evgeniy ZHOVTIS, executive
director]; Pan-National Social Democratic Party of Kazakhstan
[Zharmakhan TUYAKBAI]; Pensioners Movement or Pokoleniye [Irina
SAVOSTINA, chairwoman]; Republican Network of International Monitors
[Dos KUSHIM]; Transparency International [Sergei ZLOTNIKOV]

International organization participation:

ADB, CIS, CSTO, EAEC, EAPC, EBRD, ECO, FAO, GCTU, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM,
IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, MIGA, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OIC,
OPCW, OSCE, PFP, SCO, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL,
WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)

Diplomatic representation in the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Yerlan IDRISOV
chancery: 1401 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
telephone: [1] (202) 232-5488
FAX: [1] (202) 232-5845
consulate(s): New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:

chief of mission: Ambassador Richard E. HOAGLAND
embassy: Ak Bulak 4, Str. 23-22, Building #3, Astana 010010
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (7172) 70-21-00
FAX: [7] (7172) 34-08-90

Flag description:

sky blue background representing the endless sky and a gold sun with
32 rays above a soaring golden steppe eagle in the center; on the
hoist side is a "national ornamentation" in gold

Economy
Kazakhstan

Economy - overview:

Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory,
excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and
plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large
agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's
industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these
natural resources. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the
collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry
products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with
the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace
of the government program of economic reform and privatization
quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the
private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 -
8% or more per year in 2002-07 - thanks largely to its booming
energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and
foreign investment. Inflation, however, jumped to more than 10% in
2007. In the energy sector, the opening of the Caspian Consortium
pipeline in 2001, from wester