Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ASTANA3350
2007-12-21 02:24:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Astana
Cable title:  

NAZARBAYEV'S INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS

Tags:  PGOV ECON PHUM OSCE SOCI OEXC KDEM KZ 
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VZCZCXRO7268
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHPW RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTA #3350/01 3550224
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210224Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1400
INFO RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY 0071
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1849
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 0340
RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 003350 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN - O'MARA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ECON PHUM OSCE SOCI OEXC KDEM KZ
SUBJECT: NAZARBAYEV'S INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS


ASTANA 00003350 001.2 OF 002


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SUMMARY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 003350

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN - O'MARA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ECON PHUM OSCE SOCI OEXC KDEM KZ
SUBJECT: NAZARBAYEV'S INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS


ASTANA 00003350 001.2 OF 002


--------------
SUMMARY
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1. President Nazarbayev delivered his annual Independence Day
address on December 14. His remarks largely focused on
Kazakhstan's economic achievements and the government's successes in
the socio-economic sphere, especially regarding health care,
education, and pensions and other forms of socio-economic
assistance. Nazarbayev also discussed political reform and
Kazakhstan's 2010 OSCE chairmanship. End Summary.

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ECONOMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
--------------


2. Nazarbayev focused most of his December 14 Independence Day
speech on Kazakhstan's economic achievements and the government's
successes in the socio-economic sphere. He pointed to several
indicators of Kazakhstan's efforts at achieving economic
diversification, noting the recent openings of a large aluminum
producing complex and steel tubing factory, and the fact that
Kazakhstan is currently, manufacturing cars and light trucks for the
first time. He claimed that agricultural production had tripled
over the past ten years, and that Kazakhstan is now the world's
leading country in per capita grain production. Nazarbayev
explained that Kazakhstan is currently experiencing the effects of
the U.S. sub-prime mortage crisis, but claimed that in conditions
where there have been cases of default and bankruptcy among large
Western financial institions, "Kazakhstan's financial system has
shown itself to be stable and functioning effectively."


3. Nazarbayev ran through a litany of statistics pointing to the
government's efforts at improving the population's living standards.
He said, for example, that the minimum wage had increased 350%
since 1997, and the average pension 230% since 1998. (Note: It
appears he was expressing these figures in nominal terms. End
Note.) He promised that by 2012, the average pension would be
increased an additional 150%. Nazarbayev contended that government

spending on health care had increased 13-fold over the past decade -
as a result of which, over the same time period, life expectancy had
increased by two years, and infant and maternal mortality had
decreased by 40%. He pointed to the government's Bolashak
scholarship program to send students to study abroad and the
independent efforts of parents to do the same as keys to developing
the country's human capital, while noting that construction had
begun on a new university in Astana so that students could receive
the same high level of training domestically.

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POLITICAL REFORM
--------------


4. Nazarbayev described Kazakhstan's 16-year period of independence
as a time of radical political change and wide-scale constitutional
reform. He argued that Kazakhstan is greeting each anniversary of
its indepedence with "qualitatively new democratic standards."
Nazarbayev pointed to the strengthening of parliament, political
parties, and the independence of the courts; the development of
local self-government; the new role of the Assembly of Peoples; and
the strengthening of citizens' rights in the judicial system as
indicators that the country had moved forward along the path to
democracy. He said that the May 2007 constitutional changes had
transformed Kazakhstan from a presidential to a
presidential-parliamentary republic, with competencies of the
president moving to parliament. Nazarbayev contended that
Kazakhstan's political system, "in its fundamental parameters,"
accords with all the universally-accepted democratic norms and
criteria. This, he said, was one of the main achievements of the
years of independence. He argued that Kazakhstan had never
previously had any liberal traditions. In a short time, however,
"we established a new Kazakhstani, and a new country which has
turned to the side of the civilized world."

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OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP
--------------


5. Nazarbayev concluded the substantive portion of his speech with
a discussion of Kazakhstan's selection as 2010 OSCE
Chairman-in-Office (CIO). He said that in supporting Kazakhstan's
CIO candidacy, OSCE member states confirmed the correctness of the
"strategic vector" of Kazakhstan's development, and recognized the
effectiveness of the country's economic and political model. With
this decision, he continued, world society had given a positive mark
to Kazakhstan's efforts to build a democratic state and develop
civil society, and to the political reforms carried out in the
country this year.

ASTANA 00003350 002.2 OF 002




6. Nazarbayev argued that a number of countries disagree in their
interpretation of the OSCE's tasks and the prioritorization of the
organization's activities. In this situation, he explained, the
principled position of Kazakhstan is the necessity of achieving
compromises regarding all issues, even the most pointed ones. He
said that Kazakhstan's considers one of the fundamental tasks for
its chairmanship to be finding common platforms and
mutually-acceptable resolutions for problems, "taking into account
historical and cultural specifics and the equality of all member
states." Nazarbayev promised that Kazakhstan would work to develop
and strengthen the OSCE's institutions, to maintain the OSCE's high
principals and standards, and to develop all three dimensions of the
organization's activities. He also underlined the importance of
using the OSCE's capabilities for Afghan reconstruction.


7. Nazarbayev contended that Kazakhstan's course of development
regarding democratization, free market economics, and security fully
accord with the OSCE's traditions and criteria. He added that
democratization of Kazakhstan's political system and the development
of its civil society are, first of all, in the interests of
Kazakhstan itself.


8. Nazarbayev explained that Kazakhstan has significant work ahead
of itself to prepare for the OSCE chairmanship. This will require
the efforts of all government bodies; of the executive, legislative,
and judicial branches of power; and of political parties and civil
society. Nazarbayev argued that the chairmanship must become yet
one more symbol of the unity of Kazakhstan's people, and demonstrate
to the entire world an advanced, democratic, economically
competitive Kazakhstan.

--------------
YOUTHFUL NAZARBAYEV - WITH POST'S ASSISTANCE
--------------


9. Shown at the venue (Astana's Pyramid) prior to the speech, and
broadcast, at least in part, on national television was a
documentary featuring Nazarbayev in his twenties and thirties. The
film, in which the youthful Nazarbayev appears as a Komsomol leader
at the Karaganda mines, received a roaring response from the
audience. The footage came from films restored with a grant from
the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation. An attribution to
the Embassy was not made during the presentation.

ORDWAY