NURSULTAN, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan on Saturday renamed the country's capital 'Nursultan' to honour its ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev. 

In a statement from the president's official website, Kazakhstan's new president Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev ratified the proposal to change the name of the country's capital from Astana to 'Nursultan'. 

Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev was sworn in as Kazakhstan's president on Wednesday a day after Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned from the post.

Nazarbayev, 78, who has ruled the country since its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, is the first Central Asian leader of the post-Soviet era to willingly leave office.

In late February, Nazarbayev dismissed the country's government, citing a lack of economic growth, and pledging new reforms to improve people's quality of life.