“Thinking Collections: Telling Tales,” an exhibition displaying the works of famous Kazakh art group Kyzyl Traktor, opened Oct. 14 in New York and will run through Nov. 30. Kyzyl Traktor, founded by Vitaliy Simakov, has been making trans-avantgarde art since the 1990s. The group recreated its legendary shaman performance, “Purification,” during the opening ceremony. Approximately 300 items are featured in the exhibition, among them graphic works, monuments and sculptures, installations, archival photos and videos. The exhibition is part of Ruhani Zhangyru (Modernisation of Kazakhstan’s Identity) programme, which seeks to promote Kazakh culture worldwide. It is also part of the special programme of Asia Contemporary Art Week.
Kazakhstan and Austria have agreed to strengthen cooperation in mutual legal assistance and extraditing criminals, the countries announced in a joint statement during the recent meeting of Prosecutor General Kairat Kozhamzharov with Austrian Federal Minister of Justice Josef Moser in Vienna. The agreement, said Moser, is an “important step for Kazakhstan towards the Council of Europe and a starting point for the development of bilateral cooperation in the legal sphere, particularly given the current presidency of Austria at the European Union.” The sides also stressed the need to boost cooperation in fighting transnational organised crime and terrorism.
The Kazakh Centre of Economic Research opened its doors in the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics in Shanghai. The new centre seeks to acquaint Chinese people with the social and economic development, history, culture and traditions of Kazakhstan as well as to facilitate contacts between the Astana International Financial Centre and Chinese companies and conduct joint research in economics and finance. The centre in Shanghai is the fifth Kazakh centre in China and is the first focusing on economics. Kazakhstan and China plan to use the potential of Hangzhou as a big Chinese metropolis and technological centre to form partnerships in digital technologies, block chain and innovative start ups.
Almaty will host a Kazakh-Egyptian pharmaceutical park manufacturing medicines, Kazakh Ambassador to Egypt Arman Issagaliyev announced. The project cost is estimated at $25 million and Egyptian company MUP is currently looking for a partner in Kazakhstan. “They are ready to invest a lot of money. They were ready for this project in 2016, but then Egyptian currency lost half of its value and they had to search for another source of funding,” Issagaliyev said. At present, the Kazakh embassy is working on setting up the project with the Kazakh Ministry of Investments and Development and the Kazakh Invest company. He said more than 40 Egypt-made medicines are registered in Kazakhstan and believes there is sufficient demand for the pharmaceutical park to be successful. “After establishing this pharmaceutical park, we could reach out to other markets of the region and the Eurasian Economic Union with these products,” he added.
Cairo University recently launched a Kazakh language programme, reported Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Egypt Arman Issagaliyev at an Oct. 12 briefing. “This is an important event. The programme will start at the faculty of literature from the 2018-2019 school year. This is a result of the growing number of Kazakh tourists visiting Egypt. It is expected that the Kazakh language programme will be introduced in other Egyptian universities including Al-Azhar University in the future,” said Issagaliyev adding that Egypt supports all international and regional initiatives of President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the field of nuclear non-proliferation, inter-religious dialogue, fight against terrorism and other international initiatives. Kazakhstan and Egypt have also intensified cooperation in education and science.
