Intrepid adventurers, noble steeds and farewell speeches

Horse Guards Parade

July 6, Satturday, 11.30am – 1 pm

 RSVP to Francesca francesca@gohelp.org.uk by July 1

The collapse of USSR resulted in chaos in Kyrgyzstan. Most of the Issky-Kul region’s factories were closed and many people found themselves without jobs. The Altymyshev family was forced to make a difficult choice. Karypbai Altymyshev had trained as a commodities administrator and his wife was an accountant in a factory. But the end of communism forced them to revert to the nomadic lifestyle of their Kyrgyz ancestors. They had the knowledge of how to work with livestock from their parents – hereditary shepherds, cattle breeders and butchers.

Karypbai remembers returning to an agricultural way of life: “I understood from the very beginning that working with cattle breeding was my destiny. We pass the knowledge from generation to generation. I remember when my grandfather and father always brought me and my brothers to our pastures to take over their skills. We lived in the mountains, ride on horseback and grazed the herds. Literally, sheep, horses, goats and cows became my friends. I always knew what they need. I got my education only because it seemed prestigious during the Soviet times, now there is high unemployment and my specialization is not necessary.”

Karypbai, and his wife, Chinara live in Baktuu Dolonotuu village in the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan. They breed sheep, cows, goats and horses, slaughter their stock themselves and sell the meat in the bazaar in the town of Bosteri, which is a summer tourist center. They have five children, four daughters and one son. Three of them live with their parents and help them. The Altymyshev’s are typical of traditional Kyrgyz families, with a fierce sense of loyalty and semi-nomadic life style based on a distribution of labor dictated by Kyrgyz cultural values. “We work together; my husband’s brothers live high up in the mountains grazing our herds. My husband is a great butcher. He knows everything about his business. I am responsible for household, trade and family budget. All our income is shared fairly”, says Chinara. Chinara farms fruits, berries and flowers in her garden. At the bazaar she sells huge assortment of meat: sirloin, brisket, ribs, hipbones, chucks, shanks, heads and hooves that her husband prepares beforehand.

Karypbai believes that keeping his children in the family business will help them avoid the employment problems that are affecting Kyrgyzstan. “Not everyone will have high positions of prosecutors, businessmen and diplomats. Somebody has to do cattle breeding and feed people”, says Karypbai. Their family business supply other towns and villages with meat. They look after his 20 horses, 30 cows, 50 goats and 250 sheep.

“We are not vulnerable like most of the people in Issyk-Kul region. Our business does not depend on the tourist season; it goes on all year around and people buy our meat, because there is no such thing as a vegetarian Kyrgyz”, laughs Karypbai.

“I am so happy to have a son who will take over from me. I believe that he will be the next generation of livestock keeper and butcher. I have four daughters, two of them are married, and the other two are studying for jobs in the banking sector. I let them be independent, make their own choices, but if things go bad for them, they can always come back to family business”, says Karypbai.

Karypbai’s son already works in the bazaar with his mother. He is 13 years old and moves happily between pools of blood and animal carcasses hanging from hooks. He already knows how to tell when beef, mutton and horse meat are fresh and how to divide up sheep and cow carcasses. He even has his own axe and a selection of knives. Karypbai regularly takes his son to the slaughterhouse, where he practices chopping and cutting on his father’s instructions. “I will take over from my father and develop our family business”, affirms his son.

As the day draws to an end, the Altymysehv family gathers together on the wide veranda of their home to share news, gossip and plenty of cooked meats. Like an increasing number of the new generation of traditionally structured Kyrgyz families, the Altymyshevs rely on meat for food and for their livelihood. For the foreseeable future at least, the Kyrgyz people will never stop eating meat.

By Vassiliy Lakhonin and Guljamal Pirenova

Where: Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural centre

Address: 10 Mapple Street, W1T 5HA, London, UK

Admission free, RVSP is required to event@ocamagazine.com

This novel is the most recent book by internationally acclaimed author and National Writer of Kyrgyzstan, to be translated into English.

Based on a real incident which occurred in his country some ten years ago, it also references Akmatov’s own conflict with USSR officials, who accusing him of producing anti- Russian and anti- Communist literature, censored much of his early work at the beginning of his career.

The story involves the harrowing experiences of a young and very naïve Norwegian woman who has come to Kyrgyzstan to teach English to schoolchildren in a remote mountain outpost. Governed by the megalomaniac Colonel Bronza, the community barely survives under a cruel and unjust neo-fascist regime. Immersed in the local culture, Erika is initially both enchanted and apprehensive but soon becomes disillusioned as day after day, she is forbidden to teach. Alongside Erika’s story, are the personal tragedies experienced by former soldier Sovietbek , Stalbek, the local policeman, the Principal of the school and a young man who has married a Kyrgyz refugee from Afghanistan . Each tries in vain, to challenge and change the corrupt political situation in which they are forced to live.

Akmatov is a gifted storyteller, whose writing is imbued with a passion for his homeland and concern over the oppression of his people. Thirteen Steps is strongly flavoured with sensitive and often poetic descriptions of the magnificent landscape, wildlife and traditional customs, such as eagle hunting, natural medicines, weddings, herding and horse polo, as well as more brutal references to the trafficking of young women, the exiled existence of Kyrgyz expelled from their country under Soviet rule, the extremity of corruption amongst the new leaders, and the employment of torture and murder as means to an end.
This is a book designed to both charm and shock on many levels, and one which will undoubtedly be read again and again by its audience.

