Kazakh and Uzbek aviation officials recently agreed to increase the number of flights between the two countries. Head of the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee Talgat Lastayev met with the Uzbek delegation in Astana headed by Uzbek Flight Safety Control National Inspection Deputy Head Oleg Lim. The agreement envisions the increase of Astana-Tashkent flights from four to six flights per week and Almaty-Tashkent from seven to 10 per week. Uzbek and Kazakh airlines will operate 32 flights per week between the two countries overall. The airlines are also expected to sign a code share agreement.
The Kasteyev National Museum of Art, the largest art museum in Kazakhstan, recently organised an exhibition at the National Arts Club Grand Gallery in New York giving a chance for the American public to see masterpieces of Kazakh fine art. The exhibition displays 30 pieces of Kazakh art from the 1930s to the 1970s, depicting the culture, history and daily life of nomad Kazakhs. Kazakh Ambassador to the United States Yerzhan Kazykhanov, who also attended the opening of the exhibition, emphasised in his remarks a “new era” in Kazakh-U.S. bilateral ties after Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to the U.S. and meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in January.
Batumi in Georgia hosted the Qazaq Kuresi Championship June 21. The competition included 80 wrestlers from 21 countries and for the first time, athletes from France, Ireland, Norway, Israel, Moldova, Ukraine, Estonia and Turkey took part in the championship. Sixteen judges, including six from Kazakhstan, worked at the competition. Last year the Qazaq Kuresi Championship took place in Astana. Qazaq Kuresi is a traditional Kazakh wrestling style and with a century-old history it has been part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Intangible Cultural Heritage List since 2016.
More than 300 Kazakh students from 16 Chinese cities gathered June 16-17 in Hangzhou for the seventh Kurultai (translated as gathering from Kazakh) of the Kazakh Youth Association in China. The participants discussed Kazakhstan’s development progress and current reforms, including the recent social initiatives of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The association was founded in 2013 at the second kurultai of Kazakh students studying in Chinese and to date has more than 12,000 members.
Georgian Airways has entered the Kazakh market, as it plans to relaunch flights on Batumi-Astana-Batumi route June 22, reports the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee. The flights will fly once per week on Friday on the airline’s Embraer 190-100. Georgian Airways also plans to launch flights on Tbilisi-Almaty-Tbilisi route July 2. Currently, only Kazakhstan’s Air Astana and SCAT operate flights connecting the two countries.
Prague recently hosted a conference devoted to the celebration of the 25 years of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic. The participants, including Kazakh diplomats and representatives of the Czech political and business community, indicated a trust-based political dialogue between the two countries. Currently, more than 100 companies backed by the Czech capital work in Kazakhstan. Kazakh Ambassador Serzhan Abdykarimov noted the investments reached nearly $195 million over 25 years with trade turnover reaching its highest $1.2 billion in 2014. Energy, infrastructure development and agriculture are the most promising areas, according to Czech Chamber of Trade and Industry for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Chair František Masopust.
