|                                                                                                                                                             |  | LETTER FROM THE U.S. OMBUDSMAN                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            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|**BISNISHome PageSearchBISNISEmbassyReportsCountryReportsIndustryReportsPublicationsSourcesof FinanceLeadsand EventsExchangeRatesState ExportsOtherSources** |  | September 1997My work on behalf of U.S. companies as U.S. Ombudsman for Energy and Commercial
Cooperation with the New Independent States continues this year on a number of
fronts--especially in the Russian Far East--and I would like to bring you up-to-date on its
progress.  As
U.S. Ombudsman, my principal responsibilities are to promote priority energy and commercial
projects in the NIS countries, advocate for U.S. companies pursuing such projects, and encourage
NIS governments to create business-friendly environments for U.S. firms doing business in their
countries.  To do this, I work closely with the White House, the Departments of Commerce,
Energy, and State, and other federal agencies.  In addition to direct trade promotion
responsibilities, my office is deeply involved in coordinating the activities of the U.S.-Russian
Gore Chernomyrdin Commission and its counterparts in Ukraine and Kazakstan, the Gore-
 Kuchma and Gore Nazarbayev Commissions.In Russian Regions: Private Sector Participation
We are working closely with U.S. and Russian businesses, our counterparts in the Government of
Russia, and other U.S. agencies in developing the Regional Investment Initiative, which had its
genesis at the last meeting of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission.  The essential purpose of the
initiative is to help the regions create business climate conditions conducive to the expansion of
both Russian and foreign investment.  This summer the initiative's preliminary activities began to
take shape, both in key investment-friendly regions and in the range of regions as a whole.One important activity was the latest meeting of the U.S. West Coast Russian Far East Ad
Hoc Working Group, which I co-chaired in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy in May.  This was the
largest business meeting ever held in Kamchatka, with more than 300 participants, including 180
representatives from the U.S. and Russian private sectors.  Private sector participants at the
Petropavlovsk meeting jointly developed more than 30 initiatives to further U.S.-Russian
commercial ties.  These initiatives include proposals to develop a framework for RFE regional
governments to provide loan or credit guarantees; to create an association of tourism companies;
to begin compiling and disseminating seafood production and export data; to explore
improvements in U.S. immigration procedures for crews of Russian fishing vessels; to create a
bilateral commercial dispute resolution committee; and to establish an Internet website providing
increased access for business people to RFE and West Coast commercial information.  In the
meetings, I stressed the need for greater regional cooperation, especially in such important areas
as energy, foreign investment, and travel regulations, suggesting that a visa should be valid for the
RFE without requiring the inclusion of each city to be visited.  I also intervened with local
government officials on behalf of U.S. businesses involved in commercial disputes in the
region.Participants also discussed steps needed at the federal level to enable expansion of trade and
investment.  Reports on  the fishing industry and transportation infrastructure, and hearings
arranged by the Russian Duma and the American Chamber of Commerce about the latter's white
paper on commerce between the two regions were widely discussed as well.  The working group
decided that a set of recommendations on priority measures to expand trade and investment
should be developed and signed by representatives from each U.S. West Coast state and Russian
Far East region for submission to the GCC, as well as to cabinet officers and legislatures of both
countries.  The next meeting of the working group will be held in Portland, Oregon on October
27 and 28.Energy Meetings
Elsewhere in Russia and the NIS this year, I have advocated for U.S. commercial interests in the
energy sector.  I met with representatives of a U.S. energy company's subsidiary in Kazan to
discuss possible advocacy of the subsidiary's joint venture in Tatarstan.  The joint venture had
experienced problems with Russian customs regulations and restricted pipeline access.  After I
spoke with Russian Government representatives, the U.S. company reported that the customs and
pipeline access issues had been resolved.  I have met on a number of other occasions this year
with Russian Government officials through the GCC's Oil and Gas Working Group--co-chaired
by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Michael Copps and myself--to discuss energy
issues.Together with DAS Copps, who is also co-chair of the U.S. Kazakstan Oil and Gas Working
Group, I met with Murlan Balgimbayev, president of Kazakoil, Kazakstan's new state oil
company this spring.  After learning more about Kazakoil, we were joined by representatives of
more than 20 U.S. energy companies to discuss investment opportunities in Kazakstan's energy
sector.  This spring I discussed energy and other commercial issues with President Saparmurat
Niyazov of Turkmenistan and President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan during a trip to Central
Asia.  Activities in the countries of the Caucasus culminated in the visits to Washington of
President Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia (July 16-18) and of President Heydar Aliyev of
Azerbaijan (July 29-August 1) which featured discussion of Caspian energy developments and the
use of the Eurasian transit corridor to carry these energy products to Western markets.  The
Overseas Private Investment Corporation sponsored a business briefing by President
Shevardnadze during his visit.  The Commerce Department sponsored a briefing by President
Aliyev, which  I chaired, where both energy and non-energy companies discussed  the trade and
investment climate in Azerbaijan.Jan H. Kalicki
           Counselor to the U.S. Department of Commerce and
       U.S. Ombudsman for Energy and Commercial Cooperation
                            with the New Independent StatesThis report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for the Newly
                         Independent States (BISNIS)