Official Statements:

Kazakhstan’s President

is the First Torch Bearer of the XXIX Summer Olympic Games

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev started the international world-around relay race of the Olympic Flame and carried the torch at its first stage at the Medeu high-mountain skating rink.

The Olympic flame was ignited on 24 March in Athens on the sacred Mountain Olympus and then was transferred to its hosting city of Beijing, from which the world-around race begun. The Olympic flame was delivered to Almaty on 1 April 2008. This Kazakhstani city is the first one from the 22 largest cities in five continents that lay on the way of Olympic torch bearers, which will be completed in 130 days.

“At this moment, Kazakhstan’s multinational people are blessing the Olympic torch of peace. We are happy that this torch will be the guiding star of the XXIX Olympic Games, which will be held in China this year, in the home of our great neighbor and friend. I am sure, Beijing Olympic Games will start a new way of the global development of sport in the 21st century,” the President noted.

Kazakhstan has 117 Olympic champions, world champions and winners of Asian Games. Kazakhstan will host VII winter Asian Games in 2011.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev Visited a New Building of Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP)

KIMEP was established in 1992 by decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and is a non-profitable higher education organization representing the North-American credit technology of educating bachelors and masters.

The President underscored that the total number of students increased by fifteen times in comparison with the first year of its existence. Now, more than 4 thousands of students from all regions of Kazakhstan study at the institute. KIMEP educates about 300 overseas students from the USA, Germany, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, China and Korea, Baltic States and all Central Asian republics.

KIMEP is the first higher education organization in Kazakhstan and Central Asia participating in the accreditation process performed by a reputable accreditation agency from the USA. Its completion will make degrees of the Institute recognizable worldwide.

The Institute supports talented students. There is a student aid financial system there. Only last academic year, the total amount of 1.7 million dollars was assigned in form of grants from KIMEP’s own funds, sponsors’ money and gratitude of various companies and organizations.

KIMEP graduates are very competitive. And the evaluation of employers is the most convincing demonstration of this. In their opinion, KIMEP occupies the first position in the ranking of the humanitarian-economic higher education organizations of Kazakhstan.

The President underscored that all conditions were created for students to help them become high-calibrated and demanded specialists.

The new building of total area more than 5.6 thousand square meters was designed in accordance with the Institute’s needs. It is equipped with modern technical facilities necessary for high quality education. The building comprises 14 study rooms accommodating 450 persons, 3 lecture amphitheaters having capacity of 516 students.

The main feature of the building is that it has study rooms equipped with modern multimedia facilities, three separate computer labs offering more than 100 workplaces and having wireless broadband Internet connections covering the whole building, and also a designated area for students’ individual work.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev Receives Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah of the State of Kuwait

Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah presented to the President a message of the Amir of the State of Kuwait, and also greetings messages from the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister of that country.

“Our countries have a long history of mutual relations, which continue to develop these days. We consider Kazakhstan as an important partner in the Central Asian region, because the successful development of cooperation with your country could assist to the development of favorable partnership with other countries in the region. The main idea of our cooperation is to establish links between the Northern part of the Persian Gulf and Central Asian regions,” the Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs of the State of Kuwait said at a press briefing.

He also said that the Islamic Economic Forum will be held in Kuwait on 29 April this year, at which Kazakhstan’s delegation will have an opportunity to hold a special meeting with Kuwait’s counterparts on issues of deepening economic cooperation.

He announced the forthcoming official visit by His Highness Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the Republic of Kazakhstan, which is planned to be paid this year.

World Banks extends a grant to the Kazakh Agriculture Ministry to support fishing industry development in the Aral Sea basin

The Project seeks to improve standard of living of the fishing communities in the northern Aral Sea basin through developing business opportunities of the local fishermen: training in joint resource management, construction of mobile fishing camps, fish processing.

Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Ministry and the World Bank have signed an agreement on a grant to support sustainable operation of fishing industry entities in the Aral Sea basin.

The Project seeks to improve standard of living of the fishing communities in the northern Aral Sea basin through developing business opportunities of the local fishermen: training in joint resource management, construction of mobile fishing camps, fish processing.

To finance the project, the World Bank extended a grant of USD 1 960000. The money was allocated by the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) established by the Japanese Government.

In 2001, the World Bank extended a soft loan worth USD 64 million to finance a project to manage the Syrdarya River bed and preserve the northern Aral Sea.

At the signing ceremony, Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Minister Akhmetzhan Essimov noted that the first stage resulted in augmentation of the aquatic area by 500 square kilometers and significant upgrade in the standard of living of the local residents; as a result of the first stage the coast line came 50 kilometers closer to the city of Aralsk.

The second stage of the project will enable to prevent flooding of the near-by territories in the periods of winter discharge of water and construct protecting dikes; these measures will raise the water supply for 90000 hectares of irrigated lands. There are plans as well to restore the lake system, which will enable to produce up to 11.7 thousand tons of fish a year. Besides, at the Aklak waterworks facility an electric power station will be constructed to supply cheap electricity to the nearby settlements.

The allocated grant will allow enhancing the living conditions of the isolated fishing communities in the Aral region.