By Vestnik Kavkaza
President Nursultan Nazarbayev declared 2015 the Year of the Assembly of Peoples of Kazakhstan. Special attention is paid to the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate, the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the 20th anniversary of the Constitution, and the 20th anniversary of the Assembly itself. According to the head of the mission of the Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Research under the age President, Madina Nurgaliyeva, “the favorable inter-ethnic and inter-religious climate is based on responsible and effective state policy. Internal political stability and inter-ethnic consent are key pillars.”
Meanwhile, the director of the Institute of International and Regional Cooperation of the Kazakh-German University, Bulat Sultanov, told 'Vestnik Kavkaza' that “the main internal problem for Kazakhstan is preservation of ethnic balance, of inter-religious peace and of social stability in the country. At the moment people are dissatisfied to some extent by the rising prices for food, housing and communal services cause the greatest dissatisfaction. Environmental problems are also there. Of course, the people of Kazakhstan would like to see more manifestation of the rule of law against criminals in no connection to their position or the position of their parents. These problems are on the surface. And this is why President Nazarbayev has recently spoke and put forward seven tasks, including solutions to the problems that I listed above.”
Sultanov also stresses that in foreign policy Kazakhstan conducts a multi-vector policy which does not mean equal remoteness: “This multi-vector policy has priorities. This is Russia, this is China and the EU. The economic rationale is very simple: 75% of our turnover is accounted for by these two countries and by this union. And besides, with Russia we have the longest land border. And we are allies within the framework of regional structures. Moreover, the EAEU has started to make the first steps, and they are very difficult, because one needs a lot of work on harmonization of custom legislation and all sorts of issues. But I think that this is the right course, because there is no alternative to regional cooperation in the context of globalization.”
