Articles by Nadezhda Khamitova

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s paralympians won one gold, four silver and four bronze medals over two days at the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games. On Oct. 20, Anuar Akhmetov of Astana set an Asian Para Games record in the 100 metre backstroke for athletes with visual impairments, with a time of 1:10.66. He also won the…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s para-athletes won 10 gold, nine silver and 10 bronze medals at the 10th International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Junior Games, which took place at the U.K.’s Stoke Mandeville Sports Stadium from Aug. 3-8. Three hundred fifty athletes under the age of 23 from 35 countries gathered in Stoke Mandeville…

ASTANA – Around 30 participants from Russia, Belarus, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and Kazakhstan competed on the parquet of the Palace of Independence July 26-27, hoping to dance their way to the top at the 2014 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Wheelchair Dance Sport (WDS) Kazakhstan Open. This WDS competition was the last…

ASTANA, Nov. 11 – Kazakhstan’s Youth Paralympic team won 39 medals at the Asian Youth Para Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which took place from Oct. 26-30. Kazakhstan’s team was ranked ninth out of the 32 participating countries. The team’s best results were in swimming, where it took second place in the team standings with…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Paralympic Movement is still developing but the passion and will of its members has already bore fruit. Kazakhstan’s National Paralympic Team won 26 medals at the IWAS World Games in Holland in September, 13 of which are gold. And one of the most decorated members of the national paralympic team was Zulfiya…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan athletes won 13 gold, seven silver and six bronze medals at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Games held Sept. 14–22 in Stadskanaal, Holland. Five hundred athletes from 35 countries, including 16 athletes from Kazakhstan, competed in a wide range of sports, including swimming and archery. Kazakhstan swimmers Mikhail…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s new opera hall, Astana Opera, announced on Aug. 13 that it would like companies to bid to sell the opera house the instruments it needs to put on world class performances. Astana Opera plans to purchase 11 pianos, five baby grand pianos, 11 concert grand pianos of various sizes, five string basses,…

ASTANA – The Astana Bus Tours project has introduced two new double-decker sightseeing buses that will take visitors and locals past some of Astana’s most unique buildings and tourist attractions. The tour buses’ route starts at the Baiterek monument, then goes through the central square, the Palace of Students, the Zher Ana monument, the Nazarbayev…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s national postal carrier KazPost and Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced on August 28 a postage stamp commemorating the United Nations International Day Against Nuclear Tests, which takes place annually around the world on August 29. The UN International Day Against Nuclear Tests was established in recognition of the closing of the Semipalatinsk…

ASTANA – Construction officially began on Aug. 22 in Pavlodar on the Sports City Olympic Village, which will serve as a centre for the preparation and training of Kazakhstan’s Olympic athletes. The village will include an athletics arena, a palace of martial arts, an indoor soccer arena for 5,000 spectators, a 50-metre pool with diving…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan and Canada are working to finalise a key agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear power before the end of 2013, which would give a major boost to bilateral cooperation in an area where the two countries already hold leading positions globally, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Canada Konstantin Zhigalov said. In an interview…

Almaty will bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Sport and Physical Education Agency Chairman Yerlan Kozhagapanov said on Aug. 18. The decision for Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and its so called southern capital, to bid for the games was made on behalf of instructions from the President of Kazakhstan after a recent meeting…

ASTANA – The bright sun, pine forests and crystal clean water of the Burabai resort area make it a natural gem in the Akmola region, and one that the government is eager to attract tourists to. To ensure the use of resort’s potential in full, the government is working to create all the necessary conditions…

ASTANA – Russian journalist, photographer and member of the Russian Geography Society Vlad Minin completed on July 15 an 11,000-kilometer car trip from Moscow’s Red Square to Kazakhstan’s capital meant to promote Russian accomplishments and boost national ties. Minin hoped the exhibition, called “From Russia,” would allow him to highlight Russia’s spiritual heritage and rich…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan, one of the world’s largest exporters of grain, saw a reduction of grain exports to 7.1 million tons in the 2012-2013 marketing year, Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov announced in early July. “For this marketing year, which lasted from July to July, 7.1 million tons of grain were exported,” Mamytbekov said at…

ASTANA – On July 18, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Yerbol Orynbayev and Kazakhstan’s Minister of Healthcare Salidat Kairbekova visited the Karaganda region, where they monitored activity of local health centres and held a national conference on the outcome of the introduction of the Unified National Health System (UNHS) in the first half of 2013…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on July 1 welcomed British Prime Minister David Cameron to the presidential Akorda residence as part of the first visit by a serving British Prime Minister to Kazakhstan since the two countries established relations more than 20 years ago. The two leaders discussed avenues to further strengthen bilateral relations…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan sent many of its sons and daughters to fight and die on the front lines of World War II. It also supplied food and ammunition in the common effort against the advancing Nazis. But the country’s role in that historic effort has not been widely recorded. Few history books outside of Kazakhstan…

ASTANA – On June 13-14, during the Council on Physical Culture and Sports of the Agreement on Cooperation between CIS countries held in Astana, Kazakhstan put forward an idea of a water polo league within the CIS countries and the establishment of a Eurasian league in the future. “On the agenda of the meeting was…

