GENERAL INFORMATION

Kazakhstan, (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan,; Russian: Казахстан, Kazakhstán), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of northern and central Eurasia. Ranked the ninth largest country in the world, it has a territory of 2,727,300 km² (greater than Western Europe). While located mainly in Asia, a small portion lies in Europe. It borders Russia, the People's Republic of China, and the Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan and has a coastline on the Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan is a constitutional republic. The president is the head of state. The president also is the commander in chief of the armed forces and may veto legislation that has been passed by the Parliament. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Ministers and serves as Kazakhstan's head of government.

Kazakhstan has a bicameral Parliament, made up of the 47-member Senate (upper house) and 107-member Majilis.

According to the Constitution, 32 senators are made up of 2 elected representatives from each oblasts (provinces, total number 14), Astana (capital city) and Almaty (former capital city), the remaining 15 are appointed by the President of Kazakhstan.

In Majilis, 98 seats are contested among the political parties on the proportional basis. 9 seats are allocated as quota for the Kazakhstan Nationalities Assembly, represents ethnic minorities in the country.   Kazakhstan is divided into 14 oblasts and two municipal districts*: Almaty (Taldykorgan), Almaty*, Akmola (Kokshetau), Aktobe, Astana*, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan (Oral), Baikonur*, Mangistau (Aktau), South Kazakhstan (Shymkent), Pavlodar, Karagandi, Kostanai, Kyzylorda, East Kazakhstan (Oskemen), North Kazakhstan (Petropavlovsk), Zhambyl (Taraz).

 Note: Provinces have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses); in 1995 the Governments of Kazakhstan and Russia entered into an agreement whereby Russia would lease for a period of twenty years an area of 6,000 square kilometres; enclosing the Bayqongyr (Baykonur) space launch facilities and the city of Baikonur (formerly Leninsk). Recently, the lease of Baikonur facilities was extended through 2050.

Each province is headed by an Akim (provincial governor) appointed by the president. Municipal Akims are appointed by oblast Akims. The Government of Kazakhstan transferred its capital from Almaty to Astana on December 10, 1997.

Geography

With an area of 2.7 million square kilometers (1.05 million sq. mi), Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world and the largest landlocked country in the world. It is larger than Western Europe by size. It shares borders of 6,846 kilometers (4,254 mi) with Russia, 2,203 kilometers (1,369 mi) with Uzbekistan, 1,533 kilometers (953 mi) with the People's Republic of China, 1,051 kilometers (653 mi) with Kyrgyzstan, and 379 kilometers (235 mi) with Turkmenistan. Major cities include Astana (capital since December 1997), Almaty (the former capital), Karaganda, Shymkent, Semei and Turkestan.

The terrain extends west to east from the Caspian Sea to the Altay Mountains and north to south from the plains of Western Siberia to the oases and deserts of Central Asia. The Kazakh Steppe, with an area of around 804,500 square kilometres (310,600 sq. mi), occupies one-third of the country and is the world's largest dry steppe region. The steppe is characterized by large areas of grasslands and sandy regions. Important rivers and lakes include: the Aral Sea, Syrdarya river in Kyzylorda province, Ili River, Irtysh River, Ishim River, Ural River, Charyn River and gorge, Lake Balkhash, and Lake Zaysan.

The climate is humid continental, with hot summers and colder winters. Precipitation varies between arid and semi-arid conditions.

The Charyn River Canyon is 150-300 metres deep and 154 kilometres long, cutting through the red sandstone plateau and stretching along the Charyn River gorge in northern Tien Shan 'Heavenly Mountains' (200 km east of Almaty). The steep canyon slopes, columns and arches rise to heights of 150-300 m. The inaccessibility of the canyon provided a safe haven for a rare ash tree that survived the Ice Age and is nowadays also grown in some other areas.

Foreign Policy

Kazakhstan’s Foreign policy has always been consistent, pragmatic and stable. Kazakhstan has stable relationships with all of its neighbors and all the countries in the world. Kazakhstan is also a member of the United Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and Organization of the Islamic Conference(OIC). It is an active participant in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Partnership for Peace program.

Kazakhstan is also a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Economic Cooperation Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization along with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The nations of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan established the Eurasian Economic Community in 2000 to re-energize earlier efforts at harmonizing trade tariffs and the creation of a free trade zone under a customs union.

Kazakhstan is the initiator of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), currently comprising 18 nations. The CICA is aimed at increasing confidence and mutual understanding in the entire Asian continent through CBMs and offers unique platform for the leaders of the Asian countries to discuss security and economic issues so as to avoid any conflicts and bring about regional prosperity.

