Kazakhstan proposes improving business taxation, cancelling apartment owners’ land tax
NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh Interdepartmental Commission on Legislative Activities discussed the concept of a draft law July 30 introducing amendments and addenda to certain legislative taxation acts to attract investments, develop the business environment and improve tax administration. The changes are grouped in seven blocks. The first involves simplifying tax payments to individuals and abolishing…
Kazakh Anticorruption Agency calls for improved automated vehicle weight measuring systems
NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh Anticorruption Agency is seeking to improve automated vehicle weight measuring systems that were installed since 2010, but are out of use due to technical issues. The agency noted the importance of preventing road damage from overweight vehicles and collecting funds for road repair. The government planned to use the system to…
Capital considers building rehabilitation centre for children with disabilities
NUR-SULTAN – Capital Akim (Mayor) Altai Kulginov recently raised the question of opening a new centre for individuals with disabilities after visiting the city’s social services centre. Its specialists provide services for children with psychoneurological pathologies and musculoskeletal system dysfunctions and individuals with disabilities as well as those who are physically or mentally unable to…
Golovkin to fight Derevyanchenko for his old world title
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh professional boxer Gennady Golovkin will now have the chance to win back his old title with a fight against Ukrainian professional boxer Serhiy Derevyanchenko as a result of an Aug. 5 decision by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), reports ESPN. Mexican professional boxer Canelo Álvarez was stripped of his IBF middleweight title…
New Kazakh ministry will focus on environment, preventing poaching and managing water resources
NUR-SULTAN – The newly established Kazakh Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources will focus primarily on developing the county’s Environmental Code, establishing mechanisms to fight poaching and deforestation and managing water resources and geological problems, according to an Aug. 3 announcement during the ministry’s first meeting. The ministry is expected to submit a proposed…
Kazakhstan to participate for second time in Junior Eurovision Song Contest
NUR-SULTAN – The finalist of “The Voice Kids” in Russia Yerzhan Maksim will represent Kazakhstan at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019, said Kazakh Minister of Information and Social Development Dauren Abayev in a July 29 Facebook post. “I am pleased to announce that Kazakhstan will take part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for…
Selection for Kazakhstan’s presidential personnel reserve begins
NUR-SULTAN – Selection for the Presidential Personnel Reserve, which President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev talked about in his election programme, “Well-being for all! Continuity. Justice. Progress” will begin Sept. 1. For the first time, young Kazakh people, who have achieved significant success in areas such as innovative technologies, engineering, business, medicine, economics and culture have the opportunity…
Enbek state programme adds new mechanisms for gaining employment
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s Enbek state programme has added new mechanisms for gaining employment, reported First Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Population Yerzhan Zhilkibayev on July 29. New jobs are available through 14 state programmes addressing the country’s labour market. “Today, about 8.7 million people participate in the labour market. In order to…
High Court in London renews arrest warrant for fugitive Kazakh banker
NUR-SULTAN – The High Court in London issued a new arrest warrant July 25 for former BTA Bank Board of Directors Chairperson Mukhtar Ablyazov, reported the bank’s press service. The ruling was extended on Ablyazov’s detention to 22 months July 16 for the contempt of court decision rendered in February 2012. The detention instructs police…
Dimash Kudaibergen participates in #Abai175 poetry challenge
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh singer/songwriter Dimash Kudaibergen is one of the latest people to participate in the #Abai175 poetry challenge dedicated to the Kazakh poet and thinker’s 175th birthday. He was nominated by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. “With great respect, I took from the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev the challenge of reading poems…
E-kyzmet system to better connect performance to promotion of civil servants
NUR-SULTAN – The Civil Service Affairs Agency is planning to use the E-kyzmet system to monitor civil servants’ career promotion as the meritocracy principle remains one of its priority tasks. The agency will strengthen control in observing the principle in public service. In accordance with state employees’ appeals, there is a proposal to provide additional…
Kazakh children win medals at Winners Games for cancer survivors
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh children won medals at the July 3-8 World Children’s Winners Games for cancer surviving children in Moscow. Expenses for some of the participants were paid by the Young Talents Samruk Kazyna programme. “I really enjoyed the games, where more than 500 people from 15 countries took part. I participated in chess and…
Palace of Martial Arts opens in Nur-Sultan
