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Over the past several months, very interesting and quite telling developments have been taking place on the political scene in Kazakhstan as the government has been takingsteps to increase budget revenues while decreasing budget expenditures in the next few years. In the spring, the country was abuzz with the much debated pension reform law that…

On Sept. 22, during a visit to Kyzylorda region, President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed to pay special attention to forming flexible enterprises of 10-20 employees along the Western Europe-Western China highway. The 8,445-kilometre highway, which crosses three of the world’s 10 largest countries by area, will be the fourth longest highway in the world when completed.…

Kazakhstan has been a reliable energy partner of the EU for a decade, Aurelia Bouchez, head of the EU delegation to the Kazakhstan, said at the 21st KIOGE 2013 Kazakhstan International Oil and Gas Exhibition held on Oct. 1-4 in Almaty. Addressing the event, Bouchez said that the EU is Kazakhstan’s largest trading partner and…

The grain harvest is forecast to reach 18.5 million tons this year, Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Assylzhan Mamytbekov said at a CCS media briefing in early October. “Taking into consideration the results of the harvest, we have raised the grain harvest volume outlook to 18.5 million tons. Accordingly, the export volume outlook will be…

Kazakhstan has approved a $23 billion project to expand production facilities of the Tengiz oil field, Kurmangazy Iskaziyev, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas, said at the 21st Kazakhstan International Conference KIOGE-2013 on Oct.1. The project will bring oil field production to 38 million tons a year, the official said. “A…

In 2000, David Brooks, a prominent New York Times columnist, wrote a book called “Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There,” in which he chronicled the emergence of a new upper class of bourgeois bohemian (hence bobo). In that bestselling work of satirical sociology, Brooks coined a new word to…

Members of the Mazhilis or lower house of Kazakhstan’s Parliament planted a new poplar alley along Turan Avenue in Astana as part of their volunteer Saturday work on Sept. 21. Along with poplars, the Mazhilis representatives planted ash trees and maples. The planting stock for the alley was brought from the forest nursery forming the…

On Sept. 23, Kazakhstan Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov left for a working visit to Sochi (Russian Federation) to participate in the next session of the Collective Security Council (CSC) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The heads of delegations from Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Armenia discussed a wide range of issues on…

Some 8.1 million square metres of affordable housing will be introduced in Kazakhstan by 2020, Deputy Finance Minister Ardak Tengebaev said at a recent international conference “10 years of the Housing Construction Savings System in Kazakhstan: Results and Further Prospects.” The deputy finance minister also said the funds from the budget for provision of preferential…

Kazakhstan’s business community will now be able to obtain a British business visa in two to three days following an announcement by the British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy, Charles Hendry. Hendry made the announcement at the 17th Session of the Kazakh-British Trade and Industry Council. “We are introducing a pilot programme to issue business visas…

The Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, a forum widely recognized by the international community, has become a true trademark of Kazakhstan and evidence of the efforts of our country and its first President Nursultan Nazarbayev in promoting the ideals of peace, harmony, humanism, tolerance and religious tolerance. All of these…

The ninth-largest country in the world, Kazakhstan has made its geographic location work to its advantage, revitalising its role on the traditional Silk Route through the development of the Western Europe-Western China highway and other multinational projects. Located between the trading powerhouses of China and Europe, Kazakhstan’s multivector foreign policy has guided both its diplomacy…

Kazakhstan plans to introduce differentiated tax rates on real estate owned by individuals, Minister of Economic Affairs and Budget Planning Yerbolat Dossayev said on the sidelines of a government meeting on Aug. 28. “We believe over 150 square metres of housing per person is a large piece of real estate … the minimum floor area…

In a very symbolic development for Kazakhstan, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked it 50th out of 148 countries in its global competitiveness rating of world economies for 2013-2014. Kazakhstan rose by one step from last year’s rating. According to the report, Kazakhstan’s best performances are in effectiveness of the labor market (15th) and macroeconomic…

