EXBS: KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE

UNCLAS ALMATY 004038 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NP/ECC PVANSON, ACHURCH, ACUMMINGS CBP/INA FOR PWARKER AND CDONOFRIO USDOE/NNSA FOR TPERRY DEPT FOR EUR/ACE EXPORT CONTROL AND RELATED BORDER SECURITY DOC FOR PETERSON-BEARD AMEMBASSY BERLIN FOR CUSTOMS ATTACHE AMEMBASSY TASHKENT, BISHKEK, BAKU, DUSHANBE FOR EXBS ADVISORS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP KZ EXBS SUBJECT: EXBS: KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE (SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005) ¶I. BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY MANAGERS: ¶1. In September, a U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) team conducted talks with the Government of Kazakhstan on finalizing the language of the Second Line of Defense (SLD) program's Implementing Arrangement. The most recent revision of the arrangement is currently being reviewed by Kazakhstani Customs. Once the arrangement is signed, the SLD program will begin to install portal monitors at multiple locations throughout the country. ¶2. In October, Ambassador Ordway unveiled a notional schedule for Embassy Almaty's move to Astana. The Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance (EXBS) office is expected to move in May/June 2006. ¶3. A list of EXBS office equipment has been sent by email to CBP and the International Security and Nonproliferation Bureau's Office for Export Control Cooperation (ISN/ECC) at State, as requested in paragraph 11 of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) cable 2381. II. COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶A. SITE ASSESSMENTS AND MEETINGS CONDUCTED ¶1. Anne Cummings, ISN/ECC Action Officer for EXBS Central Asia, spent several days with EXBS Almaty staff at the beginning of October on a program review and project development visit. During her time in Almaty, Ms. Cummings attended the opening of the Strategic Tracker training program and met with SAO, DTRA and INL office representatives, as well as other embassy officials. On October 5, EXBS Kazakhstan staff and Ms. Cummings flew to the southern city of Shymkent where they were met by EXBS Uzbekistan Advisor Fetty. The group then drove south to the border with Uzbekistan and was given tours of the Ak Zhol (Kazakhstan) and Gisht-Kuprik (Uzbekistan) ports of entry. Mr. Brad Hanson, U.S. Embassy Uzbekistan's DCM, joined the group for the visits. ¶2. Commander Scott Donaldson of Central Command's Joint Interagency Coordination Group for Counternarcotics met with EXBS and other embassy offices on October 17 to discuss potential projects and border security efforts in the region. ¶3. EXBS Advisor Offenbacher met with U.S. Coast Guard, EXBS Baku and EUCOM/CENTCOM's Caspian Guard Initiative representatives on the sidelines of the Black Sea and Caspian Maritime Conference on Nonproliferation in Baku. ¶B. TRAINING DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶1. September 9-15 - Batyr Hommadov, EXBS Ashgabat LES, visited Almaty to receive training in EXBS office procedures under the tutelage of EXBS Kazakhstan Program Manager Gulnara Abildaeva. ¶2. September 20-22 - Three Kazakhstani export control officials representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Customs Control Committee and the Border Service attended the Seventh Annual International Conference on Export Controls in Stockholm, Sweden. ¶3. September 26-29 - The National Nuclear Security Administration's International Nonproliferation and Export Control Program (NNSA/INECP) held its fifth Technical Experts Working Group in Almaty. The regional event brought together nuclear technical experts working in the field of export control from a number of the Newly Independent States. Kazakhstan was represented by two nuclear scientists from the Institute of Atomic Energy and two export control officials from the Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Committee. ¶4. September 26-28 - Commonwealth Trading Partners (CTP) conducted Integrity Awareness training for 25 Kazakhstani Customs officials. A number of attendees commented that they found the course very useful and all of the participants gave the course excellent marks on their evaluation forms. The level of participation was high throughout the training and several individuals requested copies of the course materials to assist them develop their own anti-corruption training program. ¶5. September 29-30 - Gulnara Abildaeva accompanied two CTP representatives to Astana to participate in Industry Outreach Compliance meetings. Dina Akpanbaeva, Head of the Export Control and Licensing Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is preparing a letter in concert with the Kazakhstani agencies involved in export control industry outreach efforts to identify next steps. ¶6. October 3-7 - Three U.S. Border Patrol officers and a representative from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) conducted Strategic Enforcement Tracker training. Course participants included 25 Kazakhstani border guards, five instructors from the Border Control