums.
The Eurasian Media Forum was initiated by Kazakhstan’s National Khabar News Agency and was officially registered as a non-political, non-profit, non-governmental organization, Eurasian Media Forum Foundation, in Almaty in September 2001. In 2002, the Foundation opened its Representative Office in Moscow for better interaction with the Russian and CIS media communities and established a London-based working group. The Foundation is in charge of organizing annual Eurasian Media Forums and implementing all corresponding activities during the intervening period.
The first Eurasian Media Forum was aimed at exchange of views on the new challenges faced by the media community since September 11, 2001 and to build a continuing dialogue between the East and the West.
To date the objectives of the Forum included expanding the information reach of Eurasian countries; studying and analyzing development tendencies in modern journalism; supporting various media projects and initiatives; exchanging knowledge and experience, creating opportunities for education and training at leading Eurasian media organisations; promoting political and economic reforms related to mass media; initiating joint creative projects and facilitating the building of partnerships to implement such projects; addressing issues related to media legislation, its current practices and analyzing its viewpoints; analyzing the interaction between government institutions and the media; building relations with international media organizations; facilitating the application of new media technologies.
The goals of the Eurasian Media Forum are also pursued through an extensive program of supplementary conferences, seminars, training, research and reporting initiatives to be carried out in partnership with major European, Asian and CIS professional agencies. The Forum unites many news agencies that represent different cultures.
Successful Kazakh Film Director to Work in Hollywood and Home
Timur Bekmambetov, a world famous film director and producer, has again teamed up with Tim Burton, a celebrated Hollywood film director and Golden Globe Award winner, to work on a fantasy adventure telling the story of Adraham Lincoln hunting… vampires.
Given the impressive list of movies Bekmambetov, a Kazakhstan native now winning over Hollywood and international film industry, already created, the new project is also poised for success, however improbable the scenario.
The success of his films tells the story of experience in mixing strong but predictable scenarios and lots of high-tech imaging.
Bekmambetov’s movies such as Night Watch, Day Watch, The Irony of Fate 2, Wanted, and 9, made this Russian-Kazakh film director well-known far outside his native country.
Nearly 80 million viewers across the world are reported to have watched the films by Bekmambetov. The popular filmmaker has made quite an impact in Kazakhstan and Russia with his box office hits Night Watch and its successful sequel Day Watch, films that managed to generate a significant interest in the West as well.
As a film director Timur Bekmambetov, however, went a good step further and turned his mind to the American film industry.
His Hollywood debut Wanted, starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, received generally positive reviews from critics. The movie was released in June 2008 and grossed US$ 33 million on its opening weekend overseas, breaking records in Russia and South Korea.
This was followed by 9, a computer-animated fantasy/action adventure film, which he coproduced with Tim Burton, a celebrated Hollywood film director and Golden Globe Award winner. That movie, too, received mixed to positive reviews from critics, with its visuals being the most highly praised aspect. As of November 29, 2009, the film was reported to have grossed US$ 41,859,395 worldwide.
On March 2, 2010, Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov announced they would continue their collaboration by working on a new movie based on a “bizarrely twisted novel” titled Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.
Bekmambetov’s successful career has roots stretching back into his early childhood, most of which he spent in a small provincial town of Guriyev (now Atyrau) on the Caspian seashore, he said in his latest interview, which came out in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper in March 2010.
Little Timur then was an ordinary Kazakh boy, who played football and dreamed of becoming a pilot. He loved his family and worshiped his parents. During his school years, Bekmambetov worked in a small theatre in the town’s cultural centre, where he prepared theatrical scenery. This work had a decisive influence on the boy’s commitment to theatre. He then entered the Tashkent Theatre and Art Institute. Later, young Bekmambetov served in the Soviet Army and, upon return, saw the country torn apart by perestroika.
Bekmambetov recalls: “The early 1990s opened wide opportunities for those who were able to take advantage of the situation. Practically every one of us had his chance to hit the jackpot. I started making films then. The first film that I made in Almaty was Peshavar Waltz. It gained awards at several festivals, including the prize for best directing. Unfortunately, not all could see the film on a big screen at those times.”
Later, Timur took up advertising, and became famous in the former Soviet Union for an advertisement mini-series for a private Bank Imperial. People easily recognized the clips thanks to their imaginative stories. After the crisis hit Russia in the late 1990s and the advertising market spiralled downwards, Bekmambetov realized the new post-Soviet film industry had some great prospects ahead in Russia and the neighbouring countries.
Night Watch, released in 2004, was the first film directed by Bekmambetov in Russia. It was also the first big-budget Russianactionfantasyhorror and one of the blockbusters made after the collapse of the Soviet film industry. The film was extremely successful, becoming the highest-grossing Russian release ever, with US$ 16.7 million earned in Russia alone.
Within a month, Bekmambetov started negotiations with several American studios, which noticed the work and sought him as partner. Since then, Bekmambetov has continuously cooperated with five American studios, including Fox, which won the film rights for Night Watch and its sequel Day Watch, and Universal, with which Bekmambetov made two films, including Wanted and 9.
The famous director has great plans for the future and huge work ahead. Apart from the movie now being produced with Tim Burton, another important project Bekmambetov starts soon is Golden Warrior, a movie he is making at the Kazakhfilm national picture studio.
“The film is aimed at telling the world about the achievements of our country and our values. I hope this movie will win the hearts of millions, as it is based on true history facts and tells the story of our prominent nation,” Timur Bekmambetov says.
