Kazakhstan\'s Prime Minister Imanghaliy Tasmaghambetov told his cabinet on 27 May that the Kazakh language should be used more extensively within the government. The cabinet meeting was held in order for ministers to report on progress in implementing the law on the use of the state language within their ministries. Tasmaghambetov was quoted as calling for government officials to use Kazakh as much as possible in meetings and on public occasions. He dismissed complaints about a scarcity of Kazakh speakers and other excuses for continuing to conduct business in Russian. The same source asserted that, according to official data, 70 percent of military personnel now have a command of the Kazakh language, compared with only 5 percent in the early 1990s. But Tasmaghambetov complained that the administrations of only four of the country\'s 14 oblasts use Kazakh exclusively in conducting official business. The rest reportedly do their paperwork in Russian and then translate it into Kazakh. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)