"We're working on accession to the WTO very actively. We still have several countries with which we need to conclude agreements and possibly that will happen next year"
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The careful blandness is the point. Nazarbayev frames WTO accession as busy, technical, almost inevitable work - “very actively,” “several countries,” “conclude agreements” - a checklist of diplomacy that sounds apolitical even though it is deeply political. In one tidy sentence, Kazakhstan’s longtime strongman casts himself as a modernizing manager, not a ruler negotiating power, legitimacy, and leverage.
The phrase “we’re working” performs double duty: it signals competence to domestic audiences hungry for global relevance, and it reassures investors and Western partners that Kazakhstan is committed to predictable, rules-based trade. Yet the real audience is plural. “Several countries” is deliberately nonspecific, a way to acknowledge obstacles without naming who is stalling, what is being demanded, or what Kazakhstan might concede. That vagueness keeps bargaining space intact while avoiding the appearance of vulnerability.
“Possibly… next year” is the soft power of hedging. It lowers expectations, buys time, and normalizes delay as process rather than failure. WTO accession is presented as a horizon always approaching, which helps a centralized regime claim progress without inviting scrutiny of the political reforms that often trail economic integration. The subtext: Kazakhstan wants the benefits of global legitimacy and market access, while retaining maximum control at home and maximum flexibility abroad.
In the post-Soviet context, this is a familiar posture: integration as statecraft. The promise of “next year” isn’t a date; it’s a diplomatic tool, useful precisely because it can be extended.
The phrase “we’re working” performs double duty: it signals competence to domestic audiences hungry for global relevance, and it reassures investors and Western partners that Kazakhstan is committed to predictable, rules-based trade. Yet the real audience is plural. “Several countries” is deliberately nonspecific, a way to acknowledge obstacles without naming who is stalling, what is being demanded, or what Kazakhstan might concede. That vagueness keeps bargaining space intact while avoiding the appearance of vulnerability.
“Possibly… next year” is the soft power of hedging. It lowers expectations, buys time, and normalizes delay as process rather than failure. WTO accession is presented as a horizon always approaching, which helps a centralized regime claim progress without inviting scrutiny of the political reforms that often trail economic integration. The subtext: Kazakhstan wants the benefits of global legitimacy and market access, while retaining maximum control at home and maximum flexibility abroad.
In the post-Soviet context, this is a familiar posture: integration as statecraft. The promise of “next year” isn’t a date; it’s a diplomatic tool, useful precisely because it can be extended.
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| Topic | Business |
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