ILO CONFERENCE DEMARCHES DELIVERED; KZ DELEGATION

UNCLAS ALMATY 001992 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE),IO/T (DRISCOLL),IO/S (JOHNSTON) GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN AND KRUGLILOVA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB PREL PGOV PHUM BB CU KZ SUBJECT: ILO CONFERENCE DEMARCHES DELIVERED; KZ DELEGATION WILL INCLUDE MINISTER AND KEY OLIGARCH REF: (A) STATE 94763 (B) STATE 94801 (C) 04 ALMATY 4821 (NOTAL) ¶1. (U) Econoff delivered Reftel A and B demarches and talking points to Askar Akhmetov, Head of the Division for Specialized International Organizations of the Kazakhstani MFA. Akhmetov acknowledged the demarche but did not have an immediate substantive response. ¶2. (U) Akhmetov informed Econoff that the Kazakhstani Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Gulzhana Karagusova, would lead the GOK delegation to the June conference. See Reftel C for background on Minister Karagusova. ¶3. (U) The Kazakhstani delegation will also include the president of the largest trade union confederation in Kazakhstan, Siyazbek Mukashev. The Federation of Labor Unions of Kazakhstan is the successor organization to the Soviet trade unions and represents, as of February 2005, 1,860,000 workers. ¶4. (SBU) The delegation will also include the president and vice president of the Kazakhstani Association of Employers, Kadyr Baykenov (a former energy minister and president of the state atomic energy company) and vice president Alexander Mashkevich. Mashkevich, a billionaire oligarch, heads the Eurasian Industrial Association. His business interests are primarily in metals, and his main customer in Kazakhstan is Mittal Steel. Mashkevich is also reputed to own one of the main newspapers in Kazakhstan. He maintains his close relations with President Nazarbayev by funding one of the main "pro-presidential" political parties in Kazakhstan. ¶5. (U) Minimize for Dushanbe considered. Asquino NNNN