ASTANA, January 10th, 2004 (RIA Novosti correspondent Alisher Niyazov) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, currently visiting Kazakhstan, is expected to begin the second day of his sojourn in this Central Asian republic with a tour of its new capital, Astana.
The VIP guest will be shown some of the city's main development projects, including the Astana Baiterek monument - a 97-meter-tall stylized tree in metal, glass, and concrete. The idea of erecting the monument belongs to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who wants it to become a symbol of the independent Kazakhstan.
Astana's center is now being redeveloped to turn what was just recently a provincial city into a modern capital. All development projects here are being personally supervised by Mr. Nazarbayev.
The decision to transfer the Kazakh capital from Almaty to Astana was made in 1997. Astana, in northern Kazakhstan, was previously known as Akmola and Tselinograd (in the Soviet era).
