Banking sector reforms are critical to developing Kazakh economy, says EBRD President

NUR-SULTAN – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which has an extensive portfolio of 262 projects in Kazakhstan, has invested nearly $9.1 billion since the country’s independence...


Caravan of Kindness contest seeks to award Kazakhstan’s most caring people 

NUR-SULTAN – The second annual national contest Caravan of Kindness will begin its search for some of Kazakhstan’s kindest people Sept. 2. The contest awards those who have done...


Jongar Gate preserves Eurasian history’s chronicles

NUR-SULTAN – Jongar Gate, two highlands and a narrow, long, flat plain at the junction of the Turkic and Mongolian steppes, is a mountain passage that for centuries determined...


Tokayev declares 2020 to be year of volunteer

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the decree Aug. 27 declaring 2020 as the Year of the Volunteer. Speaking at the May 29 Kazakh-Russian Youth Cooperation Forum in...


Nur-Sultan Makeathon to build tech for people with disabilities

NUR-SULTAN – Creative innovators will attempt to solve challenges set by people with disabilities in just 72 hours at the capital’s Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM): Nur-Sultan Makeathon Oct. 25-28,...


Kazakhstan marks International Day against Nuclear Tests with non-proliferation award, international conference

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev presented Aug. 29 the Nazarbayev Prize for a Nuclear-Free-World and Global Security to the relatives of former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)...


Kazakh President to increase teachers’ salaries twofold to improve national education quality

NUR-SULTAN – Teachers’ pay will be raised twofold, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced at the August teacher conference. Educators will no longer need to go to school on Saturdays,...


Kazakhstan approves draft law to incentivise teacher development

NUR-SULTAN – The draft laws On the Status of the Teacher and On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts on the Status of the Teacher and Reducing the...


Kazakh tennis players win first round matches at US Open

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh tennis players Mikhail Kukushkin and Alexander Bublik won their Aug. 27 first round matches at the United States Open Tennis Championship. Kukushkin defeated Roberto Bautista Agut...


Emerging Kazakh artists exhibit works in Nur-Sultan apartments

NUR-SULTAN – Emerging Kazakh artists exhibited their works Aug. 20-24 in capital apartments. The Tribute Album exhibitions series project, first conducted in 2017, was organised by Platforma.projectroom group. “We...


Kazakhstan’s AVANGAR Counter-Strike team advances to Berlin Major’s New Legends Stage

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s AVANGAR Counter-Strike team advanced from the Aug. 23-26 New Challengers Stage to the Aug. 28-Sept. 1 New Legends Stage in the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019. AVANGAR...


Nuclear-weapon-free zone representatives seek better cooperation in Kazakh capital 

NUR-SULTAN – Marking the Aug. 29 International Day against Nuclear Tests, representatives of the world’s nuclear-weapon-free zones discussed ways to strengthen cooperation among participating countries and expand such zones...


Disaster risk resilience: key to protecting vulnerable communities

The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heat waves have swept across our region, cascading into slow onset disasters such...


Almaty graffitists draw attention to Kazakh history, culture 

NUR-SULTAN – Almaty graffitists Yerzhan Tanayev and Ali Zakir, known as Tigrohaud Crew, have created dozens of murals throughout Kazakhstan as well as India, Russia and Turkey. Most of...


Kazakh National Museum invites guests to experience history in 3D

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh National Museum will open a 3D multimedia hall Aug. 29, the eve of the nation’s Constitution Day, to enhance visitors’ impressions of the history of...


Kazpost launches online chatbot to assist customers

NUR-SULTAN – The Qpost postal operator’s first online chatbot recently began helping customers on the post.kz website and Facebook page. On Aug. 28, it will also appear on the...


Capital implements Densaulyk state programme

NUR-SULTAN – Thirty-five of 39 target indicators of the 2016-2019 Densaulyk (Health) state programme were met in the capital from January-June, said the city’s Public Health Department Deputy head...


