Kazakhstan president invokes Nehru to inspire his nation

The president in his annual address to the nation on “A New Decade, a New Economic Growth, and New Opportunities for Kazakhstan" referred to Nehru, India's first prime minister, as a “great” leader.

“The great Nehru once said 'success mostly comes to those who act bravely'. And we did act bravely,” Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

Nazarbayev referred to India as one of the “rapidly growing economies” which were not much affected by the financial meltdown.

“In the pre-crisis period, we achieved a high level of development along with India and other countries with rapidly developing economies… We knew the path to take in order to achieve our goals. We have started this new decade with an important mission… to provide for further economic development of the country and open new opportunities.”
He said that the difficult period in the development of his country was “coming to an end”.

“But the global crisis damaging the world economy still remains…Thanks to our complete readiness, its consequences have not had much impact on our country.”

Nazarbayev then spoke in detail of the achievements of the first decade of a programme initiated in 2000 and titled ‘Kazakhstan-2030 Strategy’.

“We have successfully realized the first decade of the strategy. Now, the task is to face the next decade. As early as in 2008, we doubled the GDP volume against that of 2000 and effectively fulfilled social commitments. Average monthly salaries increased five fold, and average pension rates increased three fold,” he said.

He said the world financial and economic crisis affected the economy’s growth rate, but it “didn't stop our development”.

“We protected the financial system of the country (and) saved major banks... Gross foreign currency reserves and assets of the national fund have already exceeded $50 billion and have increased more than 25 times during the past 10 years,” he said.
The unemployment rate in Kazakhstan, he said, was at 6.3 percent - below the rate noted at the pre-crisis period.

Sustainable and balanced development during the next decade would be provided by accelerated diversification and raising the competitiveness of the national economy, he said.

“Kazakhstan will be a successful industrial power. The main accent should be placed on the growth of productivity. Our task is to increase the productivity in the agricultural sector by 2014 by at least two fold.”

Nazarbayev also said that ensuring food security in Kazakhstan was a priority and realizing export potential was key.

He said  that state resources would not be enough for the realization of our diversification plans.

“Foreign direct investments should become its basic source,” he added.
“We want a powerful entrepreneurial class to emerge in Kazakhstan; a class of people ready to undertake risks, master new markets and introduce innovations... I propose to implement a plan which could be called the ‘2020 Business Road Map’… Support of our exporters from non-extracting industries should become the key direction of industrialization.”

He said that his country would pursue an “active, pragmatic and balanced foreign policy.”
“Kazakhstan intends to participate in the processes of global decision-making in the formation of a new architecture of international relations [as well as world trade and financial systems. We will actively promote regulation of strategic dialogue between all existing systems of collective security,” he said.