Beineu-Bozoi-Shymkent gas pipeline, symbolically launched by the presidents of Kazakhstan and China on Sept. 7, runs through Mangystau, Kyzylorda and South Kazakhstan regions. Its total length is 1,477 km. The project encompasses the building of two gas compression stations in the villages of Bozoi and Karaozek. Completion of the 1,143 km long Bozoi-Shymkent Pipeline will…

Oil production at the giant Kashagan oilfield started on Sept. 9, KazMunayGas Chairman Sauat Mynbayev said. “We are expecting the start in two days. That is the first, so-called pilot. It should reach a certain level for us to announce the start of commercial production,” Mynbayev said on Sept. 7. At the same time, he…

On Aug. 13, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the Korme exhibition centre where he got acquainted with scale models of the EXPO 2017 exhibition complex. The president was presented with the works of about 50 architects from different countries of the world participating in the contest for the best design of the EXPO 2017 pavilion.…

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev congratulated India on its 67th Independence Day on Aug. 15. The Kazakhstan President sent messages of congratulations to India on the country’s Independence Day. In his message to President Pranab Mukherjee, he wrote: “I note with deep satisfaction the bilateral relations developing between our countries on the basis of mutually beneficial…

When Kazakhstan became independent in December 1991, a lot of people both within and without doubted that it would exist for very long. And for good reason; in fact, for many reasons, ranging from lack of experience in managing an independent nation to the heavy legacy of Soviet nuclear weapons testing, an environmental catastrophe in…

In July 2013, 8.6 million people in Kazakhstan were actively engaged in employment. This represents an increase of 56,400 since July 2012 or 0.7 percent. Of this total, 5.9 million (69.1 percent) are employees, while the rest are self-employed. On the other side of the coin, almost 468,000 people were registered as unemployed, resulting in…

The state will subsidize half of the APR on car loans for Kazakhstan citizens to purchase Kazakhstan-made cars, Tengrinews.kz reported, citing Andrei Lavrentiyev, Head of the Association of Car Making Businesses. According to him, about half of the APR will be subsidized after a borrower has been approved by a bank as eligible for a…

This is a question of power. Local elections of akims (mayors in Kazakh) in villages, towns and cities of regional importance will raise the level of legitimacy and transparency within Kazakhstan’s government. Akims, who are the heads of akimats, similar to mayors of municipalities, will be elected for the first time in the history of…

On July 22, nominations for mayoral candidates of rural districts were completed in Western Kazakhstan. Overall, 473 candidates for 149 rural counties, two towns and one city district were nominated, with three or four candidates contending for each seat. According to the Regional Election Commission, the nomination of candidates for mayors in rural areas was…

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the beginning of July conducted an International Radiological Assistance Programme Training for Emergency Response (I-RAPTER) training in Almaty. The training, held at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Almaty, included using radiation detection equipment to locate hidden radioactive sources during a practical exercise. “Over many years, NNSA…

Kazakhstan’s economy received a record $22.5 billion in foreign investment in 2012, First Deputy Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Kazakhstan Albert Rau said at a government meeting on July 16. He noted that the investment structure had changed over recent years and that more than 40 percent of the investments were in the…

Max Petroleum Plc, an oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Kazakhstan, has started two new wells in the Zhana Makat field and Uytas field, the company reported earlier in July. In particular, the company has commenced drilling the ZMA-A21 development well on Block E of the Zhana Makat field. The well will…

Astana celebrated its 15th anniversary as the capital of Kazakhstan on July 6. And what 15 years it has been… When President Nursultan Nazarbayev first presented the idea of transferring the capital from the tree-lined megapolis of Almaty in the picturesque foothills of the Tien Shan mountains to the mosquito-infested dusty town of Akmola in…

At an urgent meeting on July 2, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov ordered the establishment of a government commission headed by Minister of Environmental Protection Nurlan Kapparov to study the environmental impact of the crash of Russia’s Proton-M rocket in the area adjacent to the territory of Baikonur cosmodrome. Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Bozhko and…

