ABSTRACT
Before the Republic of Kazakhstan acquired state sovereignty, it had no experience in conducting foreign trade and hence lacked the conceptions, institutions, and personnel needed to perform this task. Instead, the entire foreign economic activity of the enterprises of Kazakhstan, including foreign trade, was handled by central all-union institutions in Moscow. Foreign trade is the most important factor in the republic's efforts to achieve economic stabilization. In the future, the foreign trade policy will continue to have a significant influence on the future of economic growth. The high volume of foreign trade before 1991 reflected the high degree to which the republic had been integrated into the single economic complex of the former USSR. In addition, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the other Soviet republics had, for many years, already been characterized by a surplus of imports over exports—in other words, a negative balance of trade.
