Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) and the Turkish government-owned railway company TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş signed an agreement on strategic cooperation at Ankara’s Kazakh-Turkish investment forum Sept. 12, reported the national railway company’s press service. KTZ CEO Kanat Alpysbayev and TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş Director General Veysi Kurt were signatories of the document which details strengthening bilateral relations in railway services and engineering. Joint work in developing both countries’ transit capacity and transport logistic systems within the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route is planned. The parties also agreed to grant competitive pay scale provisions and build a consolidation and distribution centre for cargo bound for Kazakhstan and China from Turkey, and vice versa.
The Centras Group presented its Best CEO award to Halyk Bank’s Umut Shayakhmetova at its 2018 award ceremony in Almaty, reported Kapital.kz. The evaluation criteria included the extent to which the executives shaped better leaders, attracted talented employees, developed their companies at a sustainable pace and observed long-term trends. Air Astana’s Peter Foster, ChocoFamily’s Ramil Mukhoryapov, Kaspi Bank’s Mikhail Lomtadze and Magnum Cash&Carry’s Alexander Garber were also recognised. Verny Capital was given the Impact 2018 award for constructing the Talan Towers complex and its upcoming project, Almaty Botanical Garden.
The current 12.5-percent share of national cinema at Kazakhstan’s box office has almost doubled since 2014, said Minister of Culture and Sport Arystanbek Mukhamediuly at a Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) plenary session. During the past three years, 67 documentaries, 20 art and four animation films have been produced, centring on the country’s history, culture, traditions and modern achievements. Kazakh cinema recently entered the international rental market and is no longer limited to single screenings at international festivals and competitions.
Halyk Bank will allocate another one billion tenge (US$2.72 million), doubling its commitment to two billion tenge (US$5.45 million), to continue supporting women’s business projects. The programme was launched in June, as women’s demands for preferential loans has significantly exceeded expectations. Since its inception, bank experts have advised 750 women entrepreneurs, 249 of whom applied for loans and 81 received the funds to implement their projects. Another 45 applications have been approved for financing, while 85 are under consideration. The bank noted women’s entrepreneurship spans a number of industries, including food, retail, education and medicine.
Kazakhstan has produced 43.4 billion tenge (US$118.17 million) in pharmaceutical products, a 3.8-percent increase compared to 2017. One-third of all drugs are produced in the Almaty region, while 41.9 percent of production is in Shymkent and 15.4 percent in Almaty. The three southern regions constitute 89 percent of the output and house large companies such as AbdiIbakhim GlobalFarm, Avrora, Cheminnova Alimor Kazpharm, Dolce, Dosfarm, Kelun-KazPharm, Chimpharm, Nobel Almaty Pharmaceutical Factory, Rapid-Alimor Pharm Industries and Zerde-Fito.
