History of regional relations in foreign political activity of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1991-2014)

After gaining independence in 1991, the Republic of Kazakhstan as a separate state established political, economic and diplomatic relations with near and far abroad. Kazakhstan has reached many agreements in partnership with foreign countries. For example, in 1995, Ispad International purchased 100% of the assets of the Carmet Metallurgical Plant in Temirtau ($200 million), which is a leading exporter of metal products in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The trade turnover between the two countries last year amounted to 307 mln. USA dollars. A well-known event in the relations between Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom was the exhibition "Investment Opportunities in Kazakhstan" in 1996 in London. Trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Germany are developing more actively. There are more than 70 German companies in the country. The well-known events in trade and economic relations with France include the following: Renault, Koch, Euroconter, Schneider, Sofrelia and others. A group of French businessmen, including leaders of large companies, visited Kazakhstan in 1996. During the visit, preliminary agreements were reached with Renault on the establishment of a joint venture, the construction of a gas pipeline from Aktobe to Karachaganak, the construction of a gas pipeline from Akmola airport, Almaty metro, Karachaganak field. Today, there are twenty joint Kazakh - French companies and banks in Kazakhstan, including the well-known "Elf Aquitaine", "Total" and "Mulikens".

Trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Turkey are developing steadily. Turkish companies are already carrying out construction work in Kazakhstan worth $1.5 billion, which should have reached $5 billion in 2000. Today, more than 30 Turkish companies are accredited in Kazakhstan, more than 90 Kazakh-Turkish joint ventures operate. "Turkish business can be found everywhere" [5]. It is known that as a result of such agreements, many regions of Kazakhstan are in contact with the regions of these countries and are working effectively together. From the first days of independence, special attention was paid to Kazakhstan's relations with the CIS member states and interregional ties. In particular in 1993-1994, Kazakhstan signed 5 agreements with Azerbaijan in order to regulate trade and economic cooperation and mutual obligations. In 1993-1995, 23 agreements were signed with Georgia on the regulation of economic relations, finance, customs, science and technology, agriculture, railway transport. In 1993-1994, 4 agreements on economic cooperation were signed with Armenia. Large-scale legal agreements have been established with Ukraine. Among them are more than 30 signed intergovernmental agreements: The Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation of January 20, 1994, the Agreement on Free Trade of September 17, 1994, 20 joint ventures on the basis of economic cooperation between the two countries in the field of heavy industry from 1994 to 2000. In 1994, Ukraine became the second largest economic partner of Kazakhstan in terms of trade relations with the CIS countries, accounting for 10% [6].

The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev speaking at a joint meeting of CIS leaders and governments in Almaty on February 10, 1995, said: "Despite many unavoidable challenges, we have made significant progress in our movement, especially last year, which was marked by large -scale integration efforts. It can be said that there are zones of active integration, including Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan interaction. These phenomena were preceded by an active beginning in the Central Asian region between Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Important decisions for the development of relations were made on the basis of bilateral agreements between Kazakhstan and Russia" [7]. Thus, he identified fundamental role in the future development of member countries. Multifaceted relations with a number of regions of Kazakhstan, and the Russian Federation, Central Asia, China and Mongolia have been established and many activities have been implemented. The importance and effectiveness of cooperation between the adjacent regions and territories of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation are marked among them. For example, meetings of heads of production and business circles of these regions with the participation of the Presidents of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation have become a tradition to sign multilateral and bilateral agreements. President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev noted that "There is a positive development of cross-border relations in the regions and territories of Kazakhstan and Russia" [8]. The border area cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan is a key instrument of economic and humanitarian relations between the two countries. During the meeting in Omsk (January 26), the Vice Prime Ministers of the two countries (A.A. Bolschakov and V.L. Mette) signed an agreement on cooperation between the border areas of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan [9]. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation on June 3, 1999, "Kazakhstan (after Ukraine) currently ranks second in terms of intersectoral agreements with the subjects of the Russian Federation. There is an interregional association for the development of Siberian raw materials, which includes 12 Russian and 9 Kazakh regions (MACE). International agreements on cooperation between the border regions of Russia and Kazakhstan are being implemented. This is about the Altai, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Saratov, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk regions and, accordingly, the border areas of Kazakhstan" [10].

Economic and other cooperation between the border areas of the two countries has been carried out systematically since the beginning of the XXI century. For example, in 2006, 76 out of 88 districts of the Russian Federation have trade and economic relations with the Republic of Kazakhstan. The most active participants in foreign trade are Astrakhan, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Samara, Volgograd, Kurgan regions and Altai Region. 12 Russian border territories provide half of the volume of trade between the countries, and two-thirds belong to the Urals and Siberia. To date, more than 40 agreements in various areas of interstate relations have been signed between the regions and territories of Kazakhstan and Russia. Currently, there are about 400 enterprises and representative offices in the border area. From the first days of independence, relations with certain border areas of the People's Republic of China began to be implemented in the interests of both countries. President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev in an interview with journalists of the magazine "Talents of China" on July 24, 1995 stated that "Our meeting in the autumn of 1993 gave an important impetus to the development of cooperation between Kazakhstan and China in various fields. The relations between our countries based on good neighborliness and friendship provide a good basis for deepening relations between Kazakhstan and China, deepening various ties between the two peoples. Kazakhstan assumes particular importance to the development of comprehensive relations with your country and appreciates the intensity and friendly nature of our relations" [11]. Thus, he stressed the importance of close bilateral ties in various fields.

An official intergovernmental statement at the time noted that "China is Kazakhstan's largest trading partner after Russia. The trade turnover between the two countries reached 600 million US dollars by the end of 1996, or almost doubled compared to last year. Karmetkombinat pays $120 million to China and a long-term agreement is being reached to supply steel and tin concentrate from China for the production of tin with the participation of Chinese partners at the suggestion of the plant" [12]. This showed the need for further cooperation. In the pursuit of the development of bilateral relations with the countries whose territories are bordered by the regions of Kazakhstan, the issue of establishing a clear connection with the historical homeland of the national diasporas in the border areas is taken into account. They included economic, cultural, educational, scientific, linguistic and other relations with the Kazakh population located in the border areas with neighboring countries and they aimed at systematic work in these areas. They covered the work on implementation of comprehensive contacts with non-Kazakh nationals living in the border areas of the country with their historical compatriots and thereby resolving the issue of interethnic relations with neighboring countries and other work. The examples of the East Kazakhstan region demonstrate that the main content of the relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the border areas of neighboring countries is aimed at the actual implementation of these goals. In particular, in the second half of the 90s of XX century, in accordance with the State Program of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the East Kazakhstan regional administration began to provide employment and accommodation services to repatriates from Mongolia, China, Iran and other countries. Most of the repatriates to this historical place were those who reluctantly moved from this region of Kazakhstan and aimed to establish close ties with the Kazakhs of the Altai, Tarbagatai, Bayan -Ulgii regions of the People's Republic of China and Mongolia. The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan provided an opportunity for repatriates to settle down and work in a new place. According to archival documents of this content, according to the East Kazakhstan regional department of migration and demography, as of September 1, 1998, there were 1,074 repatriates in the region, amounting to 15,340 people.

In order to implement the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the allocation of quotas for repatriates" in the budget of the region in 1998 provided 61.5 million tenge for the reception and placement of repatriates. Since the beginning of 1998, 21 houses were purchased for repatriate families for

2050.0 thousand tenge, another 22 houses were selected and paid for. There are 1808 repatriates of working age in the region. 1054 of them are permanently or temporarily employed. Despite the complexity of socioeconomic development and the severe lack of budget funds, the Akim of the region and local authorities are doing everything possible to receive, accommodate and prepare repatriates - ethnic Kazakhs for the new situation [13]. At the same time, the Government of Kazakhstan, on the basis of agreements with the Governments of the People's Republic of China and Mongolia, facilitates economic, social, cultural and educational cooperation of these repatriates with their relatives in these countries. The result of this work is that the number of Kazakhs returning to their homeland is constantly growing. At the same time, since the first decade of the XXI century, the East Kazakhstan region has become a kind of joint action of the state with the CIS and other countries in the economic, cultural, health, education and science spheres. Among them, the basis of external relations in the region has become tourism. According to actual data: "Compared to the total number of visitors in 2010, the number of tourists in 2013 increased by 28.8% ".

In 2013, there were 277 accommodation facilities (hotels, country houses, boarding houses, camps, rural recreation centers), 347 symbols of the tourism industry (providing tourist services) in the East Kazakhstan region, which provided services in the amount of 3.2 billion tenge [14]. Therefore, the region pays regular attention to the development of international tourism and mutually beneficial relations with neighboring countries. In particular, for the development of domestic tourism in the region, the akimat annually organizes participation in international and national exhibitions. For example, on February 11, 2014 in Ust-Kamenogorsk International Tourism Exhibition "Introduce yourself and the East to the world" was organized. The exhibition was implemented with the participation of tourism companies from Russia, China, Mongolia, Slovakia, regional governors, heads of national and local tourism organizations, and contributed to the development of tourism in the region at the international level. A number of memorandums were signed during the exhibition. They are: The first, the East Kazakhstan Department of Tourism and External Relations - "Machaon International", Slovakia. The European Commission "Mahaon International Association" has allocated 88 million tenge for the development of rural tourism in Ridder, Katon-Karagai and Kurchum districts; the second, LLP "Irtysh" and E.S. Kanapyanov planned to build a tourist base on the shores of Lake Sadyrkol (Sibe Lakes area); third, LLP "Meridian" (East Kazakhstan) and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (China) - signed a visa agreement; the fourth, the Municipal State Institution "Tourist Information Center" and the Mongolian tourist company "Zavhan" signed an agreement to meet with representatives of travel agencies from Germany and France from May 28 to June 3. In cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, in March 2014, Abu Dhabi participated in the International Tourism Exhibition "GIBTM -2014". During these activities, a number of contracts were concluded.

LLP "Bayan" health complex - in the summer of 2014 signed an agreement with representatives of 6 companies ("TREDEWAY Sagency", "BINMOSTRAVEL") on the admission of UAE citizens for anthrax treatment, LLP "Katon-Karagai deer park" - a five-star "Rakha Beach hotel" in Abu Dhabi. Hotel has signed an agreement to open deer antler production offices. From April 27 to May 1, 2014 in the business and exposition areas of the city-resort of federal significance Belokurikha in the Altai Territory the International Tourism Forum "VISIT ALTAI" was held. Participation in this forum provided an opportunity to organize recreational and medical activities in the East Kazakhstan region. A Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of tourism was signed there. It is planned to regulate the single international tourist routes (Russian Federation - Republic of Kazakhstan - China). Officials of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey, DEDEMAN Hotel Association in Ust-Kamenogorsk prepared a project "Training for hotel business managers", the resu lts and recommendations of them were sent to the Republic of Turkey, Antalya and Belek cities. As part of the Program for the development of priority areas of the tourism industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2010-2014, 4 important developing investment projects for the development of tourism in the East Kazakhstan region were considered. The Department of Tourism and External Relations of the East Kazakhstan region, in addition to the above, from the period of its justification, economic, cultural spheres organized relations in various fields. For example: April 8-10, 2014 in Barnaul "Days of the Altai Krai" of the East Kazakhstan region were held. As part of the event, meetings were organized with representatives of the East Kazakhstan region and business groups of the Altai Krai. The meeting took place in the Altai Business Incubator, as a result of which memorandums and contracts were signed.

According to the memorandum signed on April 9, 2011, on September 18, 2014 between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the East Kazakhstan region was the opening of a children ' s tuberculosis hospital in Semey for 5.2 million euros. Within the framework of the meeting, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohamed Algafili met with Chairman of the Development Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohamed Suleiman Aldalilan, as well as Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan Hamad Alnuwasir. On March 26-28, 2014, as part of the celebration of "Nauryz H oliday" in Shaueshek, Xinjiang, China, days of Culture of the East Kazakhstan region of international level were organized. It is known that mutual cooperation in the field of tourism between the People's Republic of China in the border area has been established since the first days of Kazakhstan's independence. In particular, the official document for the implementation of such relations between the two countries at that time it was written that "On July 16, 1992, an agreement was reached between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the PRC on further development of tourism tourism" [15]. The schedule of the tour group of the East- Kazakhstan regional sports department is compiled in conjunction with the customs. Today 3 groups (930 people) were missed. All these groups were organized by the company "Ust-Kamenogorsk Tourist" Kaztursovet, as it is the only one having a direct contract with the Foreign Policy Department of the Altai Krai of the People's Republic of China.

The regional administration together with the branch of the corporation "Atameken" recently accepted the delegation of the leadership of the Koktugai region. Altai (Xinjiang, China) and discussed the issues of trade, tourism, agriculture, etc. [15-17]. This relationship continued further. During the meetings of the heads of regions and business circles of Kazakhstan and China, the issues of further development of joint activities in the field of tourism, agriculture, construction of the Bakhty-Ayagoz railway, green energy were discussed. Following the meeting, memorandums on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation were signed between the Department of Culture, archives and documentation of East Kazakhstan region, Ayagoz district of East Kazakhstan region, Durbyzhyn district of Xinj iang, China. On May 23-24, 2014, at the initiative of the East Kazakhstan regional administration, the first exhibition "OSKEMEN EXPO - 2014" was held. The exhibition organized a project competition "Energy of the Future", after three meetings of expert groups, the winners were determined in 21 nominations. The guests invited by the East Kazakhstan Department of Tourism and External Relations were Nobel Laureates Kurt Wutrich and Svyatoslav Timashev, as well as foreign scientists Klaus Thiessen, Alexei Kavokin, Giuseppe Eramo and they shared their achievements in science. Within the framework of the trade-economic, scientific-technical, cultural-humanitarian agreement between the Akimat of the East Kazakhstan region and the Akimat of the Plzensk region, a delegation of the Czech Republic headed by the Governor of the Plzensk region Vaclav Schleis visited on September 16-19, 2014. During the meeting it is planned to visit JSC "Asia Auto", dairy complex "Bobrovka", construction and energy facilities. According to the bilateral agreement, LLP "Techstroyinnovation" and the Czech company "Friedlantskiestroyirny Rasl and son" signed an agreement on the implementation of equipment for th e production of thermal and sound and fire insulation boards with a capacity of 8950000 euros and a capacity of

30,0 tons per year. The total cost of the project is 22 million euros. On September 17 this year, a capsule was installed in Ust-Kamenogorsk for the construction of a plant for processing heat-generating materials for business development.

On October 16-18, 2014, Ust-Kamenogorsk hosted the 13th meeting of the International Coordination Council "Altai - our common home". The meeting was attended by leaders of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, Mongolia, the Altai Krai of the Russian Federation and the Altai Republic. They discussed joint projects in trade, economic, social and humanitarian spheres, cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The work plan of the International Coordinating Council "Altai - our common home" for 2015 was signed. On October 22-23, 2014, a delegation of the Federal Territory of Saxony met with Manfred Liebl, Chairman of the Saxony Economy in Russia, Vice President of the Expert Advisory Center for Mechanical Engineering. Within the framework of the meeting, a forum was held with the participation of entrepreneurs from the Federal Territory of Saxony and leaders of large enterprises of the East Kazakhstan region, including "Innovative production technologies that modernize entrepreneurship for metalworking enterprises". The main purpose of the forum was to develop business relations with enterprises of the East Kazakhstan region, to attract investment in the East Kazakhstan region. On November 3, 2014 a meeting of the Akimat of the East Kazakhstan region with the chairmen of the company "POSCO e & c" of the Republic of Korea was held. The issues of implementation of concession investment projects of East Kazakhstan region on the basis of public-private partnership were discussed during the meeting. Construction of a multidisciplinary polyclinic for 300 people in Ust-Kamenogorsk through the "Bukhtarma Reservoi" at a cost of 230 million tenge. The construction of a bridge in the amount of US dollars was considered. The funds allocated for the construction of the bridge amounted to 20.8 billion tenge, the cost of a multidisciplinary hospital - 14.4 billion tenge. Economic, cultural, social cooperation between the North Kazakhstan region and the neighboring regions of the Russian Federation, as well as with some areas of foreign countries, has been based on the first years of independence. Since the end of XX century, various agreements have been concluded with the border regions of Russia and several Polish provinces, and their implementation is being carried out.

