OFFICIAL BAKU REGRETS CANCELLATION OF NATO EXERCISES COOPERATIVE BEST
EFFORT-2004

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 15 2004

BAKU, September 15 (RIA Novosti) – The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan
has circulated a statement in which “deep regret was expressed in
connection with the cancellation of NATO’ exercises Cooperative Best
Effort-2004 which were slated for September 14-26 in Azerbaijan
within the framework of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.

The statement, which says that Azerbaijan viewed these exercises “as
a remarkable and significant event on the way of integration into the
Euro-Atlantic space and created all the necessary conditions for
their holding” stresses at the same time that during the peace talks
on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict “the
leadership of Armenia has been taking ever more non-constructive and
tougher stance.” “In this situation the participation of the Armenian
military in the exercises held in Azerbaijani territory was
unacceptable for Azerbaijan,” the statement says.

The foreign ministry’s statement also stresses that the Azerbaijani
side confirms its adherence to the Euro-Atlantic values and
partnership with NATO and expresses the hope that the relations of
effective partnership which were established between NATO and
Azerbaijan will dynamically develop in future.”

The unwillingness of the Azerbaijani authorities to see
representatives of Armenia whose “occupation troops” as it is alleged
in Baku continue to retain a considerable part of the country’s
territory has led to the cancellation of the exercises. It is also
assumed in Baku, that the support rendered by Yerevan to the
authorities of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorny Karabakh – an
Armenian enclave on the territory of Azerbaijan – is conducive to the
strengthening of the “separatist regime in Stepanakert” and hinders
the returning of Nagorny Karabakh under the jurisdiction of
Azerbaijan.

INTEGRATION WILL HELP REGIONAL SECURITY

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 15 2004

YEREVAN, September 15 (RIA Novosti) – In an interview with RIA
Novosti, Director of the Institute of Civil Society and Regional
Development Agavni Karakhanyan said that as convinced supporter of
regional cooperation, Yerevan thought that deepening the integration
processes within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent
States(CIS) would, in many respects, help ensure regional security,
stability and the resolution of existing conflicts.

Speaking about the positions Armenia would take at the summit in
Astana, Ms. Karakhanyan said that her country, whose economy is at
the stage of a stable development, was pursuing qualitatively new
goals, primarily connected with the necessity of integrating regional
structures, especially in the energy industry and transportation.

“In Astana,” she said, “CIS countries will in principle uphold
common issues: the fulfillment of the most important measures for
developing economic cooperation, which presupposes the formation of
a common legal space oriented toward international standards in the
sphere of interstate relations in the economy and aimed at creating
an efficient mechanism for implementing the decisions and agreements
within the framework of the CIS, firstly, concerning security.”

In her opinion, overall, the goal of the summit will be to search
for ways to effectively use the strong intellectual base, the CIS
countries’ economic potential and their joint efforts for strengthening
both internal and external security.

At the same time, Ms. Karakhanyan said the opinions of the CIS
countries differ with regard to some of the political and economic
problems related to strengthening the CIS.

These differences in economic ideologies have resulted in lessening
cooperation in the real sphere of the economy, which is the basis of
integration. “The need has arisen to revive this basis and jointly
work out,” she said, “and then consistently carry out a common policy,
which is advantageous foreveryone, on gaining access to world markets
and also utilize the strong transit potential and energy resources.”

She said the argument for overcoming all differences in the CIS was
the threat of terrorism and the solving of common security problem,
which can only be accomplished through joint efforts.

NATO DELEGATE REMARKS ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

A1 Plus TV, Armenia
Sept 15 2004

YEREVAN, 15.09.04. Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday after
meeting with Armenia`s officials, head of Germany`s NATO delegation
Markus Meckel, said Armenia plays a key role in the stability of the
South Caucasus, adding that neighbors should maintain good relations
for common security. A visiting delegation of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the NATO member states arrived Monday in Yerevan. Meckel
acknowledged the Armenian genocide, and maintained it must be
recognized by the international community. Meckel, a lawmaker, is a
member of Germany`s Social Democrat party, and a former East German
Foreign Minister.

ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS TO FOCUS ON KARABAGH

ArmenPress
Sept 15 2004

ASTANA, SEPTEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev are set to meet today evening in
Kazakhstan’s capital Astana to focus on the Nagorno Karabagh conflict
regulation. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, who initiated the
meeting on the sidelines of a CIS summit, will also attend it.

Russian Itar-Tass news agency quoted a source in the Kremlin as saying
that it was Moscow’s initiative to organize the meeting and that both
presidents responded positively to the proposal. “The main focus
at the meeting will be on Nagorno-Karabagh settlement. In Moscow’s
view, the three-way format has justified itself,” the source said,
adding that Moscow has always believed that the Armenian and Azeri
sides should themselves seek for a solution, while Moscow is ready
to help them achieve a mutually acceptable peace formula.

Azeri president Ilham Aliyev was also optimistic about this
meeting. He was quoted last week by Azeri mass media as saying that the
meeting would have a crucial importance for settling the protracted
conflict. “The meeting may introduce clarity into the situation so
that we could see where we actually are at the moment and whether
we’re getting closer to an agreement or drifting away from it,”
he was quoted as saying.

GENOCIDE RECOGNITION REMAINS ON ARMENIAN FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA,
DEPUTY FM MINISTER SAYS

ArmenPress
Sept 15 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: Speaking at public discussions
today, organized by Public Dialogue and Initiatives Center to look
into political prerequisites for opening the Turkish-Armenian border,
Armenian deputy foreign affairs minister Ruben Shugarian reaffirmed
that the recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide by Turkey remained
on Armenia’s foreign policy agenda, but added that Armenia did
not look at it as a condition for normalization of relations with
Ankara and establishment of diplomatic relations. He said Armenia’s
commitment to seek international acknowledgment and condemnation of
the 1915 genocide is viewed not only in the context of restoration of
the historical truth, but also in the context of reciprocal regional
confidence, security and prevention of such crimes in future.

He said a series of various-level meetings between Armenian and
Turkish foreign ministries’ representatives was important as they
provide an environment to discuss the most sensitive questions and
exchange views on regional and international developments. Pointing
out the attempts of both nations’ non-governmental organizations,
universities and businessmen to establish contacts, he said the
existing problems can be solved only on government level.

He also spoke about economic figures, saying that despite the absence
of diplomatic relations, trade turnout between the two countries is
growing yearly. Until 1995 Armenian exports prevailed over Turkish
imports, now the picture is different. According to official figures,
the amount of Turkish imports last year stood at almost $37 million,
while Armenian exports made only $1.1 million. In 2002 Armenian exports
amounted to $1.5 million. At the end of his speech he singled out US
and EU mediation efforts aimed at the opening of the border.

ARMENIA ABLE TO GENERATE 18 BILLION KWH OF ELECTRICITY

ArmenPress
Sept 15 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: A study conducted by the
Yerevan-based Energy Strategy Center has revealed that electricity
consumption in Armenia may reach 16-17 billon kw/h annually by 2020,
as much as was consumed by the nation in 1988 before the disintegration
of the former Soviet Union, when Armenia was rated as one of the most
industrialized Soviet republics.. The study, assisted by the government
of Armenia and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was to
explore Armenia’s power grid’s development potentialities (including
also the nuclear power plant capacities) by 2020.

Currently Armenia produces some 6 billion kw/h of energy. Part of
the expected to be produced electricity will be shipped to Armenia’s
neighbors, especially that the system is technically able to do it
and given that no political problems will hinder it.

According to another, pessimistic version of developments, the volume
of to be consumed energy by 2020 may reach only 10 billion kw/h,
though the current electricity generating facilities are able to
generate some 18 billion kw/h of electricity.

According to the study, price of one kw/h can be set at 5 US cents. By
the way, Armenia has the highest electricity price among other former
Soviet republics, but it is rather low of that in developed countries.

