Kazakh president laughs off Borat film

The real-life president of Kazakhstan insisted today that he saw the funny side of his nation’s portrayal in the Borat film.

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen came under fire from the ex-Soviet state’s ambassador for making out his countrymen were racist and ignorant.

But President Nursultan Nazarbayev, speaking after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London's Downing Street, played down the controversy.

“This film was created by a comedian so let’s laugh at it; that’s my attitude,” he told reporters who questioned him about the movie.

In his hit film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan, Baron Cohen plays a Kazakh journalist touring the US.

Mr Nazarbayev first checked if the character, originally seen in the comedian’s UK television show, was in the room.

“I would very much like to speak to him if he is,” he joked, adding that the film could help people discover the truth about his previously little-known country.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: “There’s a positive side of all this. There’s a saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

“The very fact that you have put that question – you will want to learn more and come to Kazakhstan to see for yourself,” he said.

The movie was filmed in an “impoverished” part of Romania, he pointed out, with the parts of Kazakhs played by Romanians and American students.

“All of them now are taking him to court,” he added, referring to a series of legal actions that have resulted from the film.

Mr Blair, who did not comment about the film, hailed the “increasingly strong” relations – financial and political – between the UK and Kazakhstan.

Under Mr Nazarbayev there had been “truly remarkable” changes in the country which should act as “lessons for the region and the wider world”.

They included open markets and an effective multi-faith society.

Mr Nazarbayev is seeking international support for his efforts to turn the oil-rich former Soviet republic into the “economic powerhouse of central Asia”.

British Gas and Shell have stakes in giant oilfields in Kazakhstan, and Europe is urging the administration in Astana to export oil and gas via pipelines built by a group led by BP across the Caucasus to Turkey.

The new pipeline would reduce Kazakhstan’s reliance on routes across Russian territory and ensure that a proportion of the country’s energy supplies flows west to Europe, rather than east to China.