Another thing to be noted is the venue and auditory he addressed:

Astana Economic Forum (which is probably as an alternative to WEF) and gathering of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries representatives. With India and Pakistan’s joining the SCO recently, now it is a large part of the global economy: market capacity of 3 billion people. Perhaps no less influential than BRICS (3.6 billion people, 40% of the world population, ).

Also this his suggestion comes in the context of main message:
“A gradual transition to a new economic model is needed”

Have to keep in mind that it was Nazarbayev who has proposed back in 1994 a creation of "Eurasian Economic Union", which has eventually came into being in 2014. So, he is certainly not a mere average talker.