NUR-SULTAN – The new, government-sponsored Palace of Martial Arts opened July 6 in the capital. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attended the opening. The 32,000-square-metre, $50.8 million centre will offer training facility for professional and amateur martial arts athletes. It has been built by the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund and includes a gym, fitness centre,…
Kazakhstan aims to increase production of, reduce prices for locally-produced electric cars
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan wants to increase production of and lower prices for electric cars in the country, said Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Amaniyaz Yerzhanov at a July 10 government press conference. “Foreign automakers believe that, by 2022, the sale of electric cars will reach 89 percent, and we should not lag behind,”…
Kazakhstan plans to abandon EDS to receive electronic services
NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh government is planning to facilitate receiving electronic services by using one-time Short Message Service (SMS) passwords or single identification numbers rather than an electronic digital signature (EDS), said Civil Service Affairs Agency Chair Anar Zhailganova at a July 5 press conference. “The agency has established that one of the factors hindering…
Altyn Adam World exhibition tour opens in North Macedonia
NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh National Museum opened The Great Steppe: History and Culture exhibition July 11 at the Macedonian National Archaeological Museum in Skopje. The display, part of the Altyn Adam (Golden Man) World international exhibition, will afford residents an opportunity to see the mysteries of the vast area. The Altyn Adam World exhibition tour…
Kazakh government plans to provide 46,000 people with new skills this year
NUR-SULTAN – The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, in conjunction with the Centre for the Development of Labour Resources, has revised the approach for selecting educational institutions to conduct short-term training courses as part of the Enbek state programme to develop productive employment and mass entrepreneurship in 2017-2021. The ministry expects the change will…
KazAvtoProm increases car sales, number of domestically-assembled cars hikes
NUR-SULTAN – KazAvtoProm, the Kazakh Union of Automotive Enterprises, sold 24,700 new passenger and light commercial vehicles in the country from January-May, a 19.9-percent increase year-on-year. More than half of the cars, or 13,745 vehicles, were assembled domestically. The share increased from 47.1 in 2018 to 55.6 percent this year, reported ranking.kz. The number of…
Kazakhstan to create more favourable conditions for ethnic brethren returning from abroad
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan is attempting to create better conditions for oralmans (ethnic Kazakhs leaving in other states and returning to their historic motherland)) by improving the legislation concerning them and creating additional adaptation and integration centres, said Vice Minister of Labour and Social Security Akmadi Sarbasov. According to the current legislation, oralmans who want to…
Executing debt relief for approximately 500,000 Kazakhstan citizens to cost $274 million over two months, say ministers
NUR-SULTAN – Approximately 105 billion tenge (US$274.32 million) will be required to execute President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s decree to provide debt relief to some of the country’s most vulnerable groups, said First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Alikhan Smailov at a recent press conference. Of that figure, approximately 88 billion tenge (US$229.9 million) will…
Almaty Marathon’s open water swim promotes healthy lifestyle for all
NUR-SULTAN – The annual open water swim portion of the Almaty Marathon was held June 30 at the Heaven Club recreation area in the Almaty Region’s Kapshagai reservoir. The event, working in conjunction with the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund, organised a special swim for children with autism. Amateur swimmers overcame distances of 500 metres,…
Alexey Lutsenko wins gold in individual, group races at national cycling championships
NUR-SULTAN – Astana Pro Team cyclist Alexey Lutsenko won gold in the 40-kilometre individual race June 26 and the 162-kilometre group race June 30 at the Akmola Region’s Kazakhstan National Time Trial Championships and Kazakhstan National Road Race Championships, respectively. Representing the North Kazakhstan Region, Lutsenko finished the Kazakhstan National Time Trial Championships individual race…
Social spending is largest percentage of Kazakh budget in first half 2019
NUR-SULTAN – Spending on social programmes accounted for the largest part of Kazakhstan’s government spending from January to April. Social assistance spending accounted for 27.6 percent of Kazakhstan’s $9.98 billion state expenditures during that period. Total government spending increased 16.7 percent for that time period year-on-year with spending on social assistance increasing 20 percent to…
Kazakh mobile app provides legal assistance to young families
NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh government unveiled June 25 a mobile app to provide legal assistance to young families, announced Minister of Information and Societal Development Dauren Abayev at a public meeting. The app is not yet available but developers hope it will be available soon through the Apple Store and Google Market. The government created…
Maria Agapova to be first Kazakh woman to compete in UFC world promotion
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s first amateur mixed martial arts (MMA) world champion Maria Agapova has been invited to the second main fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series July 30 in Las Vegas. The winner will sign a contract with the world promoter. Agapova (6-0) will meet Tracy Cortes (5-1),…
