Discover Kazakhstan Festival a success
(04-05-2011)
For Witteveen+Bos, Kazakhstan is an impressive and multi-facetted country. In 2011 Kazakhstan celebrates twenty years of independence and we celebrate our ten years of presence in this country. We opened our first office in Aktau in 2001 and since then we have set up offices in Almaty and Atyrau. To celebrate this we have organised the Discover Kazakhstan Festival in April 2011.
Part of the festival was the showing of the by Rustem Abdrahsov directed Kazakh film The Gift to Stalin (2008) in the Deventer Cinema on 21 April. This film tells the story about populations that were sent from the Soviet Union to Central Asia and is set in the Kazakhstan of 1949.
Insight from different points of view
The main event took place on 28 April in the Deventer Theatre. Various lecturers and musical intermezzi gave insight into the economical, social, political and cultural history and present situation in Kazakhstan. The programme was presented by Annemarie van Gaal, who moved to Russia twenty years ago and built up the very succesfull Russian publishing company Independent Media. After her return to the Netherlands, she became well-known for her appearance in several TV shows.
Regional and global stability
After the beautiful opening song by Zhanel Auezova and a welcome speech by Henk Nieboer, ms Mainura Murzamadiyeva, ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Netherlands, elaborated on the economic situation in Kazakhstan, the world’s ninth largest country. Kazakhstan has 16.2 million inhabitants, which is comparable to the 16,7 inhabitants of the Netherlands, but Kazakhstan is 66 times larger. The GDP per capita in 1994 was 700 U.S. $ and is 9.000 U.S. $ in 2011. A growth unmatched by any other country. According to the ambassador, Kazakh policy provides regional and global stability, but the country is still one of the underestimated ‘stan’-countries. ‘Perhaps this particular event may help to eliminate this bias’, said the ambassador at the end of her speech.
Human capital
Zifa-Alua Auezova, expert in intellectual history of Central Asia and president of the European Society for Central Asian Studies focused on the culture, society and identity of Kazakhstan in her speech. Composition of the population is very diverse, but this poses no problem. There is currently much research into the ancient culture. Mrs. Auezova, who has been living in the Netherlands for fifteen years now, drew parallels in Dutch and Kazakh history. Obviously there are many differences, but also similarities, such as the figures about human capital.
The benefits of Kazakhstan
In his speech the former ambassador in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and now researcher with the Clingendael Institute, Klaas van der Tempel, discussed the economic and political situation. The country plays an important role as a bridge between Russia and Middle Asia. Although there are some obstacles, such as the nuclear test ground, Kazakhstan has many benefits: a very well educated population, a strong leader, the policies of the government to safeguard stability and no ethnic fights. And off course it has vast natural resources, such as oil. Van der Tempel: ‘The economic future looks bright. Kazakhstan has much to offer, with a new generation and the possibilities for investments. As the Kazakh president Nazarbayev said ‘the road to democracy is irreversible’, but I should like to warn against the dangers of earning lots of money. Do not spend to much in a short term, like we did with our gas earnings, the so-called Dutch disease.’
Pioneer in a country with many aspects
The final lecturer was Ardjan Langedijk of Kazakhstan Travels who presented a very diverse impression of the country through pictures, form the flat western part to the mountains and the steppes in other parts of Kazakhstan. ‘You have to be a pioneer to discover this country. It has all these different cultures and landscapes, but it also has astonishing architecture in for example the new capital Astana’, was the main message of Ardjan Langedijk.
Interludes: music and interviews
The speeches were interspersed with musical interludes and interviews. Two Kazakh Witteveen+Bos employees both married a Dutchman. Henk Nieboer and Bernard van Leeuwen elaborated on their experiences. ‘We want to be the best engineering firm in Kazakhstan. We were the first from abroad and we understand how to work in this country. We have organized the festival for our clients and employees to become acquainted with the many striking and impressive aspects of Kazakhstan. We hope to make a positive contribution to the image of this amazing country. The first idea to organize an information session has grown into a larger event, that given the 500 enthusiastic visitors can be called a success,' concluded Henk Nieboer, director International with Witteveen+Bos.
