But Kazakhstani democrats e expect a different kind of aid from America. You know the ancient saying that one can give a hungry man a fish or one can teach him how to fish. This holds true not only for Kazakhstan but for all other newly independent states. People in those countries do indeed need the means to exist, but what they require even more is the ability to earn these means within the framework of the global economy. Capitalism in One Family God has been generous to Kazakhstan when He distributed natural resources.
Oil is far from being our only treasure.
Kazakhstan possesses deposits of almost all metals, including gold, aluminum, copper, titanium, uranium, zinc and others. All of these resources were being used in one form or another under the Soviet regime. Kazakhstan was then one of the key regions fueling the growth of the military and industrial might of the Soviet Union. However, after the collapse of the USSR, Kazakhstan suffered from a deep economic decline. Since 1993, when I first became a cabinet member, I considered it to be my main task to attract foreign investments.