NEXT US-ARMENIA JOINT TASK FORCE TO MEET IN WASHINGTON OCTOBER 4

ArmenPress
Sept 15 2004

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS: US ambassador to Armenia, John
Evans, told a news conference today that the 9-th meeting of the
US-Armenia Joint Task Force will take place in Washington on October
4 and will discuss bilateral strategic approaches towards boosting
economic growth, improvement of business environment, ways to make US
assistance to Armenia more addressed as well as security, agricultural
and nature protection issues.

John Evans said the meeting will discuss also Armenia’s proposals for
the Millennium Challenges Account program. The Armenian delegation
to Washington will be headed by finance and economy minister Vartan
Khachatrian, who is also the Armenian co-chairman of the Task Force.

NATO CANCELLATION SPURS DEBATE IN AZERBAIJAN
Mammad Baghirov and Shahin Abbasov

Eurasianet
9/15/04

The protests that led to the cancellation of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organizationâ^À^Ùs exercises in Azerbaijan this week are being
interpreted in Baku as the first public expression of popular will
since President Ilham Aliyevâ^À^Ùs accession to power in 2003. Yet
while some believe this show of force indicates that Azerbaijan still
possesses a robust opposition, others are more worried about what
NATOâ^À^Ùs decision will mean in the long term for the country.

Protests at Armeniaâ^À^Ùs participation in the “Cooperative Best
Effort-2004” exercises, an annual training session for Partnership
for Peace participants, gained steam in late August, when members
of the Karabakh Liberation Organization were sentenced to prison
for forcing their way into a NATO planning conference in Baku that
included Armenian military officers. Anger at the arrests quickly
took on momentum, with pickets held outside the British, German and
French embassies and both pro-government MPs and the opposition media
calling on the Aliyev government to deny Armenia entry into Azerbaijan
for the September 14-26 games.

Though Bakuâ^À^Ùs support for Armeniaâ^À^Ùs participation in the games
began to cool even before the protests, the resulting political tension
appears to have forced Aliyev to clearly define the governmentâ^À^Ùs
position and abandon earlier assurances this April that Armenian
representatives would be allowed into Azerbaijan for the exercises. On
September 10, the Foreign Ministry refused to issue visas to all
Armenian military officers. The same day, parliament pushed for NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to rescind the invitation to
Armenia to take part in the exercises, saying that the officersâ^À^Ù
presence does not “correspond with the interests of the nation.”

One day later, Aliyevâ^À^Ùs position was made clear: “Everybody was
invited by NATO. But if you ask the Azerbaijani people, do they want
the Armenian military to come to Baku, they would say no,” Aliyev
said during a visit to the Barda region. “I do not want their visit
as well.”

A tersely worded statement in response from NATOâ^À^Ùs Supreme
Command on Monday said that the decision to cancel the games took
place after the allianceâ^À^Ùs “principle of inclusiveness was
violated.” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar is expected to attend
meetings at NATO headquarters in Brussels this week to discuss the
countryâ^À^Ùs participation in the Partnership for Peace program,
the Baku newspaper Ekspress quoted the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry as
saying on September 14. “The minister is paying a working visit and,
therefore, no precise topic or principal issue is on the agenda,”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Matin Mirza said.

Throughout the past weeks of protest, however, the government has
struggled to hold on to some degree of neutrality. Permission was
not given for street rallies, and pro-government media refrained
from endorsing independent and opposition journalistsâ^À^Ù calls
for Armenia to be denied entry for the NATO games. The ruling “Yeni
Azerbaijan Party” (YAP) abstained from participation in activities
organized by various public and political organizations, yet was quick
to express its support for the public mood. In a recent interview
with the Baku-based Echo daily newspaper, Bahar Muradova, a member
of parliament and the deputy executive secretary of YAP, said that
her party was instead “negotiating with international organizations
and informing them about the opinion of the Azerbaijani people.”

