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Kazakh leader predicts decade of growth, harmony
By Dmitry Solovyov

ASTANA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Sunday set growth, inter-ethnic harmony and the alleviation of poverty as the main goals for Kazakhstan over the next decade, after the first 10 "difficult but happy" years of independence.

Nazarbayev said the country had managed to overcome the economic tumult that followed the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, preserve civil peace and establish warm relations with its giant neighbours Russia and China.

The charismatic 62-year-old leader, who has ruled the sprawling nation of 15 million since Soviet times, was made a "People's Hero" by parliament on Saturday for his role in securing independence and market reforms.

"We had never lived and will never live again such difficult but happy years," Nazarbayev said during an emotional 50-minute independence day address from the sumptuous Congress Hall of the new capital Astana.

Kazakhstan's economic performance could be compared to that of Poland and Hungary, seen as the reform front-runners of the post-Communist world. Kazakhstan's gross domestic product will rise 12 percent this year after last year's 9.8 percent.

Economic growth would not be short-lived, he said.

"Our forecasts show that Kazakhstan is able to increase its gross domestic product by five to seven percent annually, while industrial output is set to rise 10 percent. But we must set even more ambitious goals," he said.

"In the forthcoming decade, we must eradicate poverty in general and secure the predominance of a middle-class in our country."

ADAPT TO SURVIVE

Compared to other post-Soviet nations of the 12-member Commonwealth of Independent States, Kazakhstan enjoys relative social stability. But monthly wages still average just $130 and, unlike oil and metal workers, a bright future remains a far off dream for most citizens.

Nazarbayev, himself a former steel worker, said the resource-rich state would over the next 10 years concentrate on developing its metals, oil and agriculture sectors, and improving its infrastructure.

The economy is also being diversified by developing food, processing and chemical industries, he said. "It will take a very short time for Kazakhstan to join the world's leading oil producers. But we must remember that oil and other natural resources...will inevitably end one day."

After the overnight collapse of the Soviet Union, many political scientists predicted Kazakhstan would sink into the sort of inter-ethnic strife and separatism that afflicted other post-Communist states.

But those fears have so far proven groundless and Nazarbayev praised the ability of the country, which has more than 100 different ethnic groups, to avoid the sort of strife seen in some ex-Soviet neighbours.

"We hold in our hands the future of one of the most multi-national and multi-faith countries of the world," said Nazarbayev. Muslims peacefully co-exist with Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics in Kazakhstan, which earlier this year hosted a visit by Pope John Paul.

In Soviet times, this vast Central Asian republic was turned into a huge melting pot with millions of Germans, Koreans, Chechens and other "enemies of the people" sent to Stalinist labour camps or evicted to its endless steppes.

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