The book is available on www.discovery-bookshop.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, abebooks.co.uk

“The name Mukhtar Ablyazov, the exiled oligarch who set up a transnational criminal organisation that is wanted by the law-enforcement agencies of the UK, Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, is well known to many fans of crime fiction. And many look upon the life this man led as if it were entertaining light reading, a serial of many episodes with a complicated plot.

So who is this Ablyazov? Somebody who amassed capital during the difficult times during the transition to independence of one of the post-Soviet republics.  A politician who led a pseudo-opposition movement whose activities boiled down to protecting the money he had stolen, but which did not protect him from imprisonment. While in prison he received a pardon from the head of state and did not remain there for even a quarter of his sentence. A businessman who after release from prison took up the post of chairman of BTA Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest financial institutions. And finally, a thief, who could not be kept from his dubious transactions by either threats of further imprisonment or by a senior position. Ablyazov’s criminal activities were such that for a number of years while managing the bank he laundered the lion’s share of its assets through offshore companies. All told, this amounted to some five billion dollars.

The second episode of this adventurous epic began with our oligarch seeking cover on the shores of misty Albion. This story is itself somewhat enigmatic. Contrary to logic and common sense, he was treated kindly by the UK and granted political asylum. It was at this time, at the suggestion of his new masters, that a real war of information against Kazakhstan became apparent.  In London meanwhile, secretly and sluggishly, court investigations were being held into his financial crimes. Only much later did the legal process, choked as it was with improbable details, start to engage the attention of the public who already knew the real extent of his fraudulent activity.

It is worth pointing out that, in no small way thanks to Ablyazov, Kazakhstan occupies second place, jointly with Switzerland, only to the USA in ensuring the job security of British lawyers. And what is that if not good business? Indeed the result is a highly lucrative operation. And the longer the litigation drags on, the better. Who after all needs oil and gas if they have such a highly profitable source of income as this? Clearly, in such conditions, any criminal – provided they are in the money to a sufficient degree – can reckon on the most impartial system of justice in the world. It is interesting that Britain, thus inspired by billionaires on the run, has initiated legal reforms that increased the legal costs for large-scale commercial proceedings.

So now, consider the revenue if eleven separate court hearings were being held for Ablyazov’s proceedings alone, in which, according to some sources, between 50 and 100 of Britain’s best lawyers were involved. Under such conditions it is quite extraordinary how misty Albion nevertheless changed its attitude towards Ablyazov, who was to all intents and purposes one of the country’s biggest employers of lawyers. Despite the efforts of his army of advocates he was sentenced initially to 22 months’ imprisonment and subsequently stripped altogether of the right to judicial defence.

Here I would say that my original impression was that there were certain forces supporting Ablyazov. Today, though, it is clear that his file is closed. Let us begin with his flight from Britain. When the High Court in London issued its decision to place him in custody, he went into hiding in France. However, not even this speaks of the demise of Ablyazov as a political player. Testament to this are, firstly, the fact that almost all his partners in crime had already been detained by law-enforcement agencies. One of his accomplices, suspected of organising a terrorist act in Almaty, was arrested in Spain. The Czech Republic issued a decision to extradite Tatyana Paraskevich, the financial director of IPG Evraziya, who was on the wanted list of the Ukrainian police in relation to investigations concerning embezzlement at BTA Bank of US$4 million.

In Kazakhstan, 45 people have been brought to justice in relation to the Mukhtar Ablyazov case. In Russia four senior managers of the company Evraziya Logistik have been sentenced to 8 or 9 years for involvement in laundering funds of BTA Bank. And recently the investigations department of the Russian Ministry of the Interior completed an inquiry into a case against the joint owner of the Delo leasing company, Dmitry Pak, and his general director Oleg Tsarev, who are accused of fraud on an exceptionally large scale and of legalising income obtained criminally.

The essence of the fraud here is that the leasing company received altogether 70 loans from BTA Bank amounting to US$70 million, the traces of which subsequently disappeared into offshore companies. As a result, the recipient of the loan repayments was not BTA Bank but a Cypriot company, Kimos, whose origins are unknown.

By the way, the patterns of Ablyazov’s criminal machinations using offshore companies became the subject of an independent investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). According to the data published, 31 companies were registered in Ablyazov’s interest on the British Virgin Islands. Ablyazov laundered bank funds through 25 of these companies between 2005 and 2009.

And this is probably the clearest indication that the oligarch has now lost all support. Yet what is this International Consortium of Investigative Journalists? It is a structure in which persons of influence in the West call the tunes.

The ICIJ’s central office is located in Washington, DC. Two of its main donors are the Open Society Foundations founded by George Soros and the Tides Foundation.

The activities of the ICIJ has a clear pro-Western orientation. So it is not a coincidence that its selection of information focuses on China, the Russian Federation and the former Soviet republics. And the fact that Ablyazov has been amalgamated with the rest is highly symptomatic of this. This is probably the latest and last attempt to use him in an effort to achieve certain political interests. Mentioning Ablyazov and other similar fugitive oligarchs may add plausibility to discreditable data. Such schemes appear ideal for manipulating public opinion, not least for discrediting people who are in no way guilty. It is a known tactic and a familiar policy.

Now, if somebody in the West supported Ablyazov, he would today be on his own. But as is well known, one cannot conquer alone. Moreover the money needed to hire a new guard on the previous scale is simply no longer there. Even Ablyazov’s property in the UK is up for auction. Recently the High Court in London issued a final recovery order that empowers the management company, KPMG, to sell three luxury-category properties belonging to Ablyazov – a mansion in north London, over 40 hectares of land near Windsor and a flat in the St Johns area of London.

