Satellite Tags Used to Track Goitered Gazelles for First Time in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – For the first time, satellite tags are being used to track the movements of goitered gazelles in Kazakhstan’s Altyn Yemel National Park, the UNDP office in the country announced in September. The work is being done to collect data to support opening a new state reserve in the southern part of the Balkhash…
Kazakh Skating Star Tursynbayeva Wins Skate Canada Int’l Tournament
ASTANA – Elizabet Tursynbayeva, Kazakhstan’s rising figuring skating star, won the adult competition of the Skate Canada Autumn Classic International Tournament held Oct. 13–15 in Barrie, Ontario. The 15-year-old skater earned a career-best 179.72 points, Vesti.kz reports. Tursynbayeva was in second place after the short programme, but won the free skate to win the tournament.…
Forgoing Meat in the ‘Land of Wolves’
ASTANA – For foreigners, being vegetarian in Kazakhstan can be challenging, but for locals, it’s practically subversive. This is a culture, after all, that has given rise to the saying, “The only creatures that eat more meat than Kazakhs are wolves.” With a cuisine dominated by meat and dairy and the presentation of a sheep’s…
Seasonal Traditions Thrive in the City, as Urban Kazakhs Visit Sogym Markets
ASTANA – Despite the gentle temperatures of this early October, winter isn’t far from the minds of Astana residents. And despite the capital city’s growing number of shops and restaurants stocked with food flown in from around the globe, many Kazakhs still follow traditional preparations for the season of scarcity. One of these is sogym:…
Parliament to Play Key Role in Reaching Climate Change Goals, Say Paris Climate Conference Participants
ASTANA – The role of Parliament emerged as a major theme at a roundtable discussion in Astana Oct. 12 on Kazakhstan’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) ahead of the Paris Climate Change Conference, as officials and experts from Kazakhstan and the EU discussed Kazakhstan’s voluntary commitments regarding climate change and created recommendations for the country…
Astana Women’s Hockey Team First Place Contender, Says Coach
ASTANA – In two years, Astana’s professional women’s hockey team, Tomiris, went from fourth place to second, and now, looking ahead to the beginning of their third national tournament, coach Alexander Tebenkov says his team is definitely a contender for first. In fact, he’d put them up against the women’s national team, he told The…
Almaty Parking Day Reimagines City Parking Spaces as Mini-Parks
ASTANA – In connection with a project to promote Car Free Days in Almaty, the UNDP and its Global Environmental Facility (GEF) held a festival dedicated to finding creative ways to use parking spaces in the city. “Almaty designers, artists and young architects used parking spots to organise so-called ‘parklets’ – mini-zones for recreation –…
EBRD, TCO to Launch Small Business Support Programme in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – A new, two-year support programme for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kazakhstan has been launched by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Tengizchevroil (TCO), Kazakhstan’s top oil producer, the EBRD announced Oct. 6. The roughly $515,000 programme, which will run from 2015–2017, will cover SMEs across Kazakhstan and promote…
The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty, Hosts Art Exhibition for Children
ASTANA – An art exhibition featuring paintings created for the third annual charity auction “I Want to Live!” was opened Sept. 28 at The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty, the hotel announced. The “I Want to Live!” auction raises funds for children fighting life-threatening diseases, according to a Ritz-Carlton, Almaty, press release. The auction will feature paintings created…
Kazenergy Forum Explores Energy’s Role in Sustainable Development, Sees Forecasts of Rising Oil Prices
ASTANA – The theme of this year’s Sept. 29 – Oct. 1 Kazenergy Eurasia Forum was “New Horizons of Energy: Prospects of Cooperation and Investments,” but it also acknowledged the new normal: low oil prices and companies trying to balance innovation with thrift in the context of a world increasingly worried about climate change. Despite…
Kazakh-Led Effort on Regional Migration Offers Example for Europe, Say Experts
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the Almaty Process, a two-year-old effort to enhance cooperation on legal and illegal migration in Central Asia, is bearing fruit and the region can be an example for Europe in handling migrants and refugees, say experts. Bernard Doyle, regional representative for Central Asia for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees…
Finnish Trade Minister, Major Business Leaders Visit Kazakhstan to Build Relationships
ASTANA – Minister for Foreign Trade of Finland Lenita Toivakka will lead a major business delegation on a trip to Kazakhstan from Oct. 4–7 to deepen economic cooperation and trade and develop relationships within Kazakhstan’s educational system, industrial sector and green technology industry, she told The Astana Times on Oct. 2. “The business delegation accompanying…
EBRD Launches Women in Business Programme, Offers Credit to Female Entrepreneurs
