ASTANA (Interfax) — Kazakhstan has continued the upward trend in its economic growth despite economic difficulties, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in Astana on Tuesday during an assembly dedicated to the upcoming celebrations of Kazakhstan’s Independence Day.

The president mentioned that amongst the most significant events to take place in Kazakhstan in 2015 was “the graduation of the first 50 specialists from Nazarbayev University, which has already become one of the most leading universities worldwide.” He added:

Another global economic crisis has been raging for two years in a row, and we are living under these circumstances. In spite of these problems, 24 years of independence have left the memories of many exciting events which are of paramount importance to Kazakhstan.

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We have retained positive dynamics in our economic growth no matter what happened […] A generation of mobile, creative and learned youngsters" is growing in the country […] One hundred and twenty enterprises with a total value of 800 bln tenge and more than 10,000 jobs were created in 2015. Many thousands of apartments were commissioned to accommodate young families and people with low income. Kazakhstan entered into the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Eurasian Economic Union took effect.

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Kazakhstan has created, together with the IAEA, an international nuclear fuel bank in its territory. The third Kazakh cosmonaut, Aidyn Aimbetov, completed a space mission.

The years to come will not be easy for national development, he added:

The future of the 21st century is an open field, where any path can be taken. Paths which are even more difficult than the ones we took in the past, and those that we are taking now, and even more difficult paths are waiting for us in the future. History is never only a chronology of victories. If everything had been as good, history itself would not have existed.

New progress is made after every crisis, he said, adding: “This is why stability has become an even bigger value for our country. A stable economy, stable politics, and a stable society are the course we have always been in pursuit of, and we must not abandon that course now.”