Management Faculty of the Almaty-based Military Institute and two observers from Tajikistan's Customs and State Border Protection Committee. The activity was held at a border guard training center near the village of Karaoi some 30 kilometers north of Almaty. The training was organized by EXBS Almaty and funded by DTRA. Three days were devoted to practical exercises to teach techniques for patrolling the "green border" between ports of entry. Instruction was also provided on the use of global positioning system (GPS) receivers. Thirty-six GPS units were ceremoniously transferred to the Border Service of Kazakhstan upon conclusion of the training. The students were engaged throughout the training and showed a particular interest in working with the GPS receivers. Many of the participants already had extensive tracking experience and therefore it may be advisable to place more of an emphasis on high-tech equipment training in future offerings. ¶7. October 11-13 - Three representatives of the Maritime Division of the Kazakhstani Border Service and EXBS Advisor Offenbacher attended the Black Sea and Caspian Maritime Conference on Nonproliferation in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Kazakhstani delegates actively contributed to the discussions and commented at the end of the conference that they found their colleagues' presentations informative and useful. ¶8. October 27-28 - Gulnara Abildaeva attended an EXBS LES workshop in Cyprus. ¶C. EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶1. October 7 - Thirty-six GPS receivers (Garmin model 76) were transferred to Kazakhstan. Thirty-two of the units were given to the Border Service and 4 were provided to the Border Control Management Faculty of the Military Institute at the request of its director, Colonel Adilkhan Artykbayev. All units were provided with spare batteries and Russian-language instruction manuals. The GPS receivers were purchased by CBP with DTRA funds. ¶2. October 5 - A fiberscope repaired in the United States was returned to Kazakhstani Customs at the Zhibek Zholy port of entry on the border with Uzbekistan. ¶3. October 7 - One radiation pager was given to the Border Control Management Faculty of the Military Institute to be used as a classroom training tool for border guard cadets. The pager is one of a large number originally provided to EXBS by DTRA in 2002. ¶D. IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS UPDATE ¶1. The three SAFE boats procured by the U.S. Coast Guard for the Maritime Division of the Kazakhstani Border Service reportedly will soon receive export licenses from the State Department. Once the licenses are received the U.S. Coast Guard will work with a transportation company to load the boats onto a vessel bound for the Caspian. The estimated delivery time for the 42-foot boats is 16 weeks. ¶2. November 1 - Two URAL 4320 high-clearance, six- wheel diesel trucks will be transferred to the Border Service of Kazakhstan. The vehicles will be assigned to the "green border" in the area of the Kazakhstani- Turkmenistani frontier. Funds for the purchase of the trucks were authorized in State 170780, which was received by EXBS Almaty in September 2005. ¶3. November 13-16 - The NNSA's Office of Global Security Engagement and Cooperation will sponsor the Central Asia Technical Workshop to Prevent the Trafficking of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials in Istanbul, Turkey. Alexandra Vozhakova, Chief of Radiological Research of the Central Customs Lab, and Tazhikhan Serikbai, Head of the Customs Control Committee's Contraband Department, will represent Kazakhstan at the event. ¶4. November 13-15 - NNSA/INECP will conduct a seminar in Shymkent on export controls and internal compliance for representatives from several South Kazakhstan Oblast uranium extraction facilities. This will be the fourth such seminar since March 2004; previous seminars were held in Almaty, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Stepnogorsk. ¶5. November 14-17 - DTRA's International Counterproliferation Program (DTRA/ICP) will hold a Radiological Detection and Response course at the Institute of Nuclear Physics near Almaty. ¶6. November 14-16 - DTRA/ICP will conduct a "Terrorism and the Proliferation of WMD" course in Almaty. ¶7. January or February 2006 - A DOE team tentatively plans to travel to Kazakhstan to perform regularly scheduled maintenance on Kazakhstan's two x-ray vans. The vans are located at the Kordai and Zhibek Zholy ports of entry. The EXBS office would strongly prefer to have the team come to Kazakhstan sooner rather than later as it was recently brought to our attention that the x-ray van at the Ak Zhol port of entry is currently out of commission. ¶E. SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN EXPORT CONTROLS, NONPROLIFERATION, OR RELATED BORDER SECURITY None. ¶F. CASPIAN SECURITY UPDATE Please see section B, paragraph 7 and section D, paragraph 1 above. III. RED FLAG ISSUES. None. The point of contact for this REPORT is Andrew S. Offenbacher, EXBS Advisor, OffenbacherAS@state.gov, tel: +7(3272)50-4945, cell: +7(333)225-1156. ORDWAY NNNN