Boxer Sharipova to fight for WBC champion belt of Finland’s Eva Wahlstrom

ASTANA – Boxer Firuza Sharipova of Kazakhstan will face off against World Boxing Council (WBC) Champion Eva Wahlstrom of Finland in Monaco Oct. 24. Sharipova’s manager Sergei Zavileysky discussed...


Kazakhstan Fashion Week gathers best designers

ASTANA – Some of the world’s best fashion designers showcased latest offerings April 10-13 at the Abai State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre and Dostyk Plaza in Almaty for...


Intensive cultivation, gardening trends discussed in Almaty

ASTANA – AgroCredit will provide more support to develop intensive gardening nationwide, according to an announcement at the Apple Day: How to Transform Apples into Profits and Smiles seminar...


Asian Development Bank forecasts 3.2 percent Kazakh GDP growth

ASTANA – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts growth of Kazakhstan’s gross domestic product (GDP) at 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019. It is expected that...


Shymkent oil refinery reconstruction to end in May

ASTANA – The Shymkent oil processing plant (SOPP) reconstruction will last for one additional month and the interim shutdown will not affect the Kazakh fuel supply, said Vice Minister...


Kazakh officials briefed on Estonia’s IT success

ASTANA – Kazakh officials were briefed during a meeting in Tallinn at the end of March on Estonia’s digitisation successes. Estonia is considered a leader in IT-based logistics and...


Kazakhstan has ‘zero tolerance’ policy on torture, officials tell European parliamentarians

ALMATY – Kazakh officials briefed European parliamentarians, representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media April 16 on the country’s effort to prevent domestic torture and protect citizens’ human...


30,000 rural Kazakhs to learn basics of entrepreneurship

ASTANA – According to the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, in 2018, 30,000 people will receive entrepreneurial training and 6,000 of them will launch businesses after completing the entrepreneurial...


‘Karaman’ becomes first Kazakh mystical thriller

ASTANA – “Karaman,” shot in Kazakhstan, is considered to be the nation’s first adventure mystical thriller. The movie was released April 12 and despite the mysticism on the verge...


Kazakh Majilis approves foreign currency regulation bill

ASTANA – The Kazakh Majilis, the lower house of the nation’s Parliament, recently ratified the draft bill intended to strengthen foreign currency operations prone to withdrawing capital from the...


World’s best humanities textbooks translated into Kazakh

ASTANA – Eighteen of the world’s best humanities textbooks translated into Kazakh were presented April 12 to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, reported the Akorda. The event was held under...


Annual BI Marathon promotes sports and charity

ASTANA – The annual BI Marathon, the largest sporting event in Central Asia, will be held May 27 in the capital. The third charity run will differ from previous...


South Kazakhstan leads in manufacturing investments, creates supportive environment for SMEs

ASTANA – Twenty projects worth 50 billion tenge (US$151 million) and creating 2,700 jobs will be implemented in the South Kazakhstan region, reported akim (governor) Zhanseit Tuimebayev at an...


Baikonur – small town of major importance

ASTANA – Thinking of Kazakhstan would bring Almaty, Astana or Shymkent to one’s mind, yet there is a place of equally significant importance to the young Central Asian nation....


Businessman and philanthropist named one of Kazakhstan’s 100 New Faces

ASTANA – Garik Bernetsyan, one of the nation’s 100 New Faces, is the director of a construction company in the North Kazakhstan region. Apart from business projects, he builds...


Kazakhstan participates in major Middle East investment forum, prioritises transnational company cooperation

ASTANA – A Kazakh pavilion highlighting the country’s investment opportunities was presented at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) held April 9-11 in Dubai, reported the Kazakh Invest press service....


58,000 scrap vehicles collected in nationwide recycling programme

ASTANA – More than 58,740 vehicles have been collected in Kazakhstan since 2016 as part of a nationwide government campaign to collect and recycle scrap vehicles. The goal is...


Kazakh education ministry to upgrade internet at schools

ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science will be systematically introducing four areas of digital technology in educational institutions, Minister Yerlan Sagadiyev said at the April 10...


Kazakh privatisation programme is 76 percent complete

ASTANA – The national privatisation programme for 2016-2020 involving 877 entities is 76 percent complete, as 397 organisations worth 199 billion tenge (US$619 million) have been sold and 274...


PPPs have reduced burden on Kazakh budget by $282 million

ASTANA – Kazakhstan is seeking to make greater use of the private public partnership (PPP) mechanism that has commissioned 140 projects since 2006 and reduced the burden on the...


eGov.kz launches robot consultant to streamline services

ASTANA – The electronic government service eGov.kz has launched its first consulting robot, Kenes, from the Kazakh word for advice, in testing mode. Kenes answers calls to Single Contact...


Astana Ballet launches tour of four Kazakh cities

ASTANA – The Astana Ballet recently launched its tour of performances in Kyzylorda, Almaty, Taldykorgan and Aktau and will present the Astana Ballet Gala programme it previously brought to...


Kazakhstan considers excluding term ‘oralman’ from Kazakh language

ASTANA – A special commission created under the Kazakh Ministry of Labour and Social Protection is researching whether or not the word “oralman” (“returnee,” in Kazakh), which describes ethnic...


Kazakh national team loses to Croatia in Davis Cup quarterfinals

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s national team recently lost to Croatia in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup and finished its participation in the tournament. Croatia was favoured having won the...


Astana Arlans defeat China Dragons in WSB

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Astana Arlans took a confident win over the China Dragons in the away match of the World Series of Boxing (WSB). The match in Guiyang started...


