Astana, 30 November 2021 (TDI): December 1 is celebrated in Kazakhstan as the Day of the First President. This year is significant as Kazakhstan will mark the 30th anniversary of indpendence.
There is no denying the fact that First President Nursultan Nazarbayev played a key role in the nation and state-building of Kazakhstan. There have been immense contributions towards the development trajectory of the country over the past three decades.
Since 1991, Nazarbayev has strived for the vision of creating a vibrant market economy, radically reforming the eco-system that helped the country to reach towards glory. As a result of the tireless efforts of the First President, Kazakhstan has become one of the top 50 largest and most developed economies in the world, with an ambition to progress to the top 30 by 2050. Since 1991, GDP per capita has risen roughly sixteen-fold and the poverty incidence has fallen sharply, while incomes have increased substantially.
President Nazarbayev has made sure that there should be a necessary foundation of stability and security for Kazakhstan. Through a multi-vector diplomatic approach, Nazarbayev skillfully managed to peacefully settle Kazakhstan’s border disputes with all its neighboring states and across the globe.
Under his leadership, Kazakhstan and the neighboring countries established the Central Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in 2009. Beyond his endeavors in the non-proliferation sphere, Nazarbayev led efforts through numerous channels to help Afghanistan rebuild its peace and stability.
To this day, Kazakhstan continues to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. Nazarbayev also proposed Kazakhstan act as a platform for negotiations involving Russia, Turkey, and Iran as guarantor states, the Syrian government, and the armed opposition. Since January 2017, sixteen rounds of the Astana Process talks have been held in Kazakhstan, which has contributed to a decrease in violence in Syria.
Thanks largely to these and many other international efforts of Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan is seen as a force for good in the world. It is worth noting the First President’s initiatives in the sphere of establishing and promoting inter-religious and inter-ethnic dialogue.
For example, in 2003, the government launched the triennial Congress of Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions. Kazakhstan also led the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, whose summit is hosted in 2010, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2011-12 and initiated the creation of the Islamic Organization on Food Security within the OIC in 2016.
Finally, Nursultan Nazarbayev ensured a seamless and successful transition to the country’s second President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, after he stepped down from power voluntarily in 2019. This has guaranteed stability in the country and further established the foundation for the ongoing democratic development of Kazakhstan.
Exemplified most recently by his announcement of an imminent transfer of the post of Chairman of the Nur Otan Party to Tokayev, Nazarbayev has also consistently shown critically important support for the new President’s policies and his program of reforms. This ensures both continued political stability and dynamic development for the world’s ninth-largest nation.
For all these reasons – and many more – Kazakhstan rightly pays tribute to Nursultan Nazarbayev’s remarkable leadership on the Day of the First President.
