Chevron pioneering technology in Kazakhstan solves industry’s pipeline challenges

ASTANA – Pipeline corrosion is a major challenge faced by the global oil and gas industry, as a corroded pipeline presents a clear risk to the environment and for...


Film director brings domestic violence against women into spotlight

ASTANA – Kazakh independent film director Zhanna Issabayeva’s latest film, “Rejected,” was presented in late October and distributed nationwide on the Chaplin Cinema Network. The film is a portrayal...


Kazakh beach volleyball team wins country’s first world tour gold-medal

ASTANA – The Kazakh beach volleyball team of Alexey Sidorenko and Alexander Dyachenko won a golden medal at the recent Caspian Sea Series World Tour in Bandar Anzali, Iran....


Kazakh women’s basketball team wins first silver at Asia U18 championship

ASTANA – The Kazakh basketball team consolidated its claim to second place in the Division B final of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Under-18 (U18) Women’s Asian Championships Nov....


Latest World Bank Doing Business Index affirms Kazakhstan’s measures to improve business environment

As we have pointed out before, having the courage to set big ambitions is vital whether you are an individual, business or country. Without such goals, there is a...


Kazakh FM praises appointment of new U.N. special envoy for Syria

ASTANA – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdrakhmanov recently praised the appointment of Geir Pedersen as new UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria in comments reported by...


Kazakhstan’s peacekeeping mission to Lebanon is another contribution to peace

On Oct. 31, a Kazakh peacekeeping company of 120 people arrived to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for deployment as part of the forces of the joint...


No single state corporation can function successfully for long, says Singaporean Ambassador to Kazakhstan

Singaporean Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zulkifli Bakharudin recently spoke with exclusive.kz, noting the secret of his country’s success is the absence of a “sacred cow.” The nation is always ready...


External News in Brief

New Delhi hosted the round-table discussion, “Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran-India: Current Situation and Prospects,” Oct. 31. The event focused on logistics opportunities along the eastern route of the 7,200-kilometre North-South transit corridor...


National news in brief

The French company Urbasolar SAS has attracted funding for the construction of a solar power plant in the Turkestan region, reports Kazakhstan’s Atameken Business Channel. The project, worth more...


Business news in brief

French firm Alstom will implement two projects in Almaty, Alstom board member Philippe Delair told a recent Kazakh-Europe business forum in Brussels. The first project is to modernise Kazakhstan’s...


Economic News in Brief

The investment income of Kazakhstan’s Unified Accumulation Pension Fund (UAPF) for the first three quarters of 2018 reached 663.1 billion tenge (US$1.79 billion). At the end of September, pension...


Kazakh Senate adopts amendments to 2018-2020 budget plan

ASTANA – The Kazakh Senate adopted changes to the national budget for 2018-2020 during its Oct. 25 plenary session. The updated document increased the expected exchange rate per dollar...


Urbanism activists preserve architectural heritage through research and dialogue

ASTANA – Archcode Almaty, a research project to conserve the former capital’s architectural identity, seeks to preserve what “we will pass on to those who will live in the...


Kazakh citizens withdraw more than $21.6 billion from payment cards

ASTANA – Kazakh citizens withdrew 8.6 trillion tenge (US$21.6 billion) from payment cards from January-August, a 26.4-percent increase compared to the same period last year. At the same time,...


CIS heads of government council in Astana: Kazakhstan calls for expanding trade relations

ASTANA – The heads of government of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) discussed 15 agenda items during a scheduled council meeting in the Kazakh capital on Nov. 2....


Kazakh vulnerable groups to be supported in seeking state-guaranteed legal aid, say legal experts

ASTANA – The effective provision of legal aid, guaranteed by the state and afforded by its budget, is vital to ensuring access to justice, said Kazakh International Bureau for...


Kazakh entrepreneur seeks new ways to make movement more accessible for people in wheelchairs

ASTANA – Kazakhstan 100 New Face’s entrepreneur and Paralympic sportsperson Shahan Zholdasbayev directs all of his power and will towards creating an inclusive society by constructing ramps that allow...


Astana International Exchange to launch post-trade infrastructure

ASTANA – Astana International Exchange (AIX) is preparing to launch post-trade market services provided by Avenir Technology Limited. The technology, used worldwide, will ensure a safe and reliable post-trading...


Qarakoz features evil spirits from Kazakh folk tales

ASTANA – The new horror film “Qarakoz,” featuring evil characters from Kazakh tales and legends in all their glory, went into wide distribution Nov. 1. The film opens at...


Kazakh developers win award at NASA competition in New York

ASTANA – Kazakh developers Timur Ryspekov, Vladislav Polonski and Anastasiya Kletscheva won Best Use of Hardware award at the recent Space Apps Challenge competition finals organised by National Aeronautics...


Nazarbayev, Medvedev stress importance of bilateral economic growth

ASTANA – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev Nov. 1 in Astana to discuss bilateral relations. Nazarbayev stressed during...


State programmes increase salaries, improve vocational education, says Kazakh labour ministry

ASTANA – The state programmes designed to increase wages, the employment rate and entrepreneurship are showing positive results, reported representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of...


Kazakh peacekeepers join Indian battalion in Lebanon, as UN Secretary-General welcomes news

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s first ever UN peacekeeping contingent that is part of an Indian battalion in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) arrived in Lebanon Oct. 31....


Kazakh national employment programme seeks to employ more than 500,000 by year’s end

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s employment and mass entrepreneurship programme seeks to recruit 571,000 citizens through state support mechanisms by the end of 2018, said Kazakh Minister of Labour and Social Protection...


Modernisation increases Kazakh defence industry productivity

ASTANA – The Kazakh defence industry has grown steadily as a result of modernisation and management changes, the Ministry of Defence and Aerospace Industry press service reported Oct. 25....


