The dream of young Almaty sport climber Rishat Khaibullin has come true, as he won the bronze medal at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Championship at Esforta Arena in Hachioji, Japan. As a result, he has qualified to represent Kazakhstan in the combined discipline, which is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo. Khaibullin started the final stage of the championship with a victory in the speed climbing portion. He placed eighth in bouldering and fifth in lead climbing, allowing him to climb the podium alongside three-time world champions.
More than 300 young people from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan gathered for the Aug. 22-23 Central Asia Youth Festival in Almaty, reported the city akimat (city administration) press service. The festival, organised by the akimat and the Foundation of the First President, was dedicated to the Year of Youth in Kazakhstan. The purpose was to create a platform for regional integration, establish cooperation between young people from Central Asian countries, develop their potential as leaders and for youth to develop political literacy and have an active civil position. International political and public figures spoke on topics such as progress in information technologies and cybersecurity, professional development, migration, intellectual capacity development, volunteering, healthy lifestyle promotion, education accessibility and multi-ethnic society.
The second Net-Free Waterbodies large-scale environmental campaign launched Aug. 17. The purpose is to purify waterways from abandoned and illegally installed fishing nets by trawling and draw attention to the problem of lake and river pollution and fish and waterfowl conservation, reported Bnews.kz. “Subbotniks (Saturday volunteer environmental activities) are becoming a tradition for Kazakh people. Today, over 95 kilometres of nets and 121 tonnes of garbage were collected at 79 reservoirs… I thank all the participants,” wrote Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources Magzum Mirzagaliev. More than 5,000 individuals participated in the campaign.
BeInTech CEO Baghdat Mussin has launched a free mobile app for entrepreneurs that will replace cash registers and enable entrepreneurs throughout the country to save 100,000 tenge (US$259.36), reported Tengrinews.kz. “According to the law, all entrepreneurs must purchase a cash register that has the function of online data transfer to the governmental tax office in a year. To solve this issue, we launched the reKASSA project – this is a cash register app available on mobile phones. The application is and will always be free,” wrote Mussin on his Facebook page. The app will cover the basic needs of entrepreneurs with even the smallest businesses. Receipts can be sent to customers via instant messenger, mail and SMS. Electronic checks are as eligible as paper ones and can also be printed, if necessary.
Secretary of State Marat Tazhin spoke about the work being done to Latinise the Kazakh alphabet during a national commission meeting on the implementing the Ruhani Zhangyru (Modernisation of Kazakhstan’s Identity) programme. Latin letters will be used in all official documents, books, newspapers, media and other areas by 2025. To prepare Kazakhs for the switch, a series of television, radio and Internet cultural projects using video clips and video lectures will be broadcast on TV channels during the new season and uploaded on the Internet.