Defence ministers and security officials of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) gathered in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to discuss regional security issues. Reports from the June 26 talks said the ministers focused on strengthening military cooperation as international combat forces leave Afghanistan by the end of next year. Kyrgyz Defence Minister Taalaybek Omuraliev said the…

Cooperation with more than 400 investors planning to finance several projects in Kazakhstan worth over $15.7 billion is being established presently in the country. The following projects are planned to be implemented in Kazakhstan: construction of Boehmer GmbH’s ball valve plant in Karaganda, construction of Linde AG’s air separation block in the oxygen section of…

The Hyundai AutoTrans company entered the Customs Union market. In 2012, about 250 trucks were exported to Belarus; this number will double in 2013. The company is supported by state programmes aimed at assisting small and medium businesses. The main goal of Kazakhstan’s State Programme of Industrial-Innovative Development is ensuring sustainable and balanced economic growth…

Civil society is a popular term in academia and Western media. But sometimes ideas and concepts can be lost in translation. Terms with political slants fall through the cracks of the tongue and can be completely missed or worse, misunderstood. When talking about civil society, it makes sense to identify some solid landmarks that cannot…

On June 18, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the law “On amendments and additions to the National Budget for 2013-2015,” the Akorda’s press service reported. The law is aimed at specifying the macro-economic indicators of the country’s development in 2013. According to information provided by the head of the media group on preparing and…

The international seminar for civil servants’ advanced training on the subject of Strategic Planning held at the Academy of Public Administration ended June 14. The seminar was attended by civil servants of central and local executive state agencies. The lecturers were Matthew Stafford, dean of the Federal Executive Institute (FEI), and Rebekka Ayers, senior official…

On June 19, President Nursultan Nazarbayev approved amendments to state budget for 2013-2015. The head of state signed the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Introduction of Amendments and Additions to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the National Budget for 2013-2015,” aimed at clarifying the macroeconomic development of the country this…

The Akmola region will implement one of the largest projects in Kazakhstan within the framework of EXPO 2017. This was reported by the press service of the Akim (Governor) of the Akmola region. Construction of the Samal wind farm in the Yereymentau district of the Akmola region will be one of the largest foreign investments…

‘Economy first, politics second’ has always been the motto of independent Kazakhstan but sometimes you cannot have the first without the latter. The political climate must allow for economic growth. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s strategy Kazakhstan 2050 is in fact a new political course that sets the goal of the country making it into the top…

The Astana Times’ Yelden Sarybai sat down with Prasad Bhamre, Deputy General Director of Samruk Kazyna Invest, to talk about his views on Kazakhstan’s economic development, diversification efforts, agriculture, as well as a few secrets for getting to know this country better. Could you tell us a bit about your background? I’ve been to Kazakhstan…

Gulnaz Kalikhanova ASTANA, June 5 – Relations between Kazakhstan and Latvia are marked by the development of close ties across numerous sectors and the June 2-4 visit to Kazakhstan by Latvian President Andris Berzins further strengthened this relationship. During his visit, Berzins met with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov and Chairman of…

An IMF mission led by Hossein Samiei, Division Chief at IMF visited Almaty and Astana on May 22-June 3 to conduct the 2013 Article IV consultation. The mission met with government and central bank officials, as well as representatives of the private sector and civil society organizations. The authorities’ vision of Kazakhstan developing into a…

One of the biggest mosques in Asia has been built in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation (KZHF) announced.The Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Mosque, which can accommodate 6,000 worshippers, was inaugurated by Dr. Hadef Bin Jua’an Al Daheri, minister of justice, as a cluster of projects funded by the foundation.…

On June 8, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov of Kazakhstan held a meeting on the implementation of the instructions given to the government by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on June 7. “The president returned to the Parliament the draft law on pension reform for additional discussion and voting on the term of the introduction of the…

