Articles by Assel Satubaldina

ASTANA – Geopolitical factors have pushed Central Asia to rethink its transport and logistics geography. Regional analysts say Central Asia is facing a rare opening to reshape its connectivity through Afghanistan, but warn that the absence of a unified strategy could once again turn the Trans-Afghan agenda into a missed opportunity. Regional experts highlighted practical…

Editor’s Note: To mark the 15th anniversary of The Astana Times, we are launching a special series of columns written by our newsroom. Over the days, members of our team reflect on their journeys, the stories that shaped them, and the evolution of The Astana Times. We began with a column by our editor-in-chief Zhanna…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s ITeachMe Competence Development Center has received the Intercultural Achievement Award from Austria’s Foreign Ministry on Nov. 24 for its OrleTech project. The initiative expands IT training for youth from vulnerable families, including young people whose parents have disabilities and households raising children with special needs.  State Secretary Sepp Schellhorn presented the twelfth…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision announced on Nov. 21 at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to admit Kazakhstan to the agency’s Far East Regional Group. In its Nov. 21 statement, the Kazakh ministry said the country’s accession to the regional group reflects an “important step toward…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan is moving to upgrade its energy system, working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to modernize key power infrastructure, expand renewable energy, and improve electricity reliability for millions of people in the country.  “ADB has invested over $500 million to strengthen Kazakhstan’s energy sector. These investments include renewable energy projects, modernization of…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s push for investment and continued subsidized lending through state-owned enterprises is keeping the broader public sector on an expansionary path, offsetting budget tightening and fueling demand, a key reason inflation is expected to remain elevated, said Ali Al-Eyd, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Kazakhstan, at a Nov. 19…

ASTANA – Sales of foreign currency from the National Fund reached $660 million in October, with the transactions accounting for 11% of overall market activity, or roughly $30 million in daily trading, the National Bank of Kazakhstan said in its monthly update. The sales helped cover transfers to the state budget and finance the construction…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan is participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil, on Nov. 10-21. Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbayev leads the country’s delegation. The UN Climate Change Conferences, known as COPs, are held annually and serve as the world’s sole multilateral platform where nearly all nations come together…

ASTANA – European officials say Central Asia’s transport expansion should go hand in hand with workforce development, as both areas are emerging as key pillars in Central Asia’s growing engagement with the European Union.  Transport has become one of the core priorities in Central Asia – EU cooperation, a focus reaffirmed at the first EU–Central…

TURIN – Pilvi Torsti, director of the European Training Foundation, sat down for an interview with The Astana Times on the sidelines of the fourth high-level group meeting of the European Union-funded DARYA program in Turin on Oct. 30-31. She discussed the program’s key deliverables and what lies ahead. ETF is a key EU agency…

ASTANA – The upcoming Central Asia-United States summit in C5+1 format could deliver concrete deals in critical minerals and transport, according to Ibrahim Mammadov, head of the Turkic-Western Engagement Initiative at the Danube Institute, who expects new U.S. investments to take shape in both sectors. “When assessing the importance of this summit, it is crucial…

ASTANA – Central Asian leaders are set to gather in Washington on Nov. 6 for a C5+1 summit with President Donald Trump, marking 10 years of U.S. engagement with the region through this platform. The summit, the second at the presidential level since the format was launched in 2015, is expected to focus on security…

ASTANA – Christopher Duggan, Ambassador of Canada to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, describes the relationship with Kazakhstan as deeply constructive and values-aligned, noting strong convergence on multilateralism and shared global priorities, from peace and security to climate and economic resilience. In an interview with The Astana Times, he reflects on his priorities…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan now hosts over 550,000 international migrant workers, nearly 21,000 more than in January, said International Migration Organization (IOM) Chief of Mission Serhan Aktoprak as he discussed the latest Baseline Mobility Assessment during the Astana Think Tank Forum on Oct. 16. “There are over 550,000 migrant workers taking up jobs in various sectors…

ASTANA – A full house gathered inside the main hall of the Kuanyshbayev Kazakh State Drama Theater on Oct. 17 evening in Astana, as the United Nations in Kazakhstan marked UN Day with “Music for Global Goals,” a full orchestral concert that replaced policy rhetoric with Kazakh classical depth and global soundtracks. Performed by the…

ASTANA – Marton Krasznai, scientific director of the Center for Central Asia Research at the Corvinus University of Budapest, highlighted water diplomacy as a strategic imperative for Central Asia in his remarks to an Oct. 16 panel session at the Astana Think Tank Forum.  He reiterated that around 54–56% of Kazakhstan’s water flows originate outside…

ASTANA – Central Asia’s vibrant youth population could become the region’s greatest asset or its greatest risk, hinging on coordinated policy action, said Fabio Losa, regional demographic resilience and policy adviser at the Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the United Nations Population Fund.  Losa warned that without strategic investment in education,…

ASTANA – The upcoming Astana Think Tank Forum, set for Oct. 15–16 in the Kazakh capital and convened by the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies (KazISS), reflects a growing ambition to turn expert debate into actionable policy blueprints.  The Astana Times sat down for an interview with Zhandos Shaimardanov, the institute’s director, to discuss how…

ASTANA – Ten years after the Paris Agreement, a new report from the Deep Decarbonization Pathways (DDP) Initiative takes stock of global progress. Analyzing 21 countries, including Kazakhstan,  it concludes that the agreement has spurred new approaches to climate governance and policy in these countries, but also warns that momentum has stalled.  The DDP initiative,…

ASTANA – The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons now has a majority of countries as either signatories or parties, reflecting the momentum in global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts, and marking a milestone that underscores the treaty’s growing influence, even as nuclear powers remain outside it. The Kyrgyz Republic became the 99th…

ASTANA – Telegram’s new AI lab in Astana, AI as a digital worker, and a call for a venture mindset set the tone as the Digital Bridge forum opened on Oct. 2 in Astana. World leaders, including President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Hungary’s President Tamás Sulyok, tech leaders and professors staked out bold ideas on how…

ALMATY – Kazakhstan has all the potential to become a key crypto destination of Eurasia, said Binur Zhalenov, the chief digital officer at the National Bank of Kazakhstan, at the World Forum of Central Securities Depositories (WFC 2025) on Sept. 25 in Almaty. He expressed hope that the efforts of the NBK as a regulator…

ASTANA – In a world where girls and women struggle with personal doubts and societal pressures that hold them back, what makes a difference is often the helping hand of a person who has already walked that path. That’s precisely what the Girls for Girls mentorship program has been doing for three and a half…

ASTANA – It is this time of year when world leaders are gathering in New York for the United Nations General Assembly’s High-Level Week, an annual diplomatic marathon that sets the tone for global priorities, from peace and security to climate action and development. This year, it coincides with a particularly important occasion as the…

ASTANA – The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) has received the Pioneering CBDC Initiative Award at this year’s CB+DC Conference, which took place on Sept. 9-11 in Nassau, Bahamas. Kazakhstan’s central bank was recognized for advancing the Digital Tenge, seen as a natural extension of the country’s growing digital finance ecosystem. The project has been…