A WEEKLY ONLINE PUBLICATION / WWW.MFA.GOV.KZ ISSUE NO. 447 / FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016

President Congratulates Nation’s Women on Int’l Women’s Day

Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Announces New Appointments

Also In The News

In Focus:Foreign Policy Priorities

President Congratulates Nation’s Women on Int’l Women’s Day

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President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev congratulated the women of Kazakhstan on International Women’s Day, March 8, holding a reception and attending a concert in women’s honour March 4.

At the reception in the Akorda, Nazarbayev noted the diversity of professions and vocations among the women attending. “Among you there are mothers of large families, businesswomen, soldiers, scientists, doctors, teachers, cultural and sports figures and journalists,” he said, according to the Akorda press service. “Over the years of independence, I’ve always felt the support of our women. All our achievements were possible due to your active participation. You are the embodiment of unity, creativity and stability of our society.”

He also discussed the efforts the country is making to secure a better future for the nation’s children, including measures to protect children’s rights and a new programme for educational development.

“The new generation is the future of Kazakhstan. This year, I signed a decree establishing the Ombudsman for Children in Kazakhstan, which will be a guarantor of children’s rights. … [The Programme of Educational and Scientific Development from 2016–2020] will bring many advantages. Our national educational standards will be updated to meet international ones. Each graduate will have an opportunity to get basic working skills. At present, we are trying our best to provide 100 percent of children with pre-school education. Next year we will start gradually introducing trilingual education. By 2020, we will accomplish the transition to 12-year education. Scientists predict that by 2020, the so-called digital kids will constitute 50 percent of the world population. Therefore, by the year 2019 all our schools must have access to high speed internet,” he said.

An Astana Times editorial this week noted Kazakhstan’s accomplishments in women’s empowerment since independence.

“There are many areas in which Kazakhstan can take quiet pride. Our constitution guarantees equality before the law for men and women. There is no discrimination in terms of ownership and inheritance rights. Our country has invested heavily in the education of girls and women. A sign of this success is that female students now easily outnumber their male counterparts at our higher education institutions. On this measure alone, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the country’s economic future.”

The editorial also listed health and social welfare progress, including a dramatic drop in maternal mortality, as well as the country’s generous maternity leave policies and safeguards to protect the employment rights of women who take time off to have children.

Kazakhstan does well regionally in terms of political representation, with an increasing number of women in parliament and in ministerial posts. The country is ranked 47th out of 145 countries assessed for the 2015 Gender Gap, the best performance in the region, and better than countries such as Poland, Israel, Singapore, Russia and Thailand.

“It is reason for satisfaction but not for celebration,” The Astana Times said. “The country remains a long way behind global leaders.” There is room for improvement in wage equality between men and women, according to the WEF report, and women are still often relegated to “caring” professions.

“The good news is that the government understands not only that there is more to do but why gender equality is so critical for the country’s ambitions,” the editorial said. “Rooting out both formal and informal discrimination has been put at the forefront of policy with a raft of initiatives from tough action against domestic violence to increased support for women entrepreneurs.”

Kazakhstan is working with international organisations including the UNDP to continue to adopt best practices in its gender policies, including sending business and government leaders to see how Scandinavian countries, leaders in gender equality, ensure their women are not held back.

“Rooting out both formal and informal discrimination has been put at the forefront of policy with a raft of initiatives from tough action against domestic violence to increased support for women entrepreneurs.”

- President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev

President Nazarbayev congratulations women on International Women’s Day

Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Announces New Appointments

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Several new appointments were recently made by presidential decisions in the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Mukhtar Tileuberdi was named First Deputy Foreign Minister and Akylbek Kamaldinov, Galymzhan Koishybayev and Roman Vassilenko were designated as Deputy Foreign Ministers, according to the presidential press service.

Tileuberdi, 48, is returning to Astana from Switzerland, where he served as Kazakhstan’s Ambassador in Bern and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) office in Geneva, while accredited concurrently to the Vatican and Sovereign Military Order of Malta. A 1990 graduate of the Kazakh State University in Almaty, he received advanced degrees from the Moscow State University Institute of Asia and Africa Countries in 1992 and the University of Yeonsey in Seoul in 1994.

Tileuberdi began his diplomatic career in 1993 as an MFA attaché in the Asian countries department. Within the following ten years he had diplomatic postings in South Korea and Israel, before being named Deputy Foreign Minister in 2003. Beginning in 2004, he served as Kazakh ambassador to Malaysia, accredited concurrently to Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, and the Philippines, before his appointment to Switzerland in 2009.

Like Tileuberdi, Kamaldinov, 55, is also returning from service abroad. He began his diplomatic career in 1993 and for the last nine years has represented Kazakhstan as Ambassador to Japan. He is a 1990 graduate of Kazakh State University too, continuing his education with degrees in 1995 from the Japanese Language Institute and 2005 from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In the diplomatic service since 1993, he has worked in the consular department and the Asian countries department of the Foreign Ministry and in junior positions in Kazakhstan’s Embassy in Tokyo in his early career, as well as a head of international cooperation department at the Prime Minister’s office before his latest ambassadorship in Japan.

Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters

Koishybayev, 48, joined the MFA in 1995. For a number of years he worked in Kazakhstan’s Embassy to Russia, later joining the presidential administration. He was named as an Ambassador-at-Large in 2006, later serving as ambassador to Lithuania (also in Latvia and Estonia) and Finland (accredited concurrently in Estonia). Koishybayev graduated from Moscow State University in 1991.

Vassilenko, 43, prepared for his new post over the last two years as chair of the MFA Committee for international information. He completed his education in 1994 at the Russian Federation’s Military Academy of Economy, Finance and Law, and joined Kazakhstan’s civil service the same year. Vassilenko served as a diplomat at the Kazakh Embassy in the United Kingdom in 1996-1999, followed by seven years in the Kazakh embassy in the United States. He was appointed as an MFA Ambassador-at-Large in 2013. Vassilenko’s career also included spells at the Prime Minister’s office, the presidential staff, and the Nazarbayev Centre.

Several new appointments were recently made by Presidential Order in the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Mukhtar Tileuberdi was named First Deputy Foreign Minister and Akylbek Kamaldinov, Galymzhan Koishybayev and Roman Vassilenko were designated as Deputy Foreign Ministers, according

to the Presidential press service.

In Focus: Foreign Policy Priorities

The annual NATAS Travel Fair is the island nation’s largest industry event, attracting more than 60,000 people. The display included pavilions hosted by countries such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and the United States.

Welcoming Investment

ABD, EDB to invest $3 billion in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

A deal between the Asian Development Bank (ABD) and Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) will see them working together to invest $3 billion in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

As part of the co-financing agreement, the ADB will provide $2 billion for projects by 2021, while the EBD will deliver the balance. In addition to signing the deal, the ADB said president Takehiko Nakao and EDB management board chair Dmitry Pankin discussed increasing cooperation between the institutions.

The EDB will also provide an additional $320 million in financing to upgrade a crucial stretch of road in Armenia if the nation’s government provides complementary funding. The ADB will help prepare a study of the project’s feasibility.

The EDB has already agreed to deliver $150 million in funding to develop the road connecting the towns of Talin and Landjik in Armenia with part of the North-South corridor which links Central Asia and India with Iran, Georgia, Russia and Europe.

Founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in 2006, the EDB has provided $310 million in loan co-financing since 2013 for three ADB projects in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. (publicfinanceinternational.org)

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Strengthening UN & Int’l Security

Kazakhstan’s UN mission in New York holds event on strengthening global nuclear security

Kazakhstan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) in New York held a side event Feb. 26 organised in cooperation with the United States and Great Britain, as well as the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The topic was “Nuclear Security Summit 2016: In Search of Strengthening Global Nuclear Security Architecture.”

The event was convened on the eve of the upcoming fourth Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), to be held March 31-April 1 in Washington DC.

UNODA Deputy Secretary-General Kim Won-soo noted Kazakhstan’s contribution to global nuclear security and combating nuclear terrorism.

“The UN formed a kind of community of nations, sharing the approaches of Kazakhstan on issues of disarmament. This community is growing, involving almost all regions of the world. Some countries consider the problem abstract and distant, but Kazakhstan managed to clearly show that such weapons have implications for everyone,” said Randy Rydell, coordinator of Mayors for Peace. (khabar.kz)

Hosting Astana Expo 2017

EXPO 2017 exhibit goes on display in Singapore

An exposition dedicated to the international specialised exhibition EXPO 2017 was installed in Singapore March 4-6 at the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) Travel Fair. The display was organised by the Kazakh Embassy to Singapore and Air Astana national airline.

The Kazakh pavilion told the Singaporean public about the nation’s tourist potential and provided informational materials on the expo’s focus on future energy.

Kazakhstan will continue to promote its tourism potential and attract international tourism organisations to cooperate in EXPO 2017 with an event to be held June 10-Sept. 10 in Astana.

In his opening speech, NATAS President Devinder Ohri emphasised Kazakhstan as a perspective tourism destination for his fellow countrymen.

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Also In The News...

• Parties’ activeness in the media monitored by CECThe Central Election Commission (CEC) of Kazakhstan recently summed up the intermediate results of monitoring political parties’ activeness in the media, finding that the Nur Otan Party was the most active. The CEC monitored 48 national newspapers, 15 magazines, 16 national TV channels, 12 radio stations, 174 regional newspapers, 31 regional TV channels and 162 of the most popular socio-political Internet resources, the commission reported. Between Jan. 20 – Feb. 19, 13,898 materials on the theme of elections were published in the media, their results found. Out of these, 3,757 video materials were aired on national TV channels, 1,154 materials were published in national periodicals, 3,924 materials in regional media, 5,063 on the Internet and 1,441 posts were made on social networks. “The headquarters of the political parties have different degrees of pre-election activity. Since the beginning of the campaigns, 772 informational materials have been published by the Nur Otan Party, 526 by the Communist People’s Party of Kazakhstan (CPPK), 559 by the Ak Zhol Democratic Party, 499 by the Birlik Party, 458 by the Nationwide Social Democratic Party (NSDP) and 513 by the Auyl Social Democratic Party,” the CEC informed. The report also noted that Nur Otan published 22 percent of the total materials among all parties. The CPPK has 18 percent, Ak Zhol 15 percent, Birlik 14 percent, NSDP 17 percent and Auyl 14 percent. (election.gov.kz)

