Speech by Nursultan Nazarbayev
Speech by Nursultan Nazarbayev at the inauguration as President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
The Palace of Independence, Astana, April 8, 2011
努爾蘇丹‧納扎爾巴耶夫再度當選哈薩克斯坦總統就職獻辭
Dear compatriots!
Honoured guests!
Ladies and gentlemen!
Today is a very exciting and a bright day for me, as I have been entrusted with the confidence and a mandate from our people.
At the presidential election, Kazakhstan’s people have made a historic choice that fully describes their present and will strengthen their future.
Therefore, I am expressing my deep gratitude to my dear people who have entrusted their fate and the governance of the country to me once again.
Our bright victory is another proof that we are moving in the right direction.
I consider the results of the historic election that was conducted at the wish of the people to be the assessment of my work.
During the years of independence, I have been working hard to ensure happy life and a prosperous future for my people.
At this historically significant time, Kazakhstan’s people, united by inseparable destiny and similar wishes, have achieved unprecedented success.
We have created a united and a powerful state on the vast territory stretching from the Altai to Atyrau and from the Arka to the Alatau.
Without losing our way in the changing times, Kazakhstan has followed its own path of development.
In a short period of time, people of the Alash have turned into a strong, rich, respected nation with great opportunities.
Our country that connects the East and the West is considered a standard of the harmony of civilizations.
Our capital that found itself on the banks of the Yessil River is a symbol of solid stability in Eurasia.
The kind spirit of Astana is offering a noble key to peace and harmony to the whole world.
Kazakhstan that is celebrating its 20th year of independence has entered a new era this way.
We have to realize and never forget that all of these achievements embody the special happiness that our generation has received.
Nevertheless, a lot lies ahead of us, and we have many goals to achieve.
Thus, we will not relax and stop.
We will persistently continue our peaceful path based on stability and consent.
Dear people of Kazakhstan!
My dear compatriots!
You once again showed your great confidence in me by electing me as the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
I am deeply honoured to be popularly elected as head of state in the year of the 20th anniversary of our independence and to continue the mission of the leader of our unique and multi-ethnic country.
I am deeply grateful to all citizens of Kazakhstan for the sincere support given to me in this election.
This is the best assessment of our common work on creating such a successful state that our Kazakhstan has become.
I am heartily thankful to all the sincere friends of our country worldwide.
As you know, I have received many congratulations from the heads of Russia, China, countries of the CIS, the European Union and many others, and the congratulations keep coming.
I accept them gratefully because they represent the wholehearted support of not only the choice of the people of Kazakhstan, but also of our strategic direction.
Thousands of congratulations keep coming from all parts of our country and from all the people of Kazakhstan.
I am grateful to all my fellow countrymen for the kind words and good wishes expressed in those congratulations. I wish them all the same things they wished me – wellbeing and happiness.
Today, Kazakhstan demonstrates to the world the power of unity of our nation and the government.
The election that was held was the best in terms of the organisation and democracy in the history of not only the modern Kazakhstan but also, experts believe, of the whole Central Asia.
Voting for the course of stability and prosperity, every citizen of Kazakhstan was voting for his future, the future of his family, his country, and the Motherland!
Dear people of Kazakhstan!
Today, I am reminded of how I delivered my first oath of allegiance to the nation and took the regalia of the top presidential power after the first general election in December 1991.
A completely different task was before us then.
We were left on the ruins of the collapsed superpower.
We were, first of all, worried about how to feed the nation.
How to stop the inflation and decline in production?
Where to find the money to pay people their salaries and pensions in time?
How to preserve our land in the complex world full of threats and challenges?
We did not have our own currency, neither the strategic reserves nor the army to protect our exposed borders.
Today, it is hard to imagine all that was only 20 years ago.
During those years, the only thing I had on my agenda was the economy and the economy only.
The main concern was to provide the necessary means of livelihood and reasonable standard of living.
Frankly speaking, it was just about the survival.
The collapse of the Soviet Union provoked a growing frustration and apathy.
Only raising the wellbeing, meaning ensuring the economic growth and unity, could help withstand the situation.
It was the confidence of the people, the nation’s deep faith in the future of our Fatherland which gave us the strength to go against all the difficulties.
We have overcome the economic collapse, managed to create an efficient economy integrated into the global contemporary world.
