Akorda.kz, the official site of the President of Kazakhstan, announced that on May 25th Wynn Resorts CEO Steven Wynn met with President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the country’s capital of Astana.
The president’s press office says that the two discussed tourism and hotel development in the country. Also touched upon, according to the report, was the possibility of cooperation on joint projects.
Although there is no confirmation that Wynn’s visit was related, it was recently announced that major plans are underway in the former Soviet block country for casino development. One such development is planned for the Almaty region where a developer has acquired an exclusive gaming concession for the area and is envisioning several fully integrated casino resorts to participate in the venture.
As planned, that development would build an international airport with funding from the Chinese government as part of the Silk Road Project. The airport, acting as a central hub, would be within a 5 hour plane ride of half of the world’s population according to a development website. A new superhighwway and high speed rail are also planned for the area.
Kazakhstan is located in the heart of Central Asia and is the largest inland country on earth. Under President Nursultan Nazarbayev the country has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Upon independance in 1991 the Gross Domestic Product per capita was just $1,512. In 2012 the GDP per capita had risen to $13,900.
In 2007 the prime minister issued a decree to create an international tourist zone covering 11,000 hectares of land on the shores of Lake Kapchagay north of Almaty. In the summer of 2012 Tengri Holdings (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Kazakhstan government to develop the area. Tengri Holdings is already involved in various sectors of the Mongolian economy including tourism and hospitality, construction and property management, agriculture and mining.