The state will build higher educational institutions with 54,000 seats and dormitories with more than 8,000 beds, general education, creative and specialised schools with 259,000 seats and 248 sports halls.

SOFAZ sovereign wealth oil fund holds proceeds from oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenue.

Nazarbayev’s comments, delivered somewhat nervously in a video address posted on his website, sought to scotch widespread suggestions of a power struggle between him and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Gas exports from Shah Deniz amounted to 17.618 billion cubic metres (bcm) last year, 43.6 percent up from a year earlier.

Oil and gas condensate production rose by 0.1 percent last year from a year earlier to 34.581 million tonnes, while natural gas output increased 18.1 percent to 43.864 bcm.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appeared to make some progress in two remarkably productive face-to-face meetings in quick succession late last year, though periodic outbreaks of violence hang over prospects for further discussions.