Oil and Gas should become Flagship of Economic Development - Kelimbetov

    Turning the oil and gas sector from a locomotive for economic growth into a flaghip of economic development is a high-priority challenge, Kairat Kelimbetov, chairman of the Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund said at the conference called, Kazakhstan-2030 Strategy: Opportunities and Prospects for a New Decade, which took place in Astana on October 10.
    He said the strategy for traditional specializations based on the oil and gas sector is the most appropriate one for the accelerated modernization of the economy.
    "As world experience shows, possessing mineral resources is always considered to be a ‘resource curse’. In accordance with this concept, countries with an abundance of natural resources tend to demonstrate low paces of economic development over the long-term. In my opinion however, the impact of the real sector on economic development could be both positive and negative," Kelimbetov said.
    The Chairman of Samruk-Kazyna said he believes everything depends on the connection of the real sector with the economy.
    "The resource curse is not an unavoidable phenomenon, it is found mostly in those countries not able to pursue an efficient policy for natural resource management. In my opinion, the oil and gas industry will become a locomotive for economic growth in the near future in Kazakhstan, and long-term demand for oil and oil prices will grow correspondingly, as experts forecast," he noted, according to Kazinform.