ASTANA – The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has launched a 3.7 billion tenge (US$14.1 million) credit line for women entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan, the bank announced Sept. 22. “The EBRD is proud to announce the launch of its first project in Kazakhstan under the new programme ‘Women in Business,’ actively supported by the…
Kazakhstan Addresses Security Challenges through Collective Efforts, Top Official Says
How would you describe the level and the focus of cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for that matter, in fighting terrorism and extremism? How would you summarise the results of the CSTO meetings in Dushanbe on Sept. 14? Kazakhstan considers the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the…
Country Advances Green Energy Movement with Solar, Battery Projects
ASTANA – Two major renewables projects have been announced recently in Kazakhstan: the provision of solar panels to a 50 megawatt solar power plant and a project to test a 25 MW flow batteries system in the country. Schneider Electric announced Sept. 9 that the company had been selected as the “solutions provider” for Kazakhstan’s…
FM Takes to Twitter to Tempt Kerry with Kazakhstan’s Apples
ASTANA – Kazakhstan and the U.S. engaged in a bit of “treatplomacy” on Sept. 18, with Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry swapping tweets about the Eurasian nation’s iconic giant apples. Speaking at the Artisan Enterprise: The New Startup Economy forum on Sept. 10 in the U.S. State…
Tenge Rallies Against Dollar Following National Bank Intervention
ASTANA – After sliding to nearly 300 tenge to the dollar on Sept. 16, the National Bank of Kazakhstan intervened and the tenge has rallied to trade at 267 to the dollar at the time of writing. The relatively steady decline and predictions that the currency could fall as low as 400 to the dollar,…
Kazakhstan Brings Message of Dialogue, Pragmatic Solutions to Int’l Issues, Says Deputy FM
ASTANA – Kazakhstan brings to the international stage – and soon, it hopes, to the UN Security Council – an ethos that eschews conflict, that is always ready to sit down for negotiations, and that is interested in finding avenues of cooperation even among the most distant partners, the country’s deputy foreign minister told The…
Two Kazakh Wrestlers Win Bronze, Gain Olympic Bids at Las Vegas World Wrestling Championships
ASTANA – Two Greco-Roman wrestlers from Kazakhstan brought medals home from the recent World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas and earned the right to compete in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Doszhan Kartikov, wrestling in the 75 kilogrammes weight class, beat Alvin Musaliyev of Azerbaijan to take home the bronze, in the process earning himself…
Draft Budget Reveals Lower Growth Expectations
ASTANA – The government of Kazakhstan expects gross domestic product growth of 2.1 percent in 2016, 3.6 percent in 2017 and 2.9 percent in 2018, according to a draft state budget for 2016 – 2018 that was sent to the Kazakh Parliament and seen by Reuters, Reuters and AKIPress reported on Sept. 8. The new…
US Focus on Central Asia Waning as Nation’s Security Interests Dissipate, Warn Experts
ASTANA – United States security interests in the region are dissipating along with the country’s focus on Central Asian and Kazakhstan policy, said U.S. scholars at the Sept. 9 New Security Trends in Central Asia conference at the Library of the First President in Astana. “There’s a sense right now, that I think is pervasive…
Kazakhstan Dominates ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships
ASTANA – Kazakhstan topped the team rankings at the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Championships with five gold medals, as fighters, who also fight for Astana Arlans, won five of six bouts on the last day of competition on Sept. 5. Overall, Kazakh fighters won five gold, one silver and one bronze medal for a total…
Government Eliminates Some Fuel Price Controls, Price Increases Expected
ASTANA – Fuel prices are expected to rise in Kazakhstan following First Deputy Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev’s announcement that the government would stop regulating the prices of AI-92 gasoline on Sept. 4. Kazakhstan switched to a free-floating exchange rate for its national currency, the tenge, on Aug. 20. The tenge has lost roughly 20 percent…
Kazakh Biotechnologist Helps Create At-Home STD Test, Mass Production May Begin in 2016
ASTANA – The Hoope, a home detection kit to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases that was the brainchild of a team including Kazakh biotechnologist Damel Mektepbayeva, is expected to go into mass production next year, Forbes.kz reports. “Each year, 500 million people get infected with one of the four most common sexually transmitted diseases,” a video…
Astana Locomotive Plant Unveils Passenger Electric Locomotive at Moscow Railway Expo
ASTANA – The Electric Locomotive Manufacturing Plant of Astana presented their KZ4AT passenger electric locomotive at the fifth International Railway Equipment and Technologies Fair (EXPO 1520) in Moscow from Sept. 2 – 5, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) reported in a press release. KTZ is Kazakhstan’s national railway company which has assumed greater responsibility for the…