Since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has pursued what is known as the multivector foreign policy, seeking equally good relations with two large neighbors, Russia and China, and the United States and the West generally. The policy has yielded results in the oil and gas sector, where companies from the U.S., Russia, China, and Europe are present at all major fields, and in the multidimensional directions of oil export pipelines out of Kazakhstan.

Relations with India

In recent years, Kazakhstan’s relationship with India acquired a dynamic character. Trade turnover between the two countries is increasing 70% at average since 2006. In 2006 Indian investment to Kazakhstan has increased to 16 million US Dollars, indicating the growing confidence of Indian businessmen in the favourable environment in the Kazakh economy. On their part, Kazakh companies are also establishing their presence in India with KazStroy (infrastructure), Kaspain Shelf (oil exploration), TVL (retail equipment) being the earliest ones to explore the Indian market.

Bilateral cooperation has been successfully institutionalized with such structured mechanisms such as Inter-Government Commission, Joint Working Groups (JWG) on Hydrocarbons, Military and Technical Cooperation, Counter Terrorism, Sub-Committee for Science and Technology meeting annually and propelling joint activities for the benefit of the two nations. People-to-people contacts, cultural exchange and the tourist flow is on the high rise.

It is highly symbolic that President Nursultan Nazarbayev chose India to visit for the first time in 1992 after Kazakhstan gained its independence.

Economy Overview

Kazakhstan’s economy has been growing by 10% since 2000 and the GDP size is $77 billion. It is 55th biggest economy in the world according to the World Bank ranking for 2006. Presently GDP per capita is $7 thousand and the Government plans to increase it to 13 thousand by 2012. The President of Kazakhstan set a task of making Kazakhstan one of the 50 most competitive economies in the world.

External opinion considers Kazakhstan's monetary policy to be well-managed. The Kazakh currency, Tenge, is freely convertible and plays a symbol of Kazakhstan’s economic independence. Because of its strong macroeconomic performance and financial health, in 2000 Kazakhstan became the first former Soviet republic to repay all of its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 7 years ahead of schedule. In March 2002, the U.S. Department of Commerce graduated Kazakhstan to market economy status under U.S. trade law. The change in status recognized substantive market economy reforms in the areas of currency convertibility, wage rate determination, openness to foreign investment, and government control over the means of production and allocation of resources.

In September 2002 Kazakhstan became the first country in the CIS to receive an investment-grade credit rating from a major international credit rating agency.

The upturn in economic growth, combined with the results of earlier tax and financial sector reforms, dramatically improved government finances. In 2000, Kazakhstan adopted a new tax code. On November 29, 2003 the Law on Changes to Tax Code was adopted, which reduced tax rates. The value added tax fell from 16% to 15%, the social tax from 21% to 20%, and the personal income tax from 30% to 20%. (On July 7, 2006 the personal income tax was reduced even further to a flat rate of 5% for personal income in the form of dividends and 10% for other personal income.) Kazakhstan furthered its reforms by adopting a new land code on June 20, 2003, and a new customs code on April 5, 2003.

Energy is the leading economic sector. Kazakhstan holds about 4 billion tons of proven recoverable oil reserves and 2,000 cubic kilometers (480 cu mi) of gas. Industry analysts believe that planned expansion of oil production, coupled with the development of new fields, will enable the country to produce as much as 3 million barrels (477,000 m³) per day by 2015, lifting Kazakhstan into the ranks of the world's top 10 oil-producing nations. Major oil and gas fields and their recoverable oil reserves are Tengiz with 7 billion barrels (1.1 km³); Karachaganak with 8 billion barrels (1.3 km³) and 1,350 km³ of natural gas); and Kashagan with 7 to 9 billion barrels (1.1 to 1.4 km³).

In order to avoid, “Dutch disease” the Government of Kazakhstan established the National Oil Fund in 2001, which accumulates oil and gas revenues. The main task of the Oil Fund, which has $39.26 billion, is to act as a “cushion fund” against possible rainy days and to be used for the investments in the high-tech projects.

Kazakhstan instituted an ambitious pension reform program in 1998. As of 1 June 2007, the pension assets were about $8.3 billion. There are 16 saving pension funds in the republic, including the State Accumulating Pension Fund, the only state-owned fund. The country's unified financial regulatory agency oversees and regulates the pension funds. The pension funds' growing demand for quality investment outlets triggered rapid development of the debt securities market. Pension fund capital is being invested almost exclusively in corporate and government bonds, including Government of Kazakhstan Eurobonds. The Kazakh banking system is developing rapidly. The National Bank has introduced deposit insurance in its campaign to strengthen the banking sector. Several major foreign banks have branches in Kazakhstan, including ABN AMRO, Citibank, and HSBC.

