(213b) A Conversion Program Success Story

As part of its program to implement the Nunn-Luger Act of 1991, the Department of State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assisted the staff of the former biological weapons facility in Stepnogorsk. Kazakhstan in establishing a new organization to provide Kazakhstan with environmental and commercial analytical services and other scientific support. This paper will review how the conversion was accomplished, the scientific studies that were conducted as part of the training and conversion process, the status of the new commercial entity that was formed to serve as employment for the former weaponeers, discuss the challenges that the new company faces in identifying its mix of products and services, and discuss the opportunity that the new company provides for American and other foreign companies to market their scientific services and products in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.