But in a country where outrage with Armenia over the 1988-1994
Nagorno-Karabakh war still runs deep, appearing out of sync with
such an “opinion” could carry heavy political risks. The Karabakh
Liberation Organizationâ^À^Ùs role in sparking the protests was duly
noted by Aliyev, who commented on an earlier trip to Nahichevan that
the court sentence passed down on the organizationâ^À^Ùs activists was
“too severe.”

With municipal elections scheduled for this December, Aliyevâ^À^Ùs
belief that the activistsâ^À^Ù sentences should be softened appears
well-calculated. The elections will be the first contested vote since
the bloody demonstrations that marked Aliyevâ^À^Ùs election in October
2003. Though Azerbaijanâ^À^Ùs opposition has been badly handicapped
by the brutal crackdown that followed, any government rebuff of the
NATO protests, in which Aliyevâ^À^Ùs critics played a large role,
could conceivably strengthen the oppositionâ^À^Ùs standing with voters.

Some observers see the governmentâ^À^Ùs about-face as a sign of
weak political leadership. “The incident shows that the Azerbaijani
leadership is feeble-minded,” independent political analyst Zardust
Alizada told Azad Azarbaycan TV on September 13. “Armenians could
choose to come or not to come. This would have had no impact on the
Karabakh settlement.”

One interpretation of events states that the participation of certain
pro-government organizations in the protests could indicate a division
within the ruling elite. Aside from pro-government parliamentarians,
the participation in the protests of the newly-created Party of
Unified Popular Front of Azerbaijan, led by Gudrat Gasanguliyev, a
former opposition member, and the National Forum of Non-Governmental
Organizations, led by Azay Guliyev, a member of the State Pardoning
Commission, has prompted this analysis. Under this interpretation,
anti-Aliyev groups within existing power structures worked to use
the protests to muddy Aliyevâ^À^Ùs international image.

Others place the government fully in control of events, and
maintain that NATO â^À^Ùs cancellation decision will merely
serve Azerbaijanâ^À^Ùs aims at talks between Aliyev and Armenian
President Robert Kocharian on Nagorno-Karabakh at a September
15 meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Astana,
Kazakhstan. According to this version, Azerbaijanâ^À^Ùs refusal to
grant Armenian representatives entry into the country can be used to
secure additional concessions from Armenia, which, like Azerbaijan,
is eager to tighten its ties to NATO.

Meanwhile, what the move will mean for Azerbaijanâ^À^Ùs relations with
NATO and the US has stirred an equally vociferous debate. Particular
attention is expected to focus on Aliyevâ^À^Ùs September 22 visit to
New York when he will address the United Nations and, according to an
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry statement to the Olaylar news agency,
meet with President George W. Bush. Recently, speculation has run
rife that a planned redeployment of 70,000 American troops from Europe
and East Asia could result in the opening of a US base in Azerbaijan.

Uzeyir Cafarov, an independent military expert, told Azad Azarbaycan
TV on September 13 that the Azerbaijani governmentâ^À^Ùs response to
the protests will inevitably hamper efforts to integrate the country
within NATO. “The attitude towards us will alter. Just imagine that
up to 1,000 servicemen from about 20 countries have come to Baku. Now
they are returning home frustrated,” Cafarov said.

For its part, the US has attempted to counter that belief. An
unidentified representative of the US embassy in Baku told the news
agency Turan, that while Washington supports NATOâ^À^Ùs decision, ”
[w]e do not think that this decision has anything to do with Bakuâ^À^Ùs
desire to cooperate with NATO and become closer to the alliance.”

One former foreign minister blames NATO itself for the failed war
games, arguing that the decision to cancel the exercises suggests that
the organization does not understand the nature of Azerbaijanâ^À^Ùs
grievances against Armenia. “Azerbaijan is a victim of aggression,
our lands are under occupation and we have hundreds of thousands
of refugees. It is wrong not to take heed of this,” former Foreign
Minister Tofiq Zulfuqarov told Azad Azerbaycan TV. “This position
should be taken into consideration in the future by NATO and other
international structures.”

