Articles by Assel Satubaldina

ASTANA – Three candidates nominated to run in the presidential elections in Kazakhstan have been withdrawn from the registration by the Central Election Commission with all of them lacking the required experience in public service, the CEC announced on Oct. 13.  Khayrulla Gabzhalilov, Talgat Yergaliyev, and Fatima Bizakova do not meet the requirements set out…

ASTANA – Five candidates have been registered by the Central Election Commission (CEC) to run for the presidential elections on Nov. 20, while verification and approval of seven more candidates are pending at the time of writing.  The period for nomination of candidates closed on Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for…

ASTANA – South Korea and Kazakhstan have gone through an unchartered path together, but now, 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the bilateral ties are at a mature age, said South Korean Ambassador to Kazakhstan Koo Hong-seok in an interview with The Astana Times. “The past 30 years have been a period when…

ASTANA – The choice of where one can fly from Kazakhstan is steadily expanding, as countries worldwide continue to relax COVID-19-related restrictions, sending a signal that the world is ready to return to normal after more than two years of strict measures to address the global pandemic. Every week, nearly 489 flights carry people from…

ASTANA  – Digital Nomads, a group of more than 400 IT professionals born in Kazakhstan but now spanning across the world, met on Sept. 21 with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev when he visited New York. What many would call a lifetime opportunity was also a chance for the group to explain their effort to develop a…

ASTANA – The Kazakh capital of Astana hosted the presentation of the Kazakh language edition of the book “Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb” written by prominent nuclear non-proliferation expert Togzhan Kassenova on Sept. 29. It tells the story of how Kazakhstan navigated through multiple challenges after the collapse of the Soviet Union…

ASTANA – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met on Sept. 28 with heads of technological and IT companies who arrived in Astana to attend the two-day Digital Bridge Forum, a key event with a program featuring some of the biggest names in the IT industry, reported the presidential press service. Organized this year under the theme Central…

ASTANA  –  The Turkistan Region has witnessed a 1.5-fold increase in industry and agriculture since 2019, said President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during his meeting with the region’s public on Sept. 27, reported the presidential press service.  The Turkistan Region located in southern Kazakhstan near the Syr Darya River boasts more than 1,500 years of rich history.…

ASTANA – The success of social reforms in Kazakhstan is contingent upon its ability to reform the broader management system and key state institutions. That is one of the conclusions made by Albert Barro, a project associate at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, and Svante E. Cornell, director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road…

ASTANA – A supplier of technological solutions for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan will be selected in the first quarter of 2023, said Timur Zhantikin, general director of Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants company, in an interview with Jibek Joly TV channel.  Zhantikin said that the shortlist includes four companies – Chinese…

ASTANA – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced early presidential elections for Nov. 20, kicking off yet another politically important season for the nation. With two months left, experts say that elections can help renew credibility and public trust in key state institutions and minimize risks from the potential deterioration of the economy.  Announcing the date of…

ASTANA –  President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev urged world leaders to take a proactive approach in addressing global challenges by trying to prevent them from happening, rather than responding to emerging crises during his address at the General Debates of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 20, reported the presidential press service.  The General Debates, which…

ASTANA – The first day of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to New York was busy as he met with representatives of dozens of American companies and attended the Kazakh-American business council meeting reaffirming the country’s keen interest in intensifying bilateral ties with the United States, reported the presidential press office.  The program of Tokayev’s visit…

ASTANA – The final decision on the Digital Tenge project has not yet been made, but is expected to be announced by the end of 2022, the project’s head Ainur Kenzhayeva said in an interview with The Astana Times.  The project, which the National Bank of Kazakhstan has been working on with financial market participants,…

ASTANA – As Kazakhstan prepares to host the International Education Fair, the largest education exhibition in Central Asia, from Sept. 22 through Sept. 27, the nation witnesses a growing demand for education abroad, said Aizada Koigeldiyeva, director of Univero, one of the organizers and one of Kazakhstan’s leading educational agencies, in an interview with The…

ASTANA – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree on constitutional amendments on Sept. 17 that officially restores the former name of the Kazakh capital city – Astana, and limits presidential tenure by a single non-renewable seven-year term, reported the presidential press service. The change is effective immediately. Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997…

NUR-SULTAN – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states to expand economic cooperation and in doing so to focus on the transit-transport sphere, food, and energy security during the сouncil of heads of the SCO member states on Sept. 15-16 in Samarkand, reported the presidential press service.  The summit was in…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s capital is set to soon be renamed back from Nur-Sultan to Astana after the Parliament endorsed the draft law on constitutional amendments required to rename the capital on Sept. 16. The document now awaits President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s discretion. The adoption of a package of constitutional amendments, which also include a norm for…

NUR-SULTAN – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Akorda on Wednesday, who is making his first foreign visit since the start of the pandemic, announced the Kazakh presidential press service.  The two counterparts, who met in Beijing in February when Tokayev flew to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter…

NUR-SULTAN – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev participated in an extraordinary online meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on Sept. 13 convened at Armenia’s request, reported the Akorda presidential press service. The session, which was attended by President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Pope Francis addressed the representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps on Sept. 13, a few hours after Pope Francis arrived in the Kazakh capital for his 38th apostolic journey, reported the presidential press service.  Pope Francis is also attending the seventh Congress of Leaders of World…

NUR-SULTAN – The Constitutional Council will convene soon to consider amending norms in the Constitution to introduce a single-term presidential tenure in Kazakhstan before the early presidential elections scheduled for this fall, reported the council’s press service. Limiting presidential tenure to a single seven-year term with no right for re-election was the major headline of…

NUR-SULTAN – Chinese President Xi Jinping commended relations with Kazakhstan emphasizing the thousand-year history of friendly ties and calling the two countries good neighbors, loyal friends, and reliable partners in his article published in Kazahstanskaya Pravda newspaper on Sept. 13.  “Our people, sharing a thousand-year history of friendly contacts, are witnesses to the brilliant era…

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan hosted the Kazakhstan-Germany business forum on Sept. 6 gathering more than 150 delegates to explore opportunities in the industry, energy, and logistics, reported the Kazakh Invest national company.  The forum, organized by the Kazakh Embassy in Germany and Kazakh Invest, was attended by heads of central and local government…

NUR-SULTAN – 2022 has not been easy for Kazakhstan. A few days after massive fires were burning in the small Auliekol village of the Kostanai Region, it gives a chance to think of how this natural phenomenon serves as yet another stress test for the country and shows once again the power of people to…