Massimov: A new wave of crisis and Kazakhstan’s competitive advantages

Karim Massimov, Prime-Minister of Kazakhstan, told about the new wave of the crisis and competitive advantages of Kazakhstan in an interview with Russian RBC TV. “The crisis in the world is just beginning,” he said. “Fundamental causes of the crisis have not been surmounted. The disbalances that caused the existing problems are far from being resolved. Major world economies, such as U.S. and EU have ‘flooded’ the economy with money increasing their deficits. The disease got its ‘injection of drug’: more cash. That is why there is still a long way to go before the crisis is indeed resolved,” Karim Massimov forecasted. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan thinks that “there are even harder times awaiting ahead of us.” Speaking about Kazakhstan, he compared it with an ice block flowing down the river. “We have put things to rights on this ice block, cleaned up one things and scraped out the other. However, the ice block is floating inside the river and this river flows into the sea.” Nevertheless, he said, Kazakhstan possesses a number of competitive advantages in comparison with other countries: citizens’ educatedness and their eagerness to get education are first among them. “The government policies and all our internal policies are now focused on promoting knowledge as a way to getting additional opportunities,” Prime-Minister Massimov said. Kazakhstan can afford to send up to 3000 people a year to study in various countries at the expenses of the state, he said. “Tens of thousands of people have already completed their education and returned. The first wave of these graduates is now 33-35 year old. These are the people who now constitute the core of vice-ministers and second executives of our national companies; others of them are well positioned in the banking and telecommunication sectors and financial companies. We hope that in the near future these people will become ministers and top executives of the national companies,” Karim Massimov said.