• Kazakhstan’s population exceeds 17.5 millionThe population of Kazakhstan reached 17,693,005 people, according a Feb. 1 announcement by the Statistics Committee of the Ministry of National Economy. (primeminister.kz)

• Iran buys more wheat from KazakhstanIran has increased its purchases of wheat from Kazakhstan. In January 2016, wheat exports from Kazakhstan amounted to 327.67 kilo metric ton (KMT), which is 68 percent higher than in January 2015 (194.52 KMT). Wheat exports are 4 percent higher than over the same period from 2014–2015 (1,677.43 KMT compared to 1,611.48 KMT). In January, Iran imported more than 50 KMT of wheat from Kazakhstan while reducing its purchases of Russian wheat. Since the beginning of the season, Kazakhstan exported 112.9 KMT of wheat to Iran, 8 percent more than during the same period last season (95.6 KMT). Iran’s share of total wheat exports from Kazakhstan reached about 7 percent in September 2015–January 2016 MY. Afghanistan also increased purchases of wheat from Kazakhstan and imported 152.7 KMT during the reporting period (9 percent of total wheat exports from Kazakhstan). Azerbaijan reduced wheat imports from Kazakhstan to 80.1 KMT from September 2015–January 2016 MY. (blackseagrain.net)

• Foreign experts discuss security challenges in Central AsiaNew global challenges were discussed by foreign experts March 2 at the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KAZISS). Strained relations between world powers and growing influence of terrorist organisations were debated by leading experts from the United States, Russia and Turkey. Representatives from the Ministry of Defence and the Academy of National Security Committee discussed the current situation in Syria, Afghanistan and the Middle East and its impact on security in Central Asia. The international conference, “New Global Reality: Challenges, Risks of Regional Stability,” aimed to analyse worldwide trends of terrorism and fighter recruitment to flash points of conflict and find ways to prevent radicalisation. “President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev is the author of many [peaceful] initiatives. Twenty-five years ago, thanks to his political will, the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site was closed, which started the [struggle] for a nuclear-weapons-free world,” said The Jamestown Foundation analyst Jacob Zenn. He highlighted Nazarbayev’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on creating an international anti-terrorism network. (astanatimes.com)

• Nearly 40 percent of Kazakhstan’s businesses headed by womenAbout 1.5 million women are employed in Kazakhstan’s business community, said Chairman of the Businesswomen’s Council of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan Lyazzat Ramazanova at a meeting in March. She noted that there are more than 4 million women of working age in Kazakhstan. Among the 1.65 million chairs of enterprises, 656,216 are women, which is almost 40 percent. In Almaty and Astana, 50 percent of chairs are female. In Almaty, there are about 103,000 women entrepreneurs engaged in the services sector, Ramazanova added, saying the job of the council is to involve women in business and drive business development. (primeminister.kz)

• Zhezkazgan and Kyzylorda now linked by railKazakhstan’s national rail company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), will launch a direct rail link between the cities of Zhezkazgan and Kyzylorda March 15. The route, which covers more than 40 settlements, is a socially significant project within the Nurly Zhol national economic stimulus programme. “This is a great event for our region. Our citizens used to travel to the southern regions through Karaganda and had to spend additional time and money. We express our gratitude to the national carrier KTZ and hope that this route will give a new impetus to the development of the region,” Akim (mayor) of Zhezkazgan Batyrlan Akhmetov said. (tengrinews.kz)

• Winter Universiade to be biggest sport event in Kazakhstan’s historyFifty-four countries have confirmed their participation in the Winter Universiade 2017 in Almaty, which will be the biggest sporting event in the history of Kazakhstan. For the first time, an Athletic Village will be built for a Winter Universiade. At a recent meeting of the Executive Committee of International University Sport Federation (FISU) in Brussels, head of Almaty Universiade 2017 Asset Abdualiyev reported that all construction facilities are more than two-thirds ready. “All the Universiade facilities will be commissioned in autumn 2016. There will be test competitions and already a directorate has been established for the management of facilities. Sections of swimming and sport clubs in the facilities will be available to citizens in these facilities … . We hope that it will be not only the best but also the most representative Universiade in the history of the FISU,” said Abdualiyev. “The amount of work that we have to perform together with the [FISU] and the organising committee is very big. It is planned that world famous TV channels will broadcast the games. The expected audience will amount to more than 1 billion viewers,” said FISU President Oleg Matytsin. It is expected that the Universiade will be attended by about 2,000 athletes from 55 countries. More than 500 medals will be awarded in 12 winter sports. Almaty will be visited by over 30,00 tourists, who will be able to receive visas through a simplified system. (Kazakh-tv.kz)

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