“A national council for literature and art and an intersectoral arts council will soon be established,”said Vice Minister of Culture and Sport Askar Buribayevat a Sept. 10 briefing following a government meeting. “In hoping to transform industry, we will set up a national council on art and literature, as well asarts councils. The national council will be the main advisory body for cultural policy,” he said. According to him, the most significant provisions of Kazakhstan’s cultural policy are the seven main components of “ZhetiKazyna,” including heritage, traditions, customs, language, family, the economic system and holidays. The plan also entails the development of creative and cultural tourism clusters.
The public council for law enforcement of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan held a meeting at the Kazakh Defence Ministry on Sept. 11. The meeting was attended by members of parliament, representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Council of Veterans of the Armed Forces, the Internal Forces of the Defence Ministry and various prosecutor’s offices. Head of the administrative department of the Defence Ministry of Kazakhstan Rakhat Bekkadamov discussed how the armed forces have been dealing with requests from the public. According to him, the majority of requests submitted to the military regard the draft, military service and social aspects of military life. The number of written applications decreased due to an increase in the number of requests submitted via the defence minister’s blog and local military authorities. As the head of the department said, all the requests and applicationsare registered and considered in a timely fashion during the specified time frame. In addressing attendants, member of the Mazhilis (lower chamber of parliament), Chairman of the Public Council for Law Enforcement Abai Tasbulatov talked aboutimproving consideration procedures forappeals and requests and hastening how quickly submissions are considered and returned. Summing up themeeting, Deputy Minister of Defence Talgat Mukhtarov said that requests and applications to state bodies, including the military, are an expression of a person’s constitutional right to protection. “Therefore, this effort is one of the military’s priorities,” Mukhtarov said.
“It is necessary to continue structural reforms in accordance with the best international practices if Kazakhstan is to join the ranks of the 30 most-developed countries,” saidDeputy of the Senate of Kazakhstan Serik Akylbai at a Sept. 11 Central Communications Service (CCS) media briefing. According Akylbai, it is necessary to finish adopting new entrepreneurship and civil procedure codes. “As you know, a code is a systematised act uniting all norms of a particular sphere of law. It is a set of rules and principles united by a common subject, the type of public relations. The issues regarding development and support for business will be regulated by the code, which, unlike the other laws, has greater legal force,” Akylbai said.The adoption of the civil procedure code is important as well. The code, according to the senator, will regulate important public relations, emerging during the administration of justice by the courts.
“Neurosurgery has greatly improved in Kazakhstan,” Honorary President of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies Alexander Konovalov said at a Sept. 10 media briefing. The 10thAsian Congress of Neurosurgeons is currently ongoing in Astana. Leading surgeons from 50 countries are taking part in the event. Speaking at the meeting, Konovalov said that he remembered when neurosurgery first came to Kazakhstan. “It began in Almaty. There were several departments in the city. Many years have passed since that time. Drastic improvements have taken place in the quality and scope of Kazakhstan’s neurosurgerycapabilities over the past six years. I am confident that Kazakhstan’s neurosurgery capacity is world class and now many diseases can be cured in your centres,” he said.
