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Question: Your Excellency, we all heard about recent political developments in your country, the most notable of which is the resignation of your former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Could you please tell us about that?

Ambassador Yerlik Ali: First of all, I would like to note that on March19 in a televised address to the nation, President Nazarbayev announced his decision to resign, outlining both the past achievements of Kazakhstan and the promising future of the country.
He noted that he was “honoured” to have served as the First President of an independent Kazakhstan.
Commenting this event, I would like to emphasize that only under Nazarbayev has Kazakhstan become a part of the global economy, attracting investment and trading with almost all countries of the world.
Upon achieving independence in 1991 following the collapse of the USSR, Kazakhstan had ruined economy and politics.
Now Kazakhstan became a flourishing market economy, evolving from an agrarian to an industrial service economy. Currently our country is now among the top 50 most developed countries in the world, aiming to reach the top 30 by 2050. Kazakhstan has attracted more than $300 billion in foreign direct investment over the past 27 years, and is the number one investment destination in the region.
This all became possible due to the ambitious and purposeful policy of President Nazarbayev, which was aimed to promote economic reform and prosperity. His initiatives included widespread “industrialisation and urbanisation”, new infrastructure networks, building a market economy, “dismantling” the totalitarian system, modernising all Kazakh institutions.

Could you tell us about political achievements of your country?
Well, when it comes to political achievements I would like to say that Kazakhstan became a world leader in the movement to ban nuclear weapons and ensure nuclear security, as one of the few governments to have voluntarily given up its nuclear arsenal.
Apart from that, Kazakhstan was a founding member of the Eurasian Economic Union, and has chaired key organizations such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Kazakhstan was also elected to serve as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council between 2017-2018, the first Central Asian country to be represented on the Council.

We know that your former President was famous for a number of innovative and reformist ideas, one of which is the program “Rukhani Zhangyru”. What is this document about?
Well, first and foremost I would like to note that this program is the ideological platform, which is supposed to become the basis for qualitative transformation of the whole country.
Today Kazakhstanis are witnessing the birth of a new stage in the history of Kazakhstan. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the modernization process announced by the President is implemented simultaneously in three directions: modernization of the economy, constitutional reform, laying the foundations for large-scale political modernization and modernization of public consciousness.
At the same time, it is the third direction that is the most complicated and complex, since Kazakhstan has never faced such a task as modernizing the public consciousness.
From my view, this is the core of all possible transformations in the country.
Advocating this point of view, I would like to stress that we live in the world of global corporations and enhanced communication technologies, where various tech advances have played a role in making the world a smaller place. It opens a wide array of opportunities for economies and businesses, but it also poses a challenge for cultures and traditions. It raises a question of how nations can preserve their cultures while adapting to the changing environment and benefiting from it.
Fully cognizant of these challenges, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a strategic program aimed at modernizing Kazakhstan’s national identity. This initiative complements the already existing processes of political and economic modernization in Kazakhstan and will become the cornerstone of major reforms in Kazakhstan.
It is a reality that President Nursultan Nazarbayev showed he fully understood when a year ago he coupled an ambitious programme of economic reform with plans to support and modernise Kazakhstan’s national identity. The announcement underlined the determination to build on a national character and cohesiveness, which has proved critical in the country’s remarkable journey over the last 26 years.
It is a character, for example, which is moderate in attitudes, which helps explain why extremist views have found little resonance here in Kazakhstan. It is also outward-looking as you might expect from somewhere, which for centuries has been where cultures and people meet. This openness to ideas and influences is why the country has been so successful in attracting outside investment and building economic partnerships to boost growth and living standards.
The Modernisation of National Identity programme – and the practical measures which underpinned it – unveiled a year ago were aimed at strengthening these positive national characteristics and links with Kazakhstan’s history, traditions and values.
Over the last year, we have seen the measures begin to be rolled out, putting a new emphasis on the rich history, both ancient and modern, of our country and its people. Important archaeological and sacred sites are being identified and restored across the country and a renewed effort at local level and national level to explain their importance. The 100 New Faces of Kazakhstan initiative will see individual stories from every walk of life publicised to reveal how the country has been transformed in recent decades.
The gradual switch to the Latin alphabet, with a target date for the change now set for 2025, is perhaps the clearest example of this determination. It was never going to be an easy or straightforward task but it will be worth the effort. The move will bring Kazakhstan into line with 70 per cent of the world’s countries and will be invaluable in opening up new opportunities in business, education and science.
It is the same reasoning which lies behind the commitment to ensure the young generation have the education and skills they need to thrive in the decades ahead. The new emphasis on IT skills and English, for example, in schools and colleges shows a country with confidence in the ability of its young people.
So, this is all my thoughts concerning the Rukhani Zhangyru program.

