Turkestan region founded, Kazakh President's Decree

ASTANA. KAZINFORM President of Kazakhstan has signed a Decree "On some issues of the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Kazakhstan", Akorda press service said.

The Head of State noted that Shymkent ranks now among the cities with the population over one million along with Astana and Almaty.

"According to Article 1, Paragraph 3 of the Law of Kazakhstan "On administrative - territorial division of the Republic of Kazakhstan" Shymkent gained the status of the city of national significance. This administrative unit will be the seventeenth region of Kazakhstan. it's regional centre is Turkestan, the heart of political and spiritual life of the Kazakh khanate and entire Turkic world," the President said.



"Shymkent will become a new centre for attracting investments, technologies and intellectual resources not only of Kazakhstan but also of the entire Central Asian region. We have all conditions and necessary potential. This move will give an impetus to balanced socioeconomic development of the city and consistent improvement of the quality of life of the people of the whole region," the Head of State stressed.