on social media after his statements about Almaty citizens often flying to the mountains by copters to play golf and ski. Chairman of JSC EXPO-2017 (2015–2017) On 9 August 2015, by the order of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Yessimov was appointed as the chairman of Board of Astana EXPO-2017 National Company. Yessimov was released from his position as the Almaty äkim by the presidential decree. He succeeded former äkim Adilbek Dzhaksybekov, whom had occupied the post prior after upon arrest of Talgat Ermegiyaev. Immediately upon appointment of Yessimov to the post, expenses for construction of the EXPO Village were cut by 78 billion tenge, and the top management of the company was downsized twofold. To attract responsible contractors, Yessimov undertook trips to Kazakh regions. As a result, the Kazakhstani content share of the companies participating in the EXPO-2017 International Exhibition construction amounted to 90%. The budget cost of construction of the Exhibition facilities was cut by 302 billion tenge. On 21 April 2017, President Nazarbayev marked the high level of preparedness of the exhibition for operation, saying that "Commendable organization of the Exhibition hosting will once again demonstrate achievements of independent Kazakhstan to the whole world." On 23 February 2017, upon inspecting the Astana EXPO-2017 Exhibition facilities, Secretary General of the International Exhibition Bureau Vicente Loscertales declared that “it will be the best Exhibition in the recent 25 years”. Within the entire period since June 10 through September 9, the EXPO-2017 International Specialized Exhibition was visited by about 4,000,000 people. During EXPO-2017, 220 official events were organized attended by 28 heads of states, 13 speakers and secretaries general of parliaments, 10 prime ministers, 26 deputy prime ministers, 70 ministers and 48 vice ministers. 39 agreements were signed by participant countries with representative of business, scientific and educational circles of Kazakhstan in energy, construction and investment sectors. 193 revolutionary ‘green’ technologies were demonstrated, the dominant part of which is being successfully implemented in Kazakhstan. On account of budget optimization, Astana EXPO-2017 National Company saved KZT 364 billion: 44.6% of the project initial cost. The Exhibition gave a considerable multiplicative effect to the economy of Kazakhstan. Over 1,400 small and middle scale business enterprises received orders for delivery of commodities and services for KZT 640 billion. Over 50 K jobs were created. The demand for tour operator services grew almost twofold. The number of enterprises in Astana grew by over 10%. The Astana