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General Information Area: 2,717,300 sq km (1,049,150 sq miles). Population: 16,733,227 (2000). Population Density: 6.2 per sq km. Capital: Astana (formerly called Akmola). Population: 313,000 (1999). GEOGRAPHY: Five times the size of France and half the size of the USA, Kazakhstan is the second largest state in the Commonwealth of Independent States, and is bordered by the Russian Federation to the north and west, the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the southwest, Kyrgyzstan to the south and China to the southeast. 90 per cent of the country is made up of steppe, the sand massives of the Kara Kum and the vast desert of Kizilkum, while in the southeast of the country the mountains of the Tian Shan and the Altai form a great natural frontier with tens of thousands of lakes and rivers. The Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash are the country’s largest expanses of water. Government: Republic. Head of State: President Nursultan A Nasarbayev since 1991. Head of Government: Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov since 2002. Language: The official language is Kazakh, a Turkic language closely related to Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Turkmen and Turkish. The Government has undertaken to replace the Russian Cyrillic alphabet with the Turkish version of the Roman alphabet. Meanwhile, the Cyrillic alphabet is in general use and most people in the cities can speak Russian, whereas country people tend to only speak Kazakh. English is usually spoken by those involved in tourism. Uygur and other regional languages and dialects are also spoken. Religion: Mainly Sunni Muslim. There are Russian Orthodox and Jewish minorities. There are ten independent denominations of Christianity. The Kazakhs do not express their religious feelings fervently – Kazakhstan is an outlying district of the Muslim world and a meeting point of Russian, Chinese and Central Asian civilisations. Islam plays a minor role in policy and there are no significant Islamic political organisations in the country. Time: Kazakhstan is divided into three time zones: Eastern/Main Zone: GMT + 6 (GMT + 7 from 28 March to 26 October). Central Zone: GMT + 5 (GMT + 6 from 28 March to 26 October). Western Zone: GMT + 4 (GMT + 5 from 28 March to 26 October). Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Round two-pin continental plugs are standard. Communications:   Telephone Country code: 7. Area code for Almaty: 3272. International calls can be made at a reduced rate from 2000-0800 local time. International calls should be made from a telephone office; these are usually attached to post offices. Mobile telephone Dual band 1800 and 900 networks in use. Coverage is good around the main cities. Network providers include K-MOBILE and Kazakhtelecom. There are roaming agreements with Vodafone, Orange, O2 and T-Mobile. Telegram Facilities available from any post office. Internet ISPs include Parasang (website: www.ricc.kz) and Astel (website: www.astel.kz). There are Internet cafes in most towns and cities. Post Full postal facilities are available at main post offices in the cities, which are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The main post office in Almaty is located on Ulitsa Kurmangazy. International postal communication is undertaken by the firms Blitz-Pochta, Press Limited and International Press (e-mail: mpress87@hotmail.com). Delivery within the republic takes three to five days. Post to Western Europe and the USA takes between two and three weeks. Mail addresses should be laid out in the following order: country, postcode, city, street, house number and lastly the person’s name. Post office hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1800. Visitors can also use post offices located within major hotels. Press There are 70 newspapers and 50 magazines in Kazakh, Russian, German, Uygur and Korean published in the country. The most popular are Yegemen Kazakhstan, Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, Panorama, Express K, Khalyk Kenesi and the international newspaper Asia. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 17.79 15.58 11.76 1.413 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 17.74 11.71 9.645 6.110 From www.columbusguides.com, Copyright © 2004 Highbury Columbus Travel Publishing Terms and Conditions apply.