President Nursultan Nazarbayev held a meeting with Defence Minister Serik Akhmetov on Aug. 13 where Akhmetov reported on systematic work in maintaining the combat readiness of Kazakhstan’s Armed Forces. The defence minister told about the ongoing organisational and practical measures to increase the combat training of troops and to equip the army with modern weapons and military equipment. The head of state stressed the importance of further development of the country’s military-industrial complex and the need to strengthen military-technical cooperation with leading international manufacturers. The President also noted the need for the production of ammunition by Kazakh enterprises, as well as the definition of a reliable source of weapons supply and military equipment. Besides, Nazarbayev instructed the defence minister to consider aspects of the ministry’s activities, taking into account the tasks to form a compact structure of government and to improve the governance system.
Participants in the national movement Kazakhstan2050 have developed the internet platform bizalan.kz, where Kazakh citizens will be able to participate in the development, discussion and evaluation of government programmes, Chairman of the Council of Kazakhstan 2050 Danat Zhumin announced at an Aug. 13 briefing in the Central Communications Service (CCS).“We have developed a demo version of the website called bizalan.kz. In a week we will fully complete this project. This is the first crowdsourcing platform in the country, which allows different people, regardless of where they live and where they work, to participate in the development of state programmes and their evaluation,” Zhumin said. He noted that the Kazakhstan2050 movement has all the necessary intellectual resources as well as the tools that allow it to provide quality public examination of new government programmes. “We would like to propose this platform to the government to jointly participate in the implementation of the President’s instructions given at the enlarged meeting of the government on Aug. 6,” he noted. At the enlarged meeting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev gave instructions to develop a comprehensive programme on the development of the services sector in Kazakhstan until 2020, as well as a single business support programme before the end of 2014.
“The number of people doing sports in Kazakhstan increased up to 3,900,000 people,” the then Chairman of the Agency for Sports and Physical Culture of Kazakhstan Tastanbek Yessentayev informed at the Aug. 5 Central Communications Service (CCS) media briefing. (Yessentayev has since been appointed deputy minister of culture and sports following the government restructuring on Aug. 6.) “Thanks to all-around support of the President and measures which have been undertaken, a steady growth in the number of people going in for sports has been registered over the last five years, from 2,300,000people or 15 percent in 2007 to 3,900,000 people in 2013 which is 23.2 percent,” Yessentayev said. He also noted that 440,000 people with disabilities live in the country and 210,000 of them are contraindicated for sports. “However, 18,200 people or 8.7 percent of them are regularly doing sports,” he informed.
Next season the first ski lodge catering to free-riding ski tours will open near Tekeli in the Almaty region. The Tekesu skiing and recreation complex is located near the Soldatsai and Cherkesai gorges. The new facilities are designed for advanced skiers who will be taken up the mountain in a snowcat, and there will be 30 kilometres of ski runs. Up to 1,000 extreme sports enthusiasts are expected to use these facilities. There is also a skiing area with rope tow lifts in operation in the mountains near Tekeli.
