Articles by Nazira Kozhanova

NUR-SULTAN – Aida Balayeva and Maulen Ashimbayev were appointed July 22 and July 30, respectively, as assistants to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Gani Nygymetov was appointed July 30 as head of the Domestic Policy Department of the Administration of the President, Zakon.kz reports. Balayeva was appointed as an Assistant and Head of Department for Monitoring…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh MMA fighter Shavkat Rakhmonov became July 31 the first Kazakh MMA fighter to sign a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Khabar 24 reports. “The UFC is currently the number one (championship) in the world. Everyone who watches MMA wants someone from Kazakhstan to go there, to raise our flag, to…

NUR-SULTAN – Construction of the National Oncology Research Centre in the capital is scheduled for completion by March 2021, reported primeminister.kz following Prime Minister Askar Mamin’s July 27 visit to the site. The centre is being built at the direction of First President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Mamin reviewed the report regarding the construction roadmap…

NUR-SULTAN – The new Central Asia Strategy, devised by the European Union (EU) addresses new realities of Central Asian countries and encourages cooperative solutions, Head of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan Ambassador Sven-Olov Carlsson recently told The Astana Times in an exclusive interview. “The Central Asia Strategy aims to forge a stronger, modern and non-exclusive…

NUR-SULTAN – A ferroalloy production plant opened July 24 in Karaganda. Kazakh Prime-Minister Askar Mamin took part in the opening ceremony. The plant’s primary product is a high-quality ferrosilicon (FeSi75), which is the key element in steel production and alloying.  At the first production stage, the plant is set to produce 180,000 tonnes of fully…

NUR-SULTAN – The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and Bank CenterCredit (BCC) signed July 24 a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop the BCC open financial platform based on OpenAPI (application program interface) technologies. “We are ready for productive cooperation with Bank CenterCredit in the development of OpenAPI technology. It will expand the capabilities of…

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh karate team won three medals July 20 at the 2019 Asia Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Andrei Aktauov took gold and Didar Amirali and Sofia Berultseva won silver, reported Olympic.kz. “The results of the latest Asian Championship, compared with last year, turned out to be more than successful for us, especially considering…

NUR-SULTAN – The 13th round of the Astana Process Syrian peace talks will take place Aug. 1-2 in Nur-Sultan, reports the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting will include for the first time observers from Lebanon and Iraq. The meeting will focus on the situation in Syria, in particular, the province of Idlib and…

NUR-SULTAN – A new surgery centre opened July 14 in Semey. This centre uses hybrid surgery technologies that are unique to Kazakhstan and corresponds to international joint commission accreditation standards for hospitals, reports KazInform. “Today, I enjoyed working with modern, high-class equipment in the new surgical room, which has no analogues in Kazakhstan. A hybrid…

NUR-SULTAN – Jastar Kerueny, the domestic tourism promotion project devised by creative young Kazakhs collaborating with established influencers, will launch Aug. 12, reported Kazinform. The project is designed to both promote and study Kazakh tourist destinations. The millennials involved will gather in the capital that day to initiate the project. The programme will include a…

NUR-SULTAN – The Great Steppe History travelling exhibition opened July 13 in an exhibit centre in Taldykorgan in the Almaty Region, reported Tengrinews.kz. “The idea of the exhibition was inspired by the ‘Seven Facets of the Great Steppe’ article. What is the world’s perception of the peculiarities of the people living in the arid zone…

NUR-SULTAN – Wildberries General Director Tatyana Bakalchuk and Kazakh Invest Deputy Chairman of the Board Ruslan Issatayev signed a memorandum July 9 launching electronic expertise centres to support Kazakh entrepreneurs willing to export their goods. The document details opening three centres in the capital, Almaty and Shymkent, with the first launching in the capital by…

NUR-SULTAN – Starting in September, Kazakh students will be able to pay a part of their tuition by volunteering, said Director of the Department of Higher and Postgraduate Education of the Ministry of Education and Science Adlet Toibayev at a July 7 press conference. The programme will be available through a soon-to-be launched website, where…

NUR-SULTAN –The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) and the Kazakh Government hosted July 3-4 in Nur-Sultan the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) workshop for Central Asia and Mongolia. The workshop sought to promote the universalisation and implementation of the treaty and to expand its membership in Central…

NUR-SULTAN – Izi, a new MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) that provides its services exclusively online, has entered the Kazakh market, reported Forbes.kz. The operator is using a KaR-Tel company licence. Izi, which launched the beta version of its services June 27, offers an alternative to conventional customer support (service offices and call centres). The…

NUR-SULTAN – Astana Opera Ballet staged a gala programme July 9 in Kaunas, Lithuania. The performance received high praise from both local critics and the audience, reported zakon.kz. The programme included classic and contemporary pieces. Altynai Assylmuratova started the concert with the pas de deux from “Giselle” by Adolphe Adam, followed by Anastasiya Zaklinskaya and…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh gymnasts Milad Karimi and Nariman Kurbanov won silver medals in the crossbar and the pommel-horse exercises, respectively, July 7 at the 2019 Universiade, reports Olympic.kz. In the crossbar exercises competition final, Karimi finished second with a score of 14.675. The winner of the competition was Chia-Hung Tangu from Taiwan, Ivan Stretovich from…

NUR-SULTAN – Celebrations began July 4 for the 2019 Day of the Capital celebration marking the 21st anniversary of the establishment of Nur-Sultan, formerly Astana, as the capital of Kazakhstan. The events featured concerts, festivals, karaoke competitions and more than 100 other events that were attended by more than 450,000 people, reports Tengrinews.kz website.  The…

NUR-SULTAN – Astana Finance Days hosted the Financing the Economy through Capital Market Instruments Forum, Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) Law Conference, Islamic Finance Conference and other events July 3 and 4. Also, several memorandums were signed over the two days of meetings. On July 3, Astana Finance Days hosted the Financing the Economy through…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the nation’s railway and logistics company, launched a new ticket sales system on July 1. The system is aimed at countering resales, which have become a problem during the summer tourist season, reported Tengrinews.kz. The change was recommended by the Adal Zhol project office, which seeks to identify and…

NUR-SULTAN – The second day of the Astana Finance Days conference in the capital included the opening ceremony of the Astana International Finance Centre (AIFC) International Arbitration Centre (IAC) and EdTech and FinTech summits. The IAC provides an independent alternative to court litigation and uses international standards to settle AIFC civil and commercial disputes. The…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan continued its efforts to improve and reform its justice system with a national conference in the nation’s capital June 27 on the country’s juvenile penal system. “Kazakhstan is a country that implements a fair criminal justice policy for children, meeting the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.…

NUR-SULTAN – The Astana Hub recently launched Roadshow 2019, a programme to promote start-up projects internationally. The programme will help start-ups grow and secure international funding and will promote tech entrepreneurship, reports Bnews.kz. The programme includes complex coaching for start-up project entrepreneurs and bringing them to the world’s largest tech events. Upcoming events roadshow participants…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan and the United Nations signed an agreement June 25 in Paris to establish an international centre for the rapprochement of cultures in Almaty under UNESCO, reports primeminister.kz. The centre will promote cultural studies and research in related fields, prepare publications and organise educational activities on the history and practice of intercultural interaction…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh swimmers Adilbek Mussin and Dmitri Balandin earned gold and silver at the Dolfin Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions June 22-24 in Southern California (United States), reported Olympic.kz. Mussin took gold and silver; Balandin, silver. The latter swam the first day in the 200-metre breaststroke crown-style competition, finishing behind Asian Games 2018…