Sexual abuse punishment should be toughened, Kazakh deputies and activists agree

NUR-SULTAN – Sexual abuse must be qualified as a serious offence rather than a medium-gravity crime, Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) deputy Nurzhan Altayev said at an Aug. 12...


Kazakh capital to host 5th Astana Marathon charity race

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh capital will host the 5th Astana Marathon charity race Sept. 8. People of all abilities can participate individually and in pairs, families and companies to...


Recent AIFC advances will make AIFC Kazakhstan’s main financial platform 

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, during a government session on Aug. 20 discussed the work of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). An opinion by columnist Doszhan Nurgaliyev...


Jezkiik 2019 Ulytau Festival celebrates Kazakh ethnocultural tourism

NUR-SULTAN – Jezkiik 2019 Ulytau Festival brought together the Ulytau International Tourism Forum, the International Rural Youth Forum and the Ethnic Music and Food Festival on Aug. 23-25. “Located...


External news in brief

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norwegian School of Economics and BI Norwegian Business School recently released the International Business report focusing on Kazakhstan. The project was launched...


National news in brief

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...


Kazakhstan should take bold steps to grow e-commerce, catch up with global sector leaders

According to estimates, the global e-commerce market will grow from $2.8 trillion in 2018 to $4.9 trillion in 2023.   China is an indisputable leader with $672 billion in...


Economic news in brief

Kazakhstan’s employed population increased 1.5 percent to 8.8 million by the end of July. Of this figure, 66.7 percent of those aged 15 and over are employed. Hired workers...


Business news in brief

Seventy-five percent of the construction of KazMunayGas’ (KMG) Saryarka gas pipeline was completed as of Aug. 16, which is 796.6 kilometres of the pipeline, reports the KMG press service....


Kazakhstan renews call to permanently end nuclear weapons testing on 70th anniversary of Soviet Union’s first nuclear weapons test

Seventy years ago this week, the first nuclear explosion took place at the now shut down Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site. A momentous event, its shock waves were felt far...


Shymkent youth centre launches outreach mentorship, employment services

NUR-SULTAN – Outreach mentorship and employment services launched in early August at the Shymkent Youth Resources Centre, reported 24.kz. The primary mission is to employ and motivate young people...


Central Election Commission investigation finds no data leaks, Ministry of Internal Affairs continues check

NUR-SULTAN – The Central Election Commission (CEC) investigation did not find any evidence of possible data leaks in posting on foreign servers, said the Centre for Analysis and Investigation...


Almaty Emergency Department manages mudflow alarm in Nauryzbay district 

NUR-SULTAN – Early-season preparation helped Almaty’s Nauryzbay District emergency officials respond to and avert an August mudflow. The mudflow risk was in the Nauryzbay District, near the Kargalinka River....


‘I might be naive, but we can win the struggle for a world without nuclear weapons,’ says Kazakh anti-nuclear activist 

NUR-SULTAN – The struggle for a nuclear weapons free world can be won because people understand its importance, as represented by the hundreds of thousands of people around the...


Golovkin to face Derevyanchenko in New York for vacant IBF World Middleweight title

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh professional boxer Gennady Golovkin will face Sergiy Derevyanchenko from Ukraine for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) World Middleweight Championship title at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in...


Emoji Café gives Kazakhs with hearing loss opportunity to thrive

NUR-SULTAN – Emoji Café, which only employs individuals with hearing difficulties, is the idea of Azamat Bazylov. An anaesthesiologist-resuscitator at Nur-Sultan Oncology Centre, he sold his house in the...


Nazarbayev University hosts Harvard University’s largest student-run conference in Asia

NUR-SULTAN – Nazarbayev University hosted Aug. 16-Aug. 20 the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Conference (HPAIR), gathering 500 students from the world’s top universities to address emerging challenges...


Wildberries to open branch in AIFC, increase distribution capabilities in Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN – Wildberries, Russia’s largest international online retailer, will be opening a branch within the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and building a large distribution centre in the country....


