Assessments of American experts on the President's message to the people of Kazakhstan
The American expert community positively assessed the address and policy of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan to his people. At the same time, great interest of US specialists was paid to the energy aspect of our country in the material of the Kazinform News Agency correspondent.
Wesley Alexander Hill, Lead Analyst and International program manager of the International Tax and Investment Center’s Energy, Growth, and Security Program noted that “The speech is pretty consistent with what we have seen throughout the tenure of the Tokayev administration”.
There is a focus on (what Americans call) "bread and butter" issues - good governance, improving government services, investment climate, etc.
While this is pretty conventional, there are some noteworthy trends.
Firstly - explicitly invoking free trade, international investment, and liberalization at this moment is globally unpopular. Kazakhstan is talking about these things as the globe is rediscovering industrial policy. The risk is that this open ended embrace could cause damage to the Kazakh economy if the Sino-American trade war intensifies tariff barriers.
Secondly, the focus on investing and the private sector is regionally unique and evidence of the pro-business attitudes that have helped Kazakhstan economically.
Thirdly, the biggest piece, is the embrace of nuclear power. According to Wesley Hill, the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan will bring a number of advantages to Kazakhstan in the face of existing problems with energy supply and distribution in Central Asia.
This step will primarily help the development of a carbon-free economy and environmental safety in the country.
The availability of a sustainable source of electricity will be useful for any needs and will reduce Kazakhstan's dependence in the energy sector, including from other countries.
Additional clean energy will allow Astana to release more energy and hydrocarbons for export to other countries, including Western Europe.
Regarding the potential risks, the expert noted that according to statistics, nuclear energy is the safest type of energy, and it is even safer than some types of renewable sources, such as solar energy and its batteries.
Civil nuclear energy is developing very actively and according to statistics, 34 new nuclear power plants will be built in the world by 2030.
Ralph Winnie, Vice President of the Eurasian Center, noted that the President of Kazakhstan seeks to highlight his economic package of reforms focusing on improving and modernizing the tax structure and focusing on energy development. Improving the quality of life of Kazakh people, especially minors, it’s of prime importance as the government of Kazakhstan demonstrates that it is acting as a responsible stakeholder in advancing the aspirations and goals of its people.
