Prime Minister announces launch of steel bloom production plant during South Kazakhstan visit
ASTANA – The Shymkent Temir steel bloom production plant will launch production in South Kazakhstan in April, announced Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev during his March 28 trip to the region. Nearly 4.85 billion tenge (US$15 million) of investments were attracted to the project, which will create 150 jobs.. The design capacity of the enterprise is…
Astana Opera concert to celebrate work of Russian composer Rachmaninoff
ASTANA – The Spring Waters concert dedicated to the 145th birthday of Russian pianist, composer and conductor of late Romantic period Sergei Rachmaninoff will take place at 7 p.m. April 4 at the Astana Opera Chamber Hall. According to the Astana Opera press service, laureate of international competitions Aizada Kaponova (soprano), Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan…
Kazakhstan’s population tops 18 million
ASTANA – The Kazakh population recently topped 18 million, according to figures released by the Ministry of National Economy statistics committee. February data shows the number of residents increased 240,600 or 1.3 percent in 2017 over 2016, reaching approximately 18,177,700 people. Of those, 57.4 percent or 10,439,600, live in urban areas with 42.6 percent or…
Kazakh movie producer Timur Bekmambetov to shoot film using AI
ASTANA – Kazakh producer Timur Bekmambetov plans to make a film titled “Lost and Returned World” about Soviet lieutenant Lev Zasecky, who had to learn to perceive the world again after a severe war injury. The movie will be produced with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). “This is a story based on true events…
Kazakh IT services volume grew 14 percent in 2017
ASTANA – Last year the volume of IT services in Kazakhstan grew 14 percent, at the same time a sharp increase in demand for IT services did not lead to specialists’ wages rising, reported energyprom.kz. In 2017, the volume of computer programming services, as well as consulting and other similar services in the sector, amounted…
Russia to introduce special registration rules for Kazakh citizens during World Cup 2018
ASTANA – Russia will be hosting World Cup 2018 and the Kazakh Embassy there will introduce special registration rules for Kazakh citizens in a number of cities beginning May 25. “The special rules for the registration of foreign citizens will be put into effect in Ekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saransk, Sochi,…
NASA astronauts plant trees at Baikonur before expedition
ASTANA – Cosmonauts and astronauts heading into space for the first time from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome traditionally plant a tree on Cosmonauts Alley, the avenue in Moscow leading to the Russian Cosmonautics and Conquerors of Space museums. The International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 55-56 crew aboard the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft followed the custom before their…
Switzerland conducts investigation against former Almaty mayor and family
ASTANA – The Geneva Prosecutor’s Office is conducting its own investigation against Viktor Khrapunov, his wife Leila Khrapunova and stepson Ilyas Khrapunov, Zakon.kz reports. The criminal case is now at the stage of pre-trial investigation. “Yes, indeed, the Geneva Canton Public Prosecutor’s Office is conducting its own investigation against the members of the Khrapunov family…
Ancient Saraishyk to be revived in Atyrau region
ASTANA – A historical and cultural museum of Saraishyk, displaying artefacts from this ancient city of the Great Silk Road, will be constructed near Atyrau city, said Atyrau region Akim (Governor) Nurlan Nogayev. He outlined the plans during a recent meeting with the locals. “The museum will increase entry and domestic tourism by drawing people’s…
New York real estate baron to return assets to Kazakh BTA Bank
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank will receive assets and money worth $38.3 million after reaching an amicable agreement with Joseph Chetrit, an American developer and former partner of fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov. “During a trial initiated in 2015 by BTA Bank JSC and Almaty Akimat [mayor’s office] against Mukhtar Ablyazov, Viktor Khrapunov, Ilyas Khrapunov, and…
Tokmadi sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for murdering former BTA Bank chair
ASTANA – Muratkhan Tokmadi was sentenced March 16 to 10 1/2 years in a maximum-security prison for murdering the chair of the BTA Bank Yerzhan Tatishev during a hunt in 2004. It is the second verdict in the case that had been previously qualified as manslaughter by negligence. The verdict was announced by the Zhambyl…
Kazakh film producer presents “Unfriended: Dark Web” at South by Southwest Film Festival
ASTANA – Kazakh producer Timur Bekmambetov and Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum presented a horror film titled “Unfriended: Dark Web” at the March 9-18 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Texas. “We all should have our doubts about the personal weaknesses we’ve exposed through our social media accounts,” said a SXSW Film Review. The…
Fugitive banker Ablyazov’s movement banned in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – The Kazakhstan Prosecutor General’s Office announced March 13 that Astana’s Yessil District Court has determined the so called “Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan” (DCK) unregistered movement as extremist and, hence, its activity illegal. The movement, led by fugitive banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, is said to have systematically spread the idea of seizing power and incited…
Kazakhstan signs Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
ASTANA – On the day of the 26th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s accession to the United Nations – March 2, an official ceremony for signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by Kazakhstan took place at the UN Headquarters. Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations Kairat Umarov signed the agreement. Kazakhstan had…
Astana launches pilot project to provide fee-based school buses for first time
ASTANA – Astana recently moved closer to providing for the first time transportation for its schoolchildren with the March 5 launching of the Mektep (School) Bus pilot programme. The pilot project involves schools No. 17 on Kabanbai Batyr Avenue and No. 66 on Turkestan Street and, like other school bus programmes around the world, would…
Astana adds 18,000 hectares to city limits
ASTANA – Astana Maslikhat (local city administration) deputies recently approved the addition of 18,129 hectares to the capital’s city limits. The newly incorporated area will accommodate 211,000 people and facilitate the construction of new schools, kindergartens and city infrastructure. “Over the past five years, the population of Astana has increased by 35 percent from 645,000…
Investment ministry to review regulations to improve Kazakhstan’s investment attractiveness
ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Investment and Development hopes to improve the country’s attractiveness to investors by reviewing current labour, tax and customs laws. “This year we are moving on to the active phase of National Investment Strategy implementation and plan to hold 45 events. The work will involve a number of central government…
Kazakhstan launches new system to track alcohol, oil product production, distribution
ASTANA – Kazakhstan is launching an automatic system to track the production and distribution of alcohol and oil products called eSapa. The controlling devices – counters – are being installed at alcohol production facilities and oil refineries as well as at petrol stations. According to the press service of the National Information Technologies responsible for…
U.S. forensic experts rule out fatal accident in Tokmadi case
ASTANA – Specialists from the United States invited to Kazