Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Robert Dydo who wrote (708)	3/5/1998 8:14:00 PM
From: John Menzies	Respond to of 1248

More comment from the same meeting. You will note made in regard to solicitation of comments about under performance in the country. This is typical of Nazarbayev. We sponsored the first Kazak - Australia business meeting in Sydeny last year and he made the saem comments and was very open and asked for critical comment. We like the country and find the environement for foreign investment to be workable. We are the ones who have been working successfully there for a considerable period of time - we are the ones who know!! ALMATY, March 2 (AFP) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev assured foreign investors Monday that Kazakhstans government would continue to support foreign investment and encouraged them to continue investing. "Kazakhstans policies on this issue of attracting foreign investment remain unchanged. We have showed you and will continue to show you investors our support and help, which is necessary for you to work successfully", Nazarbayev said. Nazarbayev made the comments at a meeting with foreign investors and government officials at the presidential palace in Almaty. He stressed that the new government headed by Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev, which came to power at the end of last year, will not change the policies of the former Soviet republic toward foreign investment. Earlier this year, Balgimbayev announced a temporary halt to privatization in the oil and gas sector. But, Nazarbayev said, "the new government doesnt have its own personal policies". Several Western investors speaking at the meeting said that Kazakhstan has one of the most favorable climates for foreign investment among the Central Asian countries. U.S. oil giant Chevron was the first company to invest in the former Soviet republic in 1993, followed by U.S. cigarette maker Philip Morris. Today, 204 companies are privately owned by foreign investors, Nazarbayev said. Several foreign investors, including Philip Morris, Koreas Samsung, Swiss company Glencore, Canadas Hurricane Oil and others, were asked to air complaints about doing business in Kazakhstan and to discuss the investments they plan to make in Kazakhstan. Most of the complaints were lodged by manufacturing and energy companies doing business in the regions. The most common complaints included disputes about land ownership or rental agreements, licensing procedures, delays in getting answers from government officials at national, regional and local levels, and difficulties in exporting goods to neighboring countries. Dale Perry, development director of AES, an energy firm that operates two power plants in Kazakhstan, was one of the foreign representatives that has experienced problems working with Kazakhstans government. When the company took over a power plant at Ekibastuz, nearly 900 kilometers (about 560 miles) north of Almaty, Kazakhstans Energy Ministry never informed the firm that the government had been operating the plant without a license. Although Perry said the plant applied immediately for the license once they found out about the situation, the ministry responded only 10 months later and claimed that AES was not entitled to the plants revenues during that time, Perry said. At the companys second plant, Altaienergo, privatized in 1997, AES has been waiting for four months to invest 18 million dollars, but the Kazakh government has not moved since November, Perry said. To resolve the problems, Perry asked Nazarbayev to reduce the number of people responsible in each privatization to two - one at national and one at regional level - and called for the government to take blame for its part in mutual mistakes made early in the privatization process. Nazarbayev is "sending the right signal" to foreign investors by having the meeting, he said. Nazarbayev took Kazakh government officials to task for some of the complaints that cropped up during the meeting and said that company representatives at the meeting would receive answers to their concerns. He also cautioned the companies to follow Kazakhstans laws, pay their taxes and abide by their contracts. "Behave yourselves in Kazakhstan as you would work in your own countries. "Thats it", he said. "Is that really a difficult request? I think its normal". Whatever their complaints, AES and many of the other companies speaking Monday said they werent ready to give up on Kazakhstan yet. For example, AES plans to invest 100 million US dollars over five years and is committed to staying in Kazakhstan for 25 to 30 years, Perry said. "We think these people want to solve it and we know they want us to stay here, but now they need to normalize the contracts", he added. -=-=- Want to tell us what you think about the ClariNews? Please feel free to <<email us your comments>> <comments@clari.net>.