KAZAKHSTAN JOINS IEC

In what is widely recognized in the IEC community as a major victory, Kazakhstan has progressed from being a participant in the Affiliate Country Programme to its new status as Associate Member, bringing the IEC’s total membership to 63 countries. The move gives Kazakhstan the right to participate in all technical meetings and in the Council and SMB meetings held within the framework of the annual General Meeting. It also has access rights and can comment on all IEC technical documents (from new work to Final Draft International Standards). In addition, the new Associate Member may ask to become a Participating member on a maximum of four technical committees and/or subcommittees with the right to vote on technical work emanating from its committees of choice.

“I am immensely pleased to see Kazakhstan take this initiative,” said IEC General Secretary Aharon Amit. “The Affiliate Country Programme is there to help countries get involved with the IEC and with international standardization and that is exactly what Kazakhstan is doing. I believe that this will lead the way for other Affiliate Country Programme participants who are considering making a similar move.”

The IEC Affiliate Country Programme, created in 2001, is aimed at all newly-industrializing countries around the world. The Programme offers such countries a form of participation in the IEC without the financial burden of actual membership, making full use of all IT tools to reduce costs of participation to virtually zero. The programme has two principal aims:

• To encourage greater awareness and use of IEC international standards in newly-industrializing countries; and
• To help newly-industrializing countries understand and participate in the work of the IEC.

Kazakhstan, located in Central Asia, borders Russia to the north, China to the East, the Caspian Sea to the west and, to the south, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. With a population of about 15 million, it is a resource-rich country with major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, bauxite, gold and uranium. In terms of territory, it is the largest of the former Soviet republics. It produces large quantities of grain and livestock. In 2001 (latest figures) the country produced 52.43 billion kWh of electricity.