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is ready to assist in financing innovation projects of small and medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan, bank head Sir Suma Chakrabarti told a plenary session of the Council of Foreign Investors under the President of Kazakhstan on May 22. “After restructuring the largest banks in Kazakhstan, the system…

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the Special Economic Zone Park, known as the Park of Innovation Technologies, near Almaty and got acquainted and with the production processes of the zone’s enterprises. President Nazarbayev saw the presentations of projects of the second stage of development of the park implemented by such companies and organizations as SAT&Co,…

By Marina Parkhomenko, Chingiz Tashenov, Sergey Gorbunov The last bell has sounded for 143,000 graduates of secondary schools in the country at the end of May. The last bell is a traditional ceremony in the schools of post-Soviet countries. The celebration is carried out just after all the studies are finished, but before the final…

The Karaganda and Schuchinsk resort area in the future will be part of the Astana agglomeration. This was announced at the IV International Investment Forum Astana Invest 2013 by Kazakhstan Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov. In this regard, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has urged the government’s foreign partners to invest more actively in the development of Kazakhstan’s…

On May 27, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister Erlan Idrissov, defense minister Adilbek Zhaksybekov and Security Council Secretary Kairat Kozhamzharov took part in the meetings of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) statutory bodies – Council of Foreign Ministers, Council of Defense Ministers and Security Council Secretaries Committee – in Bishkek. Participants discussed topical issues of the…

In Kazakhstan, the prices for industrial products fell 2.3 percent in April, according to Kazakhstan’s Statistics Agency. The prices in the mining industry decreased by 3.2 percent and manufacturing prices fell 0.6 percent. The prices for gas condensate decreased by 4.1 percent, oil by 4 percent, liquefied propane and butane by 3.9 percent, natural gas…

On May 23, President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with Nobel Prize winners in economics, physics, and physiology and medicine at the sixth Astana Economic Forum. The state of the international financial and economic system and Kazakhstan’s initiatives for developing design solutions for the world economy to transition to a path of sustainable development were discussed at…

Kazakhstan is not a very large country. Today’s world places more value on economic scale, rather than territorial boundaries or the sheer number of people. Against the backdrop of neighbouring Russia and China, this 16 million people landlocked country could have been lost in the shadows and left on the sidelines. It could have, but…

The Government of Kazakhstan has adopted a comprehensive plan to promote employment of persons older than 50 years (50+ Initiative), developed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection in the framework of the modernization of the country’s pension system. The plan provides for the creation of jobs in the framework of the currently implemented…

President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan signed a law ratifying the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Republic of Korea in the field of development, financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of Balkhash Thermal Power Plant, the presidential press service reported. The intergovernmental agreement is aimed at the…

The Samruk Kazyna National Welfare Fund is considering launching 83 new investment projects worth $51.7 billion, the fund’s managing director Berik Beisengaliyev told a meeting discussing investment results for 2012 and plans for 2013 on April 17. “Today the investment portfolio of the fund includes 100 projects worth $81 billion and, 27 projects that have…

Speaking at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development’s 22nd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors and Business Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, finance minister of Kazakhstan Bolat Zhamishev announced on May 10 that the country will raise funds by issueing a Eurobond worth €1 billion. “In 2013 we would like to go back to…

Kazakhstan is a large and multi-faceted country. Not only is it rich in mineral and other natural resources, its human capital is also enviable. High literacy rates, health standards and favourable relations with other countries allow the citizens of the country to live comfortably and make the most of their opportunities. Independence from the Moscow-dominated…

ASTANA – “The pension reform proposed by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan is aimed at ensuring worthy lives for the people of Kazakhstan in old age,” Kazakhstan Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov said recently. “Today’s reforms for modernizing the pension system are, of course, aimed at the development of our country,” Akhmetov said during…

Kazakhstan is a large and multi-faceted country. Not only is it rich in mineral and other natural resources, its human capital is also enviable. High literacy rates, health standards and favourable relations with other countries allow the citizens of the country to live comfortably and make the most of their opportunities. Independence from the Moscow-dominated…

