KAZAKHSTAN: HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES

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