A large ceremony in Astana on 10 June marked the transfer of the Kazakh capital to that city. Attending the festivities were the heads of state from Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and Ukraine, as well as the Russian Deputy Premier and special envoy to the CIS Ivan Rybkin, CIS Executive Secretary Boris Berezovskii and officials from the Economic Co-operation Organisation and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. President Nursultan Nazarbaev said the decision to move the capital from Almaty, in south-eastern Kazakhstan, to Astana, which lies approximately in the geographical centre of the country, was "the result of a centuries-long search, lengthy contemplation, and heated debates."

President Nursultan Nazarbaev appeared on national television on June 8 to answer questions put to him via the internet, fax and telephone. He said that the Kazakhstani economy shows signs of improvement despite declining world prices for oil and metals. The industrial growth in Kazakhstan was 4% in the first quarter and capital investment grew 44%. According to him, the domestic trade turnover has increased 30% over the same period. The president praised the work of Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbaev's government noting that Kazakhstan now ranks among the leaders in the CIS in terms of FDI per capita (US $500) and average monthly wages (US $120). The president disclosed that US $188m has been spent on government buildings in the new capital and that US$ 90m of that sum came from the New Capital Fund established through donations from local and foreign companies.

The fifth Turkic summit was held in Astana on June 9 preceding the official presentation of the new capital. The leaders of the six Turkic countries—Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan—reaffirmed their commitments to co-operation in the fields of economics, culture, and science. Turkish President Suleyman Demirel spoke to the summit saying that huge natural resources and strategic location means that the 21^st century belongs to us. According to him, total national annual revenue of the fraternal nations was in excess of US $550bn last year with an average development growth of 6% and an industrial growth of 11%. The trade turnover of the six Turkic countries exceeded US $2bn last year. Leaders called for greater co-operation in getting oil and gas resources to hard currency markets. In this connection, Azerbaijan and Turkey repeated their support for the Baku-Ceyhan project, which is, according to Azerbaijan President Geidar Aliev, is "the best route". Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have also considered oil and gas transport routes across the Caspian Sea and Caucasus corridor and on to world markets. However, unlike Azerbaijan, they have not limited themselves to Turkic-speaking countries but seek as many export alternatives as possible.

President Aliev reported that the implementation of the agreement on the Trans-Caucasus transport corridor increased cargo flows from Europe to Asia from 352,000 tonnes in 1995 to 1,340,000 tonnes in 1997. It is expected that over 4 million tonnes of cargo will be carried via this corridor in 1998. He noted that a project to create the transport corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia is well underway. In his opinion, the entire region will benefit from this project. A summit of the countries involved in the project is scheduled to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on September 7-8. The sixth annual Turkic summit will also take place in Baku next summer.