OREANDA-NEWS. November 21, 2014. Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov has taken part in the opening of the IV annual conference “Smart Astana 2014” in Astana.

In his speech, Karim Massimov noted that the role of cities in society has significantly increased due to rapid amplification of the process of economic globalization and urbanization over the past 30 years.

"The cities are the growth points, which form new knowledge, technologies, they are the environment for the development of science, culture, innovation, and, eventually, stimulate economic growth of states," the head of the Government said.

"In an effort to move forward and become one of the 30 developed countries in the world, we can not but pay attention to the development of our capital, which is a symbol of our stateness, and as the flagship, should serve as a model for all cities of Kazakhstan," K. Massimov said.

According to Prime Minister, Astana has a unique opportunity to take next step in its development and to fulfill the order of the President - to become one of the best cities in the world in quality of life, to attract capital, the development of information technology.

Annual Conference "Smart Astana" is aimed at creating a permanent platform for discussion of relevant topics of services improvement for residents and visitors, enhance of global competitiveness and improving the image of the city of Astana to attract investments, the development of social infrastructure.

This year the conference is devoted to the approval of the Roadmap project "Smart Astana" and Activity Plan on joining Astana rating of 50 "smart" cities in the world.