And who knows, maybe just tomorrow Interpol will finally wake up and find the fugitive…”

Dolma is a stuffed vegetable, that is, a vegetable that is hollowed out and filled with stuffing. This applies to courgette, tomato, pepper, eggplant, and the like; stuffed mackerel, squid, and mussel are also called dolma. Dishes involving wrapping leaves such as vine leaves or cabbage leaves around a filling are called sarma. The filling generally consists of rice, minced meat or grain. In either case, the filling includes onion, herbs like dill, mint or parsley and spices.

Ingredients:

3 cups of long-grain rice

¾ tablespoon of allspice (ground)

1 lb of finely minced lamb

½ teaspoon of ground pepper

1 cup of tomato sauce

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 lb of grape leaves (canned or raw)

4 tbs of butter

salt to taste

How to prepare:

First of all, prepare the grape leaves. If you are using raw grape leaves, you should bring half a gallon of water to the boil and add salt to it. Put the grape leaves in the boiling water for about 15 min. Take them out carefully, put them in a cold-water bath and let them soak. Otherwise, you can use marinated grape leaves and fill them directly.

Mix together the rice, tomato paste, allspice, black pepper, garlic, meat, onion, and 1/4 cup of water. Keep mixing until all the ingredients are well distributed.

Take about a teaspoon of the mix and put it in the middle of a flat grape leaf. Then, spread the mix evenly, leaving about 1/4 inch of space from the edges of the leaf. This will make folding the leaf easier. Now, fold from the stem end of the leaf. Then, tuck in the empty sides toward the center. After that, keep folding until you have a complete roll of grape leaf. Repeat the folding procedure on the rest of the mix.

Put the filled grape leaves into a pot. Make sure you lay them close to each other. Put the pot on a stove and pour about 2 cups of water into it. Then, spread the butter evenly on top of the grape leaves. Cover the pot with a lid and cook for about 1.5 hours. After the cooking is done, turn off the stove and let the pot stand, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Preferably, Dolmas are served hot.

Cooked and written by Anastacia Lee

The main goal of marketing is to make customers loyal and to maintain their loyalty. The usual way to solve this problem in the past has been the use of plastic cards, sending text messages and offering promotions. LoyaltyPlant, however, offers an innovative solution that now makes such customer communication easier and is likely to drive business profitability in many areas, but particularly in fast-evolving economies such as in Central Asia.

LoyaltyPlant creates a business’ own mobile app that helps it communicate with customers and build a profitable and efficient loyalty program in a remarkable leap forward for the technology. The very first users to embrace the app will likely stand out from the competition and the novelty will mean that trendy business owners will catch a wave of young customers all easily conversant with app use. Customers will no longer need to keep plastic loyalty cards in their wallets which is both convenient for them and saves money for the business that has to administer the loyalty scheme.

All mobile apps by LoyaltyPlant have customised looks and can suit any business. But more important than this, the apps will allow businesses to collect relevant customer data into an easily searchable database, without having to fill out paper forms. Once such preferences are logged, customers can easily be targeted with specific promotions and events, unique to them and their preferences. Further, the efficiency of these marketing tools can be tracked and modified to ensure customers remain loyal and satisfied. If a customer hasn’t visited for a long time, the business can send further special offers or gifts to entice them to come back.

Of course, mobile app functionality is key in the trend spreading and the LoyaltyPlant app appears to be very easy to use. The customer finds their “loyalty card”, which appears on the phone screen, collects bonus points, and spends them on rewards. Customers can also refer their friends on Facebook directly from the app and create a powerful word-of-mouth effect, something that young Central Asians will effectively willingly do for free as they embrace the new technology. The app works on smartphones, of course, but also on other, more simple phones. Whilst the marketplace for such apps is still relatively immature, LoyaltyPlant is clearly attempting to become the market leader in Central Asia for its advantageous features and its affordability.

LoyaltyPlant now has an office in Central Asia, and is bringing new technologies to its Asian partners. Two mobile loyalty programs have already been launched in Kyrgyzstan using the app. The first one is a sports club called K2. They broadcast information about events such as climbing competitions and skiing tours through their app. Ethno-complex “Supara” is another Kyrgyz partner which offers rewards: by collecting points customers can be rewarded with a romantic dinner for two, for example. Tea-room “Cafe” is one of LoyaltyPlant’s Uzbek partners. Their mobile app is an example of a personalised, clear and easily understood business-customer communication tool. They talk directly to their customers in a friendly easy-going manner.

LoyaltyPlant uses patented technology for its services, and operates in Russia, CIS and Europe. In a world where mobile phone usage is growing for everything from internet shopping to gaming, it won’t be long before these loyalty apps become commonplace amongst the population. Who will ever remember that a mobile phone used to be just that…a phone, for making phone calls!

]]> http://www.ocamagazine.com/out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new-app-arently-new-mobile-app-to-revolutionise-marketing-in-central-asia/feed 0 http://www.ocamagazine.com/fortune-telling-in-bishkek http://www.ocamagazine.com/fortune-telling-in-bishkek#comments Sat, 08 Jun 2013 11:37:39 +0000 admin http://www.ocamagazine.com/?p=6303 Continue reading →]]> BY EIRENE BUSA

Recently, a colleague and I went to a yasnovidyashi, a Kyrgyz fortuneteller (the name actually translates to “Clear Seer”), for the first time. Why? We’ve never done it before, we were looking for a new experience, and we were curious to know more about these infamous women of Bishkek with the “dangerous” reputation of hypnotizing you into a stupor while stealing your jewelry. Call us mini-adventure-seekers. Or fools. We wanted to check it out.

