The bizarre, daily amount of 32 presentations

Astana, since ten years, is Kazakhstan’s capitol and in this period it evolved into a fancy, futuristic, fantasy capitol, accommodating all governmental institutions and ministries. On the 24th and 25th of September a conference was planned, named Transeurasia-2008, held in the Rixos president hotel. Most Transport and Communication Ministers from the Eurasian continent where present, Holland was represented by Klaas van der Tempel, the Dutch ambassador in Kazakhstan.

Day One was entirely planned with a bizarre amount of 32 presentations varying from boring speeches from ministers to enthusiastic stories given by presidents of major transportation firms; while behind the scene, bilateral meetings were held between different governments and institutions aiming on improvement of the overall transportation system on the Eurasian continent.

After two days of listening and networking, my maximum intake capacity was reached. The difference from the conference in Tashkent was the level of detail and the both political and commercial approach; many participating governments were present just to make a statement, others, mostly commercial carriers, just to make some money with fancy foreign investment plans. The final result was the acceptance of a TRANSEURASIA-2008 resolution. My results were formed by the acquiring of some interesting presentations and informal talks with people in the field, which could further help me with information concerning my research. On the 26th of September it was time to go back to Almaty, by plane this time; in less then 2 hours.