Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia, deep in the Eurasian continent. Its territory is as large as 2,724,900 sq km (i.e. 1,049,150 sq miles). In terms of the area it is the second largest among the CIS states. It occupies the ninth place in the world according to its square after Russia, China, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India and Australia. In fact the territory of Kazakhstan exceeds that occupied by twelve countries of the European Union. Kazakhstan borders upon the following states: China- 1.460 km - long border; Kyrgyzstan - 980 km; Turkmenistan - 380 km; Uzbekistan - 2.300 km; the Russian Federation - 6.467 km. Total length of borders amounts to 12.187 km.

The territory of the Republic stretches on from the low reaches of the Volga in the West to the foothills of the Altai mountains in the East - for some 3,000 km ( a distance that spans two time zones), from West Siberian lowland in the North to the desert of Kyzylkum and the mountain range of Tien Shan in the South for some 2,000 km.

The climate of the country is sharply continental. Average temperature in January varies within - 19° - - 4° C while average July temperature fluctuates within + 19° - + 26° C. The lowest temperature in winter may go down to - 45° C with the highest one in summer + 30° C.

The capital is the city of Astana (since December 10, 1997) whose population is as large as 528,000 people. Administratively Kazakhstan is comprised of 14 regions, 84 cities of which 39 refer to those of Republican and regional subordination, 159 districts, 241 settlements, 2,042 aul (rural) counties.

On the territory of the country they have discovered nearly 160 deposits of oil and gas. Their reserves - known to this day - are approximately equal to present day resources of the whole of the Western Europe. These oil and gas fields contain about 20,000,000,000 barrels of oil and 700,000,000 ton of gas condensate. Sum total of the cost thereof is estimated in the region of USD 4 bln. The Tenghiz field only ranks as one of the largest deposits of the world.

Coal reserves in Kazakhstan reach 160,000,000,000 ton. The Republic numbers 10 coal fields of bituminous and brown coal, 155 deposits all in all.

Iron ore resources (containing 50-60% of pure iron) in the Republic surpass those of many a country in the world. The territory of Kazakhstan affords infinite resources of salt and construction materials. The already prospected deposits serve a fine basis for the development of mining, coal-mining, metallurgy, oil-and-gas and chemical industries. Kazakhstan's share in world output of commercial minerals and products of procession thereof (according to estimates of the Union Bank of Switzerland) in the days of the late USSR amounted to the following: Beryllium - 24%, Zink - 7%, Tantalum - 33%, Titanium - 26%, Chromite - 27%, Copper - 3%, Barite - 7%, Molybdenum - 3%, Lead - 7%, Bauxites - 1%, Uranium -14%, Manganese - 5%, Silver - 6%, Iron ore - 2%, Tungsten - 12%, Gold - 1%.