Political pressure groups and leaders: Independent Trade Union Center
[Leonid SOLOMIN, president]; Kazakstani-American Bureau on Human
Rights [Yevgeniy ZHOVTIS, executive director]; Democratic Committee on
Human Rights [Baretta YERGALIEVA, chairwoman]; Independent Miners
Union [Victor GAIPOV, president]; The Almaty-Helsinki Foundation for
Human Rights [Ninel FOKINA, chairwoman]; Legal Development of
Kazakstan [Vitaliy VORONOV, chairman]
International organization participation: AsDB, CCC, CIS, EBRD, ECE,
ECO, ESCAP, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat,
Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, NACC, OIC, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Bolat K. NURGALIYEV chancery: (temporary) 3421 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 333-4504 through 4507 FAX: [1] (202) 333-4509
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission : Ambassador A. Elizabeth JONES embassy: 99/97 Furmanova Street, Almaty, Republic of Kazakstan 480012 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [7] (3272) 63-39-21, 50-76-23, 50-76-26 FAX : [7] (3272) 63-38-83
Flag description: sky blue background representing the endless sky and a gold sun with 32 rays soaring above a golden steppe eagle in the center; on the hoist side is a "national ornamentation" in yellow
Economy
Economy - overview: Kazakstan, 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. Kazakstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a relatively large machine building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR and the collapse of demand for Kazakstan's traditional heavy industry products have resulted in a sharp contraction of the economy since 1991, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-96 the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. The December 1996 signing of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium agreement to build a new pipeline from Kazakstan's western Tengiz oil field to the Black Sea increases prospects for substantially larger oil exports in several years. The emigration of large numbers of skilled Slavic managers and technicians from the northern industrial areas will hold back future growth.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $48.6 billion (1996 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)
GDP - real growth rate: 1.1% (1996 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,880 (1996 est.)