Articles by Assel Satubaldina

NUR-SULTAN – The United Nations General Assembly adopted a May 19 resolution on the Aral Sea region declaring it a zone of ecological innovations and technologies and committing to promote greater research and scientific efforts to recover the region and improve its environment, reports the UN press service.  The resolution was initiated by Uzbek President…

NUR-SULTAN – As summer is just around the corner, Kazakhstan is gradually increasing international travel, giving people hope for a summer vacation. The nation has resumed air travel with 13 countries on 40 international routes with 117 flights a week, according to the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee. While more distant overseas destinations remain off-limit for…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev began his two-day visit to Dushanbe May 19 meeting with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and other senior officials, reports the Akorda press service.  Tokayev arrived in Dushanbe at the invitation of Emomali Rahmon for his first foreign trip in 2021.  During their meeting Tokayev and Rahmon focusing on a…

NUR-SULTAN – The epidemiological situation in Kazakhstan is gradually stabilizing and the incidence rate declined 20 percent in the past two weeks, Kazakh Minister of Healthcare Alexey Tsoy told the government meeting on Tuesday. “Currently, there is a positive trend in the reduction in the incidence of disease and the gradual stabilization of the epidemiological…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan is set to take more measures to preserve the saiga antelope population, said Kazakh Minister of Ecology, Geology, and Natural Resources Magzum Mirzagaliyev during his visit to the West Kazakhstan Region.  Mirzagaliyev visited the West Kazakhstan Region, where he met with scientists, ecologists, and the local community who put forward their proposals…

NUR-SULTAN – Spain is keen to boost bilateral cooperation with Kazakhstan, said Spanish State Secretary (i.e. Deputy Minister) for Foreign Affairs and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean Cristina Gallach during her visit to Kazakhstan. The Astana Times sat down to talk with Cristina Gallach about the outcomes of her visit and what lies ahead for…

NUR-SULTAN – As of May 14, 1,790,356 people in Kazakhstan have received at least one dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, according to the data updated daily by the Kazakh Ministry of Healthcare. 722,504 of them have been fully vaccinated against the virus.  Almaty city, Almaty Region and the Turkistan Region are leading in terms…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan has allowed more international air travel as it launches and increases flights to Montenegro, the United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and the Netherlands, announced the country’s Civil Aviation Committee.  From May 15, flights will be launched on the Almaty – Podgorica – Almaty route with a frequency of five flights a week…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan saw its gross domestic product growing 0.7 percent from January until April – positive for the first time since March 2020, said Kazakh Minister of National Economy Aset Irgaliyev at a May 11 government meeting.  The growth was driven by increased production in the real sector of the economy.  “Growth in the…

NUR-SULTAN – As the Holy Month of Ramadan came to an end, Muslims around the world, and in Kazakhstan, celebrated Eid al-Fitr, also known as Oraza Ait, on Thursday, May 13. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the Ramadan month, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan ranked 67th in the 2020 Social Progress Index that evaluated 163 countries on the non-economic dimensions of their social performance.  Kazakhstan scored 72.66 points out of a possible 100 surpassing its neighboring countries – Russia (69th with 72.56 points), Kyrgyzstan (89th with 68.65 points), and Uzbekistan (102nd with 64.98 points).  The index…

NUR-SULTAN – Turkish Airlines will launch flights along the Turkistan – Istanbul route on May 22, reports the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development.  The launch of flights became possible based on the decision of the nation’s interdepartmental commission on the prevention of the spread of the coronavirus infection. The flights will be operated…

NUR-SULTAN – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi participated in the 18th EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council May 10 in Belgium that focused on next steps concerning the EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.  The EPCA was signed in 2015 and entered into provisional application on May 1, 2016, and entered into force…

NUR-SULTAN – An international group of skiers mounted Elbrus to celebrate Victory Day marked on May 9 as part of the Red Fox Elbrus Race international extreme sports festival. The festival, which has been held since 2008, will take place through May 8 incorporating running, snow-shoeing and ski-mountaineering races.  Victory Cup is held on the…

NUR-SULTAN – At the end of 2020, Kazakhstan demonstrated a robust economic performance that supported the nation’s economy in addressing the 2020 shocks – coronavirus pandemic and oil price plunge, says the latest Fitch Ratings presentation on Kazakhstan.  “Despite the country having the second-highest commodity export dependence in the ‘BBB’ rating category, its fiscal and…

NUR-SULTAN – In 2021, 47,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will receive preferential lending, said Kazakh Minister of National Economy Aset Irgaliyev at a May 4 government meeting. Irgaliyev spoke about the measures being passed to support SMEs amid the pandemic.  “For the first quarter of this year, more than 16,000 SMEs received support as…

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…