First, we enlisted the help of a local Bishkeker, the friendly and ever-helpful Ph.D student, Bermet, who found a yasnovidyashi through one of her friends. Like most things in life, it is always best to go through personal recommendations. Bermet set up an appointment with this vetted yasnovidyashi for a Friday afternoon at 3:30pm, and settled on a meeting spot on a sidewalk off Sovietskaya Street, Bishkek’s main thorough-way. She really made it easy for us. You could, however, just as easily find yasnovidyashis through ads on the Internet; in newspapers, such as the Kyrgyz-language gazette, Asman (“Heaven”); and on television, such as on the news-and-entertainment channel Piramida (“Pyramid”).

There are many types of yasnovidyashis who can tell you fortunes, or your past, present, or future through cards, palms, and numbers. There are those who say that they can just look at your face and tell everything about you. There are those who can heal you. There are “white witches” (byelie vedmi) who can protect you from the “Evil Eye” (Koz Moichok, in Kyrgyz) — a term generally understood to mean any type of negative energy that causes unhappiness. There are also “black witches” (chornie vedmi) who can harm enemies, through magic rituals, as well as concoct love potions. In fact, many of the yasnovidyashis’ main clients are Muslim women who want to prevent their husbands from taking on a second, third, and fourth wife. I have one Kyrgyz acquaintance whose own aunt went to a yasnovidyashibecause her husband was interested in another woman. The yasnovidyashi promptly gave the aunt a “special concoction” to slip into the husband’s drink one night, and sure enough, he left the other woman and returned home.

Since my colleague and I did not have a specific agenda, we opted for a fortuneteller who does cards (she is called agadalka.) It seemed the most general. So on a warm, sunny Friday afternoon at the designated time, at the designated sidewalk, the three of us — two Americans and our trusted insider, Bermet — approached a 40-something-year-old Slavic-looking woman with reddish hair and wrinkled olive skin, who was sitting on a little box next to a homemade cardboard sign that said, “Gadaiu” (“I tell fortunes.”). She sat there in her crocheted skirt, her faux-designer purse leaning against the box, as pedestrians passed her by without a second glance. She stood up to greet us.

One of Bishkek’s many yasnovidyashis. She wasn’t ours, but she had a similar sidewalk setup. (She also had a weight scale, if you wanted to know your weight.) Surprisingly, she didn’t mind that I took her picture.

After the initial pleasantries, she then sat down and asked us what we wanted to know. Love? Travels? Family? Past? Future? Caught off-guard by this smorgasbord of choice, I deferred to my colleague. He asked about future travels. She nodded her head and dealt out the cards. He kneeled down in front of her to get comfortable. I knelt, too, and listened. I asked if I could take a picture, but she said no. Understandably,yasnovidyashis are private people. Then for the next 15 minutes or so, she dealt the cards, analyzed them, collected them, and then dealt them out again in different patterns. We all watched eagerly. It turns out she saw more than just travel, but romance. Apparently, my colleague has in store for him a rather complex web of relationships — some new, some resurfacing from the past. To emphasize this, the yasnovidyashi kept pointing to the Queen, who kept surfacing in the cards.

Then came my turn. Unfortunately, what is written in my stars is slightly less “fun.” I’m going to have serious health problems, someone close to me will also have serious health problems, and I will also have a stressful, albeit successful, career. I will also have a husband who I will fight with often but who I will not divorce. Okay then. The yasnovidyashi also talked a bit about my past. Unlike with my colleague, she asked me several times if she was accurate, but I chose to neither confirm nor deny. [She was pretty accurate.]

Then just like that, she folded up her cards, and said, Ladno, vsyo! (“Okay, that’s it!”) I checked my watch. The whole meeting lasted about 30 minutes. She told us it would cost 100 som (about two bucks) apiece. (We later found out that she was actually giving us a deal, for whatever reason. Normally, 15-minute sessions cost 300 som.) We gave her the cash, shook hands pleasantly, then walked away. Our moods were slightly more sober.

Some yasnovidyashis have their own offices, secluded from the public eye. Here is one such office in a building across from Ala-Too Square.

In the immediate days after the encounter, I found myself a bit unsettled by the whole thing. One part of me — the cynical part — thought that it was nothing more than an amusing exercise. But another part of me was spooked. I can see now how such a visit could quickly go from “Well, that was fun” to “Well, shoot, what did she mean by that? I think I should go back.” Indeed, walking away from theyasnovidyashi, I suddenly asked Bermet, without thinking, “Soo, does she always sit at the same spot?” Bermet replied gently, “No, Eirene, they always change location.” I nodded my head silently; it was probably for the best. Later, as if to validate my unsettling reaction to the whole matter, Bermet said that she did notice in the last few years that more and more people are visitingyasnovidyashis — and not those who people would consider “uneducated,” but professors and politicians. I asked her why. She said that in fact many people do trust these yasnovidyashis, even if they consult them in secret. She also mentioned that it was most likely a reaction to the current “economic crises.” Some people turn to the mosques, others to the yasnovidyashis.

I think my colleague was also a little affected by our meeting with the yasnovidyashi — though probably for different reasons. A few days later, he was still talking about what the old woman had said to him. “How many women am I getting involved with again? I’m really confused.” And he started going over what the yasnovidyashi had said, while counting on his fingers, as if having a clearer number would better prepare him for what the future awaits.

