Weekly review. Kazakhstan and Germany are reliable partners. Outcomes of CSTO and EurAsEC sessions. Kazakh Government devaluation measures

The first one is directed to liberalization of the legislation on political parties and improvement of organizational and legal issues of their activity. The second one anticipates improvement of the legislation on mass media and simplification of administrative procedures related to mass media activity. On this occasion OSCE Representative on Freedom of Media Miklos Haraszti sent a letter to Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Marat Tazhin and Minister of Culture and Information Mukhtar Kul-Mukhammed. It reads: ?It was a pleasure to know that the draft Law ?On Introduction of Amendments and Supplements to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Mass Media? has been adopted. My colleagues and I were glad to cooperate with your officials on these amendments. I welcome the fact that representatives of the society were engaged in the discussion process and I believe that amendments are the most significant in efforts taken by Kazakhstan in reforming the legislation on mass media?. On February 3, the Kazakh President went with a working visit to Germany. The Head of the State visited Germany two years ago. The current visit is notable for the opening of ?The Year of Kazakhstan in Germany?. Nursultan Nazarbayev met with Federal President of Germany Horst Kohler and Chancellor Angela Merkel and outstanding political figure, former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher Besides, the President attended the Kazakh-German business forum and a concert dedicated to the opening of ?The Year of Kazakhstan in Germany?. Experts note that cooperation between Germany and Kazakhstan activated over the last years. Kazakhstan considers Germany to be a reliable partner in the European Union and Germany finds our country as a leader in Central Asia. Germany is the sixth trade partner of Kazakhstan after Russia, China, Italy, Switzerland and France. The Kazakh-German mutual investments exceeded USD 3 billion from each side. Over 500 German companies including Volkswagen, Bosch, ThyssenKrupp and others work in Kazakhstan. As is known, Kazakhstan exports oil, metals, and chemical raw materials to Germany and imports automobiles, equipment and pharmaceuticals. The Kazakh leader emphasized big potential of the Kazakh-German cooperation. ?To give additional impulse to our relations we can activate collaboration in establishment of new productions, implementation of mutually beneficial projects in manufacturing sector, engineering, especially in the sphere of oil and gas, and agriculture?, the President said. Within the Kazakh-German business forum in Berlin a number of documents was signed between business circles of the two countries. Agreement on cooperation and creation of a joint trade and industry chamber and representation office of the chamber in Germany was signed between the trade and industry chambers of Kazakhstan and Germany. The Kazakh Company "Central Logistics GmgH" and German "Thyssen Krupp-Bautechnik und CL" signed a Memo on rendering services and supplies of equipment for exploitation of oil and gas at the Caspian sea. ?Kaspy? SEC and ?Funke Gruppe? signed a protocol on implementation of the project on construction of plastic construction materials plant. Administration of North Kazakhstan oblast, ?TASSTONE? and "DR.Hein Gruppe" signed memorandum of construction of a plant on glass plate production. The volume of investments on this project is EURO 160 mln. Al Farabi Kazakh National University and "Technology Broker Bremen" will tune up cooperation in the sphere of laser technologies. Kazakh company ?Petraluxe? plans to implement a project on construction of facing materials plant in Saxony. Kazakh investments will make up EURO 35 million. The Kazakh leader said that the National Welfare Fund ?Samruk-Kazyna? in association with ?Mackenzie? Consulting Company drew up a list of priority projects that would be proposed to investors. In particular, there are projects in food industry, petrochemistry, transport logistics. Culmination of the visit was opening of ?The Year of Kazakhstan in Germany? by Nursultan Nazarbayev. The agreement on its holding was reached within the state visit of Federal President H.Kohler to Kazakhstan in September, 2008. At the opening ceremony, President N.Nazarbayev expressed his confidence that ?The Year of Kazakhstan in Germany? will give an impulse to bilateral relations, lay foundation to a new stage of mutual cooperation and bring together the Kazakh and German nations. This week Nursultan Nazarbayev attended a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Moscow. A project on creation of the CSTO collective rapid - reaction force was the main issue of the session. The decision was backed by all CSTO member states. The force will be used to repulse military aggression, conduct anti-terrorist operations, fight transnational crime and drug trafficking, and neutralize the effects of natural disasters. It will be permanently based in Russia and placed under a single command, with CSTO member countries contributing special military units. In Moscow N.Nazarbayev also took part in Special Session of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) Interstate Council. Here the heads of the EurAsEC member states signed an agreement on creation of a joint Anti-Crisis Fund amounting to USD 10 bln. Chairman of the EurAsEC Interstate Council - President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Russia will contribute USD 7.5 bln, Kazakhstan ? USD 1 bln. ?Other states will determine how much they will contribute within a month?, he said. The heads of states charged corresponding bodies of the EurAsEC to define goals and directions of the fund?s activity. A.Lukashenko emphasized that resources of the fund will be used in emergencies connected with social and economic issues. The main home event of this week is the Kazakh currency devaluation implemented in order to protect the national economy amidst the world financial crisis, to support domestic producers and to create conditions for fast future growth during the period of recovery from the crisis. In this respect, our Government took a number of measures. First of all, The Prime Minister charged the corresponding departments to curb inflation. ?It is necessary to provide the stability of the pricing policy, i.e, to prevent rampant inflation, especially on products of first necessity?, K.Massimov said. ?The Government will control over unfounded rise in prices. Those, who use the national currency as the basic one, have not any reason to raise prices. We will closely monitor it. Two commissions are already working on it. The first is the commission on food, headed by Vladimir Shkolnik, the second ? on fuels and lubricants, headed by Sauat Mynbayev. The second issue concerns the import, and we don?t see any reasons to raise prices here. It will be under control as well. And it gives an opportunity to make domestic products more competitive and popular. In this regard, 2009 should be the year to stimulate the development of domestic production?, K.Massimov said. In addition, the Prime Minister instructed to reconsider the budget issues and macroeconomic measures of the budget in accordance with new exchange rates; analyze the work on the Kazakh participation in production. Karim Massimov also charged the Minister of Economy and Budget Planning to reconsider the interest rate on mortgage loans and lending to small and medium businesses. K.Massimov noted that the Ministry should pay attention to the issues of strategic planning and inform the Government on the changing situation. As for unemployment the Prime Minister noted that a level amounting to 8 percent should not increase. In conclusion, I would like to refer to the opinion of the director of the Centre for Early Detection of Economic and Financial Shocks, JSC ?Economic Research Institute?, Sara Alpysbayeva. In her view, the most important benefit of currency devaluation is preservation of gold and foreign reserves which are the beacon of stability and future growth potential of the country. In 2008 Kazakhstan?s volume of gold and foreign reserves have increased by 21%. In contrast, Russia?s gold and foreign reserves have declined by 28.6% since 01.08.2008. If the conventional measure of stability demands a volume of gold and foreign reserves that is capable to cover 3 months of import then Kazakhstan has accumulated a significantly sufficient level that is able to cover imports for a much longer period.