Sayasat Nurbek: The Geopolitics of Kazakhstan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJtm_0VMIZo&t=25s In this interview we speak with Sayasat Nurbek who is the managing director of the Astana International Financial Center and the director of the Public Policy Institute which is associated with the Kazakh government's "Nur Otan" political party. We discuss the geopolitics of Kazakhstan and what it’s future looks like as it integrates into the global economy with a new stock exchange, cryptocurrency and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Show Notes Understanding Kazakhstan’s Politics https://thediplomat.com/2015/05/understanding-kazakhstans-internal-politics This is America with Dennis Wholey and Sayasat Nurbek, Nur Otan Political Party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T09hssHX3Yk Websites https://twitter.com/sayasatnurbek http://www.aifc.kz About Sayasat Nurbek At a very young age, Sayasat Nurbek has been fortunate in achieving significant heights in education and career. A graduate of educational institutions in the United States, Italy and Kazakhstan, he held internships and various training courses in public administration and public policy, HR management, management of technology in the USA, Singapore, Belgium, Japan, the UK and the Netherlands. In 2000-01, he worked as an assistant to Congressman Mark Smith (USA) and was employed by the Government of the State of Iowa (USA). In 2006-2009, Sayasat worked in the Investment Projects department of the Sustainable Development Fund Kazyna, and held positions of Head of the HR Policy Division of the Administration of the President of Kazakhstan, Vice-Rector of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Kazakhstan, Executive Director and Department Director of HR policy of National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna. In 2009, he was appointed Director of the National School of Public Policy. The President of Kazakhstan has decorated Sayasat Nurbek with several medals and commendation letters. [spoiler] Sayasat was elected as a young leader and member of various councils and state committees on youth policy, public service and human capital development. He represents Kazakhstan in the Bologna Process Working Group on Mobility and Internationalization where he contributed to the implementation of the EHEA Mobility for Better Learning Strategy. He is an active member of the Youth Policy Council under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan where he took part in formulating youth policy and implementation of youth-oriented projects. Since 2007, he has been on the board of the National Expert Commission, a body in charge of selecting top candidates for the Bolashak scholarship. As a long-term member of the Expert Council of Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Civil Service Affairs, he participated in the new reform of civil service currently implemented in Kazakhstan. He is also an active member of the Alumni Association of President’s Bolashak International Scholarship. In 2012, he succeeded in launching the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers community hub which brought significant social change to the development of Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan. As President of the Center for International Programs for three years (2010-2013), Sayasat was entitled to administer the Bolashak international scholarship programme – one of the most successful strategic initiatives of President Nazarbayev. He managed to reshape the Bolashak program and carry it to the next level of perfecting the leadership skills of its scholars. The programme’s impact on a national level is profound. Many graduates have also reshaped the national policies through their work in important ministries, governors’ offices and national companies. In 2012, Kazakhstan’s rank in the Global Competitiveness Index jumped from 72 to 51, and numerous Bolashak scholars have contributed to this growth. In addition to accumulated knowledge, the programme has also brought about a social multiplying effect in Kazakhstan. Bolashak scholars are commonly viewed as agents of change. These talented and educated people generate new knowledge in their workplaces and bring sophisticated work ethics. Globally, Bolashak works towards preparing the next generation of leaders to be able to act as ethical global citizens in the face of daunting challenges that will be thrown upon them in years to come. Using all his institutional power and policy tools at hand, he has been continuously passionate about helping identify young leaders with strong values and then support them to develop to their fullest potential. He has recently completed and published a monograph on Bolashak Presidential Program and its impact on human capital formation of Kazakhstan. In October 2013 Sayasat Nurbek was appointed as Director of the Institute of Public Policy - policy think tank affiliated with ruling Nur Otan Party. He was invited as Department