Upon further reflection, I am glad I got my fortune told, and not only because I can now say that I have met one of these “dangerous” women of Bishkek and came out unscathed (or at least with all my jewelry intact.) I have a healthier appreciation for this subculture of society. These women serve a need in Bishkek, whether it is in the sphere of marital relationships, domestic violence, gender issues, or healthcare. And based on the plethora of yasnovidyashi ads today, and the numerous success stories of yasnovidyashi encounters that I hear through friends and acquaintances, and the fact that Kyrgyzstan is still one of the poorest economies in Central Asia, it seems like these yasnovidyashis will continue to serve this need — be it on the crowded sidewalks of Sovietskaya, or in the dark dwellings of secrecy.

Some commentators contrast the dialogue in the Kazakh capital, which has now become a tradition, with the World Economic Forum in Davos. The honoured guests of this year’s AEF and WAC included 35 current and past ministers, 10 Nobel Prize winners and over 40 heads of international organisations, corporations and companies. They took part in 73 events held over three days between 22 and 24 May. The forum concluded with a dialog between the leaders entitled “Securing sustainable economic development in the G-Global framework”.

As is generally known, the world is divided today into a number of groups of global influence. These include the G20, G8, G77 plus China and the Bretton-Woods institutions, united in the single legitimised framework of the United Nations. In the view of the initiators of the AEF, not all countries are represented equally in these groups, and because of this they do not all participate in decision-making at the global level.

Kazakhstan, an active member of many large international associations, has presented a new framework for international cooperation in the form of the ‘G-Global’ project. Since its inception in January 2012, more than 3 million people from 160 countries have visited the information and communication website of the same name. One of the aims of this online platform is to radically increase the number of people involved in seeking solutions to the global challenges of our time. The emphasis  here is on the main question that concerns the whole of the global community: how to ensure balanced global economic growth.

The outcomes of the forum in Astana were formulated into the Astana Declaration, in which the principal directions of the World Anti-Crisis Plan are set out. At the same time, the results of the forum have been incorporated into recommendations that will be presented at the decision-making level to the G20 at its summit in Russia on 5-6 September 2013. The recommendations will also be delivered to the G8, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the UN.

In the preliminary draft of the recommendations (we would point out that the final version will be formulated by the end of June this year), the focus of attention is primarily on questions concerning the effectiveness of economic regulation. Particularly important in this respect is the creation of a diversified system of trade for the post-crisis era. To ensure economic growth, investment and employment it is essential that barriers be removed and that there is a successful development of regional economic integration.

The energy supply component of the current crisis is a significant factor blocking world recovery and is caused by lack of balance in the markets and the uncertainty of prospects for developing alternative power supply systems. In the view of the AEF’s participants the G20 should be directing its efforts towards creating stimuli for improving energy efficiency and for ‘green’ energy development, plus rational regulation aimed at developing the energy infrastructure.

On this matter Kazakhstan, which will be hosting Expo 2017, is proposing the creation of an energy group within the G-Global framework as an institution for raising issues related to clean power systems.

Also demanding attention is the question of the need for increased investment in global agricultural production and in social welfare.

The question of solving the global food problem was addressed in separate sessions of the forum. In the view of the AEF participants, it is essential that a detailed plan of action be worked out and ratified at the G20 summit to address this problem. The purpose of the plan would be to increase food production by 70 per cent in the coming years in order to be able to feed all the people of the world. This is a key question for any country and particularly for the G20 states, in which 80 per cent of the world’s food is produced.

It is necessary for the G20 countries to improve the system of monitoring and the volume of information about the state of the food market and about forecast quantities of food supply and demand in order to anticipate shortages, to inform actors in the market and also, if necessary, so that interventional regulation measures can be taken in the agricultural commodities and food market.

Naturally it would not be possible to neglect the matter of the global financial structure, which forms a common thread through all the forums. The AEF participants propose increasing the responsibilities of issuers of global reserve currencies. Noting that the list of countries laying claim to a role of global reserve currencies has recently begun to grow, it is proposed that the G20 countries prescribe certain obligations to be imposed on issuing countries claiming to advance currency as a global reserve. These would include supporting the stability of the currency by setting certain limits on the size of national debt and balance of payments deficit, the removal of currency and trade restrictions and compliance with transparency requirements in the mechanisms used to secure the issuing of their currency.

The AEF is not only a political dialogue but also sets out to be a platform for business cooperation. The outcomes of the business forums of the 6th AEF included the signing of some 80 agreements and memoranda for continuing cooperation worth a total of US$2.7 billion.

Preparations for the 7th Astana Economic Forum and the 2nd World Anti-Crisis Conference have already begun on the G-Global internet forum, together with online discussions about their directions of action. A competition will be held between 1 June and 1 July 2013 on the G-Global platform for the best proposed theme for the next Astana Economic Forum, which will be held in May 2014.

Few would argue that the world faces increasingly tough challenges that include rising energy demand, tightening energy supplies, the growing impact of climate change and intensified economic volatility. Companies and governments need to urgently develop new ways of looking at the future. By acting now to decide how to meet people’s energy needs, while preserving the health of the planet for the next generation, the leading powers can seek new ways to ensure global sustainability and stability.

As Peter Voser, Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell, stated recently in a speech he made in China, “It’s clear the combination of a growing population and rising prosperity…will continue to drive a sharp increase in global energy demand. By 2060, our planet could be home to 9.5 billion people, up from 7 billion today.  That is the equivalent of adding one new city of nearly 1.5 million people every week for the next four decades.”