We have withstood the challenges of the global financial and economic crisis thanks to the strong social orientation of our anti-crisis measures, just after the most severe global crises in the world.
And this happened at the time when the majority of states have frozen or reduced their social payments.
We have relied on the accelerated industrialization and innovation development.
New industries and new jobs have been created across Kazakhstan.
Today, we are confidently moving towards our goal, that of becoming one of the fifty most competitive countries in the world.
We are already among the first fifty countries of the world in terms of some indicators.
The volume of international reserves serves as an example.
Today, this volume, including National Fund reserves, has reached 69 billion U.S. dollars.
We supported the entrepreneurial class, made it a real and effective member of the development of our economy.
We expect that the share of small and medium-sized businesses in the country’s GDP will be at least 40 percent by 2020.
Today, we have all preconditions for growth of competitiveness, entrepreneurship and productivity.
We are moving towards establishing the foundations of “people’s capitalism.”
The first stage of this process would be “people’s IPOs”.
They will initiate the process of high quality privatization.
This will improve the prospects of the middle class and will increase its interest in further development of the country.
We are developing a policy of open economy for attracting new foreign direct and portfolio investments.
We intend to provide equal conditions for participation in our industrialization for both foreign and local investors.
Today, having ensured a post-crisis 7 percent economic growth, we have made a decisive turn towards social development, improving the quality of life of the people of Kazakhstan.
We are developing education as the main factor of competitiveness of our people.
We are building scores of schools of a new type, the Intellectual Schools.
We have opened an International University in Astana, a unique science centre, where professors from leading scientific and educational centres of the world work.
We are improving the health care system, adjusting it to international standards of the twenty-first century.
The GDP per capita have reached 9,000 dollars by the end of last year.
We are paying special attention to environmental protection.
A new capital Astana, being the pearl of Eurasia, was built in the heart of our country.
Astana has absorbed height, depth and wideness of our national spirit.
For all the people of Kazakhstan it became a symbol of renewal and confidence of the people in their strength, pride for our achievements.
I have always seen our country as a modern and strong state, being an equal partner for leading nations.
Therefore, we are building a Kazakhstan with an open economy and a democratic political system.
The dynamics of our reforms is higher than in any other developed countries, where democracy has evolved over the centuries.
We will continue our work on further democratization of the society.
We have to find the best solutions to increase powers of Parliament and responsibility of government, and to improve the electoral process.
We need to find a balanced decision on decentralization and delegation of power to the regions.
We must develop the political culture.
During this presidential election, for the first time there was no “black PR”.
The election was held in a calm atmosphere, without harsh confrontation.
This should be an example for all future election campaigns. Only in this case, we will develop a real democracy and an effective multiparty system.
We will develop a system of responsible and free media.
My task is to ensure equality before the law.
I intend to take further steps to ensure the continued effectiveness of the judicial system.
Our common goal is to continue an uncompromising struggle against corruption.
We will strengthen measures to eradicate corruption, not only through criminal prosecution, but also through the removal of legal loopholes in the laws.
We will provide adequate protection of the rights and property of individuals and entities.
These and other reforms will provide assured success in the economy of Kazakhstan and the well-being of its people in the coming decades.
Today, Kazakhstan has become a responsible participant in the global community.
We have shut down the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, firmly renounced nuclear weapons.
Now we are in the front ranks of global anti-nuclear movement.
We have created, together with our neighbours, allies and partners, new mechanisms for regional security and cooperation such as the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Last year’s Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the OSCE and the summit of this organization in Astana were successful.
There is no another country in the world that has reached such a success in such a short time!
I am proud to say that all of the goals and objectives that I set before our people at the dawn of our Independence 20 years ago are met and exceeded.
And I am grateful to the destiny that I had the great honour of being the leader of the new nation and the great country like our Kazakhstan, which has worthily joined the family of nations of the world!
Dear friends!
In 20 years, we have changed our country and have improved the lives of the people of Kazakhstan.
But the world is not standing still.
The countries and peoples face new, more complex challenges and problems.
The keys to the success of Kazakhstan in the twenty-first century are the four crucial concepts.
They are the MODERNIZATION, the PEOPLE’S WELLBEING, INNOVATION and INTEGRATION.
They have been the main points of my election programme and the essence of the Strategic Plan of the country’s development until 2020.
Modernization is a linchpin of the whole public policy.
Wellbeing of the people is the main condition for progress of the country and people.