Kazakhstan jumps 8 points in World Bank’s Doing Business ranking

ASTANA – Kazakhstan jumped from 36th last year to 28th place in the 2019 World Bank Doing Business Report released Oct. 31. Kazakhstan improved in three areas of the...


Astana considers reducing speeds in bus lanes to prevent accidents

ASTANA – The speed on certain sections of bus lanes in Astana will be reduced to decrease the number of traffic accidents, said Deputy Chairman of Astana LRT Beibut...


Almaty opens children’s football stadium

ASTANA – The Almaty city akimat (administration) and Zhas Kyran (also Orlyonok) football centre have renovated the old Soviet Sputnik stadium into a football training complex for children with...


OpenU platform to give access to worldwide-recognised textbooks in Kazakh language

ASTANA – The Kazakh National Translation Bureau is working on translating internationally recognised textbooks in social sciences and humanities into the Kazakh language in accordance with Kazakh President Nursultan...


KazMunayGas subsidiary, Romanian government create energy investment fund

ASTANA – KMG International (KMGI, formerly known as Rompetrol), an affiliate of KazMunayGas, and Societatea de Administrare a Energie (SAPE) owned by the Romanian Ministry of Energy signed an...


More than 700,000 Astana residents have contacted city’s nonemergency call centre in 2018

ASTANA – Astana’s city utility services response centre iKomek has received more than 703,000 inquiries in 2018, of which 99.7 percent were processed, reports the city administration’s press service....


Kazakh Prosecutor General’s Office transitions activities to digital format

ASTANA – The Kazakh Office of the General Prosecutor is transitioning its criminal and administrative proceedings to electronic format, automating the registration of inspections of state bodies and the...


Kazakh Senate ratifies border agreements with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan

ASTANA – The Kazakh Senate ratified Oct. 25 the border agreement between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan that determined the points of juncture on the countries’ border. The agreement was...


Kazakh service members to join Indian battalion on UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon

ASTANA – President Nursultan Nazarbayev recently signed the law “On ratification of the memorandum of understanding between the governments of Kazakhstan and India concerning arrangements for joint deployment of...


Polish company invests in Turkestan greenhouse, more projects expected in West Kazakhstan

ASTANA – Poland’s Polcotton will invest more than 13 million euros (US$14 million) in an innovative greenhouse construction project in the Sairam district of the Turkestan region, according to...


Astana’s smart service hackathon encourages smart city solutions

ASTANA – The city hosted the Smart Service hackathon Oct. 27-28, where 160 participants had the chance to suggest their solutions to make the capital more innovative, attractive and...


Global trade integration is key to Central Asian economic growth, says Moody’s

ASTANA – Central Asia’s economic growth potential is limited by its low degree of integration into global trade, according to a recent Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) report. According to...


Accessible Spanish courses, direct flights and faster visa issuing will facilitate relations, says Spanish envoy in Astana

ASTANA – Spanish Ambassador David Carriedo, who began his diplomatic mission to Kazakhstan on August 21, spoke with The Astana Times about the agenda for his three-year term to...


Treaty ratification, signature remain global priority, say CTBTO Youth Group members

ASTANA – The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) Youth Group (CYG) recently emphasised signing and ratifying the CTBT remains a key global objective 20 years after its...


New Kyrgyz foreign minister visits Astana to reaffirm ties

ASTANA – The newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Chingiz Aydarbekov visited Astana Oct. 27 to meet with his Kazakh counterpart Kairat Abdrakhmanov to discuss the strategic...


KAZGUU introduces more flexible educational process

ASTANA – KAZGUU is the first Kazakh university to introduce Canvas, an LMS (learning management system) that makes the educational process flexible, secure and scalable. It can be adapted...


Kazakhstan, Russia agree to use telemedicine, work on digitising health care

ASTANA – The Kazakh and Russian Ministries of Healthcare agreed to develop joint systems to provide medical aid using telemedicine during the Global Conference on Primary Health Care held...


Astana conference focuses on Kazakh, German agricultural partnership

ASTANA – Astana welcomed German and Kazakh businesses, representatives of governments and specialists for the conference, Kazakhstan and Germany: Partners in Building Sustainable Agriculture, Oct. 26 in Astana. They...


Kazakhstan to export gasoline to Kyrgyzstan

ASTANA – As the Russian embargo on gasoline export from Kazakhstan to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has been lifted, Kazakhstan expects to start shipments to Kyrgyzstan in November....


Astana Invest is a partner to businesses in capital, works to create comfortable city – deputy chair

ASTANA – The bustling Kazakh capital is waiting for investors, offering a myriad of platforms and mechanisms to turn ideas into reality, says Astana Invest Deputy Chair Muhamed Kabuldinov....


Kazakhstan opens rehabilitation centres across country for children with cerebral palsy

ASTANA – Rehabilitation centres for children with cerebral palsy are being developed across Kazakhstan’s regions to make treatment more accessible. More than 19,000 children have been diagnosed with cerebral...


Astana launches housing assistance programme for social sector employee

ASTANA – The Kazakh government will provide one million tenge (US$2,711) for health care, education, police and social sector workers to help purchase new housing, the city administration press...


Zhambyl Region launches sacred sites website, multivolume encyclopaedia

ASTANA – The Zhambyl Region Department of Culture recently launched the Aulie-Ata sacred sites map as part of the Ruhani Zhangyru (Modernisation of Kazakhstan’s Identity) state programme. The 25-million...


AIFC Academic Council helps to develop Kazakhstan’s human capital

ASTANA – The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) Academic Council, as one of the driving forces of the country’s economy, is actively developing human capital and attracting the best...