Реферат: Economic Relations between Kazakhstan and Russia

The legal acts on tariff and non-tariff regulation of for­eign trade have been unified. Kazakhstan and Russia have signed an agreement on unified control of customs services. An agreement has also been reached on the identity of trade procedures in both countries in relation to third nations, and unified procedures have been introduced on the customs sta­tistics on foreign trade and customs registration of commod­ities subject to excise. Customs controls on railroads and passenger air traffic between the two countries are lifted step by step.

A treaty has been signed between the Republic of Kaza­khstan and the Russian Federation on joint efforts on the pro­tection of outer borders, the term “outer borders” taken to mean the sectors of the border between our countries and the states that are not part of the CIS. The edict of the president of Kazakhstan dated Septem­ber 19, 1995 On the Lifting of Customs Control on the Bor­der between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Fed­eration concludes the first stage in the formation of the Cus­toms Union and orders the implementation of joint customs controls on the Kazakhstan and Russian sectors of the outer borders of the Customs Union.

At the second stage of the formation of Kazakhstani-Russian-Belorussian economic efforts to form a customs union, the most important areas of cooperation are a closer coordina­tion of economic reforms; harmonization of civil and econom­ic legislation; unification of currency, tax, and price regulation by the state with the aim of leveling out the economic and legal conditions for the activities of commodity producers within a unified customs space; working out coordinated positions of the members of the Customs Union in relations with third countries and international organizations. At the meeting of heads of CIS countries in November 1995, three more countries stated their desire to join the Cus­toms Union: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Later, only Kyrgyzstan went through with the necessary procedures and entered the Customs Union.

Another example of collaboration in the field of integra­tion is the agreement on the Baikonur space vehicle-launching site, which makes it possible to use this great scientific and technological facility in the interests of Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as documents on the issues of citizenship signed by the presidents of Kazakhstan and Russian.

Let us consider in somewhat greater detail the problems of citizenship, of which the solution on a bilateral basis was also outlined in the draft project of the EAU.

Issues of citizenship became particularly prominent at the time of the emergence and building of sovereign indepen­dent states after the disintegration of the USSR, when tens of millions of former Soviet citizens overnight ended up outside their "historical homelands." This problem is as topical for Kazakhstan and Russia as for other CIS countries. More than that, it often figures as one of the most important issues of bilateral relations with Russia.

The more acute aspects of this problem were lifted as a result of the signing in January 1995 by the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan of a treaty on the legal status of citizens of both countries living on the territory of the other state and of an agreement on simplified procedures for acquiring citizen­ship in moving from one country to another. Well-known specialists from the two countries worked fruitfully on these documents. Authoritative Kazakhstan! and Russian politicians and jurists believe that these are innovative agreements without parallel in the world, and they are a fairly rare example of regulating bilateral issues on a civilized basis. The importance of these agreements both for progressive development of our countries and for normal life of the citizens of Kazakhstan and Russia cannot be exaggerated.

These documents envisage the introduction of maximally simplified procedures for acquiring citizenship and for move­ment without visas; they also offer possibilities for contract work and military service; assert the rights of possession, use, and disposal of property; create conditions for exchange of currency and transfer of sums of money by individuals and corporate entities of Kazakhstan and Russia; and many other provisions which reliably protect the rights and interests of the citizens of the two countries.

Yet another sphere in which combining the efforts of all the interested parties is needed is the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

The position of the Republic of Kazakhstan on this issue is based on the need for an early drafting and signing of a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, of which a draft was worked out by the Kazakhstan foreign ministry and sent out to all the interested states as early as March 1994. Unfortunately, there has been no response to this initiative for quite a long time now, and the agreement on regional cooper­ation on the Caspian Sea issue is still at a standstill.

At the same time preserving this unique object of nature is a task that the present generation must be worthy of.

The events of the recent years thus prove conclusively the need to proceed to a new level of integration, which will fully conform to the vital needs of the peoples. International experi­ence shows that any interstate association goes through various states in its development, becoming enriched in the process with new forms of cooperation. The Eurasian Union should be seen as just one of such transitional forms capable of optimiz­ing the solution of the problems facing the Commonwealth.

From the time of the publication of the draft EAU project, politicians and scholars have been paying close attention to it. Four major scientific and practical conferences were devoted to this subject, as were hundreds of publications in Kazakh­stan, Russia, and other states. Politicians, scholars, and dip­lomats continue to study the EAU project with great attention.

The current period in history is characterized by a radical breakdown of the old way of life. Society now faces difficult issues, and each person is subject to serious trials It is quite natural under these conditions that the peoples of Kazakh­stan, Russia, and other countries with an interest in the uni­fication of the Commonwealth will find it easier to overcome these difficulties together. A balanced attitude toward the past, a persistent realization of the present potential, and confidence in a more certain future - only these things will be able to give the peoples of our countries a natural feeling of spiritual har­mony and a sense of full-blooded life.

