Kazakhstan

lowest point:

Vpadina Kaundy -132 m

highest point:

Khan Tangiri Shyngy (Pik Khan-Tengri) 6,995 m

• radioactive or toxic chemical sites associated with its former defense industries and test ranges throughout the country pose health risks for humans and animals;
• industrial pollution is severe in some cities;
• because the two main rivers which flowed into the Aral Sea have been diverted for irrigation, it is drying up and leaving behind a harmful layer of chemical pesticides and natural salts;
• these substances are then picked up by the wind and blown into noxious dust storms;
• pollution in the Caspian Sea;
• soil pollution from overuse of agricultural chemicals and salination from poor infrastructure and wasteful irrigation practices

party to:

Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution

signed, but not ratified:

Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

0-14 years:

26% (male 2,212,985; female 2,141,392)

15-64 years:

66.5% (male 5,393,281; female 5,731,288)

65 years and over:

7.5% (male 434,879; female 827,694) (2002 est.)

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.94 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.53 male(s)/female

total population:

0.92 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

noun:

Kazakhstani(s)

adjective:

Kazakhstani

conventional long form:

Republic of Kazakhstan

conventional short form:

Kazakhstan

local long form:

Qazaqstan Respublikasy

former:

Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic

local short form:

none

• Agrarian Party [Romin MADINOV];
• Alash [Sabet-Kazy AKATAY];
• AZAMAT "Citizen" Movement [Petr SVOIK, Murat AUEZOV, and Galym ABILSEITOV, cochairmen];
• Civic Party [Azat PERUASHEV, first secretary];
• Communist Party or KPK [Serikbolsyn ABDILDIN, first secretary];
• Forum of Democratic Forces [a union of opposition parties, movements, and NGOs which includes Communists, RNPK, Orleu "Development" Movement, Pokoleniye "Generation" Pensioners' Movement, Labor Movement, Association of Independent Mass Media of Central Asia, and the Tabighat "Nature" Ecological Movement];
• Labor and Worker's Movement [Madel ISMAILOV, chairman];
• Orleu "Development" Movement [Seidakhmet KUTTYKADAM];
• Otan "Fatherland" [Sergei TERESCHENKO, chairman];
• Pensioners Movement or Pokoleniye [Irina SAVOSTINA, chairwoman];
• People's Congress of Kazakhstan of NKK [Olzhas SULEIMENOV, chairman];
• People's Cooperative Party of Kazakhstan [Umirzak SARSENOV];
• Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan or RNPK [Akezhan KAZHEGELDIN];
• Socialist Party [Petr SVOIK];
• United Democratic Party (a new party not yet registered) [leader NA]

• Adil-Soz [Tamara KALEYEVA];
• Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan [Galymzhan ZHAKIYANOV, Uraz ZHANDOSOV, Nurzhan SUBKHANBERDIN, Mukhtar ABLYAZOV, Zhanat YERTLESOVA, Bulat ABILOV, cofounders];
• Kazakhstan International Bureau on Human Rights [Yevgeniy ZHOVTIS, executive director]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Kanat B. SAUDABAYEV

chancery:

1401 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

consulate(s):

New York

FAX:

[1] (202) 232-5845

telephone:

[1] (202) 232-5488

chief of mission:

Ambassador Larry C. NAPPER

embassy:

99/97A Furmanova Street, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan 480091

mailing address:

American Embassy Almaty, Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-7030

telephone:

[7] (3272) 63-39-21, 50-76-23, 50-76-27 (emergency number)

FAX:

[7] (3272) 50-62-69

• sky blue background representing the endless sky and a gold sun with 32 rays soaring above a golden steppe eagle in the center;
• on the hoist side is a "national ornamentation" in gold

lowest 10%:

3%

highest 10%:

27% (2001)

general assessment:

service is poor; equipment antiquated

domestic:

intercity by landline and microwave radio relay; mobile cellular systems are available in most of Kazakhstan

international:

• international traffic with other former Soviet republics and China carried by landline and microwave radio relay;
• with other countries by satellite and by the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable;
• satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat

total:

13,601 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines

broad gauge:

13,601 km 1.520-m gauge (3,661 km electrified) (2001)

total:

189,000 km

paved:

108,100 km (includes some all-weather gravel-surfaced roads)

unpaved:

80,900 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1990)

total:

1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,064 GRT/646 DWT

note: includes a foreign-owned ship registered here as a flag of convenience: United States 1 (2002 est.)

ships by type:

roll on/roll off 1

• Kazakhstan is working rapidly with China and Russia to delimit its large open borders to control population migration, illegal activities, and trade;
• signed bilateral agreement with Russia delimiting the Caspian Sea seabed, but littoral states are far from any multilateral agreement on dividing the waters and seabed regimes - Iran insists on division of Caspian Sea into five equal sectors while Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan have generally agreed upon equidistant seabed boundaries;
• border largely delimited with Uzbekistan, but unresolved dispute remains over sovereignty of two border villages, Bagys and Turkestan, and around the Arnasay dam;
• Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan wrestle with sharing limited water resources and the regional environmental degradation caused by the shrinking of the Aral Sea;
• disputes with Kyrgyzstan over providing water and hydropower to Kazakhstan

• significant illicit cultivation of cannabis for CIS markets, as well as limited cultivation of opium poppy and ephedra (for the drug ephedrine);
• limited government eradication of illicit crops;
• transit point for Southwest Asian narcotics bound for Russia and the rest of Europe