Names: conventional long form: Republic of Kazakhstan conventional short form: Kazakhstan local long form: Qazaqstan Respublikasy local short form: Qazaqstan former: Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic

Capital City: Astana

Population: 15,233,244 (July 2006 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $9,100 (2006 est.)

Currency: tenge (KZT)

Languages: Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95% (2001 est.)

Total Area: total: 2,717,300 sq km land: 2,669,800 sq km water: 47,500 sq km slightly less than four times the size of Texas

Region: Asia

Industries: oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, bauxite, gold, silver, phosphates, sulfur, iron and steel; tractors and other agricultural machinery, electric motors, construction materials

Agriculture: grain (mostly spring wheat), cotton; livestock

Resources: major deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, manganese, chrome ore, nickel, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, lead, zinc, bauxite, gold, uranium

Labor Force: 7.834 million (2006 est.)
agriculture: 20% industry: 30% services: 50% (2002 est.)

Exports: $35.55 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
oil and oil products 58%, ferrous metals 24%, chemicals 5%, machinery 3%, grain, wool, meat, coal (2001)

Imports: $22 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
machinery and equipment 41%, metal products 28%, foodstuffs 8% (2001)

Overview: Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain. Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - 8% or more per year in 2002-06 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. The opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised export capacity. Kazakhstan in 2006 completed the Atasu-Alashankou portion of an oil pipeline to China that is planned to extend from the country's Caspian coast eastward to the Chinese border in future construction. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry. The policy aims to reduce the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel. The government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil companies over the terms of production agreements; tensions continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2006 due to massive oil-related foreign-exchange inflows.

_{CIA World Book}

In 2007 Missouri exported $2,429,097 in goods to Kazakhstan. This ranks Kazakhstan 149^th among the 223 international buyers of Missouri goods. Missouri exports to Kazakhstan increased from the previous year by $484,700 a change of 24.93%. State exports to Kazakhstan have increased over the last 5 years by $374,603 a change of 18.23%. Missouri exports account for .02%. of all 2007 US exports to Kazakhstan.