Director of the Almaty City Government by Mr. Baibek since October 2015, and after almost a year of civil service has decided to switch to the corporate sector where he joined the new ambitious project of the President - the Astana International Financial Center aifc.kz as Member of the Board in charge of HR, Strategy and International Cooperation. ​[/spoiler] *Podcast intro music is from the song "The Queens Jig" by "Musicke & Mirth" from their album "Music for Two Lyra Viols": http://musicke-mirth.de/en/recordings.html (available on iTunes or Amazon) English Transcript: Hrvoje Moric: I recently had the opportunity to meet Sayasat Nurbek who I would consider one of Kazakhstan’s thought leaders and most forward-thinkers. He has degrees in International Law and Geopolitics from universities around the world and he speaks 8 languages. Sayasat has worked in the US Government as Congressman Mark Smith’s assistant and has held numerous positions within the Kazakh public and private sector. He is the Director of the Kazakh government’s first think tank, the Public Policy Institute and is one of the managing directors of the Astana International Financial Center. In this interview we discuss the geopolitics of Kazakhstan and what it’s future looks like as it integrates into the global economy with a new stock exchange, cryptocurrency and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. I hope you enjoy the talk and please do share the interview on social media, subscribe to the Geopolitics & Empire weekly newsletter and YouTube channel. Also think about donating $1 a month on Patreon to help support the work we do. [spoiler] Sayasat has worked in the U.S government as congressman Mark Smith’s assistant and has held numerous positions within the Kazakh public and private sector. He is the director of the Kazakh government's first think tank, the Public Policy Institute and is one of the managing directors of the Astana International Financial Center. In this interview, we discuss the geopolitics of Kazakhstan and what its future looks like as it integrates into the global economy with a new stock exchange, cryptocurrency and China's Belt and Road initiative. I hope you enjoy the talk and please do share the interview on social media. Subscribe to the Geopolitics and Empire free weekly newsletter and YouTube channel. Also think about donating one dollar a month on Patreon to help support the work that we do. We are here today with Sayasat Nurbek who is the managing director of the Astana International Financial Center. It's great to have you here. Sayasat Nurbek: Thank you. Thank you. Hrvoje Moric: I'd like to discuss the geopolitics of Kazakhstan, the economics, and it's development, and my first question for you is, how would you describe the geopolitical position of Kazakhstan and by this I mean its current relationship with its neighboring countries as well as the big powers such USA, Russia and China? Sayasat Nurbek: Okay, good. Well, let me start by an interesting example I had in Canada. So, I was attending a conference in Canada a few years ago, 10 years ago. So I asked them, "How are you doing in Canada?" They said, "Well, it's like sleeping in a bed with an elephant." Meaning the US. You always have to keep one eye open. So in our case, then the colleagues of mine, they said, "Look, but you know, we are okay. We would survive. But we are really worried about you guys. Do you ever sleep with two elephants in your bed?" That meaning, they are China and Russia. And you know, the 90's when Kazakhstan first gained its independence, there were a lot of really negative, very really negative, negative scenarios and a lot of experts in geopolitics, a lot of the politicians, public policy advisers, they agreed that Kazakhstan was a powder keg. They coined a term a powder keg. Why? Because all the arguments, all the background information, the situation, geography, and there's this great book, Curse of Geography; was against us. You have a multinational country with 130 ethnic groups living under the same roof with lots of religions and a very bad, very unstable neighborhood with this Soviet Union inertia, with a lot of ecological problems. We're the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world. So a lot of people are wondering, "They are not gonna survive. The country would be split with such huge territory with such small population. This country inevitably will fall in pieces, will fall apart." But you know, history proved it wrong. A lot of these assessments, it proved it wrong. We did, not only we were able to keep our independence and keep our territory and unity, we also showed some significant economic development, political development. But of course the neighborhood, I mean the curse of geography, it does play its role. So five to seven years ago, the geopolitical situation in the region was quite stable. Right, so we had a tripod situation; Russia, China and United States. United States primarily had a huge interest in energy sector,