Astana to host Sixth Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religion
ASTANA – Eighty-two delegations from 46 countries representing the world’s religions are expected to gather in Astana Oct. 10-11 for the Sixth Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. The Congress is to be held under the subject of “Religious Leaders for a Secure World” and will include the third session of its Council…
Kazakh doctors develop tool to alleviate brittle bone disease pain
ASTANA – Kazakh doctors have developed a tool to significantly relieve the discomfort of children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also known as brittle bone disease. The condition is such that there is no cure and affected individuals experience only temporary relief. “This condition is an extremely rare genetic disease, which is inherited and characterised by…
Almaty police call centre doubles personnel, seeks quicker call times
ASTANA – Almaty recently doubled the number of personnel at its police service call centre to make it easier for residents to contact the police. The operations centre of the Almaty Interior Department that employs 50 people has a goal to process calls within two minutes. “The most important thing is to understand that a…
Kazakhstan completes three-year, EU-backed project to reform criminal justice system
ASTANA– Kazakhstan marked Oct. 4 the completion of a three-year project to improve its criminal justice system. The project, titled Enhancing Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan (EUCJ), is the first project to seek institutional change to Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court, Office of the Prosecutor General, Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and academies. The project sought to strengthen…
Kazakhstan to increase agro-industry effectiveness with new investment subsidies and automation processes
ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture has shifted subsidies from being product specific to new investments that meet market demands for products, said First Vice Minister Arman Yevniyev at an Oct. 2 Central Communications Service briefing. Further automation of public service processes, including the subsidies, should facilitate the work and decrease corruption rates. The…
At UN General Assembly, FM presents Kazakh initiatives, meets foreign officials, US business representatives
ASTANA – Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov participated in the signing of the Code of Conduct Towards Achieving a World Free of Terrorism while in New York Sept. 24 to 28 for the UN General Assembly, where he presented Kazakhstan’s position on international challenges at the General Debate and met with foreign politicians…
Kazakh Supreme Mufti calls for compromise on dispute over headscarves at schools
ASTANA – The Kazakh Supreme Mufti and Chairperson of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan (SAMK) Serikbay kazhy Oraz called for a compromise among schoolchildren’s parents and teachers regarding their disagreements on the wearing of headscarves at schools during his visit to Aktobe. The dispute on headscarves at schools began at the start of…
Turkestan region introduces new salary system for civil service workers
ASTANA – The salaries of civil service workers in the Turkestan region will be based on a new point-factor pay system that calculates the value of job by a number of points assigned to it, said regional Department Head at the Agency for Civil Service and Anti-Corruption Galym Tursynbayev. Factors incorporated in determining the value…
Astana to open world-class tourism and hospitality university
ASTANA – The Kazakh government is planning to open an international tourism and hospitality university in the capital, the first institution of its kind in Central Asia. The university should become one of the main driving forces for Kazakh tourism growth, said Minister of Culture and Sports Arystanbek Mukhamediuly at a Sept. 24 Mazhilis (lower…
Tajikistan begins two-year CICA leadership term
NEW YORK – Tajikistan assumed the chair of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) during a Sept. 24 meeting of the organisation’s member states’ foreign ministers. The meeting was part of the 73rd session of the United Nation General Assembly. Tajikistan will chair CICA until 2020 and assumed the role…
Kazakh FM, German Minister of State discuss partnership in Astana
ASTANA – Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov and German Minister of State of the Federal Foreign Office Niels Annen discussed bilateral cooperation during their Sept. 17 meeting in Astana. According to the Kazakh foreign ministry, the officials discussed the Kazakh – German strategic partnership in trade, economics and politics with a particular focus on…
Kazakh diplomats participate in Astana Marathon 2018
The capital hosted the annual international Astana Marathon 2018 Sept. 16 with approximately 5,000 runners from nearly 20 countries, including Australia, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Russia, Turkey, the U.K. and Uzbekistan. The host country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs team was represented by Aibek Amrin, Tursyngali Espanov, Murat Rustemov, Anuar Sarmantai, Aibek Smadiyarov,…
Kazakh delegation participates in OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw
WARSAW, Sept. 14 – The annual meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw on Sept. 10-21 focused on topical human rights issues such as the provision of basic human rights and freedoms, rule of law, independence of the judiciary, freedom of speech…
