Articles by Assel Satubaldina

NUR-SULTAN – Air Arabia and Lufthansa are among the latest airlines resuming their flights to Kazakhstan.  Lufthansa resumed the flights on May 2 with a flight along the Frankfurt-Nur-Sultan-Almaty route. Frankfurt to Almaty flights will be operated on Mondays and Saturdays landing at Nur-Sultan’s international airport, and a non stop direct flight on Thursdays. Direct…

NUR-SULTAN – Nearly 1.5 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19 in Kazakhstan as of May 4, said Kazakh Minister of Healthcare Alexey Tsoy at a May 4 government meeting.  As of today, 1,422,204 people have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 347,474 have been fully immunized against…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan celebrated the Day of Unity May 1 and the nation came up with different ways to mark the holiday and commemorate the friendship between the many ethnic groups that call Kazakhstan home. The Day of Unity was established on Oct. 18, 1995, a few months after then President Nursultan Nazarbayev established the…

NUR-SULTAN – The tourism sector is still reeling from the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. Most international experts do not expect the global tourism industry to rebound to pre-pandemic levels until 2023. The Astana Times recently spoke to the Kazakh Tourism national company about the tourism industry, and about plans for the year ahead.  What…

NUR-SULTAN – As the vaccine rollout continues, the citizens of Kazakhstan will have access to three vaccines against COVID-19 – Russia’s Sputnik V, the locally produced QazVac, and China’s Sinopharm produced in the United Arab Emirates, said Kazakh Healthcare Minister Alexey Tsoy at an April 30 virtual meeting with the population. “Just today we are…

NUR-SULTAN – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) projects the Kazakh economic growth to reach 3.2 percent in 2021 and 3.5 percent in 2022 in its latest ADB Outlook published April 28. The growth is expected to occur assuming investment, hydrocarbon production, and manufacturing increase and vaccination continue as scheduled.  “The government anticipates that the pandemic…

NUR-SULTAN – The diversity of Kazakhstan is a key competitive advantage, said Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the 29th session of Kazakhstan’s Assembly of People which took place April 28 in Nur-Sultan under the theme of “30 Years of Unity, Peace, and Harmony.” More than 550 people participated in the partially virtual meeting, including…

NUR-SULTAN – The Ashyq mobile application allows businesses to continue their work amid the coronavirus restrictions. As of April 27, the project includes 1,658 businesses and more than 378,000 citizens, said  Kazakh Healthcare Minister Alexey Tsoy at an April 27 government meeting. The app was initially designed to allow people to visit businesses that had…

NUR-SULTAN – There is hardly anyone who has not heard about the topic of providing inclusive education. The topic has been topping national agendas for many years now and education is indeed a fundamental right for every child. The Astana Times recently spoke to Maral Sheshembekova, director of the Equal, But Different project at the…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan is close to the one million vaccination milestone, as 949,451 people in the country of 19 million have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Kazakh Ministry of Healthcare.  Though the mass vaccination campaign kicked off Feb. 1, the vaccination drive increased significantly since April 1 following a…

NUR-SULTAN – Public-private partnership (PPP) projects have continued in Kazakhstan with 806 projects worth a total of 1.4 trillion tenge (US$3.26 billion) coming online as of April 1. The majority of projects fall into the education and healthcare sectors.  The development of PPP, a long-term cooperative arrangement between two or more public and private sectors,…

NUR-SULTAN – The Atyrau Region in western Kazakhstan has made a special contribution to the development of the economy of independent Kazakhstan, said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the April 22 meeting reviewing the region’s development, reports the Akorda press service. The nation’s first major investment projects were implemented in this region abundant with oil…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chaired the fifth meeting of the Supreme Council for Reforms on April 21 focusing on digitization, agriculture, the regulatory system, judiciary system reform, and the development of national projects – a vital new component of the state planning system, reports the Akorda press service.  Delivering their reports were Chair…

NUR-SULTAN  – Starting April 26, Kazakhstan will cut air travel with Turkey due to the surge in coronavirus cases in Turkey, announced the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development. The decision was made by the nation’s interdepartmental commission. The number of flights will be cut from 20 to 9 per week. The flights will…

NUR-SULTAN – Coronavirus cases may peak in mid-May with up to 4,000 cases registered daily if the vaccination goes according to schedule according to a realistic scenario for the epidemiological situation announced by Kazakh Minister of Healthcare Alexey Tsoy at an April 20 government meeting.  The Ministry of Healthcare continues to update the forecast for…

NUR-SULTAN  – Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin chaired the meeting of the Commission on Digitisation under President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Kazakh Prime Minister’s press service reported.  Bagdat Mussin, Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, spoke about the nation’s Concept for Development of Information and Communication Technologies and Digital Sphere, DigitEL national project…

NUR-SULTAN – Investments in fixed capital, excluding the mining sector, increased by 34 percent in the first quarter of 2021, said Kazakh Minister of National Economy Aset Irgaliyev at the Investment Office meeting April 16,  reports Kazakh Prime Minister’s press service.  With the mining sector, the investments decreased by 9.6 percent.  Growth in fixed asset…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan has been in a high risk red zone for two weeks, said Kazakh Vice Healthcare Minister Marat Shoranov at a press conference with the Central Communications Services.  “In April, the epidemiological situation has deteriorated, so since the beginning of April 29,200 cases have been registered. Compared to the same period in March,…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s Otbasy Bank launched a mortgage program for women on April 12, according to the bank’s press service release. The program, titled “Umay”,  is designed to promote gender equality in housing finance and is being implemented with loans from the Asian Development Bank totaling 38 billion tenge (US$88 million).  To participate in the…

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh Minister of Labour and Social Protection Serik Shapkenov gave his report on the employment situation in the country to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev April 14, reports the Akorda press service.  Shapkenov briefed Tokayev on his ministry’s efforts to increase the incomes of the population and wages, ensuring the employment of citizens,…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan has created a Task Force team to provide end-to-end support to investors, reports the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service.  The agreement was signed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi and Astana International Financial Center Governor Kairat Kelimbetov.  The Task Force will become part of the Investment Office,…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s Chief Sanitary Doctor and Vice Healthcare Minister Yerlan Kiyasov signed a decree obliging all arriving passengers, including the citizens of Kazakhstan, to present a negative COVID-19 test result before departure starting April 14.  Previously, the rule applied only to foreign nationals arriving in Kazakhstan, while Kazakh citizens, who did not have the…

NUR-SULTAN – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev extended congratulations over the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan to millions of Muslims around the world, the Akorda press service reports.  The holy month of Ramadan, which commemorates the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad, begins April 13 and will last through May 12.  During this…

NUR-SULTAN – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde paid an official visit to Kazakhstan. Nur-Sultan was the first destination in Linde’s four-day visit to the OSCE participating States of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan from April 11 to April 15. She is also expected to hold talks virtually with the Foreign Minister…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin and Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov launched the construction of the Central Asia International Center for Trade and Economic Cooperation located at the Kazakh-Uzbek border, according to the Kazakh Prime Minister’s press service.  The center with a total area of 400 hectares will be located near the Zhibek…