President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Nursultan Nazarbayev

Dear readers

of "CASPIAN ENERGY"!

One of the permanent geopolitical consequences of the decay of the USSR and collapse of the “iron curtain” was the opening of the Caspian region to the entire world, the entry of the new independent nations to the world economic system. Today the region is a promising source of world energy resources which influences on the global economic processes will be constantly growing.

So that for security of stable and steady development of the Caspian region, it needs to tread a thorny path, overcome many barriers. To a definite degree, success depends on how harmonically we will manage to reconcile interests of various levels - national strategy of each of the Caspian nations, common regional interests and demands of the world’s leading economic centers - major energy consumers. The task is supposed to be complicated but not unsolvable.

Amid concrete problems requiring solution first, it needs to name the environmental issues of the Caspian Sea, determination of the sea’s legal regime and formation of a mechanism for regional stability, establishment of a diversified transportation system.

Kazakhstan does not want the Caspian wealth to become an apple of discord and a source of geopolitical tension. We are sure that there exist weighty preconditions for the region to be ground for cooperation and positive unification of the interests.

Nursultan Nazarbayev

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan