By Maria Utyaganova (8/13/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The procedure of awarding high school graduates with gold medals, that provides chances to get government-paid seats at the university without examinations, was often subjective and fraught with corruption. At many occasions, gold medals were awarded to those students whose parents paid money, but not to those who studied hard. Such a practice left many bright students from less well-off families without an opportunity to get higher education, as their parents could not pay university tuition fees.

By Marat Yermukanov (8/13/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The completion of the second phase of the oil complex construction in Karachaganak fields significantly increases the oil export capacity of the country, putting the annual production of hydrocarbons at 8 million tons. Karachaganak is just one of the more than two hundred oil and gas deposits discovered in Kazakhstan. The final agreement to develop Karachaganak on product-sharing basis was reached between BG-Group, Italian ENI, Chevron-Texaco, Russian Lukoil consortium and Kazakh government in 1997.

By Marat Yermukanov (7/30/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In the course of their endless talks with OSCE delegations over the last four years, Kazakh officials have repeatedly pledged to update the electoral regulations of the country. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, mildly but insistently, pointed out the most salient procedural flaws and violations of voters’ rights reported by independent observers from regions during 1999 elections. They ranged from unwarranted interference of local authorities in electoral process to the falsification of voting results.