Articles by Lyubov Dobrota

ASTANA – The animated film “Otyrardy Korgau” (“Defence of Otrar”) was presented in the South Kazakhstan region in early March under the Ruhani Janghyru (Modernisation of Kazakhstan’s Identity) programme. “The film is aimed not only at small viewers. The presentation of the cartoon, held in the South Kazakhstan regional Opera and Ballet Theatre, showed that…

KENTAU – The government is going to finance Kentau from the national and regional budgets to the amount of 9 billion tenge (US$27.1 million) this year. The funds will help solve several social and economic problems, create new jobs and improve standards of living and well-being of its habitants. Akim (Governor) of the South Kazakhstan…

SHYMKENT – An exhibition centre housing artefacts from archaeological sites in the region, including important early written texts, has been opened at the South Kazakhstan State Pedagogical Institute. The new permanent exhibition aims to promote the history and cultural heritage of the Kazakhs among the public and visitors to the city as well as students.…

Students from Shymkent Aliya Tugelbai and Bakbergen Saparov were recognised among participants from 35 countries during the recent 18th To Save and To Reserve International Ecological Festival in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia for animated cartoons they created to help save the endangered saiga antelope. Tugelbai’s 3.5-minute “A White Saiga”and Saparov’s 2.5-minute “A Lame Saiga” animations both took…

SHYMKENT – The ancient city of Turkestan has great potential for the development of tourism which is not currently being used to the fullest. Akim (mayor) Bakhytzhan Ashirbekov told about measures taken by local authorities for the development of the tourist cluster. According to Ashirbekov, the infrastructure and standards form the base to develop tourism,…

SHYMKENT – The expedition of the Kazakhstan Central State Museum, led for two months on the Kultobe site by Professor Alexander Podushkin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, collected rich material about the ancient state of Kangyui (Kantszyuy) recently. The archaeologists worked on the scientific programme “Archaeological and written records of the Kangyui state” that existed from…

SOUTH-KAZAKHSTAN REGION – Nurlan Kuralov, director of Amankeldi LLP, plans to grow one million trees on his 420 hectares of gardens and vineyards with the use of intensive technology. The South Kazakhstan region is betting on the development of intensive gardening, combining the efforts of farmers, local authorities and the state – which has the…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN REGION – Agriculture is one of Kazakhstan’s priority economic sectors for the coming decades. General Director of the Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Cotton Growing Ibadullah Umbetayev discussed the industry’s problems and prospects. The head of state has put special emphasis on the development of drought-tolerant, genetically modified crops. What is your vision…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN REGION – Lovers of guitar poetry from Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan gathered recently in the south of Kazakhstan for the South Wind 2014 festival. The event was organised by the regional Department of Tourism Association Centre for Tourism Industry of the South Kazakhstan Region, the regional Slavic ethno-cultural centre, with the support of…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN REGION – Gazprom Neft and the Committee of Roads of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Transport and Communications recently signed a memorandum of cooperation to facilitate the production of quality bituminous materials using advanced technologies. The new production will meet modern Kazakh, Russian and international industry, industrial safety and environmental standards. The memorandum opened…

SHYMKENT – Young Kazakh singer Margarita Kin has won the Bach’s Spring International Festival Contest held in Magnitogorsk, Russia. In two rounds of competition, Kin performed the aria from Bach’s oratorio “St. Matthew Passion” and Adele’s couplets from the operetta “Die Fledermaus,” by Johann Strauss, winning over the jury headed by Luz Leskovitz, artistic director…

SHYMKENT – “Everything is possible” is the motto of design engineer Alexander Kushner of the Kazmedpribor company, which produces medical devices. In his seven years at the company, Kushner has been involved in the development of 300 kinds of medical products. Lately, he has been working on equipment that solves problems for doctors and patients.…

SHYMKENT – The secret to success in business is dedication and optimism, believes Shymkent businesswoman Ardakzhan Zhakenova. Zhakenova was the head of the department of English Philology at Mukhtar Auezov South Kazakhstan State University in the mid-1990s. While trying to establish cooperation with higher institutions and schools, she noticed there were not many English learning…

SHYMKENT – A first-of-its-kind carpet factory recently opened in Shymkent. “I like working here; it feels as if you are in a carpet gallery. At lunchtime, I sometimes walk around amid these gorgeous colours and think about which carpet I would bring home,” carpet maker Aizhan Kuzabayeva said. Although she is 25 years old and…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN – A dance theatre, Turkestan Concert Hall and a new drama theatre building will be opened in the South Kazakhstan Oblast this year in response to President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s call to give new impetus to the development of Kazakh culture. Head of the regional department of culture Kuliya Aidarbekova elaborated upon cultural revival…

SHYMKENT – Residents and visitors to southern Kazakhstan now have the opportunity to soar over the region in a hot air balloon. Local businessman Akhmet Daulenbaev is now offering the service for 1,000 tenge (US$6.4) in a balloon he assembled from components ordered from Russia and France. Opening the service is a fulfillment of a…

TURKESTAN – In Turkestan’s new centre of arts and crafts near the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yassawi, visitors can see the process of making traditional handicrafts as well as buy them. The centre consists of three blocks, each with its own purpose. There are workshops, two exhibition halls and classrooms on the first floor, as…

SHYMKENT – A newly completed inventory of reservoirs and canals in southern Kazakhstan is helping authorities recalculate water facilities, assess their status and identify dams that badly need reconstruction and overhauling. It will also give each district an idea of its new potential for irrigated agriculture. Regional authorities are planning to use all their available…

