Hegel Vs. Kant

I appeal to you, the people of Kazakhstan, to share my vision of the future of our society and the mission of our state. I want to present to you a strategy which I am sure will help us in gaining this future and accomplishing our mission.

I wish to share my considerations as to the future which looms far ahead in the next century, in the new millenium, in the pretty remote perspective. Time has come to say once and for all what future we want to build for us and for our children.

What do we need it for? I believe, with each of us there has ripened a profound awareness of the fact that one can no longer live for the day only, merely in an incessant turmoil of settling present day tasks.

We must have a clear-cut knowledge and understanding of what we mean to construct, what should be the trajectory, the highway of our development which is to ensure our gaming the objetives we've set.

Through correct identification of our priorities, in choosing relevant strategies, by manifesting our firm will and persistence in following this path, we shall dispense with unnecessary off-tracking, with waste of energy, time and resources.

When provided with well-considered strategy and firmness of purpose in accomplishing our goals, we shall be able to overcome any serious obstacles blocking our way.

Hard conditions we have to tackle with today must not deprive us of hope and enthusiasm. Clear awareness of our prospects, honest presentation of eventual difficulties and privations empeding our way will help in mobilizing the efforts of all the citizens of our society for settling this task common to all.

We must well remember

that apart from the goals set for the period of today, our generation bears tremendous responsibility to future generations, it is in fact responsibility of parents and grandparents to their children and grandchildren.

What will our children and grandchildren be - the way we want to see them in that remote future - when they are our age?

Will they be well-off, well-fed, healthy and well-educated?

Will they live in a prosperous and democratic society? Will they live in peace?

Will they feel safe, safe as to themselves and to their children? Will they be able to feel safe walking along the streets, feel safe for their property?

Indeed, will they succeed to a strong state and to friendly relations with their neighbours, whether remote or close?

It is today that we must answer these seemingly simple but pretty important questions.

Once some man of wisdom remarked that if one doesn't know his way, he may reach the goal following any path. Having this in mind we must always have a clear-cut vision of the model of the future presented both generally and as specific short-term objectives. What's the wherefore of it? Taking some actions we shall permanently stick to a certain standard to verify the way we follow, whether we make progress or move off track, whether we outstrip the developments or lag behind them.

When mentally contrasting every passing day with the day to come, with the process being repeated time and again, one comes to somewhat different perception of the scope and import of problems set ahead. When we feel ourselves a part of the world and of the planet at large, we can't help feeling the nagging breath of the new epoch and new times drawing ever near.

Kazakhstan, as a new state, emerged in the world in the epoch which saw the end of many a powerful empire: Ottoman one. Austrian-and-Hungarian one and, only recently, the Soviet Union.

Today we are building a new state, a new market economy and a new democracy, and this - at the very time when many other independent states have already trodden that path similar enough.

Today we live in an epoch of ever growing globalization and ever close interrelationships when powerful outer forces would inevitably play a pretty substantial role in determining our future.

If we are serious and clever enough in our intentions, if we are capable of honest analysis of both external and internal factors of our development, then we do have a chance of choosing the right way: to identify priorities and elaborate the relevant strategy on the basis of our general consolidation, on the basis of our history and unique circumstances.

Sure enough, we may and ought to study the experience of other countries and take advantage of auspicious tendencies in the world community. Yet only we, none other than we, are capable of coping with this enormous work which is indispensable for the implementation of our dream of and hope for building the Kazakhstan, which our children and grandchildren will be proud of when they are our age.

Why is it particularly today that we set this task?

It is because we were not ready for this yesterday, we were short of both experience and knowledge, we could hardly afford it because of unfavourable circumstances and all sorts of instabilities. And the task itself was quite different. The essence of the preceding period consisted in eventual survival of an independent state in stormy conditions of the budding transition period. Many prognosticated that we shall be a sheer failure, that we shall not cope with unprecedentedly tremendous tasks of building a state, that our social and economic transformations will collapse altogether.

Yet, even today, it is quite clear that we have withstood the first trial with flying colours. Here we are - alive and kicking. Notwithstanding all the obstacles we safely emerged from the abyss of chaos and disorder.

At present we pass over to the stage of stabilization. The fact that we have successfully settled our most urgent and paramount problems gives us a chance of retrospective analysis, of trustworthy evaluation of the way we've passed. From now on we can afford facing the future, contemplating perspective development, making elaborate plans.

An experience in achieving our statehood, in implementing political and economic reforms, knowledge about the world and the laws that govern it, tolerance and understanding of the Kazakhstanis - all these gains won in the most arduous conditions make us ever stronger and more confident.

Frankly speaking, we cannot afford putting off solution of this task for tomorrow, we can't afford waiting for the completion of our reforms.