Guyana seals diplomatic ties with Kazakhstan

Guyana and Kazakhstan last week, formally established diplomatic relations during at a ceremony in New York.
The communiqué establishing diplomatic relations was signed at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan by Guyana’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador George Talbot and the permanent representative of Kazakhstan, Ambassador Byrganym Aitimova.
The two countries expressed their confidence that the establishment of diplomatic relations will contribute to the promotion of trade, culture, and friendship.
Guyana and Kazakhstan have in the past cooperated in several multilateral fora such as the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, on issues of common interest.
This marks another step in the strengthening of relations between the two countries, and is expected to lead to enhanced bilateral cooperation, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a release.
The decision is in keeping with the foreign policy of the government of Guyana, to develop relations with as many member states of the international community as possible, with which it has mutual interests.

Vast mineral resources

Guyana’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador George Talbot and the Kazakhstan permanent representative, Ambassador Byrganym Aitimova pose for the cameras after the signing ceremony while their representatives look on

A huge country, the size of Western Europe, Kazakhstan has vast mineral resources and enormous economic potential. The varied landscape stretches from the mountainous, heavily populated regions of the east to the sparsely populated, energy-rich lowlands in the west, and from the industrialised north, with its Siberian climate and terrain, through the arid, empty steppes of the centre, to the fertile south.
Ethnically, the country is diverse, with the Kazakhs making up more than half the population, the Russians comprising just over a quarter, and smaller minorities of Uzbeks, Koreans, Chechens, and others accounting for the rest.
Politically, independent Kazakhstan has been dominated by former Communist Party chief Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose authoritarian rule has faced few challenges from weak opposition parties. The country’s reputation for stability was rocked in December 2011 when wage protests in the oil-rich Mangystau Region prompted a violent police response in which 15 people died.
The people of Kazakhstan also have to live with the aftermath of Soviet-era nuclear testing and toxic waste dumping, as well as growing drug addiction levels and a growing incidence of HIV/AIDS. Further, inefficient Soviet irrigation projects have led to severe shrinkage of the heavily polluted Aral Sea.