SIXTH ASTANA ECONOMIC FORUM,MAY 2013

 Astana, March 8: The Sixth Astana Economic Forum will take place in Kazakhstan’s capital from May 22-24 2013. The Forum is now an established event in the international calendar, alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and the St Petersburg Economic Forum in Russia.

      The Astana Economic Forum was founded by President Nazarbayev to bring together the world’s leading thinkers to discuss solutions to the economic, financial and social challenges of our times.
       This year, 8,500 delegates are expected from 100 different countries. Among their number will be heads of state and heads of government; senior political and social figures; leaders of international organizations and businesses; and Nobel Prize winners. The world’s media will also be in attendance.
       This year there will be five key areas for discussion concerning the development of the global economy. These are: Prospects for global economic growth and the price of raw materials in 2013; Infrastructure and innovative technologies; Competitiveness on international markets and the effectiveness of Kazakhstan’s multi-functional internet platform, G-Global (which was established with the aim of initiating and maintaining a worldwide discussion on global development in its broadest sense and a wide range of related topics); Social aspects of economic growth; and Financial systems, global risks and ways of handling them.
As well as this, the Forum provides a platform for discussions among world leaders; and gives an opportunity for one-to-one discussions and televised debates for the world’s media.
      So far, 34 leading social figures have already confirmed their attendance at this year’s event, among them a number of senior politicians and business people and nine Nobel prize winners.
Given the current problems in the global economy, an important element of the Astana Economic Forum will be the World Anti-Crisis Conference, which is being planned jointly with the United Nations and the Russian chairmanship of the G-20. The aim of the Conference is to produce a draft UN World Anti-Crisis Plan.
     It is intended that the main achievement of the Astana Forum will be to produce an open letter for the governments of the UN member states, with recommendations for the recovery and future development of the global economy. This will be sent to the organizing committees of the G-8 and the G-20; the International Monetary Fund; the World Bank; the UN; and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
     The recommendations in this letter will be prepared by leading specialists in international economy and finance, as well as participants in Kazakhstan’s G-Global platform.