Rukhani Zhangyru – National Identity Programme: one year on

The health and strength of a nation, as we have witnessed repeatedly across the world, depends on more than just its economy. In fact, a clear, secure yet forward-looking...


Kazakh FM briefs CIS foreign ministers on Kazakh initiatives, signs security and education agreements

ASTANA – Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov briefed the Commonwealth of Independent States Council of Foreign Ministers April 6 in Minsk, Belarus on Kazakhstan’s initiatives on regional security and...


Tatishev’s family publishes statement praising justice in Tokmadi case

ASTANA – The family of Yerzhan Tatishev, the chair of BTA Bank killed in 2004 by Muratkhan Tokmadi, published a statement in Forbes.kz April 5 thanking all those involved...


Kazakh President briefed on Astana’s development progress

ASTANA – Astana Akim (Mayor) Asset Issekeshev briefed Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev April 5 about the capital’s development and the most recent infrastructure improvements. The President assigned the city...


Nevolin: Never say never

Would Kazakhstan become a platform where US leader Donald Trump and DPRK’s Kim Jong-un will hold talks at the end of May on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula?...


Astana Process: one step closer to peace

The most recent ministerial meeting on Syria in Astana on March 16 extended the ceasefire in the de-escalation zones and gave the guarantors an opportunity to compare notes.  This...


Kazakhstan to celebrate horse milk with Kymyz Muryndyk 2018 festival

ASTANA – The holiday Kymyz Muryndyk, devoted to the traditional Kazakh drink kumys (fermented mare’s milk), is set to bring locals and visitors, Kazakh officials and professors, foreign diplomats...


Astana hosts Annual Research Forum for Central Asia

ASTANA –Scientists and business people gathered in Astana April 6 to discuss sustainable development at the first annual Research Forum for Central Asia. The forum was organised by Kazakh...


New York CEO dreams of launching tours, volunteer programmes to bring US to Kazakhstan

ASTANA – As CEO of the international business Global Government Partners Corporation (GGP) David M. Valera was celebrating his 12th trip to Kazakhstan this year, the American came up...


Kazakh-born writer addresses emigration, generational challenges in debut novel

ASTANA – Olia Breininger’s debut book “There Was No Adderall in the Soviet Union,” released by AST in 2017, became a huge success. The publisher and critics called the...


Kazakh President briefed on Astana’s development progress

ASTANA – Astana Akim (Mayor) Asset Issekeshev briefed Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev April 5 about the capital’s development and the most recent infrastructure improvements. The President assigned the city...


Foreign currency mortgages to be converted to tenge, older mortgages to receive payment support

ASTANA – The National Bank of Kazakhstan updated March 27 the nation’s mortgage loan refinancing programme to convert foreign currency mortgage loans to tenge and help ease the debt...


Investments in manufacturing almost triple, positive dynamics in SEZs, says official

ASTANA – The share of investments in manufacturing has increased almost three-fold since Kazakhstan initiated the state programme on industrialisation, reaching approximately 24 percent of foreign direct investments since...


Kushtarova: Digitisation and strong civil society are antidotes to corruption

Every member of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) has agreed to employ a proactive approach in promoting transparency and increasing public awareness in the fight against corruption....


Dutch company to build potato processing plant in Almaty region

ASTANA – Dutch company Farm Frites, one of the world’s largest potato processing companies, will build a potato processing plant in the Almaty region. The cost of the project...


Nazarbayev University students drive self-made battery car at Shell Eco-marathon Asia

ASTANA – A team of nine undergraduate students from Nazarbayev University (NU) designed, constructed and drove a car on electric battery at Shell Eco-marathon Asia, held March 8-11 in...


Afghan Public Health Ministry employees attend seminar in Astana

ASTANA – Afghan public health workers arrived in the Kazakh capital April 2 for a two-week capacity-building seminar on maternal and child healthcare organised by the Kazakh Ministry of...


EBRD to finance irrigation system reconstruction in Zhambyl region

ASTANA – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is allocating 24.2 billion tenge (US$75.8 million) to reconstruct the Zhambyl region irrigation system. The deal is part of...


Kazakh President briefed on Astana’s development progress, 20th anniversary preparations

ASTANA – As Astana prepares for its 20th anniversary, President Nursultan Nazarbayev was briefed on the progress of Astana infrastructure improvements and the development of amenities for the public...


“Astana! Brighter Together!” festival brings eco-culture to Kazakhstan

ASTANA – The second Astana! Brighter Together! eco-festival gathered approximately 4,000 students from capital schools to promote an environmentally conscious lifestyle among the young generation, according to the press...


SCAT Airlines receives IOSA security certificate

ASTANA – SCAT Airlines has become a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the company’s press service announced March 24. The association represents the interests of the...


Digitising healthcare will make medical care more accessible, efficient, says Kazakh Minister

ASTANA – Electronic health passports and medical information systems have been implemented in Kazakhstan this year to make medical service provisions more efficient for both patients and doctors. Kazakh...


Kazakh athletes with visual impairments to bike to Paris

ASTANA – Kazakh athletes with visual impairments plan to bike this year from Astana to Paris. The tour aims to highlight the problems of accessibility and popularise sports among...


Kazakh economy ministry projects real GDP of 3.8 percent in 2018

ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of National Economy projects the nation’s real GDP will reach 3.8 percent this year, which is 0.7 percent higher than the previous projected indicator...


Kazakhstan’s Zhumagulov defeats American opponent in international MMA tournament in Almaty

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Zhalgas Zhumagulov defeated Tyson Nam of the US in the main event of the mixed martial arts tournament MMA Fight Nights Global 86 in Almaty. From...