Kazakhstan issues warning to environment-damaging industries

The environmental protection ministry of Kazakhstan has warned the country's major industries they will be faced with closure if they fail to comply with green guidelines, it has emerged.

As relayed by Reuters, the country's authorities have seen long-running struggles with firms over their environmental breaches, which may be a deterrent to foreign investors.

Nurlan Iskakov said at a recent ministry meeting that more needs to be done to discipline companies that do not take their environmental responsibilities seriously enough.

"We need to take tougher measures. If these planned environmental projects are not implemented […] we must take all the measures including cancelling waste permits," he continued.

Due to its richness of natural resources, a Soviet geologist once commented that the country was capable of exporting every element featured in the Periodic Table.