Astana believes that the construction of an oil pipeline to Iran will benefit Kazakhstan both politically and economically. In particular, Kazakh Economy and Trade Minister Zhaksybek Kulekeyev thinks the project "very attractive" from the economic point of view. He reckons that the Iranian route is "the most beneficial" for exporting Kazakh oil. In an interview with Interfax-Kazakhstan, the minister said that Kazakh oil could gain swift access to the world market through the pipeline. He says that, because of the warm climate in the areas where the pipelines will be laid, it will not be expensive to operate them, and this will make it easier to set relatively low oil transportation charges. At the same time, if the project is implemented, the minister drew attention to a number of difficulties arising from the situation in Turkmenistan and Iran, through which the pipeline will run. (Interfax-Kazakhstan) BRITISH PENAL REFORMER PLEASED WITH KAZAKHSTAN VISIT 18 May The secretary-general of Penal Reform International (PRI) and a member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament, Baroness Vivien Stern, has positively assessed the process of reforming the penitentiary system and justice in Kazakhstan. At a news conference which took place in Almaty on May 18 on the results of her visit to Kazakhstan, Stern said that the Kazakh government had carried out "a significant reform" of its court and penitentiary system towards humanism and moved from the "repressive past". She stressed that PRI welcomes and supports the republic's plans to reduce the number of people in prisons, introducing alternative measures of punishment and reducing the terms of punishment. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)