Articles by Assel Satubaldina

The armed forces should be given more opportunities to pursue vocational training, said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during the third meeting of the National Council of Public Trust. “In addition to fulfilling one’s military duty, military service should instill a certain set of professional skills that can be used later on in life,” said Tokayev.…

On May 27, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed a major reshuffle of the nation’s education system as he chaired the third meeting of the National Council of Public Trust focusing on the development of human capital in Kazakhstan. The 44-member council was established in July 2019 to tackle some of the country’s most acute issues.…

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev warned citizens to take all necessary precautions amid the pandemic and instructed the government to address the growing number of COVID-19 cases, as the country continues to ease lockdown restrictions.  “Lockdown measures are not being followed in cities, which leads to an increasing number of coronavirus cases. The government, regional akims…

As the Holy Month of Ramadan came to an end, Muslims around the world, and in Kazakhstan, celebrated Eid al-Fitr, also known as Eid, on Sunday May 24. But while the world is still struggling to curb the pandemic, this year’s Ramadan, which started April 24 and ended May 23, and Eid, brought a very…

As the Holy Month of Ramadan came to an end, Muslims around the world, and in Kazakhstan, celebrated Eid al-Fitr, also known as Eid, on Sunday May 24. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated his fellow citizens on the occasion.  “Oraza Ait (Eid al-Fitr in Kazakh) embodies kindness and blessing, a continuation of the Holy Month…

The official fan club of popular Kazakh singer Dimash Kudaibergen, or Dimash, as he is known to millions of his fans throughout the world, planted 2,780 trees in northwestern China to celebrate Dimash’s birthday on May 24 as part of China’s Million Forest effort.  Dimash was trained in classical and contemporary music and has become…

Kazakhstan will lift agricultural export restrictions and quotas starting June 1, said Kazakh Agriculture Minister Saparkhan Omarov. Kazakhstan, the world’s top wheat producer, introduced wheat and flour export quotas in March at 200,000 tonnes and 70,000 tonnes respectively to ensure domestic supply amid the pandemic and banned export of buckwheat, white sugar, potatoes, onions, garlic,…

Kazakhstan is committed to cutting its oil production by 390,000 barrels a day as part of the newly-minted agreement between the Organisation of the Petroleum  Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, which includes Kazakhstan. In April, OPEC and the OPEC+ nations agreed to a historic 10 million barrel per day production cut…

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosted a teleconference to discuss practical measures taken by Kazakhstan and the United Nations to tackle the pandemic.  Tokayev praised the UN Secretary-General’s active actions to ease the negative impact of the pandemic on national healthcare systems and stressed the central role of the…

Nineteen renewable energy projects worth $1.1 billion are now officially on the docket for Kazakhstan’s latest effort to go green and diversify its energy supply. Nine projects will be launched by December supported by Kazakh Invest, which is the main company responsible for overseeing the country’s investments and assisting investors who want to get involved…

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned 67 years old on May 17, and had to celebrate his birthday under lockdown. “Media representatives kept asking me to share details about how the President would celebrate his birthday. This year, May 17 falls on Sunday so Kassym-Jomart Tokayev will work from home. There will be no events. The…

The global economy is reeling and countries are scrambling to deal with the consequences of the global lockdown that was implemented to deal with the pandemic. For the people forced to live through the lockdown, the future looks bleak as they prepare for more struggle. But not everything is doom and gloom. As coronavirus spread…

After nearly two months in lockdown, life in Kazakhstan is slowly returning to normal, as Kazakhstan moves to reopen places of worship, hotels, small cafes, and summer terraces by May 18. Starting on May 13, domestic flights resumed between Shymkent, Aktau, Uralsk, Zhezkazgan, Balkhash, Urdzhar, and Zaisan. The interdepartmental commission chaired by Kazakh Deputy Prime…

Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov sent a telegram to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressing deep gratitude to his neighbour country for the humanitarian aid and support provided by Kazakhstan in the fight against coronavirus that had a significant adverse impact on the Central Asian economies.  “We appreciate the support of brotherly nations in difficult times as…

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people in Kazakhstan to stay at home and follow social distancing rules, and while for many this has turned out to be a life-shattering experience thanks to the economy collapsing, for the wildlife near the Big Almaty Lake this has been a chance to reclaim natural areas, usually bustling with…

The Kazakh economy may lose 2.3 to 2.7 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) should oil prices remain at the same low levels, said FinReview in its recent report.  Oil has been an economic boon for Kazakhstan, a country that has always relied on its windfall oil and gas revenues that make up 40…

Kazakhstan’s foreign trade turnover grew 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2020 reaching $21 billion, said Kazakh Minister of Trade and Integration Bakhyt Sultanov at a selective government meeting on May 12 chaired by Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin.  The first four months, however, showed a significant downturn in domestic trade. The volume index…

Kazakh citizens can now receive up to 10.6 million tenge (US$25,129) for their efforts reporting corruption, according to Kazakh Anti-Corruption Agency’s Partnership Department Head Rasul Medetov. This year, financial rewards for reporting corruption were increased. If earlier, the reward was approximately 250,000 tenge (US$593), today there is an opportunity to get a reward of up…

A consortium of Istanbul-based TAV Airports Holding and VPE capital, a Russian investment fund, purchased the shares of Kazakhstan’s busiest Almaty Airport and the related jet fuel and catering businesses for $415 million. The negotiations were held with its former owner – Venus Airport Investment –  which went public in 2019.   TAV Airports will be…

Kazakhstan ended the state of emergency on May 11, but decided to keep lockdown measures in place until the situation improves in each region, according to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during a meeting with the government commission that will now become dedicated to leading the economic recovery effort.  The state of emergency was first declared…

Kazakhstan has marked the 75th anniversary of Victory Day on May 9, one of the country’s most important holidays. In any other year, squares across Kazakhstan would be filled with military parades, people marching to commemorate the memory of war veterans and various festivities, but this year was an exception, as the ongoing pandemic forced…

The fifteen nations of the former Soviet Union that lost 26 million people in the Great Patriotic War together celebrated Victory Day on May 9 by singing one of the most popular war songs “Victory Day” online.  More than 1.2 million people from 60 countries took part in the project, part of the celebrations of…

Cities worldwide face an uncertain post-pandemic future, with many hard decisions ahead. The Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan is starting to slowly open back up, with the government easing some restrictions on businesses and ordinary citizens. The road back to normalcy will be long and hard with no one quite sure what post-pandemic life will look…

The Nur-Sultan Akimat (city administration) is supporting more than 20 investment projects in education that will create nearly 25,000 new spots in schools for students and 4,500 places in kindergarten for children in an effort to address the problem of overcrowded schools in Nur-Sultan, which is home to more than 1.2 million people. One of…

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects the economic growth in Central Asia to drop to 2.8 percent in 2020, citing COVID-19, lower petroleum prices, and stagnation in production among its list of reasons in its recent Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020. But the regional economies are expected to pick back up with growth returning to…