NEWS
Foreign Ministry Publishes Kazakhstan: The Misunderestimated ‘Stan’
Book seeks to present a broader picture of the nation on eve of OSCE Summit
ASTANA, 1 December 2010 – Today, on the first day of the OSCE summit in its capital city of Astana, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry has published a new book, Kazakhstan: The Misunderestimated ‘Stan’, which seeks to present a broader picture of the country which has found itself in the spotlight.
These days, Kazakhstan increasingly features on some of global political or business leaders’ travel itineraries. Yet, its natural riches, the beauty of its landscape, rich cultural heritage and the story of its growth in the past two decades have yet to be discovered by outsiders. Home to some of the world’s largest deposits of oil and natural gas, it is developing at a rapid pace, emerging on the global stage as an economic and political power.
Bringing together articles published in world’s English language media and almost 200 photographs, Kazakhstan: The Misunderestimated ‘Stan’ seeks to fill this informational void as it presents a relatively short, yet comprehensive, sketch of a young independent state of Kazakhstan.
“This year, Kazakhstan has found itself very much in the spotlight leading the world’s largest security-oriented organization, the OSCE, as its rotating Chairman. And the book was timed to coincide with the long-awaited OSCE Summit in Astana on December 1 and 2. The contributions to the book organised in 10 succinct chapters reveal the state of the country’s political, economic, and cultural achievements. Keen watchers of the developments in our ethnically diverse and strategically important nation, the authors accurately and informatively describe our dynamic country and give an interesting insight into the life of our people,” Roman Vassilenko, Chairman of the Committee for International Information of Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry, said.
Linguists believe the word “misunderestimate”, meaning “underestimate by mistake”, has been in use in the English language since 1897. Yet, it was during the U.S. presidential campaign in 2000, that the then-candidate George W. Bush made it part of the common use when he famously said, “They misunderestimated me,” and went on to win the presidency.
“Likewise, many in Kazakhstan believe the country, despite its major strides in economic, social and political development, has been misunderestimated internationally. Hence the title of the book and the book itself which we hope our readers will find helpful in understanding and estimating Kazakhstan better,” Roman Vassilenko commented.
Contact: Dana Masalimova, +7 701520 8950, danamasalimova@gmail.com
