-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This blog dedicate to my Motherland - The Republic of Kazakhstan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A huge country covering a territory equivalent to the whole of Western Europe, Kazakhstan has vast mineral resources and enormous economic potential.
Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia, deep in the Eurasian continent.
Its territory is as large as 2,724,900 sq km (i.e. 1,049,150 sq miles). I
n terms of the area it is the second largest among the CIS states. It occupies the ninth place in the world according to its square after Russia, China, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and Australia. In fact the territory of Kazakhstan exceeds that occupied by twelve countries of the European Union.
Kazakhstan borders upon the following states: China- 1.460 km - long border; Kyrgyzstan - 980 km; Turkmenistan - 380 km; Uzbekistan - 2.300 km; the Russian Federation - 6.467 km. Total length of borders 
amounts to 12.187 km.
The territory of the Republic stretches on from the low reaches of the Volga in the West to the foothills of the Altai mountains in the East - for some 3,000 km ( a distance that spans two time zones), from West Siberian lowland in the North to the desert of Kyzylkum and the mountain range of Tien Shan in the South for some 2,000 km.
OVERVIEW
Ethnically, the country is as diverse, with the Kazakhs making up over half the population, the Russians comprising just over a quarter, and smaller minorities of Ukrainians, Germans, Chechens, Kurds, Koreans and Central Asian ethnic groups accounting for the rest.
These groups generally live in harmony, though ethnic Russians resent the lack of dual citizenship and having to pass a Kazakh language test in order to work for government or state bodies.
Astana: Oil money is driving the new capital's development
Since independence, there has been major foreign investment in the Caspian oil sector. Oil development has brought rapid economic growth.
An oil pipeline linking the Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk opened in 2001. There are plans to escalate oil exports by linking Kazakh resources to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline which began operating in summer 2005. A pipeline to China was opened in late 2005 and other routes are also being explored.
Nevertheless, poverty is still widespread and Kazakhstan continues to face major economic challenges, particularly with unemployment and inflation. At the same time, an elite group of people have grown very rich since independence through privatization and other business deals which opposition figures allege to have been corrupt.
The people of Kazakhstan also have to live with the aftermath of Soviet-era nuclear testing and toxic waste dumping and with increasing drug addiction and a growing incidence of HIV/Aids. Inefficient irrigation projects have led to severe shrinkage of the heavily polluted Aral Sea.
Full name: Republic of Kazakhstan
The capital is the city of Astana (since December 10, 1997)
Population: 15.4 million (UN, 2005)
Capital: Astana
Area: 2.7 million sq km (1 million sq miles)
Major languages: Kazakh, Russian
Major religions: Islam, Christianity
Life expectancy: 58 years (men), 69 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Kazakh tenge = 100 tiyn
Main exports: Oil, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal
GNI per capita: US $2,930 (World Bank, 2006)
Internet domain: .kz
International dialling code: +7
National holidays are as follows:
Day of the Republic (October,25) and
Independence Day (December,16).
President: Nursultan Abish-uly Nazarbayev
Elections in December 2005 returned Mr Nazarbayev for a further seven-year t
erm with more than 90% of the votes.
The opposition protested that the ballot had been rigged and OSCE observers declared it to have been seriously flawed.
President Nazarbayev: At the helm during reform years
Mr Nazarbayev said the election had been fair and showed that people wanted evolution, not revolution.
Born in 1940, Mr Nazarbayev came to power in 1989 as first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and was elected president the following year. He was re-elected after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
His supporters credit him with managing to preserve inter-ethnic accord and stability during the reform years.
Mr Nazarbayev has concentrated extensive powers in his own hands and is accused by the opposition of suppressing dissent. Although he says he advocates democracy as a long-term goal, he also warns that stability could be at risk if change is too swift.
A referendum in 1995 extended his term of office and in 1999 he was again elected president in elections from which his main rival was barred from standing on a technicality.
In 2000 Mr Nazarbayev saw through legislation granting him powers for life even when he does leave office - he has a permanent seat on the defence council and a role as head of the people's assembly, which unites members from different ethnic groups.
Mr Nazarbayev's party, Otan, retained a comfortable majority in parliamentary elections in 2004. Many seats went to other parties regarded as loyal to the president, giving him tight control. Western observers said that the elections had failed to meet international standards.
The president merged Otan with his daughter Dariga's party, Asar, in July 2006. The move created a vast ruling coalition and was seen as consolidating the president's power.
Prime minister: Karim Masimov
RESOURSES
Kazakhstan is rich with commercial minerals. In terms of chromium, vanadium, bismuth and fluorine reserves Kazakhstan knows no second in the world while in resources of iron, chromite, lead, zink, tungsten, molybdenum, phosphorite, copper, potassium and cadmium the country holds one of the leading places.
On the territory of the country they have discovered nearly 160 deposits of oil and gas. Their reserves - known to this day - are approximately equal to present day resources of the whole of the Western Europe. These oil and gas fields contain about 20,000,000,000 barrels of oil and 700,000,000 ton of gas condensate. Sum total of the cost thereof is estimated in the region of USD 4 bln. The Tenghiz field only ranks as one of the largest deposits of the world.
Coal reserves in Kazakhstan reach 160,000,000,000 ton. The Republic numbers 10 coal fields of bituminous and brown coal, 155 deposits all in all.
Iron ore resources (containing 50-60% of pure iron) in the Republic surpass those of many a country in the world.
Kazakhstan is the second richest country in the world (after Russia) with regard to phosphorite reserves while phosphorite deposits of Zhanatas and Karatau in terms of thickness and quality are second to none in the world.
Kazakhstan holds one of the first places in the world as to the production of aluminium.
The Republic harbours uncommonly superb resources of copper ore. Zhezkazgan ore deposits are second largest in the world as to their potential.
The territory of Kazakhstan affords infinite resources of salt and construction materials.
The already prospected deposits serve a fine basis for the development of mining, coal-mining, metallurgy, oil-and-gas and chemical industries.
Kazakhstan's share in world output of commercial minerals and products of procession thereof (according to estimates of the Union Bank of Switzerland) in the days of the late USSR amounted to the following: Beryllium - 24%, Zink - 7%, Tantalum - 33%, Titanium - 26%, Chromite - 27%, Copper - 3%, Barite - 7%, Molybdenum - 3%, Lead - 7%, Bauxites - 1%, Uranium -14%, Manganese - 5%, Silver - 6%, Iron ore - 2%, Tungsten - 12%, Gold - 1%.