The risk of energy shortages in the world and the drive to seek new ways to solve this problem is the theme of EXPO-2017, an international exhibition to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, after its candidacy beat the Belgian city of Liège to host the event. With the help of its award-winning promotional video, “The Great Expectation of Kazakhstan,” the Kazakh capital will provide a grand stage to showcase the most notable achievements of mankind in the development of green energy under the general theme of “Energy for the Future”. As a country whose economy has historically been kept balancing on the sharp edge of an angle, there is sure to be plenty of “zest” in the event.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in the next 25 years, mankind will face two simultaneous global threats: a shortage of energy resources and environmental disaster. The authorities of young Kazakhstan, a country that only broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991, adopted this theme in order to achieve election and the right to host EXPO-2017.

Many outsiders will have considered Liège to have been the stronger candidate given its experience of hosting similar exhibitions. At the 152th General Assembly of the International Exhibitions Bureau (IEB), Belgium proposed the theme “Bringing People Together,” however, during a secret ballot of the representatives of 161 IEB Member States, Astana was given an overwhelming majority, receiving 103 votes.

This is all the more remarkable given that an exhibition of such scale has not been conducted in any of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Nonetheless, Kazakhstan has a growing pedigree of hosting major international events. In December 2010, Astana organised the first OSCE summit for 11 years with heads of state and diplomats from 56 countries meeting to discuss future security co-operation.

A month later, Kazakhstan was the first Central Asian country to host the VII Asian Winter Games in Astana and Almaty. Athletes from 26 participating countries descended on both the official and financial capitals respectively.

But the previous two events will seem modest after Kazakhstan holds EXPO-2017, when the country expects more than 5 million people from 100 countries and dozens of international organizations to visit. The numbers will dwarf the current population of Astana, who number just 758,000 people. The exhibition will be a serious test for the young capital of Kazakhstan, which will be under great scrutiny from the Presidium of the IEB and major affiliated organisations.

For many years there has been much debate about who really benefits from holding such exhibitions. At Expo-2000, held in Hannover (Germany), Holland was said to have benefited to the tune of 350 million Euros from a modest 35 million Euro investment in their exhibition pavilion and activities. Meanwhile, Germany spent 1.2 billion Euros on the event, where less than half of the anticipated 40 million visitors attended. The resulting losses of EXPO-2000 became one of the reasons why France, who were due to organise the next show, refused to hold EXPO-2004 in Seine-Saint-Denis.

Whilst the economic impacts are the most visible, there can be indirect effects too. In Canada, in 1967, the EXPO cost 283 million Canadian dollars (178 million Euros), but the event resulted in a large growth of the country’s income from tourism by some 480 million Canadian dollars (303 million euros).

One hopes that EXPO-2017 will give Astana new attractions. For the exhibition in 1851, the world-famous Crystal Palace was built in London’s Hyde Park, while for EXPO-1889, engineer Gustave Eiffel, built today’s symbol of France, the Eiffel Tower. With Astana’s love of building architectural marvels, having previously invited renowned architects from around the world such as Kisho Kurokawa and Norman Foster to change the cityscape, there are sure to be a few new additions to the skyline for EXPO-2017. Indeed, 113 hectares of land for the construction of the future Expo Centre has already been selected.

Of course, building the site is only one part of the project, with the surrounding infrastructure just as important. Shanghai built several new lines of the Shanghai Metro when it hosted the event, while Portugal, in 1998, built the new Vasco da Gama Bridge (the longest in Europe), a new line of the Lisbon subway and a multimodal train, subway, bus and taxi terminal, Gare do Oriente. Then there are the facilities, conference halls and hotels that also need to provide for international visitors. The legacy of these buildings is as important as their immediate function for EXPO-2017, and should leave Astana fit to continue as a major international, exhibition and information-presentation platform.

Returning to the main theme of “Energy for the Future,” it is worth considering the impact of Kazakhstan’s developing industry and growth of energy consumption amongst all of this. Given the significant amount of coal reserves in Kazakhstan (3.6% of the world’s reserves) the energy source of the Central Asian country’s industry is mainly coal based. Nonetheless, Kazakh government policy aims to increase the share of renewable energy sources (RES) to 11% by 2030. Back in Paris, as soon as it was decided that Expo-2017 would be held in Astana, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Kairat Kelimbetov, announced that a fund for supporting research in the field of energy had been established, with 62 million Euros allocated to the development of renewable sources of energy in more than 69 developing countries. To show its commitment to such a target, the exhibition area in Astana will have its energy needs provided for solely by renewable energy sources, presenting a “City of the Future” for the world to see and perhaps aspire to.

Expo 2017 Astana, Kazakhstan: A new dawn for strategic thinking?

A view from Peter Lindsay, Chairman of CATBIG

Why do you think Kazakhstan has chosen to host EXPO-2017?

I am delighted that Kazakhstan continues to take on challenging events and to make itself known on the world stage. For such a large country with huge potential Kazakhstan is almost unknown. I think hosting EXPO- 2017 will help raise the country’s profile and show what it is capable of. People who come here are always, in my experience, pleasantly surprised.

How can Kazakhstan ensure lasting benefits from EXPO-2017 rather than suffer the financial burden of hosting the exhibition as other host countries have? AND What do you expect to be the main outcomes from EXPO-2017?

Kazakhstan is building infrastructure and wants to attract foreign investment. A lot of emphasis is placed on climbing the rankings for doing business and the more large projects that are successfully completed here the better it will be for the country as a whole. The theme of green energy and sustainability is one that Kazakhstan has already committed too and we can already see an increase in interest in investing in that sector. So I think the Expo will have lasting benefits from the ideas showcased at the Expo and the experience of holding international tenders as well as from using the infrastructure created in a sustainable way. This will be an incredible boost to the economy and the diversification away from oil and gas. There are some really beautiful places in Kazakhstan and the infrastructure is really not there to support tourism yet. The roads to Tamgaly and Charyn gorge, for instance, are certainly not the best in the world but the places are wonderful. With more people coming, the economics change completely and these places will surely be developed.

Is Kazakhstan really ready to accept 5 million visitors to the exhibition? Why?

If we take Kazakhstan now, it is not ready. However the tourism industry is growing, people are getting much better and hotels are springing up everywhere. I would expect quite an increase in tourism between now and 2017 and so the country will be ready by the time EXPO-17 actually starts.

What are the key challenges that need to be overcome in preparing Astana and the country for EXPO-2017?

The key will be to build up slowly but surely. The tender process for the design of the Green Quarter is already underway and there is a sense of urgency which I am sure will be maintained. The tourist attractions need to be improved with repaved roads and better supporting infrastructure like restaurants, toilets, hotels and so on. Most of all Kazakhstan needs to get itself noticed and advertise around the world to bring people now to see the sights and give feedback. One of the key challenges will be to develop attractive tours around Kazakhstan by air and rail and bus to make it easy to see all the great sites. There seem to be only a few and they are quite expensive at the moment. I hope the government will encourage the private sector to rise to this challenge to provide a great service and will also train guides and build roads and continue to improve the airports around the country.

A view from Peter Howes, Managing Director of JSC “Sovereign Wealth Fund “Samruk-Kazyna”

Why do you think Kazakhstan has chosen to host EXPO-2017?

I am delighted that Kazakhstan continues to take on challenging events and to make itself known on the world stage. For such a large country with huge potential Kazakhstan is almost unknown. I think hosting EXPO- 2017 will help raise the country’s profile and show what it is capable of. People who come here are always, in my experience, pleasantly surprised.

How can Kazakhstan ensure lasting benefits from EXPO-2017 rather than suffer the financial burden of hosting the exhibition as other host countries have? AND What do you expect to be the main outcomes from EXPO-2017?

Kazakhstan is building infrastructure and wants to attract foreign investment. A lot of emphasis is placed on climbing the rankings for doing business and the more large projects that are successfully completed here the better it will be for the country as a whole. The theme of green energy and sustainability is one that Kazakhstan has already committed too and we can already see an increase in interest in investing in that sector. So I think the Expo will have lasting benefits from the ideas showcased at the Expo and the experience of holding international tenders as well as from using the infrastructure created in a sustainable way. This will be an incredible boost to the economy and the diversification away from oil and gas. There are some really beautiful places in Kazakhstan and the infrastructure is really not there to support tourism yet. The roads to Tamgaly and Charyn gorge, for instance, are certainly not the best in the world but the places are wonderful. With more people coming, the economics change completely and these places will surely be developed.

Is Kazakhstan really ready to accept 5 million visitors to the exhibition? Why?

If we take Kazakhstan now, it is not ready. However the tourism industry is growing, people are getting much better and hotels are springing up everywhere. I would expect quite an increase in tourism between now and 2017 and so the country will be ready by the time EXPO-17 actually starts.

What are the key challenges that need to be overcome in preparing Astana and the country for EXPO-2017?

The key will be to build up slowly but surely. The tender process for the design of the Green Quarter is already underway and there is a sense of urgency which I am sure will be maintained. The tourist attractions need to be improved with repaved roads and better supporting infrastructure like restaurants, toilets, hotels and so on. Most of all Kazakhstan needs to get itself noticed and advertise around the world to bring people now to see the sights and give feedback. One of the key challenges will be to develop attractive tours around Kazakhstan by air and rail and bus to make it easy to see all the great sites. There seem to be only a few and they are quite expensive at the moment. I hope the government will encourage the private sector to rise to this challenge to provide a great service and will also train guides and build roads and continue to improve the airports around the country.

A view from Marat Akhmedjanov, publisher and media promoter of Central Asia

Why do you think Kazakhstan has chosen to host EXPO-2017?

First of all, the subject, “Energy of the Future” was successfully chosen. Considering the main problems of mankind in the 21^st century, such as a shortage of energy resources and the influence of people’s activities on the earth’s ecosystem, the chosen subject is very relevant.

The very active and ambitious participation of Kazakhstan in many significant events recently, both nationally and internationally, shows that it is capable of carrying out a larger international role. From the successful performance during the Olympic Games in London in 2012 to hosting the OSCE summit in 2010 and the Asian games in 2012.

It is no small thing that Astana should host EXPO 2017. There was great importance placed on Kazakh diplomats and politicians in lobbying for Astana. Just watch the videos of the address of the President of the republic and the participation of Mr. Kalimbetov, whose personal charm and good image easily convinces.

It should be noted, though, that competition for the host country was relatively limited, mainly owing to the effects of the global financial crisis, leading to great fears, in some camps, that hosting such a grandiose event risks irresponsible financial profligacy.

How can Kazakhstan ensure lasting benefits from EXPO-2017 rather than suffer the financial burden of hosting the exhibition as other host countries have?

