Thanks for the revenues earned by the oil and gas industry over the past few years, the Kazakh national fund has accumulated a considerable amount of reserve capital, which is about 40 percent of the country's GDP, he said.

Based on the financial strength, Nazarbayev said, Kazakhstan has implemented corresponding measures to address its crisis at home.

The anti-crisis measures included stabilizing Kazakhstan's financial system and expanding the banks' lending capabilities, said the president.

He listed other measures such as investment in the construction sector, restoration of housing construction, and greater support for potentially promising small and medium-sized firms.

Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan will also spool efforts to develop agriculture and implement post-crisis development plans.

Kazakhstan has earmarked about 18 billion US dollars to carry out the above measures, and it's these effective measures that Kazakhstan can have the confidence in responding to the financial crisis, the president said.

Kazakhstan spoke highly of the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and will fully support the development of the SCO, which he believed has brought benefits to the the country and its people, Nazarbayev pointed out.

After the SCO's establishment, economic and trade cooperation among its member states has made constant progress, he noted.

The SCO members will be engaged in active cooperation based on the principle of trust, voluntariness and friendship, he said, adding that the organization has a broad prospect for development.

Looking back to the Beijing Olympic Games held last summer, Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan greeted the Olympic Flame for the first time in history and he became the first Olympic torchbearer in the flame's overseas relay.

The president said he was deeply impressed by the Olympic Games in Beijing and the good results Chinese athletes had achieved.

Kazakhstan won 13 medals, ranking 19th on the overall medals list at the Beijing Olympics, which was the best result in the country's history.

While speaking of his own experience and feelings about sports, the president said physical exercise, a healthy way of life, is very important for young people.

"I have been a sports lover since my childhood. I practised wrestling, and I have a 50-year history of alpine skiing," he said.

Nazarbayev told reporters he had seen many Chinese people doing exercises and playing shadow boxing in China. He later learned it and practised it regularly, which he thinks is very interesting.

Nazarbayev said he is pleased to pay a state visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Each visit to China has made him excited, as China is not only an important country with a vast territory, but also a state with a long history and culture, the president said.

He believed that China will have a better future and occupy a more important position on the world arena.

"I wish China prosperity and Chinese people happiness," the president said at the end of the interview.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2009)