Quote:
Originally Posted by judykott
The President portrayed as a Sun God, he is the one whose handprint is in the apex of the pyramid, Nazarbeyev's hand. |
This guy looks quite grumpy huh.. somebody stole his twinky.
Amazing
Xpose on Astana.. thanks the architecture is very beautiful. Where are they getting the money for all of this? Their GDP is less than a quarter of Australia's.. though on the rise:
The government of Kazakhstan plans to double its Gross domestic product (GDP) by 2008 and triple it by 2015 as compared to 2000. GDP growth has been stable in the last five years, at a rate higher than 9%. Buoyed by high world crude oil prices, GDP growth figures were in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005: 9.8%, 13.2%, 9.5%, 9.2%, 9.4%, and 9.2%, respectively. Other major exports of Kazakhstan include wheat, textiles, and livestock. Kazakhstan forecasts that it will become the world's leading exporter of uranium by the year 2010.
Some info from the CIA world fact file:
Significant illicit cultivation of cannabis for CIS markets, as well as limited cultivation of opium poppy and ephedra (for the drug ephedrine); limited government eradication of illicit crops; transit point for Southwest Asian narcotics bound for Russia and the rest of Europe; significant consumer of opiates