According to Kazinform, during a session of government earlier today (February 24th) Mr Massimov told his peers that public investment works were important during times of economic difficulty.

"We should construct particular facilities where we could invest money during this period," he told the Parlamenti.

Meanwhile, the minister of transport and communications Serik Akhmetov said that the domestic market used around 450,000 tonnes of bitumen on an annual basis.

He described the development of new processing facilities, due to be constructed at the base of the Aktau plastic works and scheduled for completion in 2011, as "very important" to the Kazakh economy.

It is likely that the country will need to train new workers to man the new refinery facilities, perhaps building on skills sharing agreements already active with countries such as Russia, Japan and India.

Last month, India's plenipotentiary ambassador to Kazakhstan Ashok Sadzhanhar told Kazinform that Kazakhstan stood to benefit from a host of skills transfers, including the training of refinery workers.

Global Education and Training event for Oil and Gas: Refining and Petrochemicals