A leading academician takes that argument even further, insisting
that, regardless of the countryâ^À^Ùs participation in the Partnership
for Peace, Azerbaijan has no obligation to NATO to invite Armenian
military personnel into the country.

“Itâ^À^Ùs not the Yerevan zoo that is going to come to Azerbaijan,
but the military of the country, whose commander-in-chief [President
Robert Kocharian] openly speaks about his participation in the
occupation of Azerbaijanâ^À^Ùs territory,” said Rovshan Mustafayev,
director of the Institute on Human Rights of the National Academy
of Sciences. “[I]f for some reason there will be associates of
[ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic, Kocharian or [ex-Iraqi
President] Saddam Hussein in the lists of participants, the host
country has the right to deny them.”

Editorâ^À^Ùs Note: Shahin Abbasov and Mammad Baghirov are deputy
editors-in-chief of the Baku-based daily newspaper Echo.

Posted September 15, 2004 © Eurasianet

CENN – SEPTEMBER 15, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. BTC Oil Pipeline Construction Goes within Schedule
2. BTC Main Pumping Station Built on Sangachal Terminal
3. Georgia to Collaborate with Iran in Tourism Sector
4. Russian Energy Chief Laments Georgian “Aggression”
5. 24th International Ornithological Congress

1. BTC OIL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION GOES WITHIN SCHEDULE

Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 14, 2004

Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to be completed in
first half 2005, goes within the schedule, and over 75 % of works have
been already completed.

1695 km of pipeline is prepared for laying, 1583 km – for welding, 1487
km dug for ditch, 875 km of pipe laid, AzerTAj correspondent learnt from
Company’s press-service.

2. BTC MAIN PUMPING STATION BUILT ON SANGACHAL TERMINAL

Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 14, 2004

85% of construction works were completed in the main pumping station of
Sangachal terminal, envisaged for Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan export oil
pipeline.

Building of pumping cover at 14 m height and the first three main pumps
for oil export in “Central Azeri” part of this station have been already
constructed, another two pumps will be delivered to the terminal late
2004, AzerTAj correspondent learnt from press-service of BP company.

Assemblage of steel construction is going on.

3. GEORGIA TO COLLABORATE WITH IRAN IN TOURISM SECTOR

Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
September 14, 2004

Chairman of the State Department of Georgia for resorts and tourism Saba
Kinknadze stated that Iran shows interest in tourism sector of Georgia,
AzerTAj correspondent reported. According to Mr. Kinknadze, Georgian
delegation will visit Iran on September 24, 2004 and learn the
experience of this country in developing culture and historical tourism.

4. RUSSIAN ENERGY CHIEF LAMENTS GEORGIAN “AGGRESSION”

Source: RAO’s website, September 14, 2004, #174 (0698)

The head of RAO-UES in Georgia Andrei Rappaport says that he is no
longer comfortable in Georgia owing to the “aggression” of the Georgian
government.

RAO-UES owns Telasi, the energy company which distributes electricity in
Tbilisi, but Rappaport, who is a deputy head of the Russian company and
head of its activities in Georgia, says that he is opposed to further
investment in the Georgian energy sector owing to the current situation.

“In Armenia, they are very kind to us. If there is any problem it is
solved at once,” Rappaport said in a wide-ranging interview with the
Russian paper Gazeta concerning the company’s activities. The interview
was also published on RAO-UES’s website.

“I cannot say that we are broadening exports in Georgia, we are just
stabilizing the situation,” Rappaport said

He added that income from RAO-UES’s Armenian utility is about USD 80
million but only USD 15 million in Georgia. “They have problem paying
money in Georgia and Georgia has about 53 million lari in debts. We also
have problems with local authorities, there is some aggression toward
us, but it is unclear what the cause of it is since Georgia is eager to
welcome new investors in the country,” Rappaport said.

“As I have declared at my last negotiations with Georgian authorities, I
am not feeling very comfortable, so I am not planning any serious
investment in Georgia. Our position is based on business logic – if you
want energy pay for it, and if there is not any money to pay, then
good-bye,” he told Gazeta.

