CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 04/2015

LE MONDE KAZAKHSTAN
The Power House of Central Asia
Beket Ata in
the desert of
Mangistau, site
of a famous
underground
mosque.
FACTS &
FIGURES
Kazakhstan, the 9th largest country of the world, is presenting itself
as a “model for transitional states“ with the upcoming EXPO 2017
in its capital Astana, as the next milestone towards the West.
Text: Rainer Himmelfreundpointner
The ”Baytarek“ place.
Inspired by the ancient
Turkish folk tale of Samruk,
the ”magical bird of
happiness“, the famous
British architect Sir Norman
Foster created this icon of
Astana. The Kazakh capital is
also nicknamed as the
”Manhattan in the steppe“.
FOTOS: XYXXYXYXY
FOTOS: XYXXYXYXY
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE EMBASSY OF KAZAKHSTAN IN AUSTRIA
If you want to have ”three months of non-stop activity“
– squeezed with unmatched business opportunities,
international power networking at
its best, high-level conferences, outstanding exhibitions
and, last but not least, parties, parties plus more
parties – then you better block your schedule right
now between June 10, 2017 and September 10, 2017.
For this is going to be the high time of one of the
biggest upcoming global events – the ”EXPO 2017“
in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, featuring everything
one needs to know about ”Future Energy“.
Apart from the worldwide attention Astana has
attracted five years ago, when hosting the 2010 Summit
of the ”Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe“, OSCE (see also story on page 62),
the EXPO 2017 not only will be the first time that a
major international exhibition of this kind is coming
to a country from the former Soviet Union. Moreover,
it will represent a major milestone for a state of
the former Soviet Union defining its position amidst
the Western community. Already, Kazakhstan, the
9th largest country of the world with a population of
some 17 million people, is painting itself as ”a place
where East meets West in the heart of Eurasia“.
During the EXPO 2017, this place will be especially
well crowded. Astana expects more than 100
countries and at least 10 international organizations
to participate, luring some 2-3 million visitors to the
many pavilions spreading out over an area of 113
hectares. The site‘s architeture, which was designed
by Chicago-based ”Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture“
(who had won the global pitch against
such icons like Zaha Hadid, London, or Coop
Himmelb(l)au, Vienna, by the way), looks like a giant
starship out of a ”Star Trek“ movie with a huge
wind turbine in the middle – a mighty symbol for
Kazakhstan‘s rapid advance from Russia‘s deserted
backyard and vast puffer zone against China to a major
player mapping the future in Central Asia.
It seems more than remarkable that Kazakhstan,
which gained independence from the former Soviet
Union under its first President Nursultan Nazarbayev,
on December 16, 1991 (the National Holiday).
He achieved this development in a mere quarter of a
century. Today it is presenting itself as ”a model for
transitional states“ and is proud of being ”a responsible
member of the international community“, as
H.E. Kairat Sarybay, Kazakhstan‘s Ambassador to
Austria, puts it. Like Thailand (see coverstory on
Kazakhstan
Official name:
Republic of Kazakhstan
Capital: Astana
Official languages: Kazakh,
Russian
Ethnic groups:
Kazakh (63,6%), Russian
(23,3%), Uzbek (2,9%),
Ukrainian (2%), Uyghur
(1,4%), Tatar (1,2%), German
(1,1%), others (4,55)
Religion: Muslim (70%),
Christians (26%), ca. 4,170
religious groups
Government:
Unitary dominant-party
Presidential Republic
• President: Nursultan
Nazarbayev
• Prime Minister: Karim
Massimov
Legislature: Parliament
Independence from the
Soviet Union: 1991
Area: 2,72 mio. sqkm 2 (9th)
Population: 17,563,000
GDP 2014 (nominal):
• 208,600 billion US-Dollar
GDP per capita 2014
(nominal):
• 12,270 US-Dollar
The Kashagan oil field in
the Caspian Sea, one of
the largest in the world,
is estimated to hold
as much as 35 billion
barrels of crude oil.
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Cercle Diplomatique 4/2015
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