'Developed country' concept will change in future: Nazarbayev

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke about the world 37 years from now. He voiced his vision of the countries’ development in his speech at the Eurasia Emerging Markets Forum in Astana, Tengrinews.kz reports. “First of all, we have to understand that the world will be in a different condition in the middle of the 21st century than it is now. The configuration of the top 30 developed countries in 2050 may be totally different from what we now think and see,” Nazarbayev said. He believes that the leading positions will remain only with the countries that have a high margin of safety. Inland unity, people’s solidarity and willingness to resolve major issues, pragmatic economic and social policies and validity of domestic policies will be key among the long list of criteria, he said. “It is also important to understand that in 37 years, this is in 2050, the concept of ‘developed country’ itself may be very different from the contemporary understanding. Things can change quickly in this world,” he said. Nazarbayev gave the following example: in the beginning of the 20th century developed countries mainly included colonial empires, while 30 years later the major attribute of development laid in high industrial potential and military power of a state. Another 20-30 years later countries with high scientific and educational potential were considered most developed. “The level of information development became the important component since the beginning of this century. New trends appear quite suddenly in our lives,” the President said. By Renat Tashkinbayev