Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The people of Kazakhstan celebrated the 21st anniversary of National Independence Day on December 14. President Nursultan Nazarbayev delivered a speech at a ceremony held on this occasion.

The president enumerated ten new threats for Kazakhstan and the whole region, including global demographic threat, dangers related to global supply security, lack of water resources, depletion of natural resourses, global social instability and unemployment, and the "crisis of national civilization values".

To protect the Kazakh people from the crisis of natural values the president offered protection of the mother tongue and a transition from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet.

"If every Kazakh sought to speak their native language, our language would have long found a place in accordance with its constitutional status," the president said.

Nazarbayev said the official language will prevail in all spheres of life by 2025 and will be the language of universal communication.

According to him, the demographic situation in the country is stable; the Kazakh population has reached 17 million people and the number of Kazakhs increased by 4 million over the 20 years since independence.

Whereas the number of Kazakhs in the country amounted to 6.8 million people, or 41 percent, it has now reached 11 million, exceeding 65 percent.

"The population has increased from 14 to 17 million people, and life expectancy has been at 70 for the last 15 years," Nazarbayev noted.

The religion issue was also highlighted in the president's speech.

"In order not to slip back into the Middle Ages, the religious situation in Kazakhstan requires proper assessment. We have to stay away from events alien to our mentality. Certainly, we are Muslims and we are Sunnis. This is the path chosen by our ancestors based on respect for national traditions and respect for parents," Nazarbayev said.

However, in his opinion, today, "some outside forces are recruiting young people, forcing them to leave the true path of Islam and choose wrong directions".

The president noted that division into generations and tribes is the most dangerous way of losing national integrity, as a country is powerful when the nation is united.

Nazarbayev also referred to economic and integration issues in his speech. He set out a goal of Kazakhstan's filling the ranks of 30 most developed countries of the world by 2050, saying all opportunities -- resources, educated people, a united nation -- are available to accomplish the goal.

Nazarbayev added that the Strategy-2030, adopted 15 years ago, determined the course of Kazakhstan's development.

"We must determine our own way," he said. "This way was outlined in the strategy 'Kazakhstan-2030'. This document determined the strategic goals and objectives and became the most important ideological breakthrough. As of 2012, we will join the 50 biggest economies of the world in terms of GDP."

The president also said one of the important events in Kazakhstan is the EXPO international exhibition, which will take place in 2017 in Astana. The event will attract the attention of the world to Kazakhstan during the next five years and will be a new impetus for further development of the Central Asian state, he said.

Nazarbayev cited some figures that show economic growth of the country. "The country was able to achieve 16-fold income growth; the average monthly salary has increased 9.3 times."

The president added that around $160 billion worth of foreign investments have been made in the past 15 years.

He recalled that according to the World Economic Forum, Kazakhstan ranked 51st out 144 countries in 2012.

"We are very close to our goal. We will have joined 50 largest economies in the world. The 21st century will be a golden century for Kazakhstan."

The president noted that Kazakhstan's oil and gas complex is the driving force for the entire economy and contributes to the development of other industries; export of non-raw materials is expected to double by 2025 and triple by 2040. He also instructed the government to prepare a plan on further industrialization of Kazakhstan.

Nazarbayev noted that the new economic policy envisions minimizing the budget deficit.

Touching upon integration issues, Nazarbayev noted that Kazakhstan's national interests within the Eurasian integration projects will not be infringed upon.

"The country's political independence in the implementation of all integration projects remains firm," he said.