Kazakhstan, Korea deepen partnership

The pictures, part of the exhibition “Undiscovered Kazakhstan,” were selected by the Foundation of the First President of Kazakhstan, a public organization supporting young scientists, artists, students and researchers.

“Within a span of 24 years, Kazakhstan and Korea pushed our close relations to a comprehensive and strategic partnership that is still expanding,” Kazakh Ambassador Dulat Bakishev said in a speech. “In the early 1990s, we scarcely knew each other, but we now have a solid number of bilateral agreements and joint economic projects.

The Republic of Kazakhstan, a Central Asian powerhouse, gained independence from the former Soviet Union after seven decades as an “autonomous republic.” Under the leadership of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who founded the country, Kazakhstan has undertaken far-reaching institutional and economic reforms, leading to political stability, financial freedom and social harmony, the ambassador said. Astana has unveiled an ambitious “Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy” to enter the ranks of the world’s 30 most competitive economies over the next 35 years. The new economic policy “Nurly Zhol,” meaning the “Bright Path,” aims to overhaul transportation and energy infrastructure and modernize built-up spaces across the country, responding to the global economic slump. The plan also covers finance, manufacturing, housing and schooling. In a state of the nation address in late November, Nazarbayev highlighted further reforms targeting the financial sector, fiscal policy, social policy, economic privatization and foreign investment. “Our membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, involving Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, boosts our attractiveness in terms of market opportunities,” the diplomat said. “In this context, we can help Korea’s Eurasia Initiative foreign policy under the banner ― ‘one continent,’ ‘creative continent’ and ‘peaceful continent’ ― through various bilateral and multilateral cooperation.”