I see Kazakhstan as key part of regional stability - British Ambassador to Kazakhstan Dr Carolyn Browne

Dr Browne, next year it will be already two years since the time you became HM Ambassador to Kazakhstan. Did you have a time to understand our culture and learn more about country? Please share your impressions. I am having great fun learning about your country. Kazakhstan is about the size of Western Europe, so there is a lot of it to visit and to learn about. I came to Kazakhstan for the first time in 1989, and of course a huge amount has changed since then. In general, I spend a lot of time traveling between Almaty, Atyrau and Astana. We have British Embassy offices in Atyrau and Almaty, while of course the Embassy itself is in Astana. I have also had great fun visiting Kyzylorda, Baikonur, Karaganda, Uralsk, and Aksay. I had a great time camping for four days in the Turgen valley in the Zailiyskiy Alatau in September this year. I've also recently visited Korghaldzhin Nature Reserve. I much enjoyed visiting Tamgaly - UNESCO World heritage site. Recently I visited the town of Esik (Issyk) near Almaty to see the museum and the local kurgans. So, you see your country is mysterious and magnificent and I've ever just started to get to know it! What other places do you want to visit in Kazakhstan ? I have a crazy plan to go, together with the Norwegian Ambassador, to Kazakhstan's part of the Aral Sea and to fish. You see, both Norway and Scotland compete against each other to export salmon to European markets. We are forever arguing which type of salmon is better - Scottish or Norwegian. Well, the Norwegian Ambassador and I thought that instead we should just go fishing together. Why not! I plan to go to Altyn Emel, Zhezkazgan, and Mangyshlak if I have free time. Further afield, I hope to go back to Western Mongolia next summer, where there is the large Kazakh population, and also to visit Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region - again, where there is a large Kazakh population and many old Kazakh traditions preserved. Ok, let's pass to the questions of political & economic character. How do you assess the Kazakh - British relationships? I think that it is growing very rapidly and I want to see a growth even more. I'm delighted that in the last year we have established the first ever direct, non-stop flights between Astana and London. I'm delighted that we have also made it easier for Kazakh citizens to get visas to come to the UK. When I meet people in London, they no longer say to me: "where exactly is Kazakhstan?" They now say: "I know where Kazakhstan is. Tell me what's happening there". I think that the success which your country had at the London Olympics in 2012 did a huge amount to increase people's awareness of and knowledge about your country. I think you'll find the same thing happens with Expo-2017. Right now I and my colleagues in this embassy and in the British government in the UK, together with British business leaders, are doing a great deal to help you to make this exhibition the best Expo ever. Dr Browne, as you know recently President Nursultan Nazarbayev delivered his State-of-the-Nation Address "Nurly Zhol - The Path to the Future". What themes, in your opinion, require the biggest attention? This is a very interesting statement which the President made on 11 November. I can absolutely understand why the decision has been taken to increase the government's investment in the national economy by 3 billion dollars in each of the next three years. And I fully understand why there is the need to invest in road, in rail, in facilities to allow cargo and people to move and so on. I think all of this sets up a coherent and convincing vision for the next 10-15 years of development of this country's economy. Key issues going forward include the way which this money is invested. I noticed that at the time of the Nurly Zhol announcement, the President also announced a new initiative to crack down on corruption. President Nazarbayev in his Address prognoses the crisis phenomena in world economy and change of the world architecture. Let's look to the future together, how do you imagine Kazakhstan in the medium-term prospect? The world's economy is changing faster now than ever before in the human history. It's a challenge to all countries. It means that, going forward, this century is going to be a century of knowledge-based economies. One of the key factors was the very foresighted decision in 1993 to set up the "Bolashak" foundation scholarship program. It was a very sensible investment in the future and you can see right now, 20 years later, just how far-sighted that decision was. In the future firstly I would see Kazakhstan as a full member of the World Trade Organization, much more integrated into global economic structures, confidently charting your own future, and acting as an important anchor of stability in an often complex region. I see your country in fifteen years to come as key part of regional stability. I hope I would also see Kazakhstan as a center attracting others from beyond your immediate region, from wider areas - Iran, South East Asia, China and so on - coming to study here. That would be a fantastic measure of success for Kazakhstan.

Dr Browne, when you were appointed as the Ambassador to Kazakhstan, you said: "For me it's a great honour to be an Ambassador to Kazakhstan, and I'm glad to be back to this country, which I visited a lot starting from 1989". Could you say how has the image of Kazakhstan changed? Well, in 1989 you were the Soviet Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan. I visited Almaty and it was an interesting city at the time. But I have to say I didn't feel the future particularly there. I come back to this country in January 2013 and I am in this new capital in the middle of huge Eurasian steppe and it's just remarkable. It didn't exist before, I then go down to Almaty and again - it's full of gleaming new buildings. So off I then go to Atyrau - and the energy there and the boiling mass of new things happening is even more remarkable. I go to Karaganda and I can see foreign investors there and change everywhere in the air. Everywhere I go I get real sense of pride that people have in being Kazakhstani. You very famously have over 100 different ethnic nationalities here. It is absolutely fascinating to see you - the people of Kazakhstan - forging a shared identity going ahead in to the future. What do you wish to Kazakhstan's citizens? Health, wealth and happiness! Thank you for the interview!