Articles by Dilshat Zhussupova

ASTANA – Kazakh chess player Zhansaya Abdumalik was named the world’s best female chess player under 20 in three variants, reported the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KCF). As of January, Abdumalik’s Elo rating is 2,468 in standard chess, 2,490 in rapid chess and 2,368 in blitz chess. She is the first Kazakh chess player to top…

ASTANA – The honorary award Patron of the Year was awarded to philanthropists Sergey Blok, Alibek Semgaliyev and Bekbolat Achibekov at the Dec. 12 national award ceremony Narodnyi Lubimets (People’s Choice) at the Rixos President Astana Hotel. Born in 1969 in the Kostanai region, Blok completed his education at the Kostanai Institute of Physical Education,…

ASTANA – The Kazakh national football team will begin its Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with home matches at Astana Arena against Scotland and Russia March 21 and March 24, respectively, reported UEFA.com. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Euro 2020 qualifying tournament will determine the 24 UEFA-member men’s national teams advancing to the finals.…

ASTANA – Kazakh Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev and the then Minister for Investments and Development Zhenis Kassymbek reported on the country’s heat supply in the autumn-winter period at a Dec. 25 government meeting. Generally, consumers have been fully provided with electrical and thermal energy. The maximum electrical load of 14,740 megawatts was reached Dec.…

ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Healthcare will set price ceilings on the sale of medicine across all regions in the country, said Pharmacy Committee Head Lyudmila Byurabekova during a recent online Primeminister.kz conference. When the law “On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts on the Circulation of Medicinal Products and Medical Devices” enters…

ASTANA – Six Kazakh representatives recently gained membership in the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) Commission for the first time, reports the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KCF) press service. Traditionally, prominent chess players who have made a significant contribution to the game’s development in their country receive membership, which is determined once every three years. “The…

ASTANA – Approximately two trillion tenge (US$5,332,054,000) was invested in housing through the Nurly Zher housing programme over the past two years, with 5.5 tenge (US$0.02) of private investment attracted for every 1 tenge (US$0.0027) of public funds, reports Primeminister.kz. Approximately 354.4 billion tenge (US$840,864,915) and 1.73 trillion tenge (US$4,612,226,710) of private funds were invested…

ASTANA – The recent 2018 Central Asian Documentary Film Festival (CADF) in Almaty explored themes of environment, identity and migration in the region. The documentary festival was part of Almaty’s fifth Clique Film Festival and included short and feature-length film directors from Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands and Russia. They were evaluated by jury…

ASTANA – Avicenna, Almaty’s Tajik cultural centre founded in 2009, seeks to strengthen Kazakhstan’s inter-ethnic harmony and ensure the preservation and development of the ethnic group’s traditions, customs and culture. The community of up to 100 members studies Kazakh-Tajik historical and cultural relations and organises music, dance, art, literature and poetry events. Key projects include…

ASTANA – Kazakh racer Lyubov Andreyeva will compete against 60 women to participate in the single-seater racing championship W Series 2019. Formula 1 (F1) has long been primarily men’s competition, which W Series aims to address by launching a new all-female motor racing series. The qualifiers’ driver line-up features women selected from a pool of…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering’s (KPE) latest armoured wheeled vehicle, the Barys 6×6, recently showed it can stand up to even the harshest Kazakh winter conditions. Barys, meaning snow leopard, is the Kazakh name for the Mbombe military vehicle designed and developed by the Paramount Group. It was recently tested in winter conditions in the…

ASTANA – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) set a 4 percent growth projection for Kazakhstan in its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2018 Supplement report, released Dec. 11. ADO is an annual print and online publication offering socioeconomic analyses and forecasts on Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific in March or…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s ministers reviewed the country’s socioeconomic development for the past year at a Dec. 11 government meeting, receiving positive assessment from Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth has remained steady at 4.1 percent for the last three months, said Minister of National Economy Timur Suleimenov. “The main factors for economic…

