Kazakhstan has moved more swiftly than most of the former Soviet states to establish the legal and commercial climate conducive to a market economy. After the initial upheaval, Kazakhstan is now the most politically stable and business friendly state in the CIS and is beginning to match Russia in attracting foreign direct investment.

Communications, from telecommunications to cable and satellite, Internet to Radio, is a key to infrastructure growth in developing countries, such as the Central Asian Republics who are poor and are in urgent need of products, services and expertise to bring them up to international standards.

It is against this background that KITEL '99, the 6th Kazakhstan International Communications Exhibition and Conference for Central Asia, takes place on 1-4 June 1999 at the Atakent International Exhibition Centre, Almaty, Kazakhstan.

WHY KAZAKHSTAN?

STATISTICS: KAZAKHSTAN COMMUNICATIONS

DEVELOPMENT OF CENTRAL ASIAN COMMUNICATIONS

WHY KAZAKHSTAN?

The largest of the new Central Asian republics, Kazakhstan, stretches over 2,000 kilometres from China to the Caspian Sea and 1,200 kilometres from its southern borders to the Russian Urals and has a population of 17 million.

As one of the world's geographically largest countries, the Republic of Kazakhstan is rich in resources - natural and human. It boasts vast oil and gas reserves and huge deposits of hard metals. It is the home of the Baikonur Space Centre and industries in the 19 regions (Oblasts). Today, Kazakhstan is working aggressively to turn those assets into wealth for its people. Critical to that is enacting commercial reforms that are essential to attracting outside investment capital.

Under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has begun developing its vast potential. Kazakhstan's leaders know that creating economic growth for their people requires building international partnerships with international companies. But for international partnerships to flourish, the investment equation must be clear and balanced. Each partner brings strength to resource projects and each partner expects to reap benefits commensurate with its risks. To encourage foreign investment, Kazakhstan has recently enacted a new tax code, established a new currency, the tenge, and stepped up efforts to stabilise its economy.

Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, is ideally placed to reach the developing economies of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgystan as well as being the gateway to the US$440 billion Russian economy and Asian countries.

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Telephone system:	2.2 million telephones. Telephone service poor. 17 telephones / 100 persons in urban areas, 7.6 telephones / 100 persons in rural areas.
Intercity:	landline and microwave technology
International:	landline and microwave and satellite. Intelsat earth station, new earth station established in 1992.
Radio:	Broadcast stations AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA. 4,088 million radios.
Television:	Broadcast stations: Orbita earth station. 4.75 million televisions.

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The current state of communications in Central Asia in analogous to the recent situation in Eastern Europe where a number of factors have increased the pace of development: