The following is the final part to the last several questions I asked on my on-line survey where I got 27 responses. I would appreciate any feedback you may have to the six parts that I did this past week in my blog. Please comment below and I will e-mail you a response back. I would LOVE to know what my reading audience thinks after digesting all the results in total:
Question #11 – How do you think we, as foreigners living in Kazakhstan, can help create a better image about this great land of Kazakhstan?
33% talk it up and encourage friends and family to visit KZ
19% write more about KZ
19% blog about KZ
10% encourage Kazakhs to blog
11% other
1) Accurate books need to be written in English and other languages to raise awareness.
2) Get rid of Borat
3) Having lived among the Kazakhs and known them for many years I feel that foreigner’s help create the wrong image of Kazakhstan. I think first Embassies and corperations must stop calling Astana and Almaty “Hardship” locations. It is a perception that many foreigners love to use. I have heard so many complain about what a hardship living here is and this is a poor portrayal of our true life here.
Q. #12 Do you think this upcoming O.S.C.E. conference in Astana (Dec. 1-2) will make a difference for Kazakhstan?
15% – put Kazakhstan on the map
24% – will make little impact
32% – more about show than about substance
12% – no one else in the world cares about this summit
2% – first I’ve heard about it
15% – other
1)If the organization does what it says—follow through is necessary
2) I wish all the best for this conference and hope that it makes a positive difference
3) I think Kazakhstan will be mentioned in the papers, but I think these big meetings don’t achieve much generally.
4) It will be a positive experience and I think many foreign representatives will be pleasantly surprised at the progress in K-stan
5) It is always a good thing when countries come together and communicate. We live in a very small world.
6)I hope I’m wrong, but no one I’ve talked to about it in America knows anything about it.
7) news have not covered much about the upcoming conference
Question #13. Do you believe that Kazakhstan will reach its goal to be one of the top 50 countries by the year 2030?
15% – most definitely
41% – maybe
19% – no
4% – never heard of this goal
22% – other
1) Will depend on how the current government handles issues such as bribes, disparity of incomes etc.
2) What is meant by top?? It is already on of the largest,It has a vast supply of mineral wealth:oil,gold uranium. It is the Bread basket of the old soviet states. It has raise a modern city out of the dust of the Steppe! I do think it will be a contender for the top 20!!
3) top 50 is a poorly thought of statistic that is too general
4) top 50 in what sense … I don’t understand this question. gross GDP? possibly but the population is small. GDP per capita? probably. top 50 is vague.
5) I hope they will manage to spread the wealth among all citizens and not jus a few well connected people
6) anything is possible especially if the oil money continues to flow
7) depends all on the economic situation of the country, KZ is too dependent on oil and gas, if prices drop this can hit the country as a whole.
Kazakhnomad's Blog: A Westerner's View of Kazakhstan 