Astana Expo draws 4 million visitors, raises Kazakhstan's stature globally

About 4 million people visited the international specialised exhibition EXPO-2017 hosted by Kazakh capital from 10th June to 10th September 2017in Astana, announced President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at the closing ceremony of the exhibition on Sunday night.

"About 4 million people visited the world exhibition EXPO-2017, two-thirds of them are young people and schoolchildren. EXPO-town saw between 40,000 to 50,000 visits a day," Nursultan Nazarbayev said. The Head of State also added that over one million people watched the exhibition in 180 countries. "I want to also note that every sixth visitor was a foreigner," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

According to the President, the most popular pavilion of the exhibition was Kazakhstan's Nur-Alem sphere. Since the beginning of the exhibition, it was visited by 1.3 million people. He noted that, in general, the exhibition has raised the country's prestige in the international arena.

He stressed that the exhibition had a positive multiplicative effect and gave impetus to the further development of the country's economy. "More than 1,400 small and medium enterprises received orders for goods and services worth KZT 640 billion, tens of thousands of people got jobs and decent wages. Kazakhstan's tourist sector saw a noticeable revival, with the demand for tour operator services almost doubling. The number of business entities in Astana increased by more than 10 percent. The budget of the capital from the service sphere increased 1.2 times. The capital of Kazakhstan was at the epicenter of global attention," Nursultan Nazarbayev added.

The President added that, according to foreign experts, Kazakhstan has become a country worth visiting, and the world learned about its unique culture. "EXPO provided a unique opportunity to demonstrate the intellectual and technological potential of our planet. About 140 scientific inventions in the field of renewable energy sources were showcased here," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.