Kazakhstan needs to establish Kazakh school of Islamic studies, says minister
ASTANA – Kazakh Minister for Religions and Civil Society Affairs Nurlan Yermekbayev spoke about the need to establish a Kazakh school of Islamic studies during a Sept. 18 Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) government hour. The ministry was established in September 2016 and he noted increasing religiosity among those in the population who have become…
More than 1,700 rural settlements to access broadband internet through Digital Kazakhstan
ASTANA – More than 1,700 rural settlements, home to approximately two million people, will gain access to broadband internet as part of the Digital Kazakhstan programme, said Minister of Information and Communication Dauren Abayev during a Sept. 26 government meeting. The government reviewed the progress of the programme that seeks to build an affordable digital…
Draft Latin-based Kazakh alphabet presented in Mazhilis, provokes heated public debate
ASTANA – Kazakh State Secretary Gulshara Adbykalikova, deputies, representatives of state bodies and the alphabet developers attended discussions in the Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) Sept. 11 about the draft of the Latin alphabet scheduled to enter in force by 2025. The idea of switching from Cyrillic script to Latin script was first voiced by…
Final de-escalation zone established as Syrian talks end in Astana
ASTANA – The sixth round of the international meetings on Syria ended Sept. 15 in Astana with the participants agreeing on a final de-escalation zone in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. It will be the fourth zone where no military activity would be allowed as envisioned in the May 4 agreement signed by Iran, Russia and…
St. Regis opens hotel in Astana
ASTANA – Astana is becoming an attractive tourist destination, as the young and vibrant city has been recently hosting numerous international events and the Aug. 21 opening of the St. Regis in Astana makes the city an even more appealing destination for sophisticated travellers. With the first flagship St. Regis opening in New York in…
First OIC Summit on Science and Technology takes place in Astana
ASTANA – Sept. 10 in the capital featured not only the spectacular closing of EXPO 2017, a major event in Kazakh history, but also the first Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit on Science and Technology, another important opportunity for the nation and the organisation’s 57 members. The summit adopted the Astana Declaration affirming the…
Kazakhstan imports $62.8 million in tea in six months
ASTANA – Kazakhstan imported 17,200 tonnes of tea worth $62.8 million in the first six months of the year. The world’s largest tea importers include Kenya, India, Russia, Sri Lanka and China. Sales rose 15 percent despite a 16-percent increase in coffee and tea prices and an average price of 2,900 tenge (US$8.53) per kilogram…
Astana hosts Global Islamic Finance Awards
ASTANA – The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) hosted Sept. 6 the Global Islamic Finance Awards (GIFA), a prestigious award honouring individuals and institutions that have contributed to the promotion of Islamic banking and finance. Established in 2011 by Edbiz Corporation, an international Shariah advisory firm, the award seeks to push Islamic banking and finance…
Kazakh energy sector investments to total $57 billion in 2017-2025
ASTANA – Investments in Kazakhstan’s energy sector will total 19 trillion tenge (US$57 billion) in 2017-2025 and 97 percent will be private investments, Kazakh Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev told the Sept. 7-8 11th Kazenergy Eurasian Forum in Astana. The forum’s theme this year was Securing the Future of Energy. Highlighting the event was the…
Kazakh girls win Technovation Challenge in Silicon Valley, say will go on inventing
ASTANA – A team of Kazakh girls won the grand prize at the 2017 Technovation World Pitch Summit organised by Google Aug. 10. Girls aged 10-18 from more than 30 countries around the globe competed in 102 teams over the five-day event in Silicon Valley. Only six, including two teams from Kazakhstan, made it to…
Energy intensity drops 28 percent in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – The energy intensity of Kazakhstan’s economy has decreased by 28 percent since 2008, Kazakhstan’s First Vice Minister of Investment and Development Alik Aidarbayev said during a Sept. 5 press conference on the nation’s energy saving policies. Energy intensity is measured as the quantity of energy per unit of gross domestic product (GDP); as…
Objective factors affect investors’ decision to invest in Kazakhstan, says Kazakh Invest executive
ASTANA – Various objective factors, including the global political situation and unstable tenge rate, affect the investment climate in Kazakhstan, which Kazakh Invest Deputy Chair Nursultan Zhienbayev said complicate investors’ decision-making processes about the profitability and safety of investing in the country’s economy. Established in March, Kazakh Invest works to promote investment activities in the…
Kazakhstan steps up radicalism prevention efforts
ASTANA – Work to prevent the spread of religious radicalism is well underway in Kazakhstan, as state agencies led by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Civil Society are implementing a comprehensive set of measures to contend with the problem. The action is in line with the fifth direction in the nation’s Third Modernisation, Global…
