Kazakhstan: Building a Future on the Foundations of Oil, Gas, and Innovation, 125 years later.
Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry has been the bedrock of our country's growth for three decades since our independence. Natural resources, as an industry, has helped us grow economically and allowed us to partner with the West on ways and means to improve the industry, generate ideas, and innovate.
For Kazakhs, oil and gas pipelines are sources of income, growth, and connections with other parts of the world.
A few days ago, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, on the 125th anniversary of the nation's oil and gas industry, reiterated that the foundation of our country's development lies in this specific sector of the economy—and our course into the future, I might add.
The industry employs a quarter of a million people, which is a lot of manpower and brainpower in a country of roughtly 20 million citizens.
Yes, we are a young country, but we are also energy-secure, and that says a lot in the current context. That makes Kazahstan an ideal partner of both the East and the West. Being modern in the way we produce, fully respecting the world's environmental needs, and taking into account that the next thirty or sixty years will define the way future generations grow, is really paramount.
In his address last week, President Tokayev insisted that "large enterprises in the sector must increase localization levels consistently and prioritize using products from Kazakh entrepreneurs for their needs."
And he added: "Strengthening social responsibility further and expanding the contribution to developing socially significant infrastructure is fundamental."
Supporting local entrepreneurs who understand technology and the oil, gas, natural resources, and green energy industries will be strategic for businesses of all sizes.
I repeated not long ago that I am always happy to support and invest new entrepreneurs with new ideas that can add value to the natural resources space.
We export to the West, but we also export to China, a partner that is next door and appreciates the value of our output.
We know now that Kazakhstan's mainline and sea oil transport volume expanded by 14.2% to 21,541 tons in the first quarter of 2024. Atyrau-Samara, Druzhba-Adria, Aktau-Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Kazakhstan-China, Constanta-Trieste. These are names that mark pipelines and directions in the highways of our future growth.
With all this in mind, apart from applauding President Tokayev's view of the industry's future, I want to say that we, as a country and as an industry, must continue believing and working.
By increasing the way we invest and innovate, we will ensure our oil and gas output is more effective, clean, and secure. And we will continue to build a nation - and guarantee the next generations' security in the process.