Articles by Michelle Witte

ASTANA – A conference in memory of the victims of 20th century repression and starvation in Kazakhstan was held on May 31, Kazakhstan’s Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repression and Hunger, in the capital’s Palace of Independence. “The purpose of such a conference is to understand the lessons of the history of political…

ASTANA – The Akimat (city administration) of Astana has issued a list of safety guidelines to coincide with the official June 1 launch of swimming season, reminding local swimmers that 14–25 people die in the water each year. Most accidents are due to swimming or boating while intoxicated and that nearly all fatal accidents occur…

ASTANA – An international seminar on the oral history of the Nunn-Lugar weapons of mass destruction decommissioning programme launched in Astana on June 1 with statements from Russian, American and Kazakh diplomats and participants in Nunn-Lugar supported operations. The conference will continue in a closed format over the next three days. “We are here because…

ASTANA – The UN Development Programme and the Kazakh government have launched a five-year, $71.3 million project to generate and support Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) for Low-carbon Urban Development in Kazakhstan. The NAMAs are expected to encompass investments in infrastructure, capacity building, awareness raising and technical assistance and reduce Kazakhstan’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions…

ASTANA – The Concluding Statement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation that visited Kazakhstan from May 13–26 found slowing growth and tightening financial conditions in the country, according to the statement published on the IMF website on May 26. The statement largely blamed external shocks for the growth slowdown, but counselled fiscal consolidation, a…

ASTANA – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a 2.5 billion tenge (US$13.4 million) loan to replace obsolete rolling stock in the city of Pavlodar, an EBRD press release announced on May 21. The loan, supplemented by government grants, will be used to modernise the tramway system in the northeastern city…

ASTANA – The UN Development Programme is pursuing a stronger partnership with Kazakhstan, believing that the country can be a strong player in south-south cooperation and an important proponent of the organisation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNDP Administrator Helen Clark told The Astana Times on May 24. “What I’ve raised here is our interest in…

ASTANA – As Kazakhstan develops as a regional player and establishes its national development aid agency as a donor, international development and aid organisations are keen to establish more strategic partnerships and more dialogue with the country. Among these is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “We have good cooperation with the government…

ASTANA – Amid modern Kazakhstan’s ubiquitous gadgets and the increasingly slivered style of communication everywhere, some of the country’s urban residents are taking the time to step out of the information highway for a while and read, at length, together. “The reason I decided to found a reading club is very simple,” said Jeanne Kimanoff,…

ASTANA – A new phase of the multi-million dollar commercialisation collaboration between Kazakhstan and the World Bank was announced this week at the Astana Economic Forum during a panel on Developing an Innovation and Commercialisation Ecosystem in Kazakhstan. Local and international experts also assessed the current commercialisation environment in Kazakhstan and offered advice for its…

ASTANA – At the initial side event panel on official development assistance (ODA) at the Astana Economic Forum, international aid experts called for a post-Millennium Development Goals ODA programme to focus on prevention, longer-term planning and capacity building, acting as a catalyst to other investment. They also advised Kazakhstan in developing its KazAID programme, Central…

ASTANA – Twenty-eight schools in Astana marked Europe Day on May 13 with ambassadors and senior diplomats from 15 European Union member states offering “European Union hour” lessons to more than 1,000 students, an EU mission press release announced. Sessions were held in English, French and German in the 28 secondary schools across the Kazakh…

ASTANA – Five Kazakh startups have won the opportunity to be flown to the Echelon Asia Summit in Singapore next month, after beating out nine other local competitors. Fourteen startups from Kazakhstan pitched to judges including Christian Mischler, co-founder of HotelQuickly of Sydney; Hassan Haider, venture partner in 500 Startups of San Francisco; Jeffrey Paine, founding partner of…

ASTANA – Nazarbayev University’s Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programme attracts middle and upper-level managers with its Duke University strategic collaboration and convenience to Astana. But perhaps its biggest impact will come not through the network and the hard data it offers students, but from changing their thinking about building relationships and creating corporate culture. …

ASTANA – Remittances to Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caucusus have fallen to 2009 levels, impeding the growth rates of Central Asian economies, according to a May 14 press release from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).  “[D]eep recession in the Russian economy, which we now project to contract by 4.5 per…

BISHKEK – Bishkek’s new public school No. 82, which was funded by Kazakhstan, has been in full swing for a little more than a month, and the students and teachers are already reaping the benefits of their new facilities.  “Now, we have room to put on events and concerts,” said Principal Atyrkul Konyshbayeva in an…

ASTANA – The Kazakh government has allocated 41 million euros ($45.7 million) to expand European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) programmes in the country that support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an EBRD press release announced on May 8.  The EBRD and the government have signed three agreements totalling the 41 million euros. Twenty-two…

ASTANA – Chinese President China Xi Jinping and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed during Xi’s May 7 visit to Kazakhstan to align development strategies, Xinhua News reported. In 2013, Xi announced in a speech at Astana’s Nazarbayev University China’s New Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, which is meant to facilitate the integration of the economies…

ASTANA – The Embassy of South Africa in Astana celebrated its country’s Freedom Day on April 27 with a reception in the Astana Marriott Hotel attended by members of the diplomatic corps in the city and representatives of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Freedom Day marks South Africa’s first open, democratic elections as well as…

ASTANA – Huge, sparsely populated, with sprawling wilderness areas, Kazakhstan seems brimming with potential as a hunting destination, especially given its own hunting traditions (and the population’s abiding love of meat). However, wildlife management and the hunting industry have so far failed to develop.  A joint project launched by Kazakhstan and the UN Development Programme…

ASTANA – April 30th was the closing day of a five-year, $200.9 million World Bank-supported project to bring much-needed electricity to Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty. The Alma Electricity Transmission project financed the construction of a 321.7-kilometre overhead transmission line, the World Bank website reports. The line carries power from the Almaty region’s Balkhash thermal power…

ASTANA – Nazarbayev University (NU) and the Technology Commercialisation Centre (TCC) in Astana are beginning a new form of collaboration that will see students from NU’s master of business administration programme working, hands on, with projects funded through the TCCs ongoing grants programme. The new collaboration fits within TCC’s overall theme of connecting business to…

ASTANA – Three projects supported by the Technology Commercialisation Centre (TCC) in Astana have already signed commercial contracts in what TCC representatives call the project’s first real deals, which they say are coming in ahead of schedule.  The three projects’ deals are “signed, done and in the bank,” said TCC Lead Expert Erik Azulay in…

ASTANA – To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations this year, the Coalition for a Green Economy and the Development of G-Global, the Astana EXPO 2017 company, the United Nations office in Kazakhstan, the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) and the Sustainable Development Land Foundation came together to organise a tree-planting event coinciding with…

ASTANA – The Joint Study Group of Israel and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has concluded its study on the feasibility of establishing a free trade zone between the new economic union and Israel, Novosti-Kazakhstan reported on April 17. The group will give its recommendations over the summer, after which formal negotiations could launch.  “Economically,…