Articles by Mark Beer

Congratulations to all those involved in Kazakhstan’s recent municipal elections held across 730 akims and involving nearly 2,300 candidates. The elections covered 13 percent of eligible voters from fourteen regions of the country, and the 67.5 percent turnout indicates the willingness of the people to make their local officials accountable to the people, not the…

In 2005 Richard Stone wrote ‘Central Asia. Visions of a biotech empire on the Kazakh Steppe’ in which he described the journey of Erlan Ramanculov from Colorado to Kazakhstan. Erlan and his wife had one objective: to raise their daughters in his native land. However, the 38-year-old molecular biologist was soon chosen to build a…

The Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) was born just two years ago, bringing into existence a new, vibrant and world-class jurisdiction at the heart of Central Asia. It is modeled on the leading financial centers around the world, and staffed by the best and brightest from across Kazakhstan and the globe. Although it operates using…

Constitutions are funny things. The word itself derives from the Latin for regulations and orders, but in the 1550s it started to be used to describe physical health, strength and “vigor of the body.” So perhaps it comes as no surprise that ‘Constitution’ was the word used by the Americans in the 18th Century to…

A friend decided, as a Covid distraction, to eat only cabbage. He loved cabbage, always had. Boiled, fried, steamed, microwaved, he enjoyed the versatility of cabbage, and the 400 varieties from which he could choose. And, unlike pasta and toilet paper, the shops had plenty. Initially, he was an enthusiast. A convert, and like a…

In Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Jack Cade described the Utopian world he would establish when he became king. A world in which all people are equal, there is no poverty and ‘there shall be no money’, A world, his sidekick Dick the Butcher pointed out, that could only exist if they got rid of all lawyers.…

The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) hosted three important events last week. The first was the meeting of it’s Management Council, chaired by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The second was the AIFC Law Conference 2020 and the third was Astana Finance Days 2020, held for the first time entirely online. Although there was much discussion…