Kazakh, Czech Presidents Discuss Expanding, Diversifying Economic Ties
ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed hope that the Czech Republic will assist Kazakhstan in building an economy that does not depend on natural resources during a Nov. 24 meeting with visiting Czech Republic President Milos Zeman. Zeman, who compared Kazakhstan’s economic development to “economic miracles” in post-war Germany, Japan and South Korea, paid…
Kazakh, Swiss Presidents Discuss Relations and Ukraine
ASTANA – President of the Swiss Confederation and Chairperson-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Didier Burkhalter visited Astana Nov. 20-21 to discuss with Kazakh officials political and economic cooperation with Kazakhstan and the OSCE’s response to the Ukrainian crisis. Burkhalter met with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Speaker of Kazakhstan’s…
President Appoints Toleubek Alpiyev New Director of Astana Opera
ASTANA – President Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed well-known and respected Toleubek Alpiyev as new director of The Astana Opera State Theatre of Opera and Ballet on Nov. 14. Alpiyev is a graduate of the Almaty and Moscow conservatories and was a violinist in a number of orchestras in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. He has also worked as…
Advisory Body Addresses Freedom of Movement in Kazakhstan, Accepts Recommendations from Civil Society
ASTANA – The right to freedom of movement was the theme of the regular meeting of the Consultative-Advisory Body Platform for Dialogue on Human Dimension held Nov. 10 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the chairmanship of Ambassador at Large Usen Suleimen. Participants emphasised the special importance of this topic because the right to…
Kazakh, German Foreign Ministers Discuss Economic Relations in Astana
ASTANA – Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov met Nov. 10 with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Astana. Idrissov and Steinmeier discussed economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Germany, which included a 2013 bilateral trade total of $3.2 billion and a January-through-September 2014 total of $1.95 billion. Seventy-two…
Kazakh, Kyrgyz Presidents Reaffirm Countries’ Historic Roots, Growing Economic Relationship
ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev reaffirmed their two countries’ growing economic and cooperative relationship during the Nov. 7 fourth Supreme Interstate Council meeting in Astana. “The Council was established seven years ago. Through all these years, it has demonstrated activism as the supreme body helpful in making important policy decisions…
Almaty Conference Examines G-Global Role in Addressing Global Challenges
Developing a new paradigm focused on solving global challenges was recently discussed for the first time at the G-Global platform. An international conference titled “A New Paradigm of Sustainable Human Development: G-Global – A New Form of Global Dialogue” took place at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Almaty Nov 5-7. The platform is a…
Foreign Experts See Great Value in KazAID
Kazakhstan’s recently announced official development assistance (ODA) programme and the agency that is being set up to oversee it, KazAID, signals an evolutionary step in the country’s role in the region and the world, and as such is a matter of interest to the Kazakhstan’s governmental and nongovernmental partners. The Astana Times spoke with partners…
Energy Ministry to Launch Energy Efficiency, Environmental Improvement Programme in 2015
ASTANA – Kazakh First Deputy Minister of Energy Uzakbai Karabalin announced at an Oct. 21 briefing that the ministry will develop a programme in 2015 to increase the energy efficiency of automobiles in Kazakhstan. “The implementation of this programme will prompt the upgrade of the car fleet in Kazakhstan, reduce the consumption of petroleum products…
FM Idrissov Lays out Kazakhstan’s Top UN Collaboration Priorities
ASTANA – Minister of Foreign Affairs Erlan Idrissov discussed the role of the United Nations in the modern world and Kazakhstan in an interview with local information agency KazTAG on Oct. 24. The UN is a universal platform for dialogue and forum to search for answers to pressing issues of the international agenda, Idrissov said.…
Kazakhstan’s Official Development Assistance to Focus on Central Asia, Afghanistan, Says FM
ASTANA – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov reported on the draft law “On Official Development Assistance” at the plenary session of the Mazhilis (lower chamber of Parliament) on Oct. 29. The draft law is intended to regulate Kazakhstan’s official development assistance. The draft law is designed to implement President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s decree…
Government Announces Plans to Boost Light Industry Sector
ASTANA – The Kazakh government has developed a plan to increase the competitiveness of the country’s light industry while enhancing its social efficiency from 2015 to 2019, announced Amaniyaz Yerzhanov, chairman of the government’s Committee for Industrial Safety and Industrial Development at a briefing in the Central Communications Service at the end of October. The…
Astana 2017 Company, Chinese Chamber of Tourism Sign Agreement During Tourism Economy Forum