Novel by Saken Zhunusov for English readers presented
A novel by Kazakh prose writer Saken Zhunusov called “Amanai and Zamanai” has been translated into English and was recently presented in the framework of the Rukhani Zhangyru programme. That significant event associated with the name of the famous countryman, was attended by the members of the Akmola regional branch of the Union of Writers…
Kazakhstan supports settlement of intra-Syrian conflict by peaceful means
ASTANA – Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Kairat Umarov reiterated at the Sept. 11 United Nations Security Council meeting on Syrian conflict Kazakhstan’s endorsement of a peaceful settlement of intra-Syrian conflict. Umarov welcomed the joint declaration emanating from the Sept. 7 trilateral summit (Iran, Russia, Turkey), noting that it includes a common understanding…
Kazakh National Bank revokes Astana Bank licence, buys Tsesna Bank agriculture loans
ASTANA – Kazakh National Bank revoked Astana Bank’s licence Sept. 19. The bank suspended operations in May and National Bank has appointed temporary management. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev criticised Astana Bank April 19. Three days later, the financial institution imposed its first restrictions, forbidding clients from making monetary transfers greater than 200,000 tenge (US$600) and…
Influenza vaccination begins in October
ASTANA – Influenza vaccination will be conducted in Kazakhstan starting Oct. 1. Nearly 1.5 million doses were purchased for approximately one billion tenge (US$2.76 million), according to the Healthcare Ministry’s public health protection committee chairperson Zhandarbek Bekshin. The cost of a flu shot will vary from 1,600 tenge (US$4.42) to 3,500 tenge (US$9.67). “Anyone may…
Ban on non-lethal weapons use proves effective, says Kazakh minister
ASTANA – Kazakh Minister of Internal Affairs Kalmukhanbet Kassymov clarified the decision-making process behind the country’s ban on non-lethal weapons during a recent Central Communications Service meeting. During the past ten years, 4,236 crimes involving the use of weapons were committed in the nation. Authorities purchased back and seized 60,000 pistols and one million cartridges…
Kazakh Foreign Ministry works to return citizens from refugee camp in Syria
ASTANA – The Kazakh Foreign Ministry is working to return 23 Kazakh citizens, seven women and 16 children, from a refugee camp in Syria. The individuals must be determined by Syrian and Iraqi authorities as to not be involved in terrorist activities before they can be returned. “I want to assure that the work is…
Kazakhstan expands social assistance while reducing overall national budget spending
ASTANA – The Kazakh government has significantly increased budget spending on social assistance and security this year while achieving an overall decrease in budget expenses compared to 2017. State budget expenditures totalled 6.2 trillion tenge (US$17.12 billion) from January-July. The figure is 18.8 percent less than the approximately 7.7 trillion tenge (US$21.26 billion) spent during…
Kazakh President notes challenges of relocating regional centre to Turkestan
ASTANA – Relocation of a regional centre from Shymkent to Turkestan is a difficult process in every respect, said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev during a meeting at the Akorda presidential residence focusing on Turkestan’s development. Nazarbayev declared the establishment of the Turkestan region June 19, when he changed the status of Shymkent city, previously centre…
Kazakh blind and visually impaired cyclists complete intercontinental bike ride in Paris
ASTANA – Sport Without Limits, the intercontinental Astana-Paris bike marathon for visually-impaired and blind cyclists, came to a memorable end Sept. 10 in the French capital near the Kazakh Embassy, reported the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. Launched more than a month ago at the Kazakh Eli monument, the unique project helped 17 individuals, including cyclists and…
Kazakhstan to launch nationwide housing and municipal services reform
ASTANA – Amendments to the housing and municipal services bill stipulating the relationship between apartment owners and property managing companies will be proposed to the Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) by the end of September. The “one house, one association, one account” approach will allow every resident to track an apartment building’s operational and maintenance…
Optimised ambulance work key to increasing life expectancy in Kazakhstan, says Ministry of Healthcare
ASTANA – Medical reforms adopted in July 2017 significantly enhanced the performance of emergency medical care in Kazakhstan, Minister of Healthcare Yelzhan Birtanov told a Central Communications Service (CCS) press conference, citing a ministry report. The average arrival time of ambulance teams dropped by 28 percent to 18 minutes and the rate of successful resuscitation…
Kazakh MPs, citizens discuss Internal Affairs Ministry reform
ASTANA – Discussion platform PaperLab hosted a Sept. 5 talk, “Reform of the Kazakh Ministry of Internal Affairs: How to shape citizen-oriented police?” with the support of the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan. Invited speakers included operational leader of the European Union project Enhancing Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan Saule Mektepbayeva, representatives of the civil initiative For the Reform…
