ASTANA. September 3. KAZINFORM.The Majilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, confirmed confidence in the national government of Prime Minister Karim Masimov at its first session on Sunday. Masimov asked the parliament for the confidence vote on August 29. President Nursultan Nazarbayev dissolved the previous Majilis on June 20 and scheduled the early parliament elections for August 18. He was asked for the early vote by parliament deputies because of constitutional amendments approved on May 21. The amendments transformed Kazakhstan from a presidential republic into a presidential-parliamentary one. They also broadened the parliament’s powers in the formation of the national government. From now on, the Kazakh premier shall be appointed by the president after consultations with parliament factions and with consent of a large majority of parliament deputies. The new Majilis has 107 members. Ninety-eight candidates of the Nur Otan pro-presidential party won the elections on August 18 with more than 88% of votes. The other six parties failed to pass the 7% threshold in the elections. Another nine deputies of the Majilis were elected by the Assembly of Kazakhstan Peoples on August 20. Aslan Musin has been elected as the Chairman of the Majilis, Kazinform has learnt from Itar-Tass. Musin was born in 1954. He is a graduate of the Almaty People’s Economy Institute. Musin headed the administrations of the Aktyubinsk and Atyrau regions, and was a vice-premier – the economy and budget-planning minister in January-August 2007. Sergei Dyachenko and Bakytzhan Zhumagulov were elected as the Majilis deputy chairmen. Zhumagulov is also the head of the Nur Otan parliament faction. Nazarbayev addressed the first session of the new Majilis. Kazakhstan has launched 22 projects with the total cost of 900 billion tenge ($7.2 billion) within the framework of the 30 Corporate Leaders program, he said. “The country must adjust the state’s role in the structural economic transformations,” he said. Alongside the traditional instruments of forming favorable macroeconomic terms, it is necessary to intensify the effective partnership between the state and business, he said. In the words of Nazarbayev, the partnership will involve businesses in projects, which will promote structural changes in the economy. The new parliament will bring laws in correspondence with the program, he said, adding that it will become an important factor of the economic modernization. The State Commission for the Economic Modernization is considering about 90 projects worth $60 billion, Nazarbayev said. Kazakhstan will enlarge the GDP volume by 1.5 times to $13,000 per capita by 2012, the president said. “All of us must work hard for the achievement of this goal,” he said. “Higher living standards of every citizen of Kazakhstan” is the essence of all election promises, the president said. The parliament members must do their best to improve the economic environment, support structural reforms and develop small and medium business, he said. “Only in this case we will achieve our social goals: enlarge incomes of the population, more than double salaries of teachers, physicians and other public sector employees, and increase by 2.5 times average pensions, scholarships and children’s allowances,” he said. The party’s victory in the elections must bring benefits to all population strata, including pensioners, teachers, doctors, younger generation, families with many children, invalids and children, the president said, adding “We can do that.” A better quality of the national health system, the development of the Kazakh educational system in conformity with international standards, further growth of the accumulative retirement fund, and the annual construction of no less than nine million square meters of housing are other goals of the next five years, Nazarbayev said.