G-Global’s Person of the Month for May, former Argentine Central Bank Chairman and Economics Minister Cavallo Domingo, has begun discussing global economic issues online with users of the G-Global website. Domingo was Argentina’s Central Bank chairman in 1982. He served as minister of Economics from 1991 to 1996 and again in 2001. He was minister…

The 20th anniversary Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan “Kazakhstan 2050: one nation – one country – one destiny” under the chairmanship of President Nursultan Nazarbayev is to take place on April 24 at the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. The event will bring together members of the Assembly from all regions, the chairmen of…

The third Ministerial Meeting of the Istanbul Process on Regional Security and Cooperation for Secure and Stable Afghanistan will take place in Almaty on April 26. The process was launched on Nov. 2, 2011 at the foreign ministers meeting in Istanbul. Its first ministerial conference was held in Kabul on June 14, 2012. The third…

The Kazakhstan National Security Committee has made a bid to host the 22nd World Petroleum Congress in Astana in 2017, KazEnergy Association Executive Director Ramazan Zhampiisov said on April 19. Zhampiisov told a meeting of the Council of Associations of Oil-Gas and Energy Sector of KazEnergy that Houston in the United States was also bidding…

A regular meeting of the Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical, and cultural cooperation will be held soon in Ashgabat, the government of Turkmenistan announced on April 20. The meeting will discuss implementing current intergovernmental agreements and expanding bilateral cooperation. Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have signed more than 60 agreements including an agreement on…

The socio-economic situation in Afghanistan has been improving gradually and slowly. However, it continues to cause great concern to the international community, especially with regard to the upcoming withdrawal of coalition forces from that country. The main causes of this situation in Afghanistan is the difficulty for the government, despite the assistance of many countries,…

Galiya Nurzhan Larger than all of Western Europe, Kazakhstan’s vast expanse encompasses the Great Steppe, the heights of the Tien Shan Mountains in the south, the exquisite lakes and valleys of the Altai Mountains in the northeast and the archeologically rich desert coast of the Caspian Sea in the far west. Now, this land of…

The following is an interview with Dr. Sohrab Ali Saffary, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Republic of Kazakhstan By Yelden Sarybay How do you see the bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan? I think they are very good, but we need to improve, to develop them. Since the…

On April 3, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov reported to President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the country’s development in the first quarter of 2013. The president said the country needed to maintain its pace of development and prepare for the spring sowing campaign. He said the major railway and road-building programmes needed to be completed rapidly. “Our…

President Nursultan Nazarbayev paid an official visit to China on April 5 and held talks with new President Xi Jinping. They discussed the strategic partnership between the two countries and bilateral cooperation in the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Conference of Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). President Nazarbayev gave…

A three-day exhibition on modern building technology in Astana was held at the Korme complex in Astana from March 27 to March 29. It displayed construction techniques, finishing materials, ventilation, heating and sewerage systems, gas, water and energy conservation, construction machinery and equipment, construction and road materials from companies in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, China and…

• A conference entitled “Building a Green Economy in Kazakhstan” will be held on April 12, Central Communications Service Spokesman Altay Abibullayev said. Cabinet members, ambassadors and European Bank of Reconstruction and Development officials are expected to speak there, he added. The conference will provide a platform to discuss sustainable economy developments in the context…

The most recent war in Afghanistan, known as Operation Enduring Freedom, has been going on since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., creating a spiraling effect on the region and the entire world. Getting rid of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and their Taliban hosts has been a mission that…

The recent World Economic Forum in Baku was attended by experienced senior Kazakh executives in the fields of oil and gas and banking, including Sabr Yessimbekov and Aidan Karibzhanov. Both provided The Astana Times with their views on regional cooperation. Sabr Yessimbekov, President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kazakhstan The main cooperation between our…

Kazakhstan produced 21,236 vehicles, including trucks, commercial and passenger cars, in 2012. State agencies purchased 12 percent of the production—2,553 cars—and bought 1,365 units of imported transport. The list of car models assembled in Kazakhstan continues to grow. It seems likely that the public sector preference in the future will tend increasingly toward domestically produced…