Kazakhstan’s repair of Arys almost complete, new construction to continue

NUR-SULTAN – More than 7,000 of 7,613 damaged houses in Arys were repaired as of Aug. 21 by the Akmola, Atyrau, East Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kostanai, Kyzylorda, North Kazakhstan, Turkestan...


Petropavlovsk company begins producing refrigeration cars

NUR-SULTAN – Petropavlovsk Heavy Engineering Plant has begun producing refrigeration cars to transport short-lived commodities. The company plans not only to satisfy local demand, but also export cars to...


Central Asian nations, U.S. discuss regional security, economic cooperation in Kazakh capital

NUR-SULTAN – Ministers of foreign affairs  from the five Central Asian nations and a top U.S. diplomat  met in Nur-Sultan Aug. 22 to discuss regional security and economic cooperation...


New theatre in Nur-Sultan sets new standard with trilingual performances

NUR-SULTAN – The unique contemporary theatre Astanalyq Zamanaui Teatr (AZT) recently opened its doors to the public in the House of Friendship in Nur-Sultan with the support of the...


Eurasian Fashion Week to display new styles in Nur-Sultan, Almaty

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh and Kyrgyz fashion designers will present their Spring-Summer 2020 collections during Eurasian Fashion Week (EFW) Aug. 28-30 in the capital and Sept. 10-12 in Almaty. The...


Kazakh musician is youngest graduate of Italy’s oldest academy

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh composer and pianist Rakhat-Bi Abdysagin recently completed the doctoral programme at Santa Cecilia Academy, Rome. He is among the institution’s five best musicians of 2017 and...


Large-scale book festival invites readers to one-day literature events in Kazakh capital

NUR-SULTAN – The 2019 Kitap (book) Fest, an annual event organised in Almaty during the past five years, will be held for the first time 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Aug....


Nazarbayev urges new ideas for Nur Otan party to meet needs of people

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s First President and current chairman of the Nur Otan party, Nursultan Nazarbayev, suggested at the party’s Aug. 21 expanded political council meeting progressing the party’s activities to...


Kazakhstan leads among CIS countries in attracting international development bank loans

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan led among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in attracting project funding from international development banks in April-June, reports Finprom.kz. With 24.9 percent, Kazakhstan exhibited...


Helicopters continue search for three Kazakh climbers missing in Tien Shan Mountains

NUR-SULTAN – Helicopters continued Aug. 22-23 to search the Tien Shan Mountains for Kazakh climbers Andrey Korneyev, Murat Otepbayev and Aleksandr Chechulin, who went missing Aug. 16.  The climbers...


Kazakhstan to expand AIFC legal jurisdiction, approve tax residency programme for foreign investors

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh government approved Aug. 20 an expansion of the Astana International Financial Centre’s (AIFC) legal jurisdiction and an investment tax residency programme to attract foreign investment....


Radiation levels in Kazakhstan remain normal following explosion at Russian missile testing facility 

NUR-SULTAN – Radiation levels in Kazakhstan after Aug. 8 explosion at a Russian missile testing facility, according to the Kazakh hydrometeorological service Kazgidromet’s tests, remain normal as the air...


Kazakh Ministry of National Economy suggests price controls for essential food items

NUR-SULTAN – Minister of National Economy Ruslan Dalenov suggested during the Aug. 20 government meeting that Kazakhstan should lower prices and increase control over ten food products to maintain...


Kazakh climber completes Tokyo 2020 participation standard at Climbing World Championships

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh sport climber Rishat Khabibullin has fulfilled the participation standard for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, receiving a quota at the Aug. 11-21 Climbing World Championships in...


Kazakh lowcoster FlyArystan to increase number of flights out of Karaganda in 2020

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s first low-cost airline FlyArystan will expand the number of its flights out of the Sary-Arka Airport in Karaganda in the second quarter of 2020. The additional...