ASTANA – The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) new report “Climate Change Adaptation in Europe and Central Asia: Adapting to a Changing Climate for Resilient Development,” which draws on lessons learned from Kazakhstan’s wheat farming project, was presented at the Dec. 2-14 Katowice Climate Change conference in Poland. “With impressive development progress over the past…

ASTANA – Astana officials have completed construction on 71 out of 100 residential housing projects in which construction began since 2015 but was never completed. “In early 2015, more than 100 incomplete objects were identified, for which there were complaints from residents who had purchased housing but did not receive it,” said Astana Deputy Mayor…

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s tourism brand was presented to the general public Dec. 7 at Astana’s Travel Media Talks international forum and will soon be submitted for state approval. Tourism industry development is a state policy priority, as indicated by the 100 Concrete Steps to Implement Five Institutional Reforms initiative, the Strategic Development Plan until 2020…

ASTANA – The Kazakh youth population aged 16 to 24 will increase 30 percent by 2030 and will require more targeted state support in entering and remaining in employment, education and training, said an education expert in an interview with The Astana Times. One in five Kazakh citizens belong to the younger generation, with 2.3…

ASTANA – Developing public indoor space will meaningfully improve citizens’ wellbeing and activism in Kazakhstan’s cold and fast-growing capital, said local and foreign experts at Urban Forum Kazakhstan’s Dec. 5 international seminar on the topic. Adil Nurmakov, the public foundation’s co-founder, began by familiarising attendees with the public’s third place, a social environment separate from…

ASTANA – The 11th annual Diplomatic Christmas Charity Bazaar organised by the Ambassadors’ Spouses Association (ASA) took place Dec. 2 in Astana. Forty-six embassies, charity organisations and schools sold handicrafts, souvenirs and national products and dishes to support local charities at the bazaar in Astana Radisson Hotel. Thousands attended this year’s bazaar, many of whom…

ASTANA – Central Asia is shedding its image as a mere domain of competition among great powers and increasingly asserting its agency, said a Swedish scholar in a recent visit to Astana. Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst Deputy Editor and Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI) and Institute of Security and Development Policy (ISDP) Researcher Niklas Nilsson presented Nov.…

ASTANA – The Akmola Department of Cossacks serves as the region’s ethno-cultural organisation for Cossacks, who number approximately 100,000 in Kazakhstan. The similar-sounding ethnonyms Cossack and Kazakh in the Kazakh language are suggestive of the way in which the ethnic groups’ history is closely tied. Historically, Cossacks in Kazakhstan consisted of several territorial groups that…

ASTANA – The World Trade Centres Association (WTCA) will begin construction in late 2019 of Kazakhstan’s second $200-million World Trade Centre (WTC), reports Tengrinews.kz. A WTC is a building or complex of buildings established and operated by the World Trade Centres Association (WTCA). It places all services associated with global commerce under a single roof…

ASTANA – Tariffs for electricity, natural gas, coal, heating, water, capital house maintenance firms and telecommunication will decrease Jan. 1, 2019, said Kazakh ministers at a Nov. 26 government meeting. Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev reported on electricity and commercial gas price reduction measures. The ministry is lowering tariffs and cost for electricity, from 700,000…

ASTANA – Alik Aidarbayev and Sauat Mynbayev were appointed Nov. 20 Kazmunaygas (KMG) and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) chairpersons of the board, respectively, reports the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund’s press service. Astana-based KMG is Kazakhstan’s national operator for hydrocarbon exploration, production, refining and transportation. Ninety percent of its shares are managed by Samruk Kazyna…

ASTANA – Astana Akim (Mayor) Bakhyt Sultanov shared at a Nov. 22 meeting plans to achieve Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ideas, which the President put forth in his article “Seven Facets of the Great Steppe,” reports the capital’s akimat (city administration). The president has recently written on equestrian culture, ancient metallurgy, the Great Silk Road…