By Sergei Gorbunov, Olga Berezhnova and Natalia Ryzhkova PAVLODAR – AKTAU – KARAGANDA – Kazakhstan’s middle class – the main social base for further development of the country – is growing in strength. In Western countries, the middle class accounts for 60 percent of the total adult population, well above the current level in Kazakhstan.…

President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued a decree on March 23 for the convocation of the 20th Session of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan in Astana. The session is scheduled to meet on April 24. The session will be on the theme of “Kazakhstan – 2050: one nation – one country – one destiny.” The government…

Rapil Zhoshybayev, executive secretary of the Foreign Ministry and commissioner in charge of EXPO 2017, met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Ministers Cheng Guoping and Si Hanshen, director of the Administrative Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Li Chao during his working visit to Beijing on March 18-19. The two sides discussed increased bilateral cooperation and…

Kazakhstan will reimburse the fuel and lubricant shortages due to tolling operations in China, Prime Minister’s Serik Akhmetov’s official website announced on March 20. “We agreed on the need to transport 1.5 million tons of crude oil to China for processing at the production facilities of the Chinese Dushanzi refinery within the tolling operation,” director…

Kazakhstan’s trade with its two Customs Union (CU) partners Russia and Belarus exceeded $1.6 billion in January, a rise of 7.7 percent on January 2012, the Kazakhstan Statistics Agency said. The KSA said minerals accounted for 42.2 percent of exports to the other CU countries, metals and metal goods comprised 24.3 percent and chemical goods…

Travelling across Kazakhstan is a lively affair, to say the least. To visit the family, attend a wedding, goon a business trip or simply for leisure, there are enough reasons for voyaging around the vast, 9th largest country in the world. Fifty six percent of the population live in 86 settlements that have the status…

ASTANA – Last year, the capital of Kazakhstan was chosen as the venue for international exhibition EXPO 2017, to be held in 2017. The General Assembly of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) picked Astana over the Belgian city of Liege by 103 votes to 44. For the first time in the history of world industrial…

During the working visit, the delegation of the companies’ group of Samruk Kazyna, headed by the Chairman of the Board Umirzak Shukeyev, met with the UK business community on March 7 in London. Charles Hendry, MP and Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Great Britain headed the British side. During the meeting, the sides…

Chingiz Akhmetov Happy New Year! March 21, the first day of spring, is traditionally No-Rooz (also called Nawruz), the Iranian New Year. Its customs have spread throughout Central Asia and beyond, and are celebrated in Kazakhstan as well as Nauryz. So here are some explanations of the traditions that came to epitomize the holiday. No-Rooz…

The festival of Nauryz will be celebrated from Thursday, March 21 to Saturday, March 23. Since Saturday is on the weekend, the last day of the holiday will be moved to Monday, March 25. Kazakhstan delegates participated in a meeting of the International Union of Lawyers in Moscow. IUL Chairman Andrey Trebkov said the organisation…

President Nursultan Nazarbayev has sent a telegram of congratulations to Cuban President Raul Castro on his re-election. “I believe that dynamic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Cuba based on mutual trust and understanding will grow stronger in the future for the good of our people,” Nazarbayev said. Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to China Nurlan Yermekbayev has received an…

Verny Capital, a Kazakhstan investment company, said on February 20 that in partnership with Kazzinc it had acquired the Raygorodok gold deposit, located in the Akmola region and the Komarovsky gold deposit in the Kostanay region for 30 billion tenge ($200 million). Verny Capital will own 10.5 percent of the mines and Kazzinc will control…

Kazatomprom Managing Director Valery Shevelev said a new factory to make wind turbines would be built this year in Kazakhstan. The new wind turbines will be available for private purchasers. He also said the Kazakhstan Government has settled on building a new atomic power station in Aktau, on the Caspian Sea shore. The selection of…