Kazakh economy grows 4 percent in 2017 so far, projected to grow 3.4 percent by year’s end
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s economy has witnessed a 4-percent growth in the first seven months of 2017 and Minister of Economy Timur Suleimenov marked the overall macroeconomic stability during an Aug. 29 government meeting that focused on the main priorities of the nation’s socio-economic development for 2018-2022. The government also approved the budget for the next…
Zaman-Bank becomes Kazakhstan’s second Islamic Bank
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s previously commercial Zaman-Bank became an official Islamic bank Aug. 17 after receiving a license from the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The license allows the bank to tap into the Islamic banking sector and makes Zaman-Bank the second Islamic bank in the country. Established in 1991, Zaman-Bank announced plans to convert to an…
More than 250 projects worth $5.1 billion launched in first two years of industrialisation plan
ASTANA – Kazakhstan launched 258 projects worth 1.7 trillion tenge (US$5.1 billion) in the first two years of its second five-year industrialisation plan. The plan is meant to diversify the country’s economy and boost domestic production. Kazakhstan’s First Vice Minister of Investments and Development Alik Aidarbayev reported on the country’s progress in its State Industrial…
Charity Tour de Burabay marks fifth anniversary, raises $481,000
ASTANA – Charity Tour de Burabay, an annual cycling ride for charity, gathered 1,500 people Aug. 19, including 718 participants along with professional cyclists, sports and government representatives, to experience a 30-kilometre journey through Burabay scenery, one of the most popular resort areas in Kazakhstan. Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the event raised 160 million tenge…
African countries celebrate National Day with energetic dances, coffee and tea tastings
ASTANA – The African countries participating in EXPO 2017 celebrated the continent’s National Day Aug. 15 by featuring dance and musical performances as well as extensive discussions between young people from Kazakhstan and Africa. The African Plaza stretches across 2,700 square metres representing 25 countries and their approaches to green energy development. National Day was…
As trade booms, Kazakhstan, Romania are stepping up bilateral relations, Bucharest envoy says
ASTANA – Kazakhstan and Romania are taking bilateral cooperation to a new level, tapping into the huge potential for extensive partnerships between the two nations, Ambassador of Romania to Kazakhstan Cezar Manole Armeanu told The Astana Times during a discussion of prospects for Kazakh-Romanian cooperation and priorities for his term. Armeanu embarked on his duties…
EAEU to adopt pension mobility across member states
ASTANA – The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will have a common pension space soon, ensuring equal pension rights for people across the union. Сitizens of five EAEU member states Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia will also be able to use their drivers’ licences in all member-states, as work is underway to finalise legislative issues…
Three new brands to export Kazakh meat
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Investments and Development along with the Ministry of Agriculture are setting up three meat brands to export to international markets, according to First Vice Minister of Investments and Development Alik Aidarbayev. KazakhMeat, Qazaq Organic Food and Halal Kazakhstan are three umbrella brands controlled by the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs incorporating…
Turkish AIGP invests $30 million in pharmaceutical plant in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – This year marks the fifth anniversary of the presence of Turkish pharmaceutical industry leader Abdi İbrahim on the Kazakh pharmaceutical market. Over these years, the company has been expanding its operations in Kazakhstan as well as constructing a modern pharmaceutical plant worth $30 million in Almaty region. In 2012, Abdi Ibrahim bought a…
Kazakh student promotes nuclear weapons-free world at Peace Foundation in New Zealand
ASTANA – Working to promote peaceful practices and a nuclear weapons-free world has been Arailym Kubayeva’s mission for the last five months at the Peace Foundation office in Auckland, New Zealand. Kazakhstan-born Kubayeva spoke about her projects at the organisation and her motivations and challenges in an interview with The Astana Times. After graduating from…
Kazakhstan’s largest Ferris wheel unveiled in Astana
ASTANA – A 65-metre Ferris wheel opened July 31 in Astana. It is the largest in Kazakhstan and the second largest in the Commonwealth of Independent States space after Moscow’s 75-metre wheel. It offers 36 cabins, each designed for six people, with air conditioning and heating. Most importantly, the wheel offers spectacular panoramic views not…
Astana prepares rich cultural programme as EXPO 2017 passes halfway point
ASTANA – EXPO 2017 may have passed its halfway point, but there are still numerous opportunities to enjoy the exhibition. A rich cultural programme of concerts and theatre performances in August and early September awaits capital residents and visitors, offering everyone a chance to get the most out of the expo. Limp Bizkit fans should…