The third Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) took place in Macau on Oct. 27 and 28. Kazakhstan’s delegation, headed by First Deputy Foreign Minister Rapil Zhoshybayev, reported on the upcoming EXPO 2017 and Kazakhstan’s tourism potential. A special session devoted to tourism in Kazakhstan, as well as information on EXPO 2017, caught the public’s interest.…
Abai Opera Gets Warm Reception in Paris
As part of Kazakhstan Culture Weeks being held in France, the “Abai” opera was performed at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees by Abai Kazakh State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet on Oct. 26. Kazakhstan Culture Weeks in France are being held via a mutual agreement between the two nation’s governments. “Abai” is an older piece…
Kazakhstan, UN Continue Building on Two-Decades of Cooperation
ASTANA – Kazakhstan is keen to strengthen the United Nations further and is willing to assist in expanding its presence in the country, including through the establishment of a UN regional diplomacy hub in Almaty, the country’s foreign minister said. Minister of Foreign Affairs Erlan Idrissov made a statement at a roundtable devoted to UN…
Kazakhstan to Celebrate 550th Kazakh Statehood Anniversary in 2015
ASTANA – President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced on Oct. 22 that next year Kazakhstan will celebrate the 550th anniversary of Kazakh statehood. “In 1465, [Kazakh khans] Kerey and Janybek created the first khanate and it is to that time that [Kazakh statehood traces its roots]. Perhaps, it was not a state in the modern sense of…
Astana Dombyra Party Highlights Kazakh Culture, Pride
ASTANA – Professional and amateur musicians participated in an Oct. 4 Dombyra party musical event at the new National Museum of Kazakhstan to promote the traditions of the Kazakh people and the national instrument known as the dombyra. The musicians played “kuis” (instrumental compositions) on their dombyras along with other traditional Kazakh melodies and folk…
Kazakhstan Moves Forward with Setting up Development Assistance Agency
ASTANA – In an interview with this newspaper, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Rapil Zhoshybayev addressed a number of topics, including the process to create a permanent structure to oversee Kazakhstan’s development assistance to foreign countries, provisionally called KazAID, the Kazakhstan Agency for International Development. Recently, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative…
Caspian Summit in Astrakhan Makes ‘Breakthrough’ on Road to Convention
The presidents of the five Caspian littoral states reached several important agreements, including an agreement on the conservation of marine resources, on their way to settling the legal status of the sea at the fourth Caspian Summit in Astrakhan, Russia, on Sept. 29. Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Nursultan Nazarbayev of…
Korean Reunification Bicycle Tour Passes through Kazakhstan
Professional and amateur cyclists from Kazakhstan joined the “One Korea New-Eurasia” international bicycle tour to promote North and South Korean reunification as it passed through Astana on Sept. 25. “This event not only promotes the unification of North and South Korea but also serves as an example of how it is necessary for people all…
President Addresses Pressing Issues During SCO Summit in Dushanbe
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev attended the Sept. 12 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The event was also attended by the heads of SCO member states, including Xi Jinping of China, Almazbek Atambayev of Kyrgyzstan, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan. During the meeting,…
Kazakhstan, EU Close to Completing Talks on New Partnership and Cooperation Agreement
ASTANA – Senior officials and diplomats from Kazakhstan and the European Union held what is expected to be the final round of negotiations on a new enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between Kazakhstan and the EU in Astana from Sept. 9-12. The PCA is meant to provide a framework for political dialogue between the…
President of Iran Advances Economic Ties on Visit to Astana
ASTANA – President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani paid an official visit to Kazakhstan Sept. 9 to meet with President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The parties negotiated avenues to development and strengthen Kazakh-Iranian cooperation and oversaw the signing of a number of agreements. During the meeting at the Akorda presidential residence, the two leaders…
U.S. Congressmen Want Ties with Kazakhstan Strengthened
ASTANA – President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with the members of the United States Congress Dana Rohrabacher and Gregory Meeks on Sept. 5 in Borovoye, 250 kilometres north from the Kazakh capital. During the meeting, the strategic nature of Kazakh-American relations was noted, as well as the dynamic progress of trade and economic cooperation. International issues…
Deputy FM Visits Africa, Meets with Government Officials
Kazakh Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yerzhan Ashikbayev, acting as a special envoy of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, visited several countries in Africa beginning on July 22. During the visit, he went to Senegal, Côte d’Ivoireand Benin where he took part in the Ministerial Conference on New Partnerships for Productive Capacity Building in the Least Developed…