The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan was the location for almost a quarter of all nuclear weapons tests in the world since 1945. Their total number exceeded 2,000. From 1949 to 1989, 456 of them were carried out at Semipalatinsk, including more than 120 in the atmosphere. Their total destructive power was 2,500 times…

The following is an interview with Rashid Tussupbekov, Chairman of the Agency on the Fight against Economic and Corruption Crimes (Financial Police). What main objectives did the Financial Police seek last year? Last year was an intense and a busy one for the Financial Police. We had to radically change repressive mentality, used to be…

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Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. We are the Hibakusha, survivors of the nuclear bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and people harmed by years of nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific and Kazakhstan. It is our hope that never again will anyone suffer the catastrophic humanitarian consequences caused…

The working population of Kazakhstan will grow to 9.5 million by 2017, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection said in a statement. However, the ministry said the working population of the Akmola, Kostanay, North-Kazakhstan and East Kazakhstan regions of the country would fall in the next five years. “The most significant growth in the…

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov spoke on the phone with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Feb. 19 to discuss bilateral relations, the upcoming talks over Iran’s nuclear programme in Almaty as well as the continued cooperation in stabilizing Afghanistan. A Russian space official said lease agreements for some launch facilities in Kazakhstan could…

Kazakhstan has allocated 1 billion tenge ($6.7 million) for people needing organs transplants abroad this year, Azhar Tugaliyeva, director of medical aid organisations at the Health Ministry, said. “Our citizens go abroad only for transplantation of organs and tissues. These are the serious patients who failed to find their donors and for whom there is…

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD) has predicted that, in 2013, the Kazakhstan economy will grow by six percent, confirming its forecast of October 2012. In 2012, Kazakhstan’s GDP increased by five percent. The bank said the start of commercial production in the Kashagan oil field in the North Caspian Sea will boost…

The rise of the Internet has spurred the development of web-based communication platforms. Digital platforms have been growing stronger throughout the last decade, facilitating the exchange of information. Online content has undergone a transformation from being a source of raw data to also becoming an interactive tool, enabling the public to collaborate on projects through…

Seven children were able to get expensive treatment abroad thanks to Alexandre Vinokurov, who put up his champion’s bike for a charity auction, and raised money amounting to 230,000 dollars donated to seriously ill children. Among those being helped there are children suffering from congenital heart desease, infantile cerebral paralysis, coarse nodular cirrhosis, chronic kidney…

Kazakhstan may join the World Trade Organisation this year, WTO director general Pascal Lamy said. “Kazakhstan is at an advanced stage of its accession negotiation. My guess is that this could be doable this year,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Gaidar Forum, an economic conference in Moscow. Kazakhstan applied to join the…

President Nursultan Nazarbayev has received Agriculture Minister Assylzhan Mamytbekov who reported on the agricultural sector results for 2012 and main approaches to its further development until 2020. “The state provides comprehensive support to agriculture. Every year, the funding is growing. The main goal of the country’s agro-industrial complex is to provide up to 80 percent…

World powers have proposed holding a new round of talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear programme in the week of February 25 in Kazakhstan, a spokesman for EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said. However, Ashton’s team, which co-ordinates diplomatic contacts with Iran on its nuclear programme on behalf of the United States, Russia, China,…

By Rysty Alibekova, Maryam Turezhanova, Assel Mukanova and Vladimir Kuryatov ASTANA – On Jan. 23, 2013, President Nursultan Nazarbayev chaired a special Cabinet meeting at the Akorda presidential palace in Astana to review the work done in 2012 and define the measures needed to implement the new Kazakhstan 2050 national strategy to advance the nation…

Kazakhstan is proud to be the host of the Baikonur cosmodrome, the world’s first and largest operational space launch facility. A busy spaceport, launching numerous commercial, military and scientific missions annually since 1957, it is located in the desert steppe of southwestern Kazakhstan. A newly created intergovernmental commission launched on January 30 in Moscow has…