JEDDAH. KAZINFORM - The Union of News Agencies (UNA) took part in the activities of the symposium on Nursultan Nazarbayev's personality and legacy, held last Wednesday on the occasion of his 80th birthday, UNA reports.
The symposium was organized by the Kazakhstan Embassy in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, in cooperation with the Center of Information and Arabian-Russian Studies, and the Nursultan Nazarbayev Center for the Development of Inter-Civilizational and Inter-Confessional Dialogue. The Union was represented by the Head of Foreign Affairs and Supervisor of Media Delegations Program, Hazem Abdo.
The symposium was chaired by Kazakh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Berik Aryn, who also serves as Kazakhstan's Permanent Representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). At the outset of his speech, Abdo conveyed the greetings of UNA Assistant Director Zayed Sultan Abdullah, and described former President Nazarbayev as a leader with opinion and vision and real achievements on the ground. He added that Nazarbayev was a veteran leader who steered his country competently for many years, preserved its unity and security, and established the foundations of its modern renaissance. The Union’s representative pointed out that Nazarbayev, who holds the title «Leader of the Nation», led the movement for the independence of Kazakhstan – the important part of our Islamic world that contributed abundantly to building the Muslim civilization which we cherish.
Abdo said Nazarbayev’s era, which lasted for nearly three decades, is a milestone, not only in the history of Kazakhstan but also in the history of the Central Asia region as a whole. He indicated that Nazarbayev managed to restore the unity of his people despite their different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. The First President of Kazakhstan also managed to preserve the territorial integrity of his country and protect its borders, wealth and capabilities, lay the foundations of its modern renaissance, and consolidate its regional and international stature. He made tremendous efforts at various levels resulting in Kazakhstan's becoming an active member of the United Nations; the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO); the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; and other several continental, regional and international groupings. The UNA official explained that Nazarbayev laid clear foundations for coexistence without any cultural, religious or ethnic prejudice. Despite the fact that Muslims constitute a majority of Kazakhstan's population, the former president guaranteed complete freedom for others to practice their religious rituals and beliefs. There are approximately 3,500 different religious entities active in Kazakhstan, which reflects a special Kazakh model of coexistence. In the era of Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has also achieved a flexible transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, as the country introduced its national currency; created an independent financial and economic system; reorganized the institutions of the executive authorities, the armed forces and other security agencies; and strengthened the national security.
President Nazarbayev has realized with his insightful vision that the country's strength doesn't lie in its acquisition of weapons of mass destruction, but rather lies in moral influence. Under this vision, the measures taken by the former president to voluntarily renounce nuclear weapons gave Kazakhstan the status of a nuclear-free state. As a First President of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev also found solutions to the fledgling country's most difficult problems that posed threats to its sovereignty. He developed the Diplomatic Measures Strategy of Kazakhstan and created the state of institutions to lay the foundations for political stability and self-sufficiency. President Nazarbayev's reign witnessed a milestone shift in state administration, through creating the most successful model for a new capital city in the second half of the 20th century when he planned to move the capital from Almaty to the new capital, Nur-Sultan. His reign also saw the early launch of the Development Strategy of Kazakhstan 2030. The country overtook that plan after achieving its goals ahead of time and the average annual income of the Kazakh citizen increased from $900 to about $12,000. Then the Vision of Kazakhstan for 2050 was launched in 2012 as a new and more advanced project to take advantage of the state’s huge oil resources, as Kazakhstan has the world's largest proven oil reserves in the Caspian Sea region, estimated at 30 billion barrels. It also has the largest stocks of uranium and huge stocks of gas and many minerals including copper, in addition to the vast agricultural wealth.
A pool of diplomats, academics, media professionals and businessmen participated in the symposium, comprising Director of the Center of Information and Arabian-Russian Studies Dr. Majed Al-Turki; Chairman of the Board of N.Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Inter-Civilization Dialogue Altay Abibullayev; OIC Assistant Secretary-General for Science and Technology Ambassador Askar Musinov; Chairman of the Islamic and Judicial Affairs Committee, Chairman of the Kazakh-Saudi Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Committee Abdulaziz bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa; Russia's Permanent Representative to the OIC Ambassador Ramazan Abdulatipov; Vice Rector of King Saud University for Educational and Academic Affairs Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Nami; Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League (MWL) Dr. Abdulaziz Sarhan; Director General at Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) Dr. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zamil Group Dr. Abdulrahman Abdullah Al Zamil; Chief Executive Officer of SAJ Group Husam Saleh Aldelaigan; Vice President and CEO of Al Amaken Plus Dr. Mohsin Shaikh Al-Hassan; Consul General of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Jeddah Talgat Shaldanbay; Professor, Department of Oriental studies, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan) Dr. Samal Tuleubayeva; and Journalist at Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper Fatah Al-Rahman Youssef.
