Kazakh retailers see positive dynamics in online shopping, plan to strengthen customer service
ASTANA – The government anticipates e-commerce will account for 2-3 percent of the retail market by 2021. The figure is currently approximately 1.9 percent of the total trade market, according to the Kazakhstan Internet Business and Mobile Commerce Association. The Ministry of National Economy reported the 101-billion tenge (US$270 million) e-commerce market represented 2.9 percent…
Astana Opera premieres “Eugene Onegin”
ASTANA – Astana Opera House presented Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” staged by Italian director Davide Livermore Feb. 8-9 in the capital. Russian baritone Alexey Isaev and Talgat Mussabayev performed the part of Eugene Onegin, Galina Cheplakova and Aigul Niyazova portrayed the leading role of Tatyana and Medet Chotabayev and Zhan Tapin played Vladimir Lensky. “This…
Kazakh Ministry of Healthcare attracts infrastructure modernisation investments, as medical coverage doubles in rural areas
ASTANA – The Ministry of Healthcare intends to attract 1.3 trillion tenge (US$3.4 billion) in investments, bringing private investment in healthcare to 60 percent by 2025, reported Vice Minister of Healthcare Alexey Tsoy at the Feb. 5 meeting. The ministry and regional administrations are implementing a project to develop health infrastructure as part of the…
KazISS among world’s top think tanks for fourth consecutive year
ASTANA – The Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President (KazISS) was ranked among the world’s top think tanks for the fourth consecutive year, the institute’s press service reported Feb. 4. KazISS was ranked 142th among 8,162 think tanks and the second among those in Central Asia in the 2018 Global To Go Think…
Akmola region achieves positive results in industry, exports; puts social sector in focus
ASTANA – The Akmola region received a positive assessment at the Feb. 2 government meeting for industrial growth and the amount of housing commissioned as part of the 7-20-25 programme. Regional Akim (Governor) Malik Murzalin set the goal of increasing target indicators in the agriculture, entrepreneurship and social sectors. “The Ministry of Agriculture noted the…
Kostanai region economy grows, expands export geography
ASTANA – The Kostanai region’s economy continues to grow, reported Kostanai Region Akim (Governor) Arkhimed Mukhambetov during his Jan. 29 meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev at Akorda. The manufacturing industry increased 8.3 percent compared with 2017 and construction increased 22.3 percent. More than 300,000 square metres of housing were commissioned. “We are working with 11…
Emerging Kazakh female writers captivate audience with real-life stories, use social media to promote books
ASTANA – What challenges do young writers face? What are their sources of inspiration? How can social media increase book sales? The Astana Times spoke with young Kazakh female writers to learn about their stories and ambitions. Meruyert Alonso Karaganda native Meruyert Alonso released her first book, “The short summer of Chanteclaire,” in 2018. A…
Alstom strengthens its positions in Central Asia, focuses on localising technology in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – Alstom, the French multinational rail transport company, started delivering Kazakh-produced Prima T8 electric locomotives to Azerbaijan in late December. Capital-based Electric Locomotives Assembly Factory (EKZ) plans to produce 40 freight locomotives for the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars regional railway link operated by Azerbaijan Railways. Launched in 2012, the EKZ plant is the result of a strategic…
EBRD launches Women in Microbusiness programme, focuses on Kazakh regions
ASTANA – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is accepting applications for the Women in Microbusiness project financed by the Kazakh Ministry of National Economy, reports EBRD’s press service. The business training project will accept 350 women entrepreneurs from 14 regions. Micro-enterprises led by women with up to nine staff and an annual…
Singapore investors to build international schools in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – Singapore-based Pegasus Education Group will invest in educational institutions based on the Singapore continuing education system in Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, reported Jan. 19 the press service of Kazakh Invest national company. According to the project, a network of international educational centres will be created in the country. The company plans to build…
Nomad culture, ethno-sports key to drawing tourists to Central Asia, says Nomad Games organiser
ASTANA – Central Asian countries are paying ever more attention to controlling their own national brands. The Astana Times spoke with Maksat Chaki, former Kyrgyz vice minister of culture, information and tourism and now World Nomad Games organiser, about the importance of nation branding and the World Nomad Games. “It is important to promote national…
World Bank forecasts Kazakhstan’s growth to ease to 3.5 percent in 2019
ASTANA – The growth rate of Kazakhstan’s economy will decrease to 3.5 percent this year as oil production growth levels off and further fiscal consolidation efforts continue, according to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects: Europe and Central Asia Darkening Skies report. Global growth is expected to slow to 2.9 percent. “International trade and investment…
Kazakh national programme provides housing for 40,000 people
