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Kazakhstan
The Republic of Kazakhstan is bounded on the northwest
and north by Russia, on the east by China, and on the
south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the
Aral Sea; the Caspian Sea bounds Kazakhstan to the
southwest. Kazakhstan's 1,049,200 square miles
(2,717,600 square kilometers) make it by far the largest
state in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the
world. Between its most distant points Kazakhstan
measures about 1,820 miles (2,930 kilometers) east to
west and 960 miles (1,546 kilometers) north to south.
The Kazakhs are a Muslim people who speak a Turkic
language of the Northwest or Kipchak group. Fewer than
one-fifth of the more than eight million ethnic Kazakhs
live outside Kazakhstan, mainly in Uzbekistan and
Russia. During the l9th century about 400,000 Russians
flooded into Kazakhstan, and these were supplemented by
about 1,000,000 Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others who
immigrated to the region during the first third of the
20th century. The immigrants crowded Kazakhs off the
best pastures and watered lands, rendering many tribes
destitute. Another large influx of Slavs occurred from
1954 to 1956 as a result of the Virgin and Idle Lands
project, initiated by the Soviet premier Nikita
Khrushchev, himself a Slav. This project drew thousands
of Russians and Ukrainians into the rich agricultural
lands of northern Kazakhstan.
In the early years of independence, a significant number
of ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan emigrated to Russia.
This emigration, along with a return to the country of
ethnic Kazakhs, changed the demographic makeup of
Kazakhstan: by the mid-1990s the Kazakh proportion was
approaching half the total population, while that for
the Russians was closer to one-third.
Kazakhstan's first post-independence constitution was
adopted in 1993, replacing the Soviet-era constitution
that had been in force since 1978; a new constitution
was approved in 1995. The 1995 constitution provided
for legislative, executive, and judicial powers of
government dominated by strong executive.
The 1995 constitution established a bicameral
legislature consisting of a Senate and an Assembly
(Mazhlis). Working jointly, the two chambers have the
authority to amend the constitution, approve the budget,
confirm presidential appointees, ratify treaties,
declare war, and delegate legislative authority to the
President for up to one year; each chamber also has
exclusive powers.
The President is the Head of State and is elected
directly for a maximum of two consecutive five-year
terms. The President appoints the Prime Minister and
other ministers of the cabinet, as well as the
chairperson of the National Security Committee. The
President also appoints the heads of the local
government entities, can reverse decisions made by these
officials, and has broad authority to issue decrees and
overrule actions taken by the ministries. The current
President is Mr. Nursultan Nazarbaev.
The highest judicial authority is the Supreme Court, and
there also are a number of lower courts; a
Constitutional Council, the members of which are
appointed by the President and legislature, reviews
constitutional questions. Judges serve life terms and
are appointed by the President, with those of the
Supreme Court are also subject to confirmation by the
legislature.
Kazakhstan, the second largest of the former Soviet
states in territory, possesses enormous untapped
fossil-fuel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of
other minerals and metals. It also has considerable
agricultural potential with its vast steppe lands
accommodating both livestock and grain production.
Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction
and processing of these natural resources and also on a
relatively large machine building sector. The breakup
of the USSR and the collapse of demand for Kazakhstan's
traditional heavy industry products have resulted in a
sharp contraction of the economy since 1991.
Privatization of state-owned industries was undertaken
during the 1990s. In 1994 Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and
Kyrgyzstan formed an economic union that enabled free
movement of labor and capital among the three countries
and established coordinated economic policies.
Export:
Total value:
23676,9 million US $ (2006)
Major Items:
Oil, ferrous and non-ferrous metals,
chemicals, grain, wool, and meat
Import:
Total value:
38250,3 million US $ (2006)
Major Items:
Machinery and parts, industrial
materials, oil, natural gas and consumer goods
Kazakhstan's great mineral resources and arable lands
have long aroused the envy of outsiders, and the
resulting exploitation has generated environmental and
political problems.
Among the most important minerals are copper in the
central areas and in Aqtebe (Aktyubinsk) province; lead,
zinc, and silver in the Rudnyy Altai area and the
Dzungarian Alatau and Qaratau (Karatau) spurs; tungsten
and tin in the Kolbin Ridge and southern Altai;
chromite, nickel, and cobalt in the Mugozhar Hills;
titanium, manganese, and antimony in the central
regions; vanadium in the south; and gold in the north
and east.
In 1993 Kazakhstan finalized a contract with the Chevron
Corporation to exploit the reserves of the Tengiz oil
field, one of the world's largest. In the mid-1990s
agreements also were sought with foreign investors for
the development of oil and natural gas from the Tengiz,
Zhusan, Temir, and Karachaganak wells. The profitability
of such ventures rested principally on the establishment
of new pipelines.
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