Last summer, RAO-UES took over the Telasi electric company from the
American firm AES.

As for specific examples of aggression, Rappaport said, “for instance
the tax police tries to block our account numbers of the company. The
situation is as follows. The budget owes us about GEL 5 million for the
import of energy but we also have to pay to the budget the amount of 3
million lari for tax payments.”

“We will not pay taxes until Georgia will pay us what they own.
Moreover, some authorities of the Georgian government try to revise the
negotiations that was signed before. We have already paid all debts in
the amount of 40 million dollars and we are going to appeal to the court
of London,” Rappaport said.

Analysts forecast that Rappaport’s statements could reflect major
problems within the Georgian energy sector, as he is chairman of the
supervisory boards of both the biggest electricity company Telasi and
the joint Georgian-Russian company Sakrusenergo.

Furthermore, he is the only person entrusted by Russian electricity
companies to resolve difficulties in Georgia; and intended this week to
hold negotiations with the Georgian government regarding Georgia’s debts
to Russia, although later he postponed his meeting and now intends to
meet the representatives of Georgia during the CIS Summit in Astana,
Kazakhstan.

Part of this debt is due to rehabilitation work carried out on
high-voltage lines in Abkhazia in 2000. The Ministry of Energy agreed
that the work would be partly financed by Sakrusenergo, which
contributed USD 180,000, and partly by the Abkhaz Energy Company
ChernomorEnergo, which received USD 600,000 from the Russian Energy
Ministry towards the project of rehabilitating the lines that connected
Enguri and Sochi.

The head of Sakrusenergo Gia Maisuradze told Georgian television that
“the Georgian side agreed during negotiations with the Abkhaz side to
help to restore the electricity lines that were destroyed during the
war. The then-Minister of Energy David Mirtskhulava issued a decree and
I was obliged to follow it, though these lines did not belong to the
company.”

This restored line is now a subject of controversy, as it is believed by
Georgia that it is being used to illegally move electricity from Georgia
to Abkhazia.

“The energy that is used by Abkhazia is equal to the energy that is used
by nearly the whole of Georgia. Then the Abkhaz sell this energy in
Russia and afterwards we buy the same energy back at much higher
prices,” the president Mikheil Saakashvili told members of the Abkhaz
Supreme Council on Friday.

As reports Rustavi-2, a General Prosecutor’s Office investigation found
that much of the energy produced by Enguri Hydroelectric station was
being moved to Russia through Abkhazia, after which Georgia was buying
it back at higher prices.

The investigation found that several intermediary firms, headed by
Georgian and Russian officials, were exploiting this difference in price
to make very high profits. Among these companies, the most famous is
Winfield, which was founded in 2000 (the year the Georgian government
contributed to rehabilitating the electricity lines in Abkhazia) and is
headed by Ilia Kutidze, who now lives in Moscow where he works for
RAO-UES.

Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports on Rustavi-2 that the director
of Sakrusenergo Maisuardze may be dismissed from his post when Rappaport
next visits Tbilisi, and replaced by former Premier of Tbilisi Gia
Sheradze.

5. 24TH INTERNATIONAL ORNITHOLOGICAL CONGRESS

13. – 19. August 2006
Hamburg, Germany

For the more detailed information about 24th International
Ornithological Congress please visit:

Putin to meet Armenian, Azerbaijani presidents at CIS summit
By Viktoria Sokolova

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 15, 2004 Wednesday 12:26 AM Eastern Time

MOSCOW, September 15 — Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Ilkham
Aliyev, at the CIS summit opening in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

The president’s aide Sergei Prikhodko told Itar-Tass that the
three-party format of such meeting had proved useful.

The Kremlin proceeds from the assumption that the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan “should come to agreement between each other”,
and Russia “can make its contribution to the development and deepening
of the dialogue”.

“Moscow has been the initiator of the three-party meeting of the
presidents,” a source in the presidential administration told
Itar-Tass.

The Kremlin does not rule out that Kocharyan and Aliyev will hold a
face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the summit in Astana.