History is offering us a chance to enter the 21st century in a civilized manner. One of the ways to achieve that, in my view, is the realization of the integration potential for the establishment of the Eurasian Union, which will reflect the objective logic of the development of the post-Soviet space and the will of the peoples of the former Soviet Union to achieve integration.

This is how President Nazarbayev, the author of the Eurasian project, characterized the development of this idea and his current vision of its future: "I still remain an adherent of integration of post-Soviet space. As I formulated my vision of integration I laid no claims to total realization of all the provisions of the project, being fully aware of all the political connotations of that period. Two considerations were my pri­mary motivation. First, I wanted to generalize within a single whole the most realistic proposals for further integration, which simultaneously appeared in the countries of the post-Soviet space. Second, I wished to interrupt the indecently drawn-out pause in the activities of the CIS institutions.

In the last two years there was movement in the CIS countries on some issues that had been at a standstill, including

4. VITAL PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT-DAY STATE OF KAZAKHSTANI-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

The Present State and Prospects for Economic Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia.

The top priority area of Kazakhstan’s policy in foreign trade is the strengthening of economic cooperation with Russia and consistent integration of the economies of the CIS countries. This is determined by the traditionally strong economic links, a high level of mutual complementarily and interdependence of two economies of a once unified state, the size of the commodity market and identify of economic problems awaiting solution. “Analysis of the results of development of the economy of the former USSR and of experiences of economically advanced nations,” President Nazarbayev stressed, “shows that the transition to the market is objectively necessary and historically inevitable.”

The main feature of the present-day situation in Kazakhstan is the increasing impact of the mechanisms that have evolved in the years of reform and a weakening of the effect of non-market factors. In the initial stages, the underdeveloped state of such important instruments of the formation of the market as privatization, de-monopolization, absence of a competitive environment, were the main sources of inflation in the republic, a worsening state of the finances of enterprisers, an acute shortage of turnover capital, a fall in production due to falling demand and real earnings of the main mass of the population, as well as growing abuses in trade and banking structures.

The prevailing technological, economic and organizational standards made a significant impact on the potential of foreign trade relations. “The cohesion of the economic space of the former USSR was affected through centralized state planning implemented by command-administrative management. In the process, the country’s economy worked as a ‘single workshop’, and not all production and economic links here were rational from the market point of view. The transition to a market economy throughout the economic space of the former USSR required a profound restructuring, and this called for considerable resources and time,” Ex-Prime Minister A.M. Kazhegeldin stressed.

The policy of liberalization of foreign trade activity and of open economy did not result in 1993 in any growth of exports. It amounted to $1.5 billion, thus remaining at the 1992 level. Shifts in the geography of Kazakhstan export due to the re-orientation of foreign trade links to industrially developed nations resulted in the strengthening of raw materials exports. The share of machines, equipment and transport vehicles in the export dropped to 2 percent, and the share of fuel and energy complex and that of metallurgy rose to 80 percent. Rising   domestic prices prevented partners from concluding long-term foreign trade deals, stimulating instead commodity exchanges. The share of barter and clearing deals in export operations made up more than 26 percent. More than 56 percent of imports were affected through exchange of commodities. Barter operations were mostly in the nature of structurally unbalanced exchanges. The republic suffer considerable losses due to inadequate knowledge of the market conditions and the desire to access foreign markets at any price.

A noticeable feature of Kazakhstan economy is the low level of the development of machine building, which is not up to present-day requirements, and this makes an adverse impact on other branches of the economy, as it results in the common shortage of metal-tooling products. This aggravates the shortage of spare parts and of products used in several adjacent branches of industry and adversely affects the standards of servicing. 

Some   of Kazakhstan most important tasks in 1994 were the closure of, and changing production lines at, non-viable enterprises and development of promising export-oriented ones, which also satisfy domestic demand. This called for a set of measures to identify enterprises in the state of depression, closing down unprofitable lines of production in energy-consuming industries and rehabilitation and reorganization of non-profitable production lines.

The basis of the development of Kazakhstan, just as of Russia and many other CIS countries, is export of natural resources. In 1994, the government introduced regulations for the licensing of natural resources, and a law was adopted on payments for utilization of natural resources. It was at that time that efforts were initiated to attract domestic and foreign investors to develop the fuel and energy complex. The development began of the Tengiz, Karachiganak, and some other oil yields at oil fields continued to be introduced. Open – cut coal mining was expanded at Ekibastuz, Maykubek, and Shubarkul coalfields, with the aim of reducing the mining of coal underground at low-profit and non-profitable mines of the Karaganda coalfields.

In the metallurgical industry, the development of production of ferrous metals and the raw-materials basis of such production continued, including the revamping of the Karaganda metallurgical plant with the aid of foreign investment; its re-orientation toward the iron ore pellets of the Sokolovsko – Saribai mining association; the development of production of stainless steel and rolled metal and the building of an electric metallurgical plant for the production of stainless steels in Aktobe; further development of ferrous alloys in Aktobe and Aksu and of its raw-materials basis –the Donskoy ore –dressing plant; the re-orientation of idle production lines of JSC Khimprom to the production of ferromanganese. Organizational measures were taken in 1994 to develop production of fireproof materials.

At the same time there was a fall in the production of ferrous metallurgy due to an aggravation of the raw materials and fuel shortage and a parlous state of equipment at enterprises of this industry. The decline in industrial production was to a considerable extent due to non-solvency of enterprises in view of their insufficient financial resources, non-payment by the buyers for products delivered, and weak financial discipline.

The decline in non-ferrous metallurgy continued, as production of copper, titanium, and manganese fell. To check the decline in this branch of industry, the production lines at the Chilisai ore-dressing plant switched to a different product; the Zyryanovsky lead plant was rebuilt, and its commissioning was brought forward; the raw – materials basis for the titanium industry was created, as was the Syrymbet tin field, the tin being produced at the Tselinny chemical plant. The functioning gold mines and ore-dressing plants were revamped, and work was accelerated to develop major gold fields at Vasilkov, Bakyrchik, and Akbakai.

In 1994, the share of machine-building industry and machine tooling in the overall industrial production continued to fall, amounting to six percent. Low investment activity, non- competitiveness of the Kazakhstan machine-building industry, limited financial consumer capacity predetermined an almost twofold reduction volumes in most types of machine –building branches even compared to the crisis-ridden year of 1993.

The situation was worst in the chemical and petrochemical industries, whose production capacities far exceeded the republic’s domestic needs. Considerable share of the product was exported to other CIS countries and the “far abroad”, but the enterprises suffered from shortage of raw materials, even shortages of oil, which is produced in Kazakhstan itself. JSC Polipropilen, AKPO, Khimvolokno production association used imported raw materials only. In 1994, the decline in most types of petrochemical products reached 55-60 percent. Oil refining dropped by 20.3percent.

The timber, woodworking, and papermaking industries suffered from shortage of raw materials. Between the beginning of 1993 and the end of 1994, the production of timber fell by 21 percent, and this had a negative effect on the state of production at sawmills and woodworking factories. The production of saw-timber, chipboard, and cardboard fell by 31.9, 59.3, and 47.5 percent respectively, but the production of paper increased threefold.

In 1993 and 1994, decline in production also continued in the construction materials industry. Production of cement declined to the level of 1973, while production of pre cast concrete products dropped to the level of 1974. There was a considerable drop in production at enterprises producing asbestos cement pipes and coupling (by 34.2percent), linoleum (by 40.3 percent), cement (by 61.6 percent), asbestos (by 71.2 percent), bricks (by 78.8 percent). Production of sanitary wares dropped by 25 percent.

During the last five years, GDP volumes continued to fall, declining roughly twofold; the greatest decline (by 25.4 percent) was observed in 1994, and in 1995 it was almost nine percent.

Competitiveness of the Kazakhstan machine-building indus­try, limited financial consumer capacity predetermined an al­most twofold reduction in production volumes in most types of machine-building branches even compared to the crisis-ridden year of 1993.

The situation was worst in the chemical and petrochemi­cal industries, whose production capacities far exceeded the republic's domestic needs. A considerable share of the product was exported to other CIS countries and the "far abroad," but the enterprises suffered from shortages of raw materials, even shortages of oil, which is produced in Kazakhstan itself. JSC Polipropilen, AKPO, Khimvolokno production association in Kustanai, Shymkentshina production association used imported raw materials only. In 1994, the decline in most types of pet­rochemical products reached 55-60 percent. Oil refining dropped by 20.3 percent.

The timber, woodworking, and papermaking industries suffered from shortages of raw materials. Between the begin­ning of 1993 and the end of 1994, the production of timber fell by 21 percent, and this had a negative effect on the state of production at sawmills and woodworking factories. The pro­duction of saw-timber, chipboard, and cardboard fell by 31.9, 59.3, and 47.5 percent respectively, but the production of pa­per increased threefold.

In 1993 and 1994, decline in production also continued in the construction materials industry. Production of cement declined to the level of 1973, while production of pre cast con­crete products dropped to the level of 1974. There was a consid­erable drop in production at enterprises producing asbestos cement pipes and couplings (by 34.2 percent), linoleum (by 40.3 percent), cement (by 61.6 percent), asbestos (by 71.2 per­cent), bricks (by 78.8 percent). Production of sanitary wares dropped by 25 percent.

