Articles by Assel Satubaldina

NUR-SULTAN – The upcoming week will be busy for Kazakh political parties, as the nomination of candidates kicked off Nov. 10 for the upcoming Majilis elections scheduled for Jan. 10 next year.  The Majilis is the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament consisting of 107 deputies, who are elected for a five-year term. Nine deputies…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 United States presidential elections after he passed the 270 electoral college threshold on Sunday, Nov. 7, needed to claim a victory in the presidential elections.  “My sincere congratulations to Mr. Joe Biden on his election as President of the…

NUR-SULTAN – Six political parties will participate in the upcoming elections to the Majilis scheduled for Jan. 10, 2021, Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Thursday. The Majilis is the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament consisting of 107 deputies, who are elected for a five-year term. “As of November 2020, six political parties…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s low-cost carrier Fly Arystan will launch flights to Turkestan from the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan and Almaty, the Civil Aviation Committee reported.  The airline will operate its first flight to Turkestan from Almaty Dec. 5 and from Nur-Sultan Dec. 1. It will fly twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nur-Sultan, and…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Kyrgyz Minister of Foreign Affairs Ruslan Kazakbayev in Nur-Sultan Oct. 30, reported the Akorda press service.  Tokayev commended the level of cooperation between the two neighboring countries.  “Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are the countries most close to one another. We are not divided by anything. On the contrary,…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev extended his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over a powerful earthquake that hit Turkey’s Aegean coast Oct. 30, reported the Akorda press service. At least 91 people were killed in a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, and the Aegean Sea. Rescue efforts to…

NUR-SULTAN – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) operations should continue focusing on the promotion of knowledge, sustainable development and innovation, said Giovanni Capannelli, former ADB Country Director in Kazakhstan. “The results we were able to achieve with the ADB team in Kazakhstan over the last four years have been truly amazing. We exponentially increased operations…

NUR-SULTAN – Airlines are now prohibited from boarding foreign citizens heading to Kazakhstan without administering a COVID-19 PCR test result. Violating the regulation will entail a fine of 4,444,800 tenge (US$10,319), said Kazakh chief sanitary doctor for transport Sadvakas Baigabulov at an Oct. 27 press briefing. Kazakhstan introduced new COVID-19 regulations on Oct. 6 that…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Shakhrat Nuryshev briefed the diplomatic missions of member states and observers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Nur-Sultan on Oct. 23, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service reported.  Nuryshev explained Kazakhstan’s priorities in the CICA during the meeting. Kazakhstan was elected as…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Mukhtar Tileuberdi addressed the second session of Central Asia – India Dialogue Oct. 28 that gathered foreign ministers of India, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service reported. Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar also took part in the meeting. The first ministerial meeting…

NUR-SULTAN – The Asia–Europe Foundation (ASEF) attaches great importance to its work with Kazakhstan, ASEF Executive Director Toru Morikawa said in an interview to The Astana Times. ASEF is an intergovernmental and not-for-profit organisation, part of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) tasked with promoting cultural, intellectual and people-to-people contacts between the two regions.  The ASEM was…

NUR-SULTAN – The Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan met with the Civil Aviation Committee and representatives of Kazakh airlines to explore the current situation in the nation’s aviation industry, the Aviation Administration press service reported.  The Aviation Administration was created in August 2019 to conduct the regulatory activity which was done by the government and to…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Chevron CEO Michael Wirth explored the company’s prospects in the country’s oil and gas sector during a video conference call, the Akorda press service reported. Tokayev and Wirth focused on Chevron’s activities in Kazakhstan and it’s projects in the country’s hydrocarbon sector amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan is planning on increasing women’s representation up to 30 percent in the management of companies with state participation, said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during the fourth meeting of the National Council of Public Trust, the Akorda press service reported.  Tokayev noted that women are still underrepresented in top management. Women currently hold…

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh and UK capital hosted the virtual Kazakhstan Global Investment Forum 2020 which was meant to facilitate Kazakh-British investments, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service reported. More than 500 heads of state bodies and companies in the processing industry, agriculture, chemical, mining, and financial sectors, as well as metallurgy, alternative energy, logistics…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chaired the Oct. 22 first meeting of the Сouncil on Reforms, the Akorda press service reported. The Сouncil was created in September and is meant to serve as a supreme body for finalizing and adopting the nation’s reform plans. The goal of the new body, announced by Tokayev in…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree scheduling Majilis elections for Jan. 10, 2021, reported Akorda press service. Majilis is the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament consisting of 107 deputies, who are elected for a five-year term. The previous elections were held in March 2016. Six political parties participated in the elections…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan will reduce the number of international flights in an effort to address the surge in coronavirus cases globally and prevent the rise of coronavirus cases in the country, reported Kazakh Prime Minister’s press service.  The decision was made by the government commission on preventing the spread of coronavirus infection on Oct. 26. …

NUR-SULTAN – The government commission to prevent the spread of coronavirus met Oct. 26 and made a decision to reopen movie theatres after nearly a seven-month halt, the Kazakh Prime Minister’s press service reported.  Beginning Oct. 26, movie theaters will be able to operate at 30 percent capacity and following strict distancing rules and the…

NUR-SULTAN – Farkhat Sharipov’s “18 Kilohertz” won a grand prix at the 36th Warsaw International Film Festival that took place in Warsaw Oct. 9-18 despite the coronavirus outbreak. The film narrates the realities of teenage life in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty in the 1990s amid a rising drug problem and depicts the problems young people…

NUR-SULTAN – The majority of Kazakh citizens comply with the new COVID-19 regulations, said Kazakh chief sanitary doctor for transportation Sadvakas Baigabulov. According to the new COVID-19 regulations in effect since Oct. 6, passengers arriving in Kazakhstan must present a COVID-19 test result taken no more than 72 hours prior to the flight. Kazakh citizens violating…

NUR-SULTAN  – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Oct. 16 who was on an official visit to Kazakhstan, the Akorda press service reported.  Tokayev and Shoigu discussed strengthening military and technical cooperation between the two countries.  “The military and technical spheres have a very important role in our strategic…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with resident Abai scholars during his working visit to Semey city in eastern Kazakhstan and praised their important work in preserving national values, Akorda press service reported. “In the 1960s, our writers and poets helped to revive the spirit of the nation. During the thaw period (an unofficial…

NUR-SULTAN – World Bank called for greater investment in human capital development, as it recently presented an update to its Human Capital Index. In the updated report, Kazakhstan is performing relatively well, said World Bank’s Country Manager for Kazakhstan Jean-Francois Marteau. The HCI is an international metric launched in 2018 as part of the Human…

NUR-SULTAN – Two Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins launched on the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft Oct. 15 from Baikonur bound for the International Space Station, reported the Roscosmos press service.  The launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan took place at 11.45 a.m. Nur-Sultan time (1.45 ET time).…