Field Reports

The World Bank’s International Financial Corporation is planning to approve the allocation of credits for the engineering design of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline in October - November of this year. As executive vice-president of the IFC Peter Woicke declared while visiting Baku, the credit will be of US$150 million.

An unprecedented event took place in southern Kyrgyzstan last Thursday morning. Criminal gang members attacked the regional and city police departments of Jalal-Abad, and beat policemen, took their arms, and fled. The suspects were detained that same day.

At first, Kazakh authorities seemed to be merely stunned by the news of the rapid spread of a hitherto unknown deadly disease in China. They were too slow to introduce necessary precaution measures to prevent the severe acute respiratory syndrome from popping up in the country, which shares 1700 kilometer long border with China.

For the second time in the last two years, Kazakhstan hosted one of the prestigious international events, the Eurasian Media Forum. On April 24-26, renowned intellectuals, public figures and journalists from 45 countries turned the five-star Regent Palace hotel in Almaty into a scene of lively debates about global issues.

A landslide in Kara-Taryk village of Uzgen district in southern Kyrgyzstan, caused by frequent rains, killed 38 people, and put 11 houses under ground. Specialists warn that such natural disasters create danger of destruction of uranium tailing dumps in the Kyrgyz Mailuu-Suu district. This could lead to ecologic catastrophe throughout the whole Ferghana region.

On May 4, several dozens of people attacked the office and staff of the leading opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat. The attackers broke glass, furniture and equipment in the office and physically harassed the staff. The incident took place at the absence of President Aliyev from the country, who following his collapse on April 21, had left for Turkey two days earlier for medical check-up.

Turkmen president S. Niyazov paid an official two days visit to Moscow from the 10th to 11th of April 2003. During the visit, he signed agreements on security cooperation, exporting Turkmen gas to Russia, and canceled a dual citizenship deal between Russia and Turkmenistan.

Speaking on April 18 at a meeting with the co-chairman of US-NATO Committee Bruce Jackson, President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev re-affirmed his government\'s desire and goals to join NATO. Such statements by the head of state have been rare in Azerbaijan, as in the past his political and military advisors have been the ones raking up the issue and making similar proposals.

The Kyrgyz ombudsman Tursunbay Bakir uulu will be able to decrease facts of human rights violation, but not significantly. So thinks a plurality (44 percent) of the local population, as shown by results of interviews held by the Public Opinion And Prognosis Research Center with UNDP support. Somewhat fewer, 35 percents, believed the new rights protector can be very successful. Only 11 percent are convinced he is going to change nothing. However, almost all the responders say the institute of ombudsman is necessary for Kyrgyzstan.

In spite of much cited macroeconomic success stories, public welfare in Kazakhstan has been largely ignored in the past decade. Although the country can boast the highest standard of living in Central Asia, for a nation that cherishes ambitions to join the WTO the mark is set higher. Kazakhstan is taking bold steps to increase pension and salaries.