Articles by Michelle Witte

ASTANA – At an Oct. 22 press conference, representatives from winning American architectural company Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) and the EXPO 2017 technical council and organisational company discussed the winning design and its impact on Astana and Kazakhstan as a whole. AS+GG’s design was approved by President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Oct. 16. Chairman…

ASTANA – Israeli Ambassador to Kazakhstan Eliyahu Tasman told The Astana Times in an exclusive interview that the two countries are in the midst of a flurry of cooperative activity and that their long-standing relations are solidifying even further. “They were good, they’re good now and they will be even better,” said Tasman of relations…

ASTANA – Askar Oryngali and Akhmet Yermukhanov are two of the Kazakhstan business people who have been helped by a three-year, $5 million programme funded by the U.S. and Kazakhstan governments to aid entrepreneurs. The Kazakhstan Business Connections Programme provides business training, maintains the Entrepreneurial Development Fund (DAMU) website and organises study tours to the…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s relationship with Germany has never been better and the Central Asian nation is now considered more of a partner with Germany than it used to, German Ambassador to Kazakhstan Dr. Guido Herz told The Astana Times. “Twenty years ago, the situation was completely different—at that time, Kazakhstan was a developing country, an…

ASTANA – Designer Saken Zhaxybayev previewed his newest spring/summer cruise collection in Astana on Oct. 11 before its official presentation in Almaty in December. Guests in the capital got to see a departure from the Kazakh designer’s usual style. “I love to use floral prints, but this time I used only solid colours and some…

ASTANA – Two German and Kazakh businessmen have teamed up to bring a cutting-edge pipe-rehabilitation process to Central Asia in a venture that they consider as much a transfer of knowledge as an upgrading of construction practices. Christopher Moritz of Germany and Yermek Beisembayev of Kazakhstan met in Berlin about five years ago. Beisembayev, director…

ASTANA – Laura Galiyeva of Kazunion International Tour Operator and her partners have launched a grassroots initiative to provide tourism training and information in regions of Kazakhstan where tourism has stagnated. “Tourism is developing in Astana and Almaty, she said, but the smaller cities haven’t seen much growth in tourism and wouldn’t be prepared for…

ASTANA – One of the steppe’s strangest creatures is on its way to becoming the funny-looking face of biodiversity conservation in Kazakhstan. The saiga, a small antelope with a distinctive short trunk, is integral to steppe health but was almost lost in the late 1990s. Over the last decade, populations have rebounded, but the saiga…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan oil field finally began producing oil on Sept. 11, eight years later than first anticipated, but ahead of an October 2013 deadline to produce or forfeit compensation for expenditures. The field, operated by the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), is currently producing 40,000 barrels of oil a day, according to…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan oil field finally began producing oil on Sept. 11, eight years later than first anticipated, but ahead of an October 2013 deadline to produce or forfeit compensation for expenditures. The field, operated by the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), is currently producing 40,000 barrels of oil a day, according to…

Kazakhstan’s Bolashak International Scholarship Program has entered its 20th year of sending the country’s best and brightest to study abroad with the promise that they will return home and spend five years applying what they’ve learned to further Kazakhstan’s development. It has been highly successful and well received internationally with more than 6,500 Kazakhstan students…

ASTANA – Participants in the Kazakhstan Business Connections project met on Sept. 12 in Astana for the USAID Business Connections Project: Kazakhstan-U.S. Cooperation Experience conference, a feedback session on the programme’s strengths and weaknesses and its latest activities. Begun in 2011, the Business Connections programme has been bringing Kazakhstan entrepreneurs and American businesses and advisers…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan, China and Kyrgyzstan submitted this year a transnational bid for UNESCO World Heritage status for a Silk Road corridor that spans the three countries. This corridor, called “Silk Roads: Initial Section and Network of Routes of the Tien Shan Corridor” includes 22 possible sites in China, eight in Kazakhstan and three in…

ASTANA – Speaking to students and faculty at Nazarbayev University on September 7, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for enhanced regional cooperation along a “new Silk Road.” He also emphasised that China has no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Central Asian nations and seeks only enhanced cooperation and support in embracing what…

ASTANA – Departing French Ambassador Jean-Charles Bertonnet’s mission in Astana has seen the intensification of bilateral cooperation across a range of sectors. Energy remains the strongest connection between the two countries, but during Bertonnet’s nearly four years in Astana, new projects in manufacturing, education and culture have also taken shape, and new ones are on…

ASTANA – Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano visited Kazakhstan on Aug. 22 and 23 to further promote the establishment in the country of a low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel bank under the auspices of the IAEA and to personally see the potential site for the bank. So far, there have…

ASTANA – American firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects are the frontrunners among the 10 finalists announced Aug. 26 in the competition to design the pavilions for EXPO 2017 to be held in Astana, said Aidar Marat, senior architect at the Astana EXPO 2017 Company and a member of the technical council advising the…

ASTANA – There are no grounds for a devaluation of the national currency, Kazakhstan’s central bank said in a statement released in Almaty on July 25 in response to rumours. The country’s currency, the tenge, has depreciated against the dollar for 21 consecutive trading seasons. “At the moment there are no internal or external factors…

ASTANA – Ten thousand fans in Astana and another six million around Kazakhstan, Russia and the other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States watched Aibek Nugymarov win this year’s finals of the Kazakh Barys competition. The competition brought together Kazakhstan’s greatest practitioners of the traditional Kazakh form of wrestling known as kuresi. But Nugymarov’s…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan and Greece have had more than 20 years of positive bilateral relations. And the ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to Kazakhstan Efthymios Pantzopoulos recently told The Astana Times he believes the future will bring more growth in a number of key economic and social areas. “We’d like Kazakh companies to invest in…

ASTANA – Nord Prom NS, Yutariya Ltd. and Ren-milk were announced as the most recent regional winners of the “Best Products in Kazakhstan” contest at the central region contest exhibition in Karaganda on August 10. The region included Karaganda, East Kazakhstan and Almaty. The winners, along with winners from other regions of the country, will…

ASTANA – The number of foreigners living and working in Astana long term has risen in recent years with the opening of new schools, businesses and embassies. However, it still takes some work to find and integrate with the expat community. “Three years ago, Astana had somewhere between 500,000 and 700,000 people, but I was…

ASTANA – South Korea Ambassador to Kazakhstan Joohyeon Baik told The Astana Times during a recent face-to-face and follow-up email interview that he hopes his country’s experiences will help contribute to Kazakhstan’s continued growth as an independent nation. “I can say, straightforwardly, that Korea wants to be a humble contributor to the process of economic…

ASTANA – Referencing yurts and eagles, suns and seas, 46 architecture and design firms displayed their proposed concepts for Astana’s EXPO 2017 pavilions in the Korme Exhibition Centre on August 14. The final design will be selected by a jury by September 1. The 46 companies now vying to be the designers of Astana’s future…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s flagship carrier, Air Astana, maintained its Skytrax 4 Star rating and was again named Best Airline in Central Asia and India at the 2013 World Airline Awards ceremony June 18 at the 50th Paris Air Show. The airline first won these awards at the 2012 awards. Air Astana also won the Best…