Articles by Yerbolat Uatkhanov

Future Capital Technologies creates first Kazakh payroll service 

NUR-SULTAN – Future Capital Technologies has launched PayDay, a service that allows employees to receive their salary any day of the month. The new programme will help ease individual debt burden and reduce companies’ salary budgets.  The firm creates and implements IT projects that provide simpler and more efficient solutions for the obsolete and complex…

AIFC issues license to captive insurer firm, signaling support for Kazakh companies relocating operations, assets to Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN – Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) issued a license Kazakhstan Energy Reinsurance Company (KERC), a captive insurer firm, setting a precedence for the nation’s companies to transfer operations and capital to the country. A captive insurer is a licensed insurance company created by a parent company to provide coverage for itself. As a captive…

AIFC Court, IAC consider five cases in 2019

NUR-SULTAN – The Astana International Financial Centre Court (AIFC Court) and International Arbitration Centre (IAC) considered five cases in 2019. The achievement was significant compared to the experiences of similar common law financial centre courts and international arbitration centres at this stage of their operation. “2019 has been a very productive year of achievement for…

Qaz Carbon to satisfy domestic and export demands

NUR-SULTAN – Funding from new investors has given second life to the former Karaganda foundry in the country’s biggest region. Large-scale modernisation of the Qaz Carbon plant has provided a semi-coke oven which, for the first time, will not only satisfy domestic demand, but also provide product for export. “Today, we are taking practical measures…

IAEA LEU Bank completes second shipment of low enriched uranium 

NUR-SULTAN – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) received the second and final shipment of low-enriched uranium (LEU) Dec. 10 at its LEU Bank, established in Ust-Kamenogorsk, East Kazakhstan region, as part of the international efforts to assure countries of the nuclear fuel supply. The delivery completed the planned stock of material that the LEU…

AIFC’s BCPD holds EdTech Camp, aims to improve educational technologies

NUR-SULTAN – The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD) held an EdTech Camp Nov. 29 to improve the country’s educational technologies through exchanging experience, applying the best international practices and expertise and creating a professional platform to develop educational innovations.  EdTech Camp brought together local and international experts, entrepreneurs and…

IAC signs multiple agreements with Asian international arbitration and mediation partners

NUR-SULTAN – The Astana International Financial Centre’s (AIFC) International Arbitration Centre (IAC) signed five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with leading dispute resolution institutions in Hong Kong and China during the Hong Kong and China arbitration weeks, two leading annual arbitration forums in Asia.   “I am delighted to report that our International Arbitration Centre has found…

IAEA LEU Bank in Kazakhstan receives first shipment, becomes operational

NUR-SULTAN – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Low-Enriched-Uranium (LEU) Fuel Bank in Kazakhstan received Oct. 17 its first shipment of low-enriched uranium. The LEU Bank is meant to be a supply source of last resort for IAEA member states who have had a disruption in their access to fuel. “With the arrival of the…

North Kazakhstan farmers harvest first major soybean crop 

NUR-SULTAN – Farmers in the North Kazakhstan Region have begun harvesting the first major soybean crop under Northern Soybean state programme. Kazakhstan currently imports soybeans from Russia, but thanks to the programme the country will be able to cover its needs in five years. Regional Akim (Governor) Kumar Aksakalov has repeatedly highlighted the benefits of…

AIFC marks World Investors Week with how-to forum on doing business with the centre 

NUR-SULTAN – The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and Almaty Akimat (administration) hosted the Almaty Financial Forum as part of World Investors Week (WIW). The event contributed to increased public awareness about consumer protection in financial services, the basics of investing and conditions for doing business through AIFC. WIW, an annual campaign held under the…

Pavlodar musicologist owns world’s largest collection of gramophone records

NUR-SULTAN – Musicologist Naum Shafer, who is also a professor, literary critic, writer and composer, has assembled the world’s largest collection of gramophone records (not to be confused with vinyl ones) in Pavlodar. The collection consists of more than 14,000 discs, some of which are the only saved copy in the world. “Don’t divide music…

Rakhat expands its presence in international confectionery market

NUR-SULTAN – Rakhat Company has continued to maintain its leadership in the Kazakh confectionery market in the first half of the year, modernising internal policy and entering new markets. Export growth in 2019 has reached 9.9 percent. “The first half of the year was an active period of growth and transformation for Rakhat. Thanks to…

