Kazakhstan had risen to the honors (or dishonors) of the news in recent years for the film "Borat", but now it has perhaps a more lasting and certainly more honorable reputation. Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali leads the Astana team, named after the Kazakh capital. The Astana Pro Team is funded by Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund, and has brought the world's largest landlocked nation to the attention of the international community.
Kairat Kelimbetov, president of Kazakh Cycling, governor of the Kazakh central bank and former deputy prime minister, said: “This has been a very successful project; if you look at the arithmetic, there are countless times the name Astana has been mentioned in newspapers, TV and social media”.
Until now Kazakhstan, headed by President Nursultan Nazarbayev since independence (1991) has had to live with a negative image, especially for human rights. “Astana is part of a major public relations strategy to let the rest of the world know that there is a great country in Central Asia, the ninth largest in the world, and that we are part of the global community,” Kelimbetov said.
