KAZAKHSTAN: AMBASSADOR'S AUGUST 1 MEETING WITH PA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ALMATY 002803

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USTR
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN (J. MUDGE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: AMBASSADOR'S AUGUST 1 MEETING WITH PA
HEAD DZHAKSYBEKOV

REF: A. ALMATY 2532

B. ALMATY 2464

C. ALMATY 2404

Classified By: Amb. John Ordway, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (SBU) Summary: In a July 3 meeting, the Ambassador
discussed planning for President Nazarbayev's late September
visit to the U.S. with Presidential Administration head
Adylbek Dzhaksybekov. Dzhaksybekov said that Kazakhstan
hopes to sign a WTO accession protocol during the visit. The
Ambassador highlighted the need for progress on
democratization, noting in particular concerns regarding
freedom of the press and recent housing demolitions. The
Ambassador informed Dzhaksybekov of Senator Lugar's upcoming
visit to Kazakhstan, as well as an August 24 meeting with PA
and Procuracy representatives to chart a way forward on
political party training. End summary.

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Nazarbayev Visit
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2. (SBU) In an August 1 meeting with the Ambassador in
Astana, Presidential Administration head Adylbek Dzhaksybekov
indicated that planning for President Nazarbayev's late
September visit to the U.S. was proceeding well. President
George H.W. Bush had invited Nazarbayev to visit him in
Kennebunkport, which he would do before his meetings in
Washington. The GOK working group planning the visit would
meet in a week where it would discuss the composition of the
delegation.


3. (C) Dzhaksybekov said that Kazakhstan hoped to sign a WTO
accession protocol with the U.S. as part of the visit. The
Ambassador noted that much work remained to be done in the
negotiations with USTR. Dzhaksybekov claimed that progress
"depended on the U.S. side" and was mostly a political rather
than a technical issue. He also claimed that making progress
on Kazakhstan's accession would help the U.S. deal with
Russia more effectively. The Ambassador informed
Dzhaksybekov that USTR had been actively engaged with the
Ministry of Industry and Trade, and that USTR's lead
negotiator had recently visited Kazakhstan for the July 12
TIFA Council meeting in Almaty. Dzhaksybekov said that WTO
accession was important for Kazakhstan politically, but would
not have a significant economic impact other than for certain
metals suppliers.


4. (SBU) The Ambassador told Dzhaksybekov that the U.S. hoped
for concrete progress on democratization in advance of
President Nazarbayev's visit. There were particular
concerns regarding freedom of the press. Dzhaksybekov noted
that the Democratization Commission is continuing its work
and will wind up in December. He claimed that recent
amendments to the media law (Ref A) would help the situation.
The Ambassador countered that the recent legislation, while
possibly not as harmful as first thought, did not represent
progress. The true test will be whether the independent
press is allowed to keep publishing. Dzhaksybekov claimed
there was "no repression" in Kazakhstan, pointing to the
large number of newspapers that criticize the government on a
regular basis.


5. (SBU) The recent violent conflict over housing demolitions
in the Shanyrak neighborhood of Almaty (Ref B) was a terrible
occurrence, the Ambassador noted. Dzhaksybekov concurred
that the situation had not been handled well; the incident
proved that serious problems can arise suddenly in any
country. Dzhaksybekov said that the basic decision to bring
order to the settlements was correct, but was not implemented
in a wise way. The Ambassador stressed the need to help
residents find alternative housing. Dzhaksybekov commented
that most of the residents of neighborhoods like Bakay and
Shanyrak were from rural areas of the country; the issue was
part of the larger social problem of urbanization, where the
government was reluctant to give out too many benefits for
fear of attracting more residents to the cities and
exacerbating the depopulation of the countryside.

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Codel Lugar
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6. (SBU) The Ambassador informed Dzhaksybekov that Senator
Lugar would visit Kazakhstan August 18-20 in order to discuss
non-proliferation issues. Dzhaksybekov said that Nazarbayev

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would be in Aktobe during that period following a visit to
Sochi. They agreed to explore the option of a Lugar stop in
Aktobe, since he is flying milair.

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Political Party Training
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7. (SBU) Referring to his July 3 meeting with PA deputy head
Maulen Ashimbayev (Ref C),the Ambassador informed
Dzhaksybekov that the Embassy had scheduled a meeting on
August 24 in Astana with PA and Procuracy representatives in
order to seek clarification of the scope of action for NGOs
such as NDI and IRI in working with political parties. The
U.S. sought both a clearer definition of what constituted
financing of political parties, as well as input from the GOK
on the shape of our future assistance programs.


8. (SBU) Dzhaksybekov commented that the U.S. needs to show
the Procuracy what is done in the political party trainings
in order to dispel the impression that they are some type of
"seminar on revolution." He said that the GOK had studied
the question and did not object to the work of IRI and NDI
"as some other countries do."
ORDWAY