Could you please specify the details regarding the “Rukhani Zhangyru” program?
Sure, I will do it with a great pleasure. To be exact, the Rukhani Zhangyru program consists of six components:
Tugan Zher is a project that seeks to strengthen the ties of Kazakh citizens with their homeland. It aims to cultivate a feeling of belonging and a special attitude towards the Kazakh heritage.
Sacred Geography of Kazakhstan aims to raise awareness of unique cultural and historical attractions that exude the nation’s rich history and identity. The spiritual shrines of Kazakhstan include the mausoleums of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi and Arystan Baba in Turkestan, ancient monuments of Taraz, the Beket-Ata Underground mosque and many more.
Modern Kazakh Culture in the Global World is implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sport to introduce the global community to the modern Kazakh culture. A selection of Kazakh novels and books will be translated to the six official languages of the United Nations. Also, exhibitions of Kazakh art and theater performances will be held all over the world.
100 New Books is a project that will help to improve the quality of education in Kazakh. It proposes to select 100 world’s best textbooks on history, political science, sociology, philosophy, psychology, etc. and translate them into Kazakh. The first result of this program is expected as early as 5-6 years after books become available to Kazakh students.
100 New Faces will showcase individual stories of 100 Kazakh citizens that succeeded professionally. These stories will serve as examples to others and will help reveal how the country has transformed in recent decades.
Switch to the Latin Alphabet will help open new opportunities for Kazakh and foreign investors in business, science and education. Kazakhstan plans to introduce the new alphabet by 2025.
This comprehensive initiative is crucial for Kazakhstan’s development. It will enable the country to preserve its cultural legacy and identity while keeping pace with modernity and technological advances. The trailblazing program will help Kazakhstan forge a unique way forward, where tradition blends with modernity, and national customs remain intact.

The quest for a healthy Africa

Business & Economy

April 8, 2019

Financing of health care remain a core issue in most African countries. They are facing critical constraints in financing their health systems to provide a basic package of cost-effective health care interventions deemed necessary to address their health-related challenges. Ensuring affordable access to health services on a continent where one-third of the population lives on less that $1 per day is a daunting challenge. However, it has been rightly observed that, in Africa, increasing the level of health expenditures and improving their efficiency is literally a life and death situation. Different research works reveals that while Africa accounts for less than 0.9 percent of global health spending, the region carries over 43 percent of global burden of communicable diseases, and 24 percent of global burden of diseases.
One of the lessons of the Ebola epidemic is the need to improve the African countries’ public health services, which have suffered the consequences of decades of neglect. Africa needs to rapidly upgrade those services as well as to improve the capacity of its medical and paramedical workforce. Cesar Chelala, a global health consultant stated that although Africa bears one-quarter of the global burden of disease, it only has 2% of the world’s doctors. Progress has been hindered, particularly in rural areas, because the infrastructure and the health services are inadequate, and there is a widespread lack of trained medical personnel.
Effects of HIV/AIDS
The African continent has been greatly afflicted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This pandemic has reversed decades of improvement in life expectancy, educational progress and economic growth. For example, in Lesotho, where life expectancy was 60 years in 1995, life expectancy had plummeted to around 50 years in 2017 due, to a large extent, to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country. Although the number of deaths of AIDS-related illnesses has fallen significantly in the last decade, the high cost of treating HIV/AIDS, when coupled with the indirect costs resulting from loss of workers’ productivity, has had a serious negative effect on African economies. HIV/AIDS is estimated to have decreased agricultural output by as much as 20% in several African countries.
Cesar Chelala further noted that there has been a sharp increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, cancer and heart and lung diseases. The World Health Organization estimates that NCDs will rise in the region by 27% over the next 10 years, resulting in 28 million additional deaths. Mental health problems have traditionally been neglected by African governments. As a result, most mental health patients remain untreated. This “treatment gap” ranges from 75% in South Africa to more than 90% in Ethiopia and Nigeria.
As Dr. Crick Lund, a Professor of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town has remarked, “By neglecting mental health, it will be difficult to attain many of the Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty, malaria, gender empowerment and education.” Many diseases affecting both children and adults could be addressed with minimum resources if they are adequately employed. This is the case of diarrhea and respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and malnutrition, which represent the greatest threats to children’s health. Malaria is the leading cause of death among African children under five years old. African women are approximately 175 times more likely to die during childbirth and pregnancy than women in industrialized countries.
Sanjeev Ahluwalia, Advisor, Observer Research Foundation in India argued that health problems are worsened by the lack of health professionals, due in part to the continuing exodus of doctors and nurses to industrialized nations. If health care systems are to be effective, resources must be redirected from curative care in urban settings with high tech equipment to primary and preventive health care.
Consequences of corruption
In addition to problems directly related to the health sector, corruption and illicit financial flows drain critical resources needed to improve people’s health and education. According to Kar and Cartwright-Smith, Africa is estimated to have lost in excess of $1 trillion in illicit financial flows. This amount is roughly equivalent to all of the official development assistance received by Africa during the same timeframe. The widespread practice of bribing government officials by foreign companies must be curtailed through the enforcement of national and international laws dealing with this issue.
Cesar Chelala noted that lack of reliable statistics is a hindrance to improving health systems in Africa. They range from defective systems for civil registration to poor data on maternal and child health indicators, including immunization rates for the most common diseases. A World Bank study showed that half the population of African countries had not been included in a census. Reliable statistics are critical for assessing the magnitude and kind of health problems affecting the population, for determining access to health services, particularly in rural areas, for allocating resources for different programs, for assessing the effectiveness of the interventions and for monitoring different projects.
In the last few years, the emphasis has been placed on economic aid to Africa. African countries, however, need a different kind of aid. According to Cesar Chelala they need their human resources to be trained in their own countries. They need more help in preventing major diseases. They need more education for all age levels and they need better conditions of trade for their products. African countries do not need more monetary aid given irresponsibly, which ends up in the hands of government officials and members of the countries’ elites.
To improve people’s health in Africa, more efforts are needed to increase primary health care, especially in rural areas, accompanied by health promotion, disease prevention and improved education for all ages. For too long, Africa has been a photo-op for movie and music stars, whose patronizing attitudes disregarded the Africans’ capacity for solving their own problems.
As writer Paul Theroux wrote about Bono, “There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can’t think of one at the moment.” Africa has a tremendous human potential that, well directed, will help overcome the countries’ difficulties. According to current population trends, Africa is set to have the largest youth population in the world. It is estimated that by 2050, the median age for Africa will be 25 years, compared to 36 for the rest of the world. The role of Africa’s youth in guiding the continent’s progress can be considerable if we appeal to its own capacity, creativity and resilience.

