ASTANA - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered all top government figures, the heads of ministries and departments and regional heads to stay in the country during the upcoming New Year's holidays, the presidential press service reports.
"They should celebrate holidays with their people. This concerns both the upcoming New Year’s celebrations and state holidays," Nazarbayev said during a meeting in Astana on Monday.
A new wave of the global crisis, which has been largely expected lately, should not catch Kazakhstan unawares, Nazarbayev told the presidential staff, government officials and representatives of the ruling Nur Otan party.
"Everyone expects a new wave of the global financial-economic crisis next year. Kazakhstan has long been preparing for it. But if the crisis begins, it should catch no one unawares either at the central or regional level", Nazarbayev’s press service quoted him as saying.
The government, the presidential administration and other bodies should work harder to monitor global economic trends and look into possible scenarios of the crisis and how it could be overcome, the president said.
"In times of crisis, we need to be more rational. This concerns, above all, the expenditures of state bodies and national companies. They should drop costly corporate events, presentations and international conferences. We need to stop this," Nazarbayev said.