Innovations and scientific discoveries of the 21st century will determine the leap into the future.
Kazakhstan should become a country where bold innovations get a start in life, are implemented in scientific laboratories and modern industries.
To do this, we need today to proceed with a search for “100 absolute innovations”. The Government, all ministries and local authorities are entrusted with this kind of task.
Among them we will select the ten most promising projects and focus on their implementation in the next twenty years.
They should provide support for a strong advance of Kazakhstan.
They are the key to the formation of the national innovation class that will determine the country’s development.
By the third decade, we will create all conditions for Kazakhstan’s joining a list of the industrialized countries.
By doing, this we will therefore accomplish with triumph the goals of the historic strategy “Kazakhstan 2030”.
And then we proceed with developing even more ambitious plans for the next decade, which will be carried out by our children and grandchildren, who will then recall that we have created a strong base for them until 2030.
Integration and openness to the world are our conscientious choice.
Together with Russia and Belarus, we will develop the Customs Union, and in the coming years we are to work on the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union.
We are committed to expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with China.
Kazakhstan aims to strengthen the strategic partnership with the United States and the countries of the European Union.
We will cooperate more closely with our Central Asian neighbours and the Turkic countries.
Under Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the Organization of Islamic Conference this year we intend to expand cooperation with the entire Muslim world.
Enhancing the effectiveness of the security system in Central Asia is linked with the active participation of Kazakhstan in the activities of the OSCE, the CICA, the SCO and the CSTO, as well as the expansion of partnership with NATO.
Dear friends!
I believe the Kazakh nation will successfully keep on following the path of stability and prosperity.
I believe our future victories will become the basis for the honour and dignity of the nation, strengthen the power of our country.
Today, Kazakhstan is an ambitious country with high aspirations that is able to set lofty aims and achieve them.
We have proved it.
We are to prove it again.
I believe in the people of Kazakhstan, and I believe in our country!
Dear guests and colleagues!
All those who expressed their sincere concern and support!
The wise old Kazakh saying states that “the aspiration of the nation is sacred, while the voice of the people is consecrated”.
Standing on a white felt, symbolizing the heritage of our forefathers, I have just taken a solemn oath in my capacity as President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
This inviolable oath is a testimony of honesty and a commitment to keep the trust of the good-hearted people of Kazakhstan, who have placed their confidence in me, having entrusted such a great responsibility as their lives to me.
For me, the highest honour and happiness is to justify and maintain the trust of the people.
In my understanding, the victory in the election reflects the unity and consentient will of the Kazakh people.
Such a strong support of the nation is a plentiful source of enthusiasm and inspiration for me.
We have a clear goal and, therefore, the promising future.
We are building the solid foundation of our bright future together.
As you know, over the years of independence we worked strenuously to increase the prosperity of our country and create a better tomorrow.
The active participation of youngsters in the election and their support moved me to tears.
Recently, I have heard a poem of a young talented poetess Nargyz Imangazy, who lives in Astana. The following is the paragraph I liked the most.
The poem says:
Independence, how sacred the word is!
The duty of each citizen is to secure it!
The heart of each Kazakh person beats for the sake of his country!
Independence – how magnificent the word is!
I am delighted to know that a small child put all her heart into these lines to glorify the sacred independence of our country, and I am glad to feel such a strong patriotism of the rising generation.
The people of Kazakhstan have great deep-rooted objectives to fulfil in the future.
Thus we must cherish the country’s independence as the apple of our eye, maintain the Kazakh nation’s uniqueness and distinctive culture, and do our best to make Kazakhstan live in history forever.
The major goal and task of my life and presidency is to bring the name of Kazakhstan into repute and make it a world-renowned and respected country.
Therefore, taking into account my experience and strength I am ready serve the nation, united by a common goal and aspiration, every minute of my life.
I sincerely wish every citizen of our country and every family good health, well-being, happiness and fulfilment of all desires!
I am deeply grateful to all of you!
I would like to sincerely thank all the citizens of Kazakhstan for their trust they revealed recently, which gives me strength and inspiration. Beyond any doubt, I am determined to work double tides now. I wish you good health and happiness in family life, prosperity, friendship, peace, and stability in our multi-ethnic country!
Dear fellow compatriots, I wish you the best of luck and every success!
Astana, the Palace of Independence
April 8, 2011
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