Nur-Sultan, Jul 3 (EFE), (Camera: James Russo).- At his inauguration last month, newly elected Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pledged to continue the long-term development strategy envisioned by his mentor, Kazakhstan's omnipotent ruler, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who retired in March after nearly 30 years at the helm of the oil-and-minerals-rich Central Asian country.
The business-as-usual approach caused a sigh of relief among investors, but sparked a series of protests that led to the arrest of hundreds who were hoping for tangible reforms rather than a cast of new characters after decades of authoritarian rule.
He pledged to accelerate implementation of Nazarbayev's 100-step blueprint for institutional reforms aimed at modernizing Kazakh society.
Most of the steps deal with domestic projects and infrastructure, but for the outside world looking in, the most important aspect of the blueprint, Step 70, was Nazarbayev's establishment of the Astana International Financial Center, which was officially launched a year ago this week and serves as a financial hub for Central Asia, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Middle East, Western China, Mongolia and Europe.
The AIFC is a pro-market development project that encompasses a British law-based court, an arbitration center, an Islamic finance center and the country's first stock market, the AIX.
  INCLUDES VIDEO COURTESY OF THE AIFC.
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