Cablegate: Ilo Conference Demarches Delivered; Kz Delegation

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS ALMATY 001992

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE), IO/T (DRISCOLL), IO/S
(JOHNSTON)

GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN AND KRUGLILOVA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PREL PGOV PHUM BB CU KZ
SUBJECT: ILO CONFERENCE DEMARCHES DELIVERED; KZ DELEGATION
WILL INCLUDE MINISTER AND KEY OLIGARCH

REF: (A) STATE 94763

(B) STATE 94801
(C) 04 ALMATY 4821 (NOTAL)

1. (U) Econoff delivered Reftel A and B demarches and
talking points to Askar Akhmetov, Head of the Division for
Specialized International Organizations of the Kazakhstani
MFA. Akhmetov acknowledged the demarche but did not have an
immediate substantive response.

2. (U) Akhmetov informed Econoff that the Kazakhstani
Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Gulzhana
Karagusova, would lead the GOK delegation to the June
conference. See Reftel C for background on Minister
Karagusova.

3. (U) The Kazakhstani delegation will also include the
president of the largest trade union confederation in
Kazakhstan, Siyazbek Mukashev. The Federation of Labor
Unions of Kazakhstan is the successor organization to the
Soviet trade unions and represents, as of February 2005,
1,860,000 workers.

4. (SBU) The delegation will also include the president and
vice president of the Kazakhstani Association of Employers,
Kadyr Baykenov (a former energy minister and president of
the state atomic energy company) and vice president
Alexander Mashkevich. Mashkevich, a billionaire oligarch,
heads the Eurasian Industrial Association. His business
interests are primarily in metals, and his main customer in
Kazakhstan is Mittal Steel. Mashkevich is also reputed to
own one of the main newspapers in Kazakhstan. He maintains
his close relations with President Nazarbayev by funding one
of the main "pro-presidential" political parties in
Kazakhstan.

5. (U) Minimize for Dushanbe considered.

Asquino

NNNN

© Scoop Media