121602

Special Edition

KAZAKHSTAN CELEBRATES THE 11th ANNIVERSARY OF ITS INDEPENDENCE ON DECEMBER 16, 2002

During the first 11 years of our independence the people of Kazakhstan have lived through one of the most remarkable transformations ever, moving away from a totalitarian Communist regime and a command economy to a democratically developing society and a market economy. There were many problems along the road, but there also were many achievements throughout this difficult time.

Many of these achievements became possible due to ever growing cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United States that spans across such important areas as non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, energy development, economic and democratic reforms.

Almost a year to the day President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the United States, and met with President George Bush at the White House on December 21, 2001. On that day, the two leaders declared their "commitment to strengthen the long-term, strategic partnership and cooperation between our nations, seeking to advance a shared vision of a peaceful, prosperous and sovereign Kazakhstan in the 21st Century that is increasingly integrated into the global economy and the community of democratic nations. To this end, we will advance our cooperation on counterterrorism and non-proliferation, democratic political and free-market economic reform, and market-based investment and development of energy resources."

A lot has been done since then.

The new dimensions of Kazakhstan-U.S. relations and changes in Kazakhstan in these areas are reflected in the article by Kazakhstan's Eurasia 2000 Fund that was run on December 16, 2002 by the Washington Post.

With the permission of the Fund, we enclose for the benefit of our readers the copy of this publication with this Bulletin (in PDF format).

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For more news and information visit us at www.kazakhstan-embassy-us.org

News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan

(Compiled from own sources and various agencies' reports)

Contact persons: Roman Vassilenko, Aibek Nurbalin

Tel.: (202) 232- 5488 ext. 104, 115, Fax: (202) 232- 5845