To this end, in December 1999, an official delegation of the Kurgan region of the Russian Federation paid a working visit to the North Kazakhstan region. During the meeting the participants discussed "Cooperation in trade, economic, scientific, technical, humanitarian and other areas between the Kurgan region of the Russian Federation and the North Kazakhstan region". The issues of improvement and specification of the Agreement were discussed: law enforcement agencies of Korgan and North Kazakhstan regions, heads of customs services held working meetings to jointly address issues of illicit drug trafficking, arms trafficking, as well as coordination of the fight against organized crime; Following the meeting of the heads of enterprises of Petropavlovsk with the delegation of Korgan region in JSC "PZTM", the participants agreed to exchange information on the types of products, changes in prices in the domestic market, as well as the implementation of joint projects; Exchange of parts and units between "Kurgandormash" OJSC - "PZTM" OJSC; Electrical equipment between KEMZ JSC and Kirov Plant JSC; Kurganmashzavod OJSC - Power Aggregates Plant LLP production and production of low-capacity engines; JSC "KAVZ" - "On the development of individual components and parts for the implementation of the project" Ural buses "between the Petropavlovsk complex of machine-building enterprises" [18].

During the official visit of the delegation of North Kazakhstan region to Tyumen region of the Russian Federation on August 28, 2002, the issues of deepening multifaceted cooperation between the border areas of the two countries were discussed. Among them are the provision of conditions for education in the native language in preschool institutions in the districts of Tyumen region and sending high school graduates of Tyumen region to study at the North Kazakhstan University in "Kazakh language and literature", and high school graduates of North Kazakhstan region "Russian language and literature". "Agreements have been reached to send him to Ishim University to study in his specialty". Economic and social cooperation between the North Kazakhstan region and the neighboring regions of the Russian Federation, including Korgan,

Tyumen and Omsk regions, continues every year with new joint activities. For example, the official report of the Department of Economy of North Kazakhstan region reports on the implementation of the Agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical, humanitarian and other cooperation between the Korgan region of the Russian Federation in the 1st quarter of 2001. It considered the issue of production of 200 small-capacity engines worth 75.0 thousand US dollars between Kurganmashzavod OJSC LLP "Plant for the production of small-capacity engines".

The trade turnover with the Kurgan region of the Russian Federation in January-February 2001 amounted to 1376.1 US dollars. The foreign trade turnover in 2001 amounted to 12.8 million US dollars, or 4.2% of the total turnover with the Russian Federation, including exports of 5.8 million US dollars, imports of

7.0 million US dollars. The main exports were chemical products, mineral products. The majority of imports, in particular, 36.6% are metallurgical products [19-21]. In addition, on the basis of joint plans, the North Kazakhstan region has established a number of areas of cooperation with the Russian-dominated Omsk region of Russia, and services are provided in accordance with bilateral plans. In order to further deepen such relations, an agreement "On cooperation in trade, economic, scientific, technical, humanitarian and other fields" was signed on September 3, 2001 between the leadership of the Omsk region of the Russian Federation and the akimat of the North Kazakhstan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Parties shall, within their competence, promote the maintenance and development of socio-economic, scientific, technical and cultural ties between the Omsk region of the Russian Federation and the North Kazakhstan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan, guided by the principles of mutual respect and equality. It undertakes to refrain from actions that could cause economic, environmental or other damage to any of the parties. Along with the border regions of Russia, the foundation was laid in various directions of relations of this region of Kazakhstan with certain regions of the far abroad. For example, the relationship between entrepreneurs of the North Kazakhstan region and the voivodships of the Republic of Poland, established at the beginning of the XXI century, is very important. At the invitation of the Polish side, on May 27-31, 2001, a delegation from the North Kazakhstan region visited the Polish Voivodeship of Dolnosilez and on May 31 visited the Volikopolskoe Voivodeship. During the visit, the delegation visited the agricultural machinery manufacturer "PILMET" and the pharmaceutical company "NASSO-LEK", the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, more than 20 Western companies and partnerships visited the Valbzhihsk special economic zone. The delegation visited the enterprise "NEUREKA", which manufactures and maintains milk coolers. As a result, LLP "SK -Leasing" (Petropavlovsk) with the pharmaceutical company "NASSO -LEK" (Poland) in the North Kazakhstan region sent to the North Kazakhstan region 3 units of the company "Ffisomilk 4" with a capacity of 1.5 liters and Ffisomilk an agreement was signed on the sale of refrigeration units for 1 liter of milk [22].

Conclusions