Articles by Dana Omirgazy

ASTANA – Kazakh freestyle skier Anastasia Gorodko won her second gold medal in the parallel moguls event at the 2025 FISU World University Games Winter, which takes place in Torino on Jan. 13-23. Ayaulym Amrenova won the silver medal. Anton Bondarev won a silver medal in the men’s parallel moguls, losing in the final to…

ASTANA – The Kazakh passport ranked 65th, moving one spot up in the Henley Passport Index 2025 released on Jan. 8. Citizens of Kazakhstan can now visit 77 countries without a visa or using a simplified procedure. The index includes 199 passports and 227 travel destinations. In 2024, Kazakhstan ranked 66th. Singapore secured the top…

ASTANA – Almaty became the most popular region of Kazakhstan among foreign tourists in 2024, according to the Kazakh Tourism national company’s analysis based on data on accommodations registered in the eQonaq information system, responsible for tracking and analyzing tourist movements and migration control in Kazakhstan. Last year, eQonaq system registered 534,340 foreigners who stayed…

ASTANA – The Kazakh capital started implementing the project to create a second industrial park on an area of 409 hectares based on the Astana – New City special economic zone. According to Khalel Akimzhanov, head of Astana’s investment and entrepreneurship development department, industrial park No. 1 is the country’s leader in the production volume,…

ASTANA – Last year, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) index continued to grow by 33.2%, to 5,578.10 points, according to KASE Chairperson Alina Aldambergen. The capitalization of the stock market grew by 23% or 6.1 trillion tenge (US$11.5 billion) over the year and reached 32.9 trillion tenge (US$62 billion), reported Kazinform on Jan. 15 citing…

ASTANA – Kazakh national telecom operator Kazakhtelecom has completed a deal with a Qatari-based Power International Holding (PIH) to sell a 100% stake in Mobile Telecom-Service LLP (MTS). In February last year in Doha, Kazakhtelecom, PIH and the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund signed an initial agreement, and a final agreement on the sale of…

ASTANA – President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a number of meetings on Jan. 14-15 as part of his working visit to Abu Dhabi. Tokayev invites Italian PM Giorgia Meloni to Kazakhstan Tokayev met with Giorgia Meloni on Jan. 15 to congratulate on her birthday, wishing her success in her public service for the benefit…

ASTANA – Religious leaders of China expressed support for Kazakhstan’s initiatives to strengthen interfaith dialogue. Maulen Ashimbayev, chair of the Senate, upper house of the Kazakh Parliament, head of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, during his visit to China, met with Deputy Chair of the National Committee of…

ASTANA – President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting with experts in the field of artificial intelligence on Jan. 15 as part of his working visit to Abu Dhabi. Speaking to the meeting participants, Tokayev noted that AI is one of the key driving forces of modern progress and is capable of radically changing…

ASTANA – Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov instructed to intensify work to improve competitiveness of Kazakh sports ahead of the ninth Asian Winter Games during a Jan. 14 meeting. Bektenov reviewed the progress of preparations for the Asian Winter Games, which will be held on Feb. 7-14 in Harbin, China, reported the Prime Minister’s press…

ASTANA – Kazakh professional freestyle skier Anastasia Gorodko won the gold medal with 79.79 points at the 2025 FISU World University Games Winter, which takes place in Torino on Jan. 13-23. Gorodko brought Kazakhstan its first gold medal at the Winter Universiade. Ayaulym Amrenova was fifth with 70.52 points, reported the National Olympic Committee’s press…

ASTANA – The Investment Promotion Council (Investment Headquarters) held a meeting on Jan. 14 to review and approve the main terms of the investment agreements aimed at modernizing key enterprises, generating new employment and fostering innovative production. The participants of the meeting, chaired by Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar, approved the conclusion of the…

ASTANA – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held talks with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Jan. 14 on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) Summit. Tokayev noted that Kazakhstan is committed to strengthening comprehensive cooperation with Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country and one of the continent’s largest economies. In turn, Tinubu confirmed…

ASTANA – This year, Kazakhstan will host several international competitions, as Kazakh athletes will compete at the world’s leading sports events. In January, Kazakhstan became the venue for the International Ski Federation (FIS, Fédération Internationale de Ski) Freestyle Junior World Ski Championships in moguls and aerials, reported the Kazakh Ministry of Tourism and Sports on…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s IT services exports increased to $306 million between January and June last year. According to Finprom financial and business analytical service, in 2020, the figure was only $34.9 million, in 2021 – $76.1 million, and in 2022, the export of IT services increased by 4.5 times to $339 million. In 2023, the…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan transported by rail 10.6 million tons of grain, of which 8.1 million tons were exported in 2024. The country resumed grain supplies to Iran and Azerbaijan. According to the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) national railway company, last year, grain transportation increased by 20% to Tajikistan, by 92% to the Kyrgyz Republic and…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Yerzhan Maksim won the grand prix at the Sanremo Best Song 2025 contest on Jan. 4-11 in Dubai. The 17-year-old singer from Uralsk in western Kazakhstan shared the good news on his Instagram. “It was an honor for me to win the international singing competition. With a special feeling, I bow my…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan is ranked 57th out of 145 nations in the 2025 Global Firepower Ranking, with a score of 1.1016. In 2024 index, it rated 58th. Other Central Asian countries include Uzbekistan on the 58th line. Turkmenistan is placed 77th, followed by the Kyrgyz Republic – 105th and Tajikistan – 108th. The rating utilizes…

ASTANA – The Kazakh government allocated over 1.1 billion tenge (US$2 million) from recovered illegally acquired assets to construct a new sports complex in the village of Zhalagash, the Almaty Region’s Kegen district. The sports facility is intended to host instructional and training activities on general physical fitness and competitions. The project includes venues for…

ASTANA – The volume of water in the Northern Aral Sea increased by 42%, reaching 27 billion cubic meters, following the results of the first phase of the project to preserve the Northern Aral Sea, said Kazakh Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov during the meeting with the public in the Aral district…

ASTANA – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the law on the Keleshek voluntary education savings system on Jan. 10. The Keleshek system provides state-funded start-up educational capital, an annual state incentive payment, and investment income, covering children from the age of five, reported the Akorda press service. “A one-time start-up educational capital will be accrued…

ASTANA – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Zheenbek Kulubaev, who paid first official visit to Kazakhstan on Jan. 10. During the talks, the President expressed satisfaction with the dynamic development of the Kazakh-Kyrgyz relations of strategic partnership and alliance based on strong ties of friendship and good-neighborliness. According to the Akorda,…

ASTANA – The Astana Times has curated a selection of articles from global media outlets covering Kazakhstan. This week’s foreign media digest includes topics such as Kazakhstan’s relations with Europe, the country’s economic gains in 2024, exports of electric freight locomotives and more. ‘Connecting East and West’ Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Roman Vassilenko, discussed the…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s airline Qazaq Air has launched subsidized flights on the Kostanai – Turkistan route on Jan. 4. Also, the airline will introduce Karagandy – Turkistan subsidized flights starting Jan. 13. According to the Kazakh Transport Ministry, flights from Astana to Turkistan are planned to start on Jan. 13. Flights between Kostanai and Turkistan…

ASTANA – KazTransOil, Kazakhstan’s national oil transporter, shipped 44.887 million tons of Kazakh oil in 2024, which is 2% more compared to the previous year. “The volume of oil supplies to domestic oil refineries, including Atyrau Oil Refinery LLP, PetroKazakhstan Oil Products LLP and Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant LLP in 2024 totaled 16.712 million tons, which…