SHYMKENT – Zhupar Beisenova, a teacher at the Kasteyev College of Art in Shymkent, has expanded the possibilities of felt in making souvenirs and functional items that can still make a statement. Necklaces and earrings, bracelets and bags, slippers and umbrellas, scarves and cases for mobile phones, all made from felt, bring the material’s unique…

SHYMKENT – The country’s first polypropylene sheet and plastic product factory has opened in Shymkent. “Our new innovative factory has broad sheet material production capabilities,” director of SouthRegionPlast Mikhail Fedosov said. Modular floating platforms assembled at the plant, which can serve as passages across rivers, leisure floats, piers or jetties are able to withstand water…

SHYMKENT – The sharp drop in water levels at the Shardara Reservoir, about 200 kilometres south-west from Shymkent, has had one benefit: it has led to the discovery of the remnants of an ancient settlement under the dried-up parts of the lake. Local residents and fishermen first spotted the grass-covered hill, which the low water…

SHYMKENT – Two musicians from the Sugir Orchestra of Kazakh Folk Instruments toured the United States recently as part of the Golden Gates programme. Aida Zhurmanova (kobyz) and Nurbol Aliyev (dombra) took part in a 40-day tour across the United States along with musicians from Georgia and Russia. The Golden Gates project was initiated 10…

SHYMKENT – To alleviate overcrowding in South Kazakhstan’s schools, 17.9 billion tenge ($117 million) was allocated for the construction of 88 new educational institutions in the region last year, according to Albina Elshieva, head of the regional department of education. 50 of the new facilities were put into operation in 2012. This year, 19.6 billion…

SHYMKENT – South Kazakhstan businessman Timur Sarsenbayev intends to grow truffles in South Kazakhstan. The precious mushrooms require special conditions, which Sarsenbayev believes exist in the region’s Tulkubas district. According to KazGidroMet meteorological specialists, the climate of Tulkubas district is perfect for the truffle business. Soil pH levels range from 7 to 7.2, optimal for…

SOUTH-KAZAKHSTAN REGION – An archaeological expedition of the Central State Museum has discovered a rare burial site dating back to the second century B.C. on the banks of the Arys River. Excavations along the Arys River, which have been in process for several years, have unearthed artefacts. Scientists now concur that there was a settlement…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN – All phases of the production process at the Shardara fish processing plant are being modernized through the use of the latest Italian and Turkish equipment. The upgrades at the plant, which had not been modernized since opening 30 years ago, are expected to result in an output of 1,000 tons of finished…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN – On July 1, the press service of the Western Europe–Western China International Transit Corridor announced that the first section of an international highway in southern Kazakhstan has been put into operation. For nearly three years, the South Korean company Kukdong conducted construction work on the 24-kilometre road, one of the shortest sections…

SHYMKENT – A new joint Kazakh-German venture to develop green energy in southern Kazakhstan has been established in the South Kazakhstan oblast. In Shymkent, leaders of the South Kazakhstan oblast have signed documents with German investors on the creation of Ontustik Green Energy, a new company 51 percent owned by the German company Promodis Energy…

SHYMKENT – Rowers from Shymkent won an unprecedented number of gold and silver medals in May at the World Cup of Rowing and Canoeing in the Czech Republic and Poland. The Shymkent rowers won four gold, five silver and one bronze medals. It was the first time Shymkent had won gold and silver at such…

SHYMKENT – The administration of the South Kazakhstan region recently evaluated the effectiveness of the pilot Employment 2020 programme launched in 2011. Deputy Governor of the South Kazakhstan region Ali Bektayev has recently visited a number of enterprises and farms where regional authorities also familiarized themselves with the businesses that have been developed with government…

TURKESTAN – Students of the Design and Fine Arts department of International Hodja Akhmet Yassavi Kazakh-Turkish University are engaged in designing stylish 21st century clothes that reflect national traditions. “Against the background of faceless dresses, which are sold in great quantities in our shops, an ethnic style captivates with its uniqueness and individuality,” said Professor…

SHYMKENT – Shymkent hosted on March 23-24 the third kurultai of Kazakh-language bloggers to discuss the development of the domestic blogosphere and Kaznet in the state language of the country. The kurultai (“meeting” or “assembly”) of bloggers, BlogCamp, is not just a meeting but a congress of supporters, a popular form of meeting for representatives…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN – Fruit trees bananas, persimmons and pomegranates are flourishing at the Saryagash Zher Syiy plant nursery in southern Kazakhstan. “This year we anticipate the first crop of bananas,” the Saryagash head Tanabai Shyntasov told the Astana Times. “It is not a commercial project and there will be very few farmers willing to start…

SHYMKENT – The best akyns, or traditional folk poets in Kazakhstan participated in the national aitys, or folk poetry and music festival this week to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Tole-bi region and the 300th anniversary of the birth of Abylai Khan. Performers presented songs on a wide range of topical issues including politics,…

SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN – Ecotourism could become a profitable part of the South Kazakhstan region’s budget. The number of domestic and foreign tourists eager to summit the snowy mountain peaks, roam the unique gorges and look for argali, snow leopards and Turkestan lynx is growing each year. For those who prefer less-traveled areas, the management of…

KENTAU, SOUTH KAZAKHSTAN – Kentau is the only town of seven cities in southern Kazakhstan included in the single industry towns’ development programme. To return to its former glory, the town, with a population of 80,000 people, is banking on the development of small- and medium-sized businesses. The establishment of an industrial zone and a…

SHYMKENT – By the end of this year, the capacity of the Ordabasy Kus LLP poultry farm to produce and process turkey meat will double. JSC KazAgro approved funding to expand the complex and 1.355 billion tenge was allocated through KazAgroFinance for the acquisition of equipment for ten new poultry houses. The Israeli company M.A.D.,…