EXBS KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR'S MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 003186 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR ISN/ECC PVANSON, ACHURCH, JHARTSHORN DEPT FOR ISN/ECC-AMT LSPRINGER DEPT FOR EUR/ACE RBUCK DEPT FOR SCA/RA JSCHLOSSER DEPT FOR SCA/CEN M. O'MARA CBP/INA FOR CDONOFRIO AND RWATT USDOE/NNSA CWALKER, TPERRY AND EDESCHLER DOC FOR DCREED AND GPETERSEN-BEARD USCG FOR BGOLDEN AMEMBASSY BERLIN FOR CUSTOMS ATTACHE AMEMBASSY TASHKENT, BISHKEK, BAKU, DUSHANBE AND ASHGABAT FOR EXBS ADVISORS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP KZ SUBJECT: EXBS KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR'S MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 2007) ¶I. BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY MANAGERS: ¶1. Permanent EXBS Advisor Robert Colbert arrived at post on October 4, 2007. II. COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶A. SITE ASSESSMENTS AND MEETINGS CONDUCTED ¶1. Task Order 79 Donation. Four modular shelters were delivered to the Kazakhstan Border Guards military base 2029 in Uralsk. - On September 9, 2007 - EXBS Program Manager Gulnara Abildaeva traveled to Uralsk to meet the trucks transporting the modular shelters and to get customs clearance. The shipment was cleared by Kazakhstan customs and transported to the Chingirlau and Zhaik Border Guard Posts on September 15, 2007. - On October 15, 2007 - EXBS Program Manager Gulnara Abildaeva traveled to the Chingirlau and Zhaik Border Guard Posts to inspect, accept, and transfer the four installed modular shelters to the Border Guards. The Border Guards were represented by Colonel Budeneyev, the Deputy Director of the Border Guard Service and Head/Commander of Border Control Department of the Main Staff of the Border Guards Service in Astana; Lt.Colonel Magzhanov, Chief of Headquarters, Border Control Division of the Northern Region; Lt. Colonel Sokoryan, the Commandant and Chief of the Border Guards Division in the Uralsk Region; and Major Aidos Aliyev, Commander of the Border Guards unit #2029 in Uralsk. Ray Bloch (LATA),Alisher Nurumbetov (LATA),and Subru Nair (TFI) also traveled to the sites to inspect and accept the shelters. The portable shelters met all the specifications of Task Order 79 and were accepted by the Kazakhstani Border Guards. ¶2. EXBS Maritime Advisor visit. On September 25, 2007, EXBS Caspian Regional Maritime Advisor Michael Fisher, EXBS Baku Program Manager Tarlan Gahramanova, and EXBS Kazakhstan Program Manager Gulnara Abildaeva attended a meeting with Maritime Brigade Captains Ashimbayev and Smagulov in Aktau. The two sides discussed issues related to the maintenance and painting of the hulls of the three patrol boats, donated by EXBS in May of ¶2006. The Border Guards were told that it would cost 45,000 USD to paint the boats. Because of the cost, Captain Ashimbayev agreed that the Border Guards would paint the vessels themselves. EXBS may have to pay for crane rental or renting of boat cradles. - On September 26, 2007 - EXBS Maritime Advisor Michael Fisher, EXBS Baku Program Manager Tarlan Gahramanova, and EXBS Astana Program Manager Gulnara Abildaeva traveled to Bautino. The EXBS team learned that two of the patrol boats are in need of tweaking to get the engines operating at their max capacity. EXBS Baku will provide the Border Guards with more detailed technical manuals so they will be able to perform a computer-assisted engine diagnosis. The third patrol boat was out of the water. This boat has been non-operational since October of 2006 and has had numerous problems. - On September 27, 2007 - EXBS Maritime Advisor Michael Fisher, EXBS Baku Program Manager Tarlan Gahramanova, EXBS Kazakhstan Program Manager Gulnara Abildaeva, and EXBS Program Assistant Oxana Limareva attended a meeting with Captain Nurakhmetov, Colonel Vishnyakov, and Major Kapizov in Astana. At the meeting, the EXBS team described the proposed Four-Week Safe Boat Course taught by the U.S. Coast Guards and emphasized its ASTANA 00003186 002 OF 003 importance. Possible dates for the training still need to be determined. During the meeting, the EXBS team delivered the spare parts required to fix one of the Safe Boats. ¶B. TRAINING DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶1. No training was delivered during this period. ¶C. EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD ¶1. Modular Shelters donation. (See above) ¶2. Spare parts for the safe boats donation. (See above) ¶D. IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS UPDATE ¶1. Task Order 79 Donations. Delivery of the original water tanks for the four modular shelters donated to the Border Guards was delayed due to difficulties encountered in the Customs clearance process created by a change in the Kazakhstani law which required the submission of the Shipper's Exportation Declaration (SED) for all shipments arriving in Kazakhstan. Because of this delay, LATA acquired additional water tanks locally so that the installation of the four modular shelters would be completed on schedule. The U.S. Embassy and the foreign diplomatic community raised the issue of the SED with the Government of Kazakhstan. There were several high-level meetings where the U.S. Embassy requested a waiver for the SED requirement. The issue was resolved after the Customs Control Committee issued a letter dated October 20, 2007 waiving the requirement to provide SED for goods from the U.S. The EXBS office applied to the Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning to approve the release of the water tanks from the Almaty airport warehouse without a warehouse storage fee. The official letter from the Vice Minister, Ministry of Economic and Budget Planning, approving the release of the water tanks from the Almaty airport warehouse without a warehouse storage fee was passed on to the Customs Control Committee on November 19. ¶2. Department of Energy Second Line of Defense (DOE/SLD) continues with its project to install portal monitors at border sites. A diplomatic note was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting its assistance in gaining access to the following Phase One sites: Kordai, Karasu, Sapytai Batyr, Kazgurt, Zhibek Zholy, Kaplanbek, and Sary-Agash. The EXBS office also assisted DOE/SLD in requesting permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for DOE's experts to conduct engineering surveys and radiation detection monitor systems installation design reviews from October 31 to November 10, 2007, at 5 selected sites along the western border of Kazakhstan: Aktau seaport, Atyrau and Aktau airports, and the Border Crossings at Kurmangazy and Temirbaba. - October 31 to November 9, 2007 - EXBS Advisor Robert Colbert and EXBS Program Manager Gulnara Abildaeva traveled with the SLD delegation consisting of Mr. Glen Mitchell (Ahtna Government Services),Mr. Dave Olson (Sandia U.S. National Laboratory),Mr. Andrai Belousov (Los Alamos U.S. National Laboratory, Mr. Davydov (Aspect),Mr. Alexandr Nazarenko (NTC). While the SLD team worked on engineering surveys, the EXBS Advisor conducted site assessments at the Aktau seaport, the Atyrau and Aktau airports, and the Kurmangazy and Temirbaba Border Crossing Points. ¶3. The EXBS advisor will meet with Customs and Border Guard *********************** * Missing Section 003 * ***********************