Agriculture

Agriculture accounts for a significant part of Kazakhstan's GDP. Grain (Kazakhstan is the sixth-largest producer in the world) and livestock are the most important agricultural commodities. Agricultural land occupies more than 846,000 square kilometres. The available agricultural land consists of 205,000 square kilometres of arable land and 611,000 square kilometres of pasture and hay land. Chief livestock products are dairy products, leather, meat, and wool. The country's major crops include wheat, barley, cotton, and rice. Wheat exports, a major source of hard currency, rank among the leading commodities in Kazakhstan's export trade. Some Kazakh wine is produced in the mountains to the east of Almaty.

Kazakhstan is thought to be part of the original home of the apple, particularly the wild ancestor of Malus domestica is Malus sieversii. It has no common name in English, but is known in Kazakhstan, where it is native, as 'alma'; in fact, the region where it is thought to originate is called Almaty, or 'father of the apples'.

Natural resources

Kazakhstan has an abundant supply of accessible mineral and fossil fuel resources. Kazakhstan has the second largest uranium, chromium, lead, and zinc reserves, the third largest manganese reserves, the fifth largest copper reserves, and ranks in the top ten for coal, iron, and gold. It is also an exporter of diamonds and potassium.   In total, there are 160 deposits with over 2.7 billion tons of petroleum. Oil explorations have shown that the deposits on the Caspian shore are only a small part of a much larger deposit. It is said that 3.5 billion tons of oil and 2.5 trillion cubic meters of gas could be found in that area. Overall the estimate of Kazakhstan's oil deposits is 6.1 billion tons. There are 3 refineries within the country, situated in Atyrau, Pavlodar, and Shymkent.

Demographics

The population is estimated to be 63% ethnic Kazakhs and 23% ethnic Russian, with a rich array of other groups represented, including Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans, Chechens, and Uyghurs, total over 130 ethnic groups. Kazakhstan is a bilingual country: the Kazakh language, spoken by 70 % of the population, has the status of the "state" language, while Russian which is spoken by almost all Kazakh citizens, is declared the "official" language, and is used routinely in business.   Kazakhstan has a predominantly Muslim population (70% of the total population), the other religions being Christianity, Judaism, etc. (more than 40 religious confessions).   Kazakhs share in the population is increasing thanks to higher Kazakh birthrates and ethnic Kazakh immigration from the People's Republic of China, Mongolia, and Russia.

Education

Education is universal and mandatory through to the secondary level and the adult literacy rate is 99.5%. Education consists in three main educational phases: primary education (forms 1–4), basic general education (forms 5–9) and senior level education (forms 10–11 or 12) divided into continued general education and professional education. (Primary education is preceded by one year of pre-school education.)

These three levels of education can be followed in one institution or in different ones (e.g. primary school, then secondary school). Recently, several secondary schools, specialized schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, linguistic and technical gymnasiums, have been founded. Secondary professional education is offered in special professional or technical schools, lyceums or colleges and vocational schools.

At present, there are universities, academies, and institutes, conservatories, higher schools and higher colleges. There are three main levels: basic higher education that provides the fundamentals of the chosen field of study and leads to the award of the Bachelor degree; specialized higher education after which students are awarded the Specialist's Diploma; and scientific-pedagogical higher education which leads to the Master's Degree. Postgraduate education leads to the Kandidat Nauk (Candidate of Sciences) and the Doctor of Sciences. With the adoption of the Laws on Education and on Higher Education, a private sector has been established and several private institutions have been licensed.

Culture

Before integration to Russia, the Kazakhs had a well-articulated culture based on their nomadic pastoral economy. Although Islam was introduced to most of the Kazaks in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the religion was not fully assimilated until much later. As a result, it coexisted with earlier elements of Tengriism.

Traditional Kazak belief held that separate spirits inhabited and animated the earth, sky, water, and fire, as well as domestic animals. To this day, particularly honored guests in rural settings are treated to a feast of freshly killed lamb. Besides lamb, many other traditional foods retain symbolic value in Kazakh culture.   For more information on Kazakhstan please click here.

This material is mainly compiled from the information placed on www.wikipedia.org .