Fun Run of the year

Sports

April 8, 2019

On Sunday May 5 the EU Delegation in Ethiopia and the Great Ethiopian Run will organize the FunRun of the year. Europe Day Children Races is part of the Europe Day celebrations in Ethiopia. European Union celebrates the day the EU’s predecessor was proposed in 1950. Europe Day is one of a number of European symbols designed to foster unity among Europeans. The Great Ethiopian Run organizes EU Children’s Races collaboration with European Union. It has been held since 2004 and became very popular among children and their families.
Ambassador Ranieri Sabatucci EU Delegation to the AU said that the EU plans to celebrate this year’s Europe Day on May 5 with the Children’s Run, a cultural showcase from Africa and Europe in the National Theater on May 9, and a yet to be announced plan that focuses on the importance of culture.
Ermias Ayele Manager of Great Ethiopian Run said “we have done many things to improve the event this year, making the Ethiopian Youth Spot Academy, proved race track conditions, started waves where there can be many winners in different categories.”
The event includes races for children under 5, 8, 11 and 14 years boys and girls. A total of 3,000 children participants are expected to take part on this event. The races take place at the Ethiopian Youth Sport Academy nearby Imperial Hotel.
Registration for 2019 EU Races will start on 1st April 2019.

EPL’s biggest match, Bunna entertains Fasil

Sports

April 8, 2019

EPL’s biggest match, Bunna entertains Fasil

When Zemariam W/Giorgis walked out in the middle of the season, it seemed like good riddance for Jimma AbaJifar. They are climbing up the ladder after a three game winning streak. Back to his second spell with the defending champions, last year’s top scorer Nigerian Okiki Afolabi is expected to be a big help for the strike force. They are led by Mamadu Sidibe from Ghana. They now are pairing Mamadu with EPL’s most expensive goal hunter, Okiki. It looks like things are going to get harder for the title contenders.
Title contender, Fasil visits Ethiopia Bunna on Monday. It will be week 19 for the Premier League and Fasil is on a five game unbeaten streak. The Emperors are favored to return home with all three points.
Back from chaotic five losses in a row, to a moral boosting away victory over strong side Welwalo followed by a 3-1 home win over visiting Dedebit, in a heavy rain last Thursday, Ethiopia Bunna is expected to mount a huge showdown against in top form Fasil.
After crushing league leading Mekele, Seba Enderta’s has a thirteen match unbeaten run. The Gondor based Fasil is seven points behind to sit second with 32 points in as many games. “We are contemplating a dream championship but focused on every single match,” Coach Wubetu Abate remarked ahead of the big clash against the side he helped win their only Premier League title five years ago.
The showdown on Monday is his biggest challenge so far for care taker Coach Gezahne Ketema who took over the reign following the sacking of French Coach Didier Gomes. Although people think that Gezahne has been handed a tough job of harnessing Ethiopia’s most popular side, he seems to have the right button to press for two wins in the past three matches have inspired the team to refreshing attitudes.
Ethiopia Bunna climbed to sixth in the table with 28 points. They are eleven behind the league leaders and a point down from in poor form arch rivals Saint George.