President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan held talks in Tashkent on June 14 during President Nazarbayev’s official visit there which focused on bilateral ties but also on pressing regional issues such as managing water resources and ensuring the security in Central Asia after the international coalition withdrawal from Afghanistan. During…

ASTANA – On June 15, a trip from Savoy, France to Astana on solar-powered bicycles kicked off at the National Institute of Solar Energy, Savoy Technolac. On “The Sun Trip: On the road to Astana EXPO 2017,” 33 riders from Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, the Czech Republic and France, as well as Askar Syzbayev of Kazakhstan,…

ASTANA – The creation of the Customs Union (CU), the Common Economic Space (CES) and the Eurasian Economic Union remains a priority and offers great potential to move the region forward economically, the heads of state participating in last week’s sitting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana agreed. The presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan…

ASTANA, June 2 – On June 1, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso arrived in Kazakhstan on his first official visit meant to advance both economic and political bilateral ties. On Sunday, June 2, Kazakhstan Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov met Jose Manuel Barroso, and the two officials discussed a wide range of topical…

ASTANA, May 27 – Kazakhstan is working with the United Nations on turning Almaty into a UN regional diplomacy hub, the country’s foreign minister announced last week in Astana drawing enthusiastic support from a visiting top level UN official. Speaking at a May 23 press conference during the Sixth Astana Economic Forum, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister…

ASTANA – President Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the 20th anniversary session of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan on the subject of “Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy: One Nation – One Country – One Destiny” in the Palace of Peace and Harmony on April 24. An important highlight of the session was the appointment of two new…

ASTANA – On April 25, the eleventh Eurasian Media Forum provided an opportunity for prominent international politicians, media personalities and experts to discuss issues of the greatest concern for the global community. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the forum with an address to participants. He noted that it was highly symbolic that, for the second…

ASTANA – The pressing regional issue of the impact of the United States and NATO troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 was the key subject in focus at the first plenary session of the 11th Eurasian Media Forum in Astana on April 25. Speakers of the panel session included Iranian presidential candidate Hooshang Amirahmadi, Minister…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan has started extensive preparations for EXPO 2017, Talgat Yermegiyaev, the head of the Astana EXPO 2017 national company, told the Central Communication Service briefing. Work has already started on drawing up the master plan and landscape designs for the EXPO site and they will be presented to the International Bureau of Expositions…

ASTANA – On April 25-26 Astana, will host one of its biggest annual events, the Eurasian Media Forum, which gathers hundreds of politicians, experts and media figures from dozens of countries to discuss pressing regional issues. President Nursultan Nazarbayev is expected to address the opening session of the forum. The Astana Times interviewed forum director…

ASTANA – On March 31, KIMEP Alumni Association in Astana organized a charity concert for the residents of the state Home for the Elderly and Disabled to commemorate the Nauryz holiday. The event was held against a backdrop of heavy snow, but more than 30 former KIMEP students and their friends came to perform. Ibragim…

ALMATY – Saturday, April 6, saw the end of the second round of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme held here, in Kazakhstan’s largest city. Though the first round of talks was considered more positive than negative, the second attempt to reach an agreement was not as productive. The two-day negotiations did not result in any…

ALMATY, April 5 – Representatives of the six world powers including China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States met in Almaty today with the negotiators from Iran for the second round of Almaty talks on that country’s nuclear programme. Like in February, the Iranian delegation is headed by Secretary of the…

ASTANA – Paintball has found a home in the capital of Kazakhstan. Paintball is a team game, where players are eliminated or “killed” when they are shot with gelatin “bullets” – capsules containing paint. The aim of the game is to eliminate all opponents by marking them with paint. Each player has a gun called…

ASTANA – On March 6, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the book “Kazakhstan in the International Community (Essays of Multilateral Diplomacy)” edited by former Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov (April 2011–September 2012) at the National Academic Library in Astana. The presentation was dedicated to the 21st anniversary of Kazakhstan’s accession to the United Nations, which…

ASTANA – On February 27, after two days of talks between EU3+3 and Iran the parties agreed to hold a meeting of technical experts in Istanbul on March 18, to be followed by another round of high level talks in Almaty on April 5-6. While anticipations were low for the February meeting, it ended on…

ALMATY – Negotiators from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States gathered here on Feb. 26 for talks with Iran aimed at finding a solution to a protracted dispute over its nucler programme and the concerns the international community has about it. The talks, co-chaired by the EU foreign policy chief…

ASTANA – At 1:30 pm on January 29, a Challenger-200 passenger jet crashed just a few kilometres outside of Kazakhstan’s largest city. The plane, belonging to SCAT Airlines, was performing a regular flight on route DV 760 Kokshetau–Almaty when it went down. According to airline officials, 21 people were on board, including a two-year-old child…

ASTANA – On January 18, President Nursultan Nazarbayev held his annual meeting with the representatives of the foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited to Kazakhstan in the Akorda Presidential Palace here. In his welcoming speech, President Nazarbayev expressed his confidence that the coming year would be successful and productive for the development of bilateral…