Measured by the life of a country, Kazakhstan is “young” and, compared to Korea’s diplomatic relations with other nations, Korea-Kazakhstan ties ― at just 20 years ― are nearly as young.

But the new Kazakh envoy to Korea is an old Korea hand. He has carried on an abiding relationship with this East Asian nation since the mid-1990s, beginning shortly after Kazakhstan declared its independence in the wake of a collapsing Soviet Union.

This is his second envoy posting to Korea, his first being from 2006-2008, and he is one of the few foreign envoys who speak Korean fluently.

Kazakh Ambassador to Korea Dulat Bakishev threw himself into his work as soon as he arrived here in February just weeks ahead of the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit in March and a high-level state visit to Korea by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Bakishev had little time to prepare for two crucial one-on-one meetups of Nazarbayev during the summit: one with United States President Barack Obama and another with President Lee Myung-bak.

The Kazakh Embassy here celebrated the 21st anniversary of national independence and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with Korea in a reception at Shilla Hotel, Dec. 13.

But the 42-year-old career diplomat’s relationship with Korea is particularly meaningful on account of the fact that his three children ― ages 15, 10 and a 5-month-old ― were born here: one child during each of his three stays.

“Korea is a special country for me from the point of view of family. Everyone in my family loves living here,” Bakishev said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Dec. 7 at his office in Itaewon.

This year is a diplomatic milestone for the two nations: On top of celebrating 20 years of two-way ties, Lee and Kazakh President Nazarbayev held high-level meetings twice, once during the nuclear security summit in March and again during Lee’s visit to Kazakhstan in September.

Two huge energy deals valued at $4 billion each were inked in September.

South Korea is guaranteed a 70 percent stake in a $4 billion project to build a coal-fired “green” power plant in the southern Kazakh city of Balkhash.

Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation and Samsung C&T currently hold a 35 percent stake each in a project to build a 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Balkhash that, when online, is expected to generate about 7 percent of Kazakhstan’s electricity needs.

Korea’s LG Chemical and Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries signed a contract to establish a joint venture to build a petrochemical complex in Atyrau on the northern banks of the Caspian Sea.

“We are very strong partners in investment. Korea has invested $4.5 billion since diplomatic relations were established,” Bakishev said.

“Next year we will have new leadership in Korea, but we are confident the new president will have in his or her priorities Central Asia, because the economy and energy issues are important for Korea,” he said. “By virtue of the economic dynamism in Central Asia and the technology prowess of Korea, we could do more together.”

Kazakhstan under Nazarbayev’s philosophy of state-guided global market development has earned the name “Singapore of the Steppes,” referring to the authoritarian capitalist principles initiated by Lee Kuan Yew.

Nazarbayev’s strong but measured hand through his two-decade-long rule attracted some criticism in West, but also praise.

A former British treasury secretary praised Nazarbayev’s social policies of promoting ethnic and cultural diversity and ridding the Central Asian nation of its Soviet nuclear arsenal in his 2009 biography, “Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan.”

Nazarbayev carved political stability and multiculturalism out of restive Central Asia, which allowed Kazakhstan to escape a lot of the ethnic division rife in other former Soviet republics and achieve rapid economic growth.

Kazakh GDP has surged since 1991. The economy grew 7.5 percent in 2011 and is forecast to grow about 6 percent in 2012, as demand for commodities weakens slightly, the Chinese economy slows, and Europe continues to be saddled by a sovereign debt crisis.

That said, Kazakhstan’s per capita GDP grew an extraordinary 16-fold to more than $11,000 in 2011 from $700 at the start of its independence just two decades ago.

“It is not beneficial to possess nuclear weapons nowadays, and by abandoning this arsenal, we gained a lot in terms of international support and confidence. We are doing well thanks to our partners,” Bakishev said.

Nazarbayev had resisted overtures from Libya to retain the fourth-largest stockpile of nuclear missiles in the world.

The late Libyan strongman, Moammar Gadhafi, proposed Kazakhstan hold on to the weapons arsenal, promising billions of dollars in development assistance in return.

Instead, Kazakhstan drew on U.S. assistance to dispense of its nuclear stockpile, earning widespread plaudits by the international community. “We gained about $160 billion in investment from the U.S. since 1992.”

Between his two Korea postings, Bakishev represented his nation for two years at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, an international security organization which includes South Korea and 23 other Asian nations.

He also served as ambassador at large at Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry where he continued his work with CICA, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, when Kazakhstan chaired the international Islamic organization.

“Nonproliferation, Afghanistan’s future, water resources, preserving the environment ― we already have good projects that we are currently working on, but (Kazakhstan and Korea) have a lot of work to do together. We are interested in expanding bilateral relations,” he said.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)