EXPO-2017 with theme
Dear Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary General,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
By 2050 (two thousand fifty), one-third of the world's energy will need to come from solar, wind and other renewable sources. Who says? British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, two of the world's largest oil companies. Isn't it symbolic?
Climate change, population growth and fossil depletion mean that renewables will need to play a bigger role in the future than they do today.
The basic facts are simple: 1.5 billion people do not have access to electricity, and over 1 billion are limited by poor quality of supply.
It is also symbolic that Kazakhstan, which has an abundant supply of mineral and fossil fuel resources and where development of petroleum, natural gas accounts for almost 60% of the nation's industrial output and which has currently 11th largest proven reserves of both oil and natural gas, is proposing as a theme for the EXPO-2017 "Energy of the Future". I need to emphasize that Kazakhstan is surrounded by its neighbors such as Central Asian states and Russia who are also rich in natural resources.
Hence, it will be not only symbolic for future development of Kazakhstan but also of the entire Eurasian region to host the International exhibition under the slogan of looking for future and more sustainable energy sources.
We define the future energy as the energy fueled in ways that do not deplete natural resources or harm the environment, such as solar, wind, compressed natural gas, hydroelectric as opposed to fossil fuels.
In this regard, as a major point I would like to note that the key priority for the Republic of Kazakhstan is transition to sustainable socio-economic development. Hence, the country needs continuous access to alternative energy sources and reduce the cost of its production, which should affect positively people' living standards.
With the purpose to ensure effective implementation of this policy, we have developed and adopted the Law "On energy saving and energy efficiency". This legislative framework will allow for more efficient use of energy resources, reduce energy intensity of the gross domestic product and address the causes for deterioration of the environment, which we need to save for our future generations.
As you can learn from what has been said earlier, EXPO-2017 with the theme "Energy of the Future" fits smoothly into the Kazakhstan's strategy on sustainable social and economic development.
Second point, which is crucial to note is that with an аrea of 2 million 700,000 square kilometers, Kazakhstan is a ninth largest country and the largest landlocked country in the world. It is equivalent to the size of Western Europe. While located primarily in Asia, a part of Kazakhstan is also located west of the Urals in Eastern Europe. So, by choosing Kazakhstan as a host country for the EXPO-2017 you are making choice in favor of the bridge connecting Asia with Europe and the heart of EurAsia.
The third point which I'd like to make, that Kazakhstan as one of the largest countries in the world, is also rich in wind resources, which gives it clear perspective to develop and consume wind energy. The average annual wind speed for the most parts of Kazakhstan is up to 6 meters per second.
In cooperation with the UN Development Programme, the wind potential was studied in the number of аreas resulting in the development of the wind atlas of Kazakhstan, which is an interactive electronic map with the distribution of wind speeds across the country.
Moreover, Kazakhstan has several climatic zones, in which solar energy resources are stable. The number of sunny hours reaches 3000 hours per year.
It should also be noted that Kazakhstan has one of the largest reserves of silicon. The country has all the potential for development of solar photovoltaic cells, panels and solar thermal collectors to generate heat on its own base using the newest technologies.
The potential of renewable energy in our country is estimated at a sufficiently high level by international experts, more than 1 trillion kilowatt per hour a year. As thus, development of renewable energy sources is gaining momentum.
I would like to conclude my presentation by proposing to create an international database on the global use and potential of future energy resources, so we will be able to vividly demonstrate our achievements at the EXPO-2017 International Exhibition in Astana.
By choosing Kazakhstan you are also choosing not only multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic diversity, but also diversity of future energy resources for sustainable development.
Thank you for your cooperation.
