KZBlog

Yet again Mr. Sagdiyev has made the news. The Deputy Minister of Tourism and Sport, Kenzhebay Satzhanov, said recently that Borat boosted tourism by 13%. Speaking at tourism industry fair in London, Vice Minister Satzhanov said, “It was free of charge advertising and lots of people want to come and see our country…The rise (in tourists was) maybe not so huge like we expected but in any case we saw interest.”

Most interestingly perhaps is that the Vice Minister also revealed an interesting part of Kazakhstan’s attempt to raise its ‘brand image’: “Every year they organise a familiarisation trip for international journalists and they had around 15 trips and they could see by their eyes how the country is, is it like Borat told.”

Recently Kazakhstan also made the news when it was revealed that the government paid for three academic studies from Johns Hopkins’ Central Asia-Caucasus Institute. Fredrick Starr, the director of the Institute, has long been in the group of academics that praise Kazakhstan and advocate a soft approach to issues of human rights violations. However three academic studies entitled: “Kazakhstan’s New Middle Class”, “Parliament and Political Parties in Kazakhstan” and “Kazakhstan in its Neighborhood”

While the reputation of Johns Hopkins, SAIS and the CACI have not been called into question before, and while Starr claims that the Kazakh government did not censor or try to pressure researchers, one does wonder how objective these reports could have been. The subjects of each report are also sensitive political topics. Kazakhstan wants to link itself to having a strong middle class as a sign that its economy is booming and benefiting a majority of people, rather than just oligarchs. After the controversial law to make parliamentary elections by party, not individual, and the 2005 election which made Nurotan the only party in Parliament, a report on “Parliament and Political Parties in Kazakhstan” could potentially be an attempt to dismiss allegations of tyranny. And Kazakhstan often promotes its own freedom, economic development and stability by comparing itself to other nations in the region.

I can’t find these reports online. Perhaps an intrepid reader can and then I can comment on them in more detail. But it is certainly indisputable that Kazakhstan is using every tool at its disposal to generate interest in itself as a tourist destination, an investment opportunity and a hope for democracy and stability in the former Soviet world.