During .the last five years, GDP volumes continued to fall, declining roughly twofold; the greatest decline (by 25.4 percent) was observed in 1994, and in 1995 it was almost nine percent.

However, during the time of the reform considerable changes took place in the structure of GDP: The share of services grew sharply - from 32 percent in 1992 to 47 percent in 1995; the share of commodity production declined by 12 percent. The volume and share of services mostly grew in the trade] in banking and finances, insurance, and realty, while the share of everyday services fell. In other words, the main trend in the changes of macro-economic proportions was a move towards parameters characteristic of countries with well-devel­oped market economies. The share of consumption of end products rose to 69 percent of utilized GDP as contrasted with 58 percent in 1993. Investment in 1995 amounted to some 30 percent of GDP.

Beginning in the second half of 1994, certain positive changes began to occur: a decline in the rate of inflation, a growth in accumulation of capital, a stabilization in the ex­change rate of the national currency, a decline in the banks' interests rates, and a relative growth in industrial production.

The rate of inflation steadily declined from 4.9 in June 1994 to 3.2 percent in April 1995. The decline in production, which sharply Increased in November 1993 through March 1994, practically, ceased in some branches in 1994. As a result, industry as a whole grew by 0.3 percent in September, by 1.1 percent in December, and by 1.2 percent in April. As distinct from the previous years, a certain stabilization of production, which began in June 1994, was accompanied by a certain slow­ing down rather than acceleration of inflation.

The rate of price growth in the production and con­sumption sectors of the economy in 1995 slowed down. The highest inflation occurred in January (an increase of 108.9 per­cent compared to the previous month), and the lowest, in August (102.1 percent). The annual index of consumer prices throughout the republic was estimated at 160 percent (the monthly index, 104.3 percent, whereas the annual index of inflation of consumer prices in 1994 amounted to 1256 per­cent, which corresponds to a monthly inflation rate of 123.4 percent. (The annual index of production prices was at the level of 141.2 percent).

The positive dynamics in the consumer and wholesale prices was achieved above all by harsh financial and credit policies and the government's measures aimed at stage by stage liberalization of prices and tariffs for commodities and ser­vices, which resulted hi a sharp reduction in the range of regu­lated prices. At the beginning of 1996, only the prices of electric power, heating, gas, passenger and freight railway traffic were regulated, and at the local level, regulation involved prices" and tariffs of communal services and the services of urban pas­senger transport.

In 1995, the monetary and credit policies were charac­terized by changes in the monetary and credit instruments of the National Bank, its operations at the inter bank credit, cur­rency, and stock markets, and the development of the market of state securities. Whereas hi 1994 and January 1995 the prin­cipal instruments were centralized and auction credits, in 1995 the emphasis shifted from state-apportioned credits to the de­velopment of securities markets and auction credits.

The primary market of state treasury bonds actively began to develop. The volume of trading on this market is steadily growing, with demand exceeding supply. Toward the end of 1995, 4.3 billion tenge's worth of treasury bonds had been issued. In September 1995, pawnshop credits were introduced, with state treasury bonds as collateral.

The National Bank's average refinancing rate went from 210 percent in January to 52.5 percent in December 1995. This reduction was made possible by a considerable alleviation'' of the inflation situation.

The weighted average percentage rate for auction credits amounted in 1994 to 292.61 percent; during ten months of 1995, it went down to 103.29 percent, and in October 1995 it stabilized at the 52.56 percent level.

In 1995, the reduction in production output amounted to eight percent. Production output fell at 44 percent of enterprises. Of the 220 most important kinds of industrial products, produc­tion of 48 kinds increased and that of 167, decreased. It should be noted at the same time that hi 1995 decline in production was overcome, and there was an increase in production compared to the previous year in electric power production, metallurgy, and in the chemical and petrochemical industries.

In 1995, the policy of liberalization of foreign trade ac­tivity continued; distribution of export quotas was completely eliminated, and the list of licensed export products was con­siderably reduced. Kazakhstan traded with 124 states of near and far abroad.

In the framework of official aid for development, Kazakhstan received a number of credits to the tune of $1.3 billion from international financial organizations and individual donor countries.

One of the main types of foreign resources for the repub­lic was direct investment, in particular the setting up of joint ventures and foreign enterprises. The rate of establishment of joint ventures in Kazakhstan is fairly high. Thus, at the end: of 1990 there were just 15 of them, while at the end of 1995 more than 2000. JVs operated in the republic, of which 500 operated on foreign capital only.   Most of these were set up in the; mining industries.

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6