In December 1991, Central Asia was plunged in gloom as the mighty Soviet Union disintegrated, leaving large parts of the region adrift. The last to formally leave the Soviet system was Kazakhstan, a vast republic in the middle of the Asian continent. Its Soviet era leader, Nursultan Nazarbaev reluctantly declared independence on 16 December 1991, just nine days before the formal end of the Soviet Union.

Last week, however, even as icy Siberian winds sent the mercury below 30 degrees Celsius, there was no trace of gloom in Astana, Kazakhstan’s new capital. It had taken the Kazakhs 13 years to build a vast modern capital in the heart of the Central Asian steppes and last weekend it was time to celebrate two decades of achievements.
The Soviet Union has become a half forgotten memory and Kazakhs have long learnt to look beyond Moscow and the Urals. In Kazakhstan today, there is not the slightest trace of the fear and despair that had marked the early years of independence when food prices had soared and the Soviet welfare system had collapsed overnight, leaving the Republic’s citizens without any safety net.
The first half decade of independence had been chaotic and desperate for most citizens. The country’s sizeable ethnic Russian population uncomfortable with the idea of Kazakh sovereignty had taken to the streets in parts of the country demanding secession. A massive Russian exodus had ensued when the government emphasised Kazakh nationalism, removed ethnic Russians from top government positions and eroded Russian political influence within the republic.
The country’s leadership also decided to shift the capital from Almaty in the south-east to Astana in the north, which was traditionally an area dominated by ethnic Russians. As the proportion of Russians declined and with it their power, the government gradually eased its policies to accommodate Russian interests. While Kazakh remained the state language, Russian was declared the official language and continues to be the dominant language in most urban areas.
Today, Kazakhstan is a successful multi-ethnic, multi-religious society where the majority Kazakhs constitute about 63 per cent of the country’s 16.5 million people, Russians a little more than 23 per cent and the rest include ethnic Koreans, Uighurs, Tatars, Germans and other ethnicities. Ethnic and religious strife has not been reported in the country for more than a decade and Russian outward migration is a thing of the past.
The transformation of Kazakhstan’s economy has been even more dramatic. When the republic had cut its ties with the Soviet command economy, the first result was economic chaos as most factories downed shutters, thousands became jobless and the retired were left without pension.
There was an estimated four per cent contraction of the country’s GDP in the years 1991 to 2000, the sharpest decline being in the years 1991-1995. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Kazakhstan’s recovery and growth began sometime in 1999. The strong rebound was driven mainly by rising world prices for oil and the market reforms initiated by President Nazarbaev in 1993. Today, Kazakhstan is easily the most prosperous Central Asian republic and dramatic increases in urban wages and profits are evident. Mercedes and BMWs dominate the crowded streets of Astana and Almaty while continuous construction activity is rapidly altering city skylines.
The IMF estimates that the country per capita income (Purchasing Power Parity) has zoomed threefold from US $ 4,412 in 1992 to about $ 12,700 in 2010. India’s per capita GDP in comparison was estimated at US $ 3408 in 2010 while the figure for the onetime Central Asian leader, Uzbekistan was US $ 3048.
Kazakhstan has clearly come a long way in 20 years. While problems remain, including severe income inequalities, a widening urban-rural divide, high inflation and an economy still vitally dependent on the export of hydrocarbons and metals, Kazakhstan has emerged as a stable, tolerant country with a market driven economy.
The country’s elite is anxious to claim Kazakhstan’s place among the leading states of the world and President Nazarbaev has often emphasised the need to be an open country, straddling the heart of Asia. One of his goals is to make Kazakhstan a bridge between Europe and Asia as well as a neutral international meeting place.
Kazakhstan’s greatest contribution to geopolitical change in Eurasia is its role in opening up the Asian heartland, closed for more than two centuries, first by Russo-British rivalry in the 19th century and then by the impenetrable Soviet Iron Curtain. President Nazarbaev has flung open his country’s borders to road, railway and oil pipeline projects by a host of players including UNDP, China, Russia and the United States.
Today, trucks, travellers and containers travel across the Eurasian landmass from China to Western Europe without hindrance. Kazakhstan prides itself in creating a new model of trans-border co-operation and is playing a central role in the building of a game changing 8700 km long China-Western Europe highway which is expected to be ready by end 2013. Once completed, containers will take just 15 days to move from China’s eastern seaboard to Europe - the sea route takes 45 days. Even the United States is excited about the possibilities of intra-Asian connectivity and is pushing for the creation of a “New Silk Road” from Kazakhstan to Afghanistan and beyond.
The world is beginning to acknowledge Astana’s role in the changing global geopolitics and as the snow flurries swept through Astana last week, the President in his Independence Day speech declared that the uppermost task for Kazakhstan is to become an active player in the post-industrial world. Integration is the path to the future, he added, and recalled that Kazakhstan was the first in Central Asia to have succeeded in coming out of its continental isolation. That was reason enough to celebrate amidst a Siberian winter.