After the long and inefficient appeals to business to increase the share of local content the government intends to replace the carrot by the stick. It is going to use administrative methods in order to make "Support the domestic producer!" slogan work. This purpose is reflected in "The Concept of Kazakhstani content development", presented to the Kazakhstani parliament at the end of September, 2009. 

In the last two months the major event in the financial market was the decision of Kazakhstani stock exchange to delist the shares of three default financial institutes – BTA Bank, Alliance Bank and Astana-Finance. According to KASE, the major reason, driving this decision, was the negative indicator of equity capital at the beginning of 2009. However, it is still unclear why the delisting took place only in the last months of the year. 

The analysis of the preliminary current year’s performance indicators of the Kazakhstan oil and gas sector and of the 2010 forecast has showed that the republic has not managed to implement its ambitious plans to become one of the world’s top oil exporters as it announced earlier. 

The news in Kazakhstan is that soon the responsibility of companies for the way they make public purchases will be toughened, and also all mineral extraction companies will be obliged to transfer to electronic purchasing of goods, works and services. Thus, retaining the operating tax rates in the subsurface minerals sector, the government hopes to increase the level of Kazakhstani content in the extraction sectors. 

Kazakh insurance market is not immune to global crisis, but long-term prospects remain bright. The special report of Standard & Poor’s. 

Kazakhstan, located in the center of Eurasia, is doomed to become one of the transit hubs on the continent. Several international transport corridors, connecting Russia, European countries, South-Eastern Asian countries, Central Asian states, Transcaucasia, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf, traverse through our country. 

The long term interest in the Caspian region is reasoned by a growing demand for hydrocarbons, demonstrated by leading world powers with multi-vector geopolitical interests. As the state with biggest recoverable reserves of oil at the Caspian shelf Kazakhstan has a good chance to become one of the leading suppliers of energy resources in the 21st century. 

A geopolitical game, precisely the gas pipelines race, continues to gather pace in the area of Western and Easter Europe, the Caspian littoral states, and Caucasus. The players in this race are more than enough: Russia, China, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and the EU countries. In this situation the leaders of the Central Asian states are forced to avoid taking sides in order to remain adhered to their own interests, national and often even personal ones. 

Today, Kazakhstan as a country richly endowed with crude oil and natural gas reserves is adhering to the principle of a multi-vector approach both in the development of its oil & gas sector and in foreign policy. The hydrocarbons transportation routes, those operating and those to be constructed, are quite diversified. 

The macroeconomic overview provided by SigmaBleyzer Company 

Vladimir Breusov, President of ASTEL JSC, shares his vision of telecommunications market development in Kazakhstan and the company’s anti-crisis strategy with our magazine.  

Abzal Kussainov, President of Park of Nuclear Technologies JSC answers questions of our magazine. 

Interview for Kazakhstan Magazine with Mrs. Z.K. Kanapianova, Board Chairman, KFICA 

Opinion poll. Some of the Foreign Investors Council companies' representatives share with us their vision of potential interaction between the investors and the state 

Interview with Lord Renwick of Clifton KCMG, Vice-Chairman, Investment Banking, JP Morgan  

Interview with Claudio Descalzi, Chief Operating Officer Eni E&P  

Interview with Jean Luc Porcheron, Managing Director, Total E&P Kazakhstan  

Interview with Jay Johnson, Managing Director, Chevron Eurasia  

Interview with Keith Gaebel, Managing Partner, Central Asia and Caucasus, Ernst & Young