Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10ASTANA69
2010-01-25 06:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Astana
Cable title:
KAZAKHSTAN: HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES
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C O N F I D E N T I A L ASTANA 000069
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2030
TAGS: PINR SOCI KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES
Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASTANA 000069
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2030
TAGS: PINR SOCI KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES
Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland: 1.4 (b),(d)
1. (C) SUMMARY: Nurlan Kapparov, one of the leading
entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan, is the founder and CEO of
Lancaster Holding. Coming from a traditional Kazakh
political family, he commissioned a biography of his
forbearers, one of whom was the vizier for the Khan of
Khokhand. His grandfather was an early-Soviet mayor of
Shymkent. The following is a slice of life to illustrate how
the Westernized wealthy currently live in Kazakhstan. END
SUMMARY.
2. (C) Leading entrepreneur Nurlan Kapparov hosted a private
dinner in his new apartment in Almaty on January 23.
"Apartment" is a misnomer when it's a 7,000 square-foot
duplex with it's own movie theater. Located in the
ultra-secure gate-house section of the exclusive community
being built around the golf course, the apartment looks out
across the fairways with an unimpeded view to President
Nazarbayev's Almaty Residence 1,500 feet away. The
apartment's decor is avant-garde minimalist, ultra-modern
Euro-style, except for the extensive contemporary Kazakhstani
art collection and Kapparov's three-room home-office suite
paneled in ebonized oak and featuring a spotlit 18th-century
ormolu French desk.
3. (C) Mrs. Kapparov, pencil-thin and wearing a French
couture dress, is a businesswoman in her own right, a buyer
for the most exclusive European designer boutiques in Almaty,
and a personal fashion adviser for the wealthy. "Gohar
dresses the most exclusive women in Kazakhstan," one of the
spouses whispered approvingly. Kapparov told his guests with
affectionate pride his wife had just returned from Italy
where she'd had a private business lunch with Dolce and
Gabbana -- themselves. She laughed that a year ago they
"wouldn't have touched a simple Kazakh girl like me, but now
they need all the business they can get."
4. (C) The guests, all alumni of Harvard's Kennedy School,
included Vice Minister of Industry and Trade (as well as WTO
and Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union negotiator)
Zhanar Aitzhanova (and her enigmatic older spouse, Marat),
the India-born CEO of the alternative energy firm Kapparov
founded that plans to build in 2011 a $400M state-of-the-art
solar-panel factory in Astana employing German technology,
the First Vice President of the Kazakhstan branch of HSBC,
and Kapparov's niece who was back on vacation from a major
bank in Tokyo. Kapparov's 10-year-old son, Nursultan, sat at
the table during the entire three-hour dinner, bored but
perfectly behaved. Kapparov said that when his son was born,
he carried the infant to President Nazarbayev and asked
permission to make him the President's namesake.
5. (C) The only alcohol of the evening was modest amounts of
first-class French wine. The dinner, served family style,
was a table-covering spread of superb Indian cuisine prepared
by the Kapparov's personal chef, an ethnic Russian (Kapparov
introduced her to his guests) who previously had been the
chef for the European Union Mission before it moved from
Almaty to Astana.
6. (C) The dinner-table conversation was not in any way
nouveaux-riches pretentious. It revealed no government or
business gossip. Rather, it was comfortable friends
reminiscing about the coffee shops around Harvard Yard,
discussing books, and comparing the status of their personal
stages of life. Aitzhanova, in a sequined black cashmere
suit, declared she's fed up, worn out, and ready for
something else. Kapparov gestured about the table and said
gently, "When you're ready, we're ready."
HOAGLAND
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2030
TAGS: PINR SOCI KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES
Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland: 1.4 (b),(d)
1. (C) SUMMARY: Nurlan Kapparov, one of the leading
entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan, is the founder and CEO of
Lancaster Holding. Coming from a traditional Kazakh
political family, he commissioned a biography of his
forbearers, one of whom was the vizier for the Khan of
Khokhand. His grandfather was an early-Soviet mayor of
Shymkent. The following is a slice of life to illustrate how
the Westernized wealthy currently live in Kazakhstan. END
SUMMARY.
2. (C) Leading entrepreneur Nurlan Kapparov hosted a private
dinner in his new apartment in Almaty on January 23.
"Apartment" is a misnomer when it's a 7,000 square-foot
duplex with it's own movie theater. Located in the
ultra-secure gate-house section of the exclusive community
being built around the golf course, the apartment looks out
across the fairways with an unimpeded view to President
Nazarbayev's Almaty Residence 1,500 feet away. The
apartment's decor is avant-garde minimalist, ultra-modern
Euro-style, except for the extensive contemporary Kazakhstani
art collection and Kapparov's three-room home-office suite
paneled in ebonized oak and featuring a spotlit 18th-century
ormolu French desk.
3. (C) Mrs. Kapparov, pencil-thin and wearing a French
couture dress, is a businesswoman in her own right, a buyer
for the most exclusive European designer boutiques in Almaty,
and a personal fashion adviser for the wealthy. "Gohar
dresses the most exclusive women in Kazakhstan," one of the
spouses whispered approvingly. Kapparov told his guests with
affectionate pride his wife had just returned from Italy
where she'd had a private business lunch with Dolce and
Gabbana -- themselves. She laughed that a year ago they
"wouldn't have touched a simple Kazakh girl like me, but now
they need all the business they can get."
4. (C) The guests, all alumni of Harvard's Kennedy School,
included Vice Minister of Industry and Trade (as well as WTO
and Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union negotiator)
Zhanar Aitzhanova (and her enigmatic older spouse, Marat),
the India-born CEO of the alternative energy firm Kapparov
founded that plans to build in 2011 a $400M state-of-the-art
solar-panel factory in Astana employing German technology,
the First Vice President of the Kazakhstan branch of HSBC,
and Kapparov's niece who was back on vacation from a major
bank in Tokyo. Kapparov's 10-year-old son, Nursultan, sat at
the table during the entire three-hour dinner, bored but
perfectly behaved. Kapparov said that when his son was born,
he carried the infant to President Nazarbayev and asked
permission to make him the President's namesake.
5. (C) The only alcohol of the evening was modest amounts of
first-class French wine. The dinner, served family style,
was a table-covering spread of superb Indian cuisine prepared
by the Kapparov's personal chef, an ethnic Russian (Kapparov
introduced her to his guests) who previously had been the
chef for the European Union Mission before it moved from
Almaty to Astana.
6. (C) The dinner-table conversation was not in any way
nouveaux-riches pretentious. It revealed no government or
business gossip. Rather, it was comfortable friends
reminiscing about the coffee shops around Harvard Yard,
discussing books, and comparing the status of their personal
stages of life. Aitzhanova, in a sequined black cashmere
suit, declared she's fed up, worn out, and ready for
something else. Kapparov gestured about the table and said
gently, "When you're ready, we're ready."
HOAGLAND