Nursultan Nazarbaev delivered his annual state of the nation address to a joint session of the Kazakh parliament on 4 April. The speech was broadcast live by Khabar Television. Nazarbaev said there are indications the economy is improving: The state budget is projected to reach 1 trillion tenges ($6.5 billion) in 2003, and 38 billion tenges will be spent on investment projects. However, much of the speech was devoted to areas that need improvement. The president called for the criminal laws to be made more humane and said that strong and responsible political parties should be encouraged. Parties should have the exclusive right to nominate candidates and should be able to monitor elections, he said. In addition, the election process needs to be more transparent. Nazarbaev also insisted that the political, economic, and legal conditions have been created to support a thriving independent media. Censorship is nonexistent, he said, noting that 50 new media outlets were registered in 2002. The president called for doubling the number of ethnic Kazakhs moving to Kazakhstan and for pro-family policies in order to increase the population to 20 million by 2015. Otherwise, it will be impossible to carry out the government\'s economic-development program. In recent years, Kazakhstan has been losing population. (RFE/RL)