He is also engaged in a number of other projects in Kazakhstan. He considers them very important as they must promote true values to the younger generation and position Kazakhstan in the world.
“In my opinion, openness, curiosity and sociability are the main traits of the Kazakhs, which help me do my job well. I was open to other cultures, and it was rather interesting to become familiar with something new. We, the descendants of the nomads, have an intrinsic strong desire to move forward and ability to value a meeting with each new traveller, who can share his life experience,” Timur Bekmambetov says in his interview with Kazakhstanskaya Pravda.
Born in Kazakhstan, working in Russia and living in America, Timur Bekmambetov is a true cosmopolitan.
“It is very important to make the most of your job. That is why I try my best to be a true professional,” stresses Bekmambetov.
Also in the news:
President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the law “On Amendments and Addenda to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the national budget for 2010-2012”. Under the amendments, budget revenues this year will amount to 3.378 trillion tenge (KZT 150 = 1 USD), expenses to 4.182 trillion tenge, with the budget deficit of 803 6 billion tenge. GDP growth is expected to reach 2 percent this year.
Scientists from Kazakhstan and South Korea held a joint seminar in Astana. Director of the Korean Cultural Center Han Sung-Rae said this year had been declared the Year of Kazakhstan in South Korea. He noted the current relations between the two countries reached a new level in fields such as economics, cultural and scientific exchanges. Scientific centers from Kazakhstan and Korea signed a memorandum of cooperation.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan signed a decree establishing a jubilee medal in honor of the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. According to the document, it will be awarded the Great Patriotic War veterans and home front workers.
The Government of Kazakhstan, in accordance with the law “On Refugees”, adopted the rules of appropriation, extension, deprivation and termination of a refugee status. A decree of the Government and the rules were published in the press. The rules describe the assignment, extension, deprivation and termination of refugee status.
Kazakhstan’s Human Rights Ombudsman Askar Shakirov presented to President Nursultan Nazarbayev a report on his activities in 2009. It contains the analysis of the implementation by public authorities of Ombudsman’s recommendations, the data relevant to a broad range of human rights issues. The report presents the results of media monitoring, reflects the human rights work on specific issues that drew public attention, and contains relevant appeals to state authorities. He has also presented a report on the rights of certain categories of citizens.
Sinopec Engineering, a subsidiary of one of the largest Chinese oil company Sinopec Corp., will build part of the largest gas-chemical complex in Kazakhstan, which will cost $ 1.26 billion, with Sinopec agreeing to buy and export all the polypropylene produced at the facility, Kazakh Deputy Oil and Gas Minister Aset Magauov said. The Export-Import Bank of China will provide a loan for the project, he added. Kazakhstan started the construction of a petrochemical complex to produce ethylene, propylene and benzene in 2009 near the city of Atyrau in the Western Kazakhstan.
The Commission of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed on a mechanism and the proportion of collection of import customs duties in the budgets of the three countries. According to the decision, the amount of import duties for each party is as follows: Belarus - 4.70 percent, Kazakhstan – 7.33 percent, and Russia – 87.97 percent. These standards were calculated based on the volume of imports from third countries on the basis of UN Comtrade statistics. In related news, the Commission of the Customs Union will hold a meeting in Moscow on April 16 where the parties will discuss the distribution of fees from oil and petroleum products.
A Kazakh delegation led by Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan Zhanseit Tuimebayev participated in the inauguration of the new President of Tatarstan (Russia), Rustam Minnikhanov, last week. On the same day, the Minister presented Kazakhstan’s state award, the Order of Dostyk (Friendship) of the first degree to the former president of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev.
Elections to the maslikhats (local representative bodies) were held in the 13 regions of Kazakhstan last Sunday. Over hundred people competed for the right to become a deputy. In total, 11 deputies were elected to the regional, 7 to the city and 34 deputies to the district maslikhats. Turnout reached 77.4 percent.
The United Nations Development Programme in Kazakhstan, together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, launched a two-year project to improve the system of social protection of persons with disabilities under the UN Convention. The project will be implemented in several directions, including studies on the harmonization of national legislation with the provisions of the UN Convention.
Things to watch:
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is set to visit Kazakhstan April 6 and 7. He will visit the former nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk on Tuesday and hold talks in the capital, Astana, on Wednesday with President Nursultan Nazarbayev. He will also meet representatives of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan and Parliament members. Earlier, Ban Ki-moon is set to visit Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. From Astana, he is set to visit Vienna for a meeting with senior U.N. officials and talks with Austrian leaders. He will also address the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the U.N. said.
From 29 to 31 March at the invitation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, President Ivan Gasparovic of Slovakia will visit Kazakhstan. He will hold talks with the leadership of Kazakhstan on bilateral cooperation and interaction within international organizations. Also during the visit he will participate in the Kazakh-Slovak business forum. In addition, the Slovak delegation will visit Almaty.
From 30 March to 1 April, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Secretary of State - Minister of Foreign Affairs Kanat Saudabayev of Kazakhstan will visit OSCE field missions in Eastern Europe. During his visit to Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova, he will hold talks with leaders of the three states, heads of parliaments, foreign ministers and leaders of political parties. Saudabayev also plans to visit Transnistria to discuss the prospects for resolving the Transnistrian conflict.
On April 1-2, Astana will host the International Grain Conference. The participants will discuss the situation on world grain markets and will search for new markets for Kazakh grain.
On April 1-3, the annual Kazakhstan Fashion Week will take place in Almaty. It will bring together designers from Kazakhstan and the CIS.
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