The world expects bright new ideas and technologies from such exhibitions. There is great emphasis on attracting a following for the futuristic projects that will become leading examples to the world. Look back at history and there are examples of similar ideas such as the architectural influences on today’s monuments (The Eiffel Tower, the Crystal Palace, the Oriental carpet, the Tower of Seattle and the Atom in Brussels). The Representation of new technologies is demonstrated such as when the telephone was presented to the USA in 1876, the monorail road in Vancouver and cellular communication in Japan.

Kazakhstan is a part of Central Asia and the active participation of the countries of this region provides an accent of regional action that can serve as an additional component of success of Expo 2017. The international participants of the event should find additional incentives, such as the opportunity to present themselves to the whole region, with its population of more than 50 million people and its large mineral resources and economic potential.

For the host country, Expo 2017 will serve as a chance to develop the infrastructure of the city, its transport system, communications, hotel economy, education and leisure facilities. By the end of Expo 2017, the city will have to live with the heritage of the event, which has to serve not as ballast but as the engine for further development. For example there is the possibility of developing a nearby region of pine forest to hold the conferences and seminars, modernizing the transport infrastructure there and also balancing new technologies to allow man and nature to co-exist sustainably. Further, the idea of creating a science and technology park must be supported with possibility of creating parallel universities from the Expo complex that will be built.

What do you expect to be the main outcomes from EXPO-2017?

Expo Great Britain was, for the most part, about consolidating the public and business leaders at a single event. The same purpose has to be set in front of Kazakhstan. The country’s development, through the highest participation of her citizens and businesses during the preparation will ensure a lasting legacy. The event can allow Kazakhstan to cement its role as regional leader in the fields of technology, education, culture and business, showing the international community that it is a reliable and attractive partner.

Is Kazakhstan really ready to accept 5 million visitors to the exhibition? Why?

This is the question that everybody is asking! The city, with a population of one million, will need its citizens’ help to achieve its goal. As noted above, the possibility of attracting people to the pine forest area for the event will help alleviate stresses in and around the city, while developing the area just outside the city. Further, there are plenty of opportunities to construct or use future educational institutions as temporary accommodation for guests and participants. To my mind, there shouldn’t just be a whole set of purpose built hotels constructed just for the conference as the legacy from these will be limited. We have seen this not work terribly well in other examples. Just look at Tashkent, which constructed ten hotels in anticipation of the EBRD meetings in 2005. Today these hotels still stand empty, despite having a high tourist potential.

Kazakhstan’s contemporary art exhibition, ONE STEP/PE FORWARD, will be for the first time presented in Venice. 

Introducing this project, IADA (International Art Development Association) comes with the initiative of establishing the Pavilion of Kazakhstan at Venice Biennale in 2015, creating the idea of independent art scene of the country in the international cultural arena.

The project is supported by the Permanent Delegation of Kazakhstan to UNESCO

The participating artists Galim Madanov, Zauresh Terekbay, Said

Atabekov, Gaisha Madanova present several outstanding works in diverse range of media such as painting, photography, installations and video.

This exhibition expresses the idea of the contradictory nature of the territory; unbounded and deserted space of the steppe from one side and the dynamic effervescence from another.

ONE STEP/PE FORWARD is  a conscious step into the future, through the being in the current reality, based on the acceptance of the historical past.

This exhibition expresses the idea of the contradictory nature of the territory; unbounded and deserted space of the steppe from one side and the dynamic effervescence from another.

ONE STEP/PE FORWARD is  a conscious step into the future, through the being in the current reality, based on the acceptance of the historical past.

- Indira Dyussebayeva, is an art advisor within Artist Pension Trust (APT) in London and Almaty. She is advising private collections, family offices, corporates and institutions. Indira is a co-founder of IADA.

- Dina Baitassova, art director, scenographer. She is also advising art intitutions in Kazakhstan and France and collaborates with Réunion des Musées Nationaux. Her passion for art and its dual culture – she lives between Paris and Almaty – has an incentive to implement this first exhibition, on behalf of IADA Association as a founder, and that will date in the promotion of Kazakh art abroad.

Commissaires of the project:

Saule Kurpernova, gallerist, who lives between Moscow and Astana and initiated the exhibition « Ultra Memory » organized in 2012 in Astana.

Laurent Lehmann, contemporary art collector, art manager and co-founder of IADA.

IADA is a newly formed organisation with a highly motivated team and the major mission to promote Kazakhstan’s contemporary art on the international level

Kazakhstan Art Today

Introducing this project, IADA (International Art Development Association) comes with the initiative of establishing the Pavilion of Kazakhstan at the Venice Biennale in 2015. Kazakhstan as one of the largest countries of Central Asia attracts a lot of attention. After twenty years of independence the idea about our country still remains vague and intangible. The same perception also applies to contemporary art of Kazakhstan. The participation of the national pavilion at such an important exhibition as Venice Biennale will give an opportunity to establish a new platform for artistic development in the country and adopt a solid position in the international art community.
ONE STEP/PE FORWARD – is a small, but important step that continues a dialogue between contemporary art of Kazakhstan and global art culture, expressing the distinct identity, originality of thought, rich history and dynamic present. The curators of the project have decided that ONE STEP/PE FORWARD will be based on the concept of endless Kazakh steppe, which inspires artists with its contradictory nature. Similar to the reflection of the boundless nature of the steppe is a free thought of an artist, who is choosing his own way of expression. ONE STEP/PE FORWARD is a conscious step into the future, through the being in the current reality, based on the acceptance of the historical past.

http://onesteppeforward.com/