He will retain much of his influence as head of the governing party.Mr Nazarbayev will remain at the helm of the influential security council and will hold the formal title Leader of the Nation. However, his announcement today still caught many by surprise. Mr Nazarbayev came to power in 1989 as first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, first president of Kazakhstan (1990–2019) and the country’s constitutionally designated Leader of the Nation. Aoun also reaffirmed his interest in working closely with Kazakhstan to further strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation.The presidents exchanged their vision to cooperate and strengthen relations between Kazakhstan and Lebanon. Kazakhstan is ranked 161 out of 180 countries on the According to a US government report released in 2014, in Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only man to lead the country since it emerged from the collapse of the … Its main religion, Islam, is also undergoing a revival.Protesters keep up pressure over disputed elections, as President Lukashenko calls opponents 'rats'. The peacekeepers arrived one day before the explosion. Aoun reassured Tokayev that the Lebanese authorities will undertake all measures to ensure the safety of Kazakh citizens and diplomats.Aoun also praised the Kazakh UN peacekeeping contingent and emphasized the role of Kazakhstan in ensuring regional and global security.Tokayev stressed that Lebanon is an important partner for Kazakhstan in the Middle East. The Kazakhs make up nearly two-thirds of the population, ethnic Russians just under a quarter, and smaller minorities the rest. Kazakhstan's longtime President Nursultan Nazarbayev before an inauguration ceremony for the interim president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. After independence, he was re-elected against largely token opponents in 1999, 2005, 2011 and - most recently - in 2015.But the conduct of every election was criticised by foreign observers.During his long period in office Mr Nazarbayev has focused on economic reform while resisting moves to democratise the political system.Critics have accused him of corruption and widespread human rights abuses, as well as fostering a personality cult.His supporters say he preserved inter-ethnic peace and stability during the reform in the 1990s, and credit him for the country's impressive economic growth in first decade of the new millennium.Kazakhstan is as large as Western Europe and has vast mineral resources.Since independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, major investment in the oil sector has brought rapid growth.The country is ethnically diverse. Photo credit: akorda.kz.NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked Lebanese President Michel Aoun to ensure the safety of more than 200 Kazakh citizens including Kazakh UN peacekeeping contingent and diplomats in Beirut during an Aug. 5 telephone conversation, Akorda press service reported.“Given that the explosion caused damage to the building of Kazakhstan’s Diplomatic Mission and slightly injured its employee, President Tokayev asked the Lebanese President to take extra measures to ensure the safety of our citizens (more than 200 people) who are in Beirut,” the statement reads.President Tokayev also expressed confidence that the Lebanese government will provide assistance to ensure the safety of 120 Kazakh UN peacekeepers. These are external links and will open in a new windowKazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the only man to lead the country since it emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, has resigned. "I have decided to give up my powers as president," Mr Nazarbayev said during his surprise television address on Tuesday.As chairman of the security council, he added, he would retain "major powers to determine the country's external and domestic policies".
President Aoun thanked his Kazakh counterpart for the phone call and support during such a difficult period and said that he would convey his warm words to the Lebanese people. This principle of the Kazakh leadership has earned it the name "Singapore of the Steppes".However, in 2012 Nazarbayev proposed reforms, which were later enacted by the parliament, imposing stringent restrictions on religious practices.Nazarbayev made critical remarks against the veil, choosing to highlight Turkic traditions over In 2014, Vladimir Putin's remarks regarding the historicity of Kazakhstan, in which he stated that Nazarbayev "created a state on a territory that never had a state ... Kazakhs never had any statehood, he has created it"In February 2018, Reuters reported that "Kazakhstan further loosened cultural ties with its former political masters in Moscow ... when a ban on speaking Kazakhstan's human rights situation under Nazarbayev is uniformly described as poor by independent observers. Although judges were among the most highly paid government employees, lawyers and human rights monitors alleged that judges, prosecutors, and other officials solicited bribes in exchange for favorable rulings in the majority of criminal cases.The National plan "100 concrete steps" introduced by President Nazarbayev included measures to reform the court system of Kazakhstan. Mr Nazarbayev came to power in 1989 as first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan He enjoyed great popularity, although it was never possible to independently measure it due to the lack of free and fair elections. Among other similar events aimed at establishing interdenominational dialogue were the meetings of representatives of world religions and denominations held in Under the leadership of Nazarbayev, the Republic of Kazakhstan enacted some degrees of multiculturalism in order to retain and attract talents from diverse ethnic groups among its citizenry, and even from nations that are developing ties of cooperation with the country, in order to coordinate human resources onto the state-guided path of global market economic participation. He will retain much of his influence as head of the governing party.Mr Nazarbayev will remain at the helm of the influential security council and will hold the formal title Leader of the Nation. "I see my task now in facilitating the rise of a new generation of leaders who will continue the reforms that are under way in the country.