Japanese company to help protect Ural River bank in Atyrau Region

NUR-SULTAN – Japan-based Tokyo Rope International Inc. recently opened a representative office in Atyrau. The company will begin protecting the Ural River shore next year and also plans to construct a medical centre. At the opening ceremony, Tokyo Rope President Sato Kazunori emphasised the importance of cooperation between the Japanese investor and Kazakhstan. The company…

Kazakh capital to buy 100 electric buses 

NUR-SULTAN – The capital akimat (administration) will be purchasing 100 new electric buses from the joint venture between Chinese Yutong and Kostanai-based SaryarkaAvtoProm. The buses will save money due to low electricity consumption costs and reduced air pollution. “One hundred new electric buses will appear in our capital. This means that we will reduce the…

Astana exchange lists Russia’s most traded exchange-traded fund 

NUR-SULTAN – The Astana International Exchange (AIX) listed Russia’s oldest and most traded exchange-traded fund (ETF) Sept. 24 and two days later, Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund sold 9.86 million global depositary receipts (GDRs) through the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the AIX. The fund, ITI Funds Russian Equity (RUSE), replicates the return of the…

Lukoil opens lubricant production plant in Almaty Region

NUR-SULTAN – Lukoil, the Russian multinational energy corporation, has invested more than $9 million to construct a lubricant production plant in the Almaty Region. The company plans to sell products not only in the Central Asian region, but also export to Afghanistan, China and Mongolia. “The largest Russian company Lukoil is not only an investor…

Karaganda Region launches third solar power plant 

NUR-SULTAN – The Karaganda Region recently launched a 50-megawatt solar power plant in the village of Agadyr, Shetsky District. The Karaganda Region has become a leader in introducing renewable energy sources and the 50-megawatt plant is the region’s third solar power plant.  “We have one goal. This is the instruction of Kazakhstan’s First President, Nursultan…

Google employee named one of Kazakhstan’s 100 New Faces

NUR-SULTAN – Kuat Yessenov, a Kazakh now living in the United States and working for Google, was recently named one of Kazakhstan’s 100 New Faces for his extraordinary intellectual achievements as a child.  The 100 New Faces programme is a government project highlighting the personal stories of inspirational Kazakhs from all walks of life. Yessenov…

Taraz administration to build Kazakhstan’s largest tourism and history centre 

NUR-SULTAN – The Taraz akimat (city administration) is building what will be the largest tourist centre in Kazakhstan.  The city administration is building the Shakhristan historical and tourist centre, which together with the existing Ancient Taraz archaeological complex, will be the country’s largest tourist centre.  In 2011, Taraz central market was moved to another location…

International rideshare company Bolt launches operations in Kazakh capital

NUR-SULTAN – Bolt, a major European transport platform, began operating Sept. 4 in the capital. Several thousand drivers have already started working. “More than 25 million users in more than 30 countries use Bolt services. Now, the European quality of Bolt taxi service is also available in Kazakhstan. We are convinced that happy drivers are…

Wildberries to open branch in AIFC, increase distribution capabilities in Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN – Wildberries, Russia’s largest international online retailer, will be opening a branch within the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and building a large distribution centre in the country. “We are confident in the high potential of our partnership with local producers, small and medium-sized businesses of Kazakhstan; therefore, we are investing in the creation…

Petropavlovsk company begins producing refrigeration cars

NUR-SULTAN – Petropavlovsk Heavy Engineering Plant has begun producing refrigeration cars to transport short-lived commodities. The company plans not only to satisfy local demand, but also export cars to Russia. The plant is cooperating with Cool Infinity Engineering Corporation, according to the regional chamber of entrepreneurs press service. It is using a full production cycle…

Kazakh lowcoster FlyArystan to increase number of flights out of Karaganda in 2020

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s first low-cost airline FlyArystan will expand the number of its flights out of the Sary-Arka Airport in Karaganda in the second quarter of 2020. The additional flights out of Kazakhstan’s fourth largest city will include 10 to 12 domestic and national routes and are expected to help develop tourism in the region.…

Kazakh volunteers build house for four single mothers

NUR-SULTAN – Volunteers in Guldala village in the Almaty Region helped to build a large house for four single mothers raising 18 children. The project was initiated by the Nuraniy Anilar public fund under the Kazakhstan’s Uyghurs National Ethnocultural Centre. Nuraniy Anilar head Dhzakhangir Muratova recently handed the keys to the new owners who, due…

Kazakhstan, France expand partnership in railways development

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) national railway company and French multinational railway supplies company Alstom agreed July 30 to cooperate on the development of digital technologies for railway, including signalling, centralisation and blocking. The agreement came during a visit to Nur-Sultan by French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire. The French minister…