ASTANA – Approximately 40,000 Kazakh citizens received housing in the past year and every fourth loan was issued as part of the Nurly Zher national programme, reported Housing Construction Saving Bank of Kazakhstan Chairperson Lyazzat Ibragimova at a Jan. 17 press conference. “The bank issued and provided housing for approximately 100 billion tenge (US$264.5 million)…
Free Kazakh healthcare policy underway, national screening campaign brings results
ASTANA – Kazakhstan saw an increase from 40 to 46 percent last year in the number of private medical organisations participating in the guaranteed free health care programme, according to the Ministry of Healthcare press service. Since July 2017, deductions and contributions by employers and entrepreneurs for compulsory social health insurance has reached 133 billion…
Kostanai region foreign investments increase two-fold
ASTANA – The Kostanai region has developed 40 investment projects totalling more than 2.1 trillion tenge (US$5.5 billion) to implement in 2018-2025, reported Kazinform. Fourteen projects have been launched since 2017 and four projects worth 20 billion tenge (US$52 million) were executed last year. The region has worked hard in recent years to attract investments.…
Kazakh employment, training programme bring positive results, focuses on competencies for Industry 4.0
ASTANA – More than 500,000 people were employed in an 11-month period in 2018, including more than 368,000 for permanent positions, as part of the Productive Employment and Mass Entrepreneurship Development Programme 2017-2021, reported the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. More than 632,000 individuals participated in the programme. Approximately 40,200 enrolled in professional and…
Kazakh manufacturing labour productivity grows 1.2 times, third five-year plan focuses on export-oriented enterprises
ASTANA – Labour productivity in manufacturing has increased 1.2 times during the current industrialisation plan, First Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Roman Sklyar reported Dec. 29. The third five-year plan will be game changing for the country’s ecological economies and manufacturing industry. The concept of the industrial-innovative development programme is being developed to…
Mama Pro fund supports mothers of children with special needs, offers entrepreneurship courses
ASTANA – Mama Pro, a public fund which helps vulnerable children and their families, received the Tanym award this year. Launched in 2017, the organisation makes an invaluable contribution in addressing the challenges faced by mothers of children with disabilities. One participant recently noted that thanks to this project, she emerged from an eight-month journey…
Astana Invest contributes to foreign investment growth, focuses on PPP projects
ASTANA – Fixed investment in the capital reached 854 billion tenge (US$2 billion) in an 11-month period in 2018, reported the Astana Invest press service. Foreign investments represented 23 percent, or 197 billion tenge (US$530 million). The city is demonstrating steady growth in all major indicators of socio-economic development. The investment structure is changing. The…
Astana Opera House stages “The Nutcracker,” “Swan Lake” ballets in Italy
ASTANA – Astana Opera Ballet Company presented Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” Dec. 20-23 at the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa. “The audience is amazing. They gave us a warm welcome. When we performed on the first day, the children screamed and asked for an encore. Children are the most sincere audience. They believed in the…
West Kazakhstan region approves 12 investment projects worth $107 million
ASTANA – A $6 million export-oriented feedlot for nearly 20,000 cattle will be built in the Kaztalovski district in the West Kazakhstan region, the regional press service reports. More than 100 new jobs will be created during construction. The first phase of the facility, expected to be completed by the end of 2019, will house…
Programmes seek to attract more medical tourists to Kazakhstan
ASTANA – Medical tourists from 45 countries come to Kazakhstan annually, reported Deputy General Director of the National Centre for Health Development Aiman Iskakova. Ninety percent of them are citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), mainly from Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan while other visitors come from China, Iran and Turkey. Overall, 1,604 foreign…
Kazakh government takes measures to reduce utility costs
ASTANA – Utility costs will be reduced in all regions beginning Jan. 1, said Vice Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin at a Dec. 20 press conference in the capital. The action comes in response to a task set by President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the Security Council meeting to reduce costs and enhance tariff setting…
Construction launched on Saryarka gas pipeline
ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev launched construction on the Saryarka gas pipeline during Astana’s Industrialisation Day, Dec. 11. “It is an ambitious and large project, but we are able to implement it in a short period of time. I believe that the gas pipeline will reach our capital and other regions next year. It…
First private employment agency opens in Akmola region
ASTANA – The Akmola region Chamber of Entrepreneurs has launched Kásip-kz, the first private employment agency, reported the regional city administration Dec. 6. The agency, in cooperation with its strategic partners, will hold a job fair in January in Shymkent. The regional administration signed memoranda of cooperation with the regional Chambers of Entrepreneurs of Shymkent…
