Articles by Aigerim Seisembayeva

LONDON – Various Kazakh and British companies and institutions signed agreements and memoranda Oct. 23-24 during the visit of Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko to London. Vassilenko also participated in the sixth meeting of the UK-Kazakhstan Intergovernmental Commission. The visit started with the Kazakhstan Global Investment Forum 2019 organised by Financial Times Live, fDi…

ASTANA – At the invitation of the U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov attended July 25-26 the first Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service reports. In his opening speech, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence stated ensuring religious freedom is one…

ASTANA – The Constitutional Council gave final approval June 28 to legislation granting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev the right to head the country’s Security Council for life. The law stipulating his new status was published July 12 in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda national newspaper and came into force. The county’s parliament passed the bill May 31.…

ASTANA – Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan paid an official visit to Kazakhstan July 4-5 to meet with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and participate in the official launch of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). The sides discussed…

ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on June 19 declared Shymkent city in Southern Kazakhstan a city of “national significance,” as it joined the other two cities with such status in the country, Astana and Almaty. Another presidential decree, signed publicly at the Akorda presidential residence, changed the name of the Southern Kazakhstan region to…

ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and President Rustam Minnikhanov of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan discussed bilateral ties during Nazarbayev’s June 14-15 visit to Kazan, Akorda reports. Nazarbayev praised Tatarstan’s social development and economic growth and outlined areas to increase bilateral cooperation. The Kazakh President also praised the close relationship and the importance of deepening…

ASTANA – Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov briefed members of the European Business Association of Kazakhstan (EUROBAK) and members of the diplomatic corps on Kazakhstan’s efforts to improve the business climate during a June 12 meeting in Astana. EUROBAK includes leaders of business associations and companies operating in Kazakhstan, including Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Siemens, KPMG…

ASTANA – The Kazakh government appointed June 6-7 five new vice ministers to oversee digitisation within their ministries. They join Deputy Prime Minister Askar Zhumagaliyev who is responsible for overseeing the country’s digitisation process and who is colloquially known as “chief digital officer.” The new appointees, in turn, were immediately dubbed “digitisation commissars” as part…

ASTANA – The 31st plenary session of Kazakhstan’s Foreign Investors’ Council themed “Accelerated modernisation” discussed digital transformation, new technologies and prospects for further economic growth at a June 6 meeting here. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev briefed the session on Kazakhstan’s efforts to ensure the stability of the national economy in the face of global challenges.…

ASTANA – Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) heads of government, including Kazakh Prime Minster Bakytzhan Sagintayev, discussed economic interaction and cooperation within the Commonwealth in areas such as energy development and intellectual property during a June 1 meeting in Dushanbe. In addition to Sagintayev, the prime ministers of Belarus – Andrei Kobyakov, Kyrgyzstan – Muhammetkaliy…

ASTANA – More than 500 people participated in a May 29 foreign students’ forum at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (ENU) to discuss the Ruhani Zhangyru (Modernisation of Kazakhstan’s Identity) programme, the university’s press service reports. Participants discussed ways to expand the international impact of the programme, which was initiated in April 2017 by Kazakh…

ASTANA – Fifteen international journalists toured Astana and Almaty city as well as the Almaty and Mangistau regions May 24-31, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service reports. The group included arts and culture journalists and bloggers from China, Egypt, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Kazakh Foreign Ministry organised the…

ASTANA – Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member states and China signed May 17 a trade and economic cooperation agreement, the first major arrangement between them. “The general provisions of the agreement are consistent with the World Trade Organisation principles,” said Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Board Chair Tigran Sargsyan, one of the signatories of the agreement.…

ASTANA – Kazakh and U.S. government officials and business executives discussed May 16 the implementation of commercial agreements reached during President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s January 2018 official visit to the United States and increasing trade and investment cooperation during the Second Kazakhstan Competitiveness Forum. Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin briefed the gathering on the…

ASTANA – Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze discussed bilateral cooperation May 16 in Astana with top Kazakh government officials. Janelidze met with Kazakh Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) Speaker Nurlan Nigmatulin to discuss bilateral cooperation, parlam.kz reports. Nigmatulin said recent bilateral contacts demonstrate mutual interest in trade, economic, cultural and international…

ASTANA – Kazakh and European parliamentary officials reconfirmed mutual commitment to strengthening ties as they adopted a joint declaration following the May 10 15th annual session of the Kazakhstan-European Union (EU) Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC). The members of both parliaments, according to the Kazakh Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) discussed Kazakh and EU foreign and…

ASTANA – Kazakh-Uzbek trade grew 50 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period last year and the countries are working to grow trade to $3 billion by the end of the year, said Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Askar Mamin during a May 4 working visit to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Mamin…

ASTANA – The May 4-5 45th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Dhaka, Bangladesh addressed issues facing the international Islamic community, including the humanitarian crisis resulting from the mass exodus of the Rohingya people from Myanmar, Bangladesh’s neighbour. “While visiting Rohingya refugee camps, we had a…

ASTANA – Kazakh and United Kingdom officials recently discussed the possibility of signing a strategic partnership agreement to utilise the British model of developing IT projects in Kazakhstan’s national digitisation programme. The agreement would be between Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Information and Communications and the UK’s Government Digital Service and would involve governmental and IT business…

ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev took part April 28 in the 26th session of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan (APK), reported Akorda.kz. The main topic was the President’s recent Five Social Initiatives aimed at improving the lives of Kazakh citizens. The session gathered 413 of 466 APK members from all the regions…

ASTANA ­– The results of last year’s preventive visits to detention facilities were presented at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry April 26 as part of the second, two-day National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) forum, “Prevention of torture through joint efforts of national human rights institutions and the NPM.” The NPM’s fourth consolidated report contains an analysis of…

ASTANA – Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member state foreign ministers agreed April 24 on the agenda of the SCO summit to be held this June in Qingdao, Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service reports. It will be the first time the SCO heads of state will meet after admitting new members, India and Pakistan, at a…

ASTANA – Ninety second-year master students and 10 doctoral students from Kazakhstan will be sent to French higher education institutions under the new joint Abai-Verne Programme. The agreement on implementing the programme was signed April 19 by the Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the 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 the New Humanitarian Knowledge, 100 New Textbooks in Kazakh project, part of Rukhani Janghyru (Modernisation of Kazakhstan’s Identity) programme. Nazarbayev stressed the project’s important role in…

ASTANA – Leaders of five Central Asian states met March 15 in Astana in such a format for the first time in 10 years to address regional challenges, such as borders, water resource management and regional security. The presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended. Turkmenistan was represented by its Parliament’s Speaker Akja Nurberdyeva…