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Gold/Mining/Energy : Steppe Gold (SPE:V) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Dydo who wrote (696)	3/3/1998 4:42:00 PM
From: brian krause	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1248

Robert, thanks for the links. eom

To: Robert Dydo who wrote (696)	3/3/1998 8:47:00 PM
From: John Menzies	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1248

The text of this article is worth reading. It shows a strong sensitivity to the needs of the foreign investor and willingness from the head of state to increase the effectiveness of foreign invested capital. ALMATY, March 2 (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, seemingly anxious to stem a series of rows with foreign investors, publicly criticised government officials on Monday and chided foreign firms in the former Soviet republic. ''We've got to put a stop to this business of the government and companies acting as adversaries,'' the charismatic leader, who was previously Kazakhstan's Soviet communist party boss, told a meeting of senior officials and major foreign investors. Raising his voice to some of his ministers, Nazarbayev reminded them of the hardship and social unrest that hit the country in the years after independence in 1991 and before he launched a drive to attract foreign capital in 1993. ''Don't you remember 1993?'' he said. ''Investors have to get their money back and make a profit. Otherwise why should they come here?...We have offered and will continue to offer every assistance to investors.'' But he also had strong words for investors who have ploughed billions of dollars into the vast, resource-rich nation, whose 16 million people occupy an area the size of western Europe. ''I warn you. Investors must obey Kazakhastan's laws and every article of their contracts,'' he said. ''If they break them, there are prosecutors, tax police...'' ''And do not negotiate through the media,'' he added. That sounded like a reproach to the Belgian group Tractebel SA, which locked horns with the government last month over its management of Kazakhstan's gas pipeline network. Tractebel publicly held Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev responsible for gas shortages this winter. Nazarbayev reserved his most pointed criticisms for Kazakh officials, both at local and national level. ''You all want to do things like before,'' he said of officials who brandish red tape to extract cash from foreign-owned companies, some of whom run vital services like electricity supply, as well as producing metals and oil. ''It's nothing to do with you. They're private companies. You get on with your state functions and let them work,'' he said. After listening to complaints from the country's main aluminium producer about months of delays in getting approvals, Nazarbayev exploded at one cabinet minister: ''What are all these licences? And why does it take four months? As of today, I am relieving your ministry of responsibility for licensing.'' Foreign investors were not immune from criticism, however. Nazarbayev accused firms of deliberately over-reporting costs to hold down profits and so avoid taxes. Some failed to honour contracts signed when buying privatised Kazakh companies. ''You took on these commitments and must keep them,'' he said. He urged foreign firms to pump more cash into improving the assets they now owned and to encourage small local businesses as well as contributing to charities and sponsoring sports teams. Promising to look into the concerns of U.S. tobacco company Philip Morris about bootleg cigarettes and difficulties in exporting to Russia and other neighbouring states, Nazarbayev said he also expected the company to take part in health education programmes warning of the dangers of smoking. Foreign business people at the meeting said Nazarbayev's high-profile intervention -- not the first of its kind -- could make some officials more responsive to their requests. Many praise Kazakhstan and Nazarbayev in particular for his willingness, compared with other ex-Soviet states, to hand over controlling stakes to outsiders. But few expected radical changes in bureaucratic niggles which dog some projects. ''Out in the regions, officials just see us a source of money for their own budgets,'' said one westerner involved in a major energy project. ''But we're here for the long-term and feel pretty sure the free market will emerge eventually.'' REUTERS