Kazakhstan is a landlocked country in central Asia, the ninth largest country (by territory) in the world and the second largest (after Russia) of the former Soviet Republics.

Bordered by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea, its population of some 15 million are highly literate (more than 98%) and well educated. Kazakh, the official language, is spoken by roughly 64% of the population while Russian is the most widely spoken language (95%) and is commonly recognised for official use in all government matters.

Kazakhstan is geographically diverse, comprising extensive grassland, semi desert and mountainous areas. The country has significant chrome and nickel reserves as well as plentiful supplies of petroleum, natural gas, uranium, gold, coal, manganese, cobalt, copper, iron ore, molybdenum, zinc, lead and bauxite.

Kazakhstan is a stable democratic country and is considered a ‘model transition economy’ having gained its independence from Soviet centralised command economy to become a free market economy. In 1997, the Kazakh capital was moved from Almaty to Astana.  Almaty remains the largest city and the financial capital. The country has good infrastructure with a well developed national grid and network of all year roads, railways and airports.

The country is headed by Nursultan Nazarbayev who was re-elected President in December 2005 for another seven year term. Under Nazarbayev’s Presidency, Kazakhstan has made significant progress towards developing a free market economy. The country has a friendly foreign investment climate and is a member of the United Nations, the World Customs Organisation and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, among others. Kazakhstan is also an observer at the World Trade Organisation and an active participant in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) Partnership for Peace programme.

In June 2006 Moody’s Investors Service raised the Republic of Kazakhstan’s foreign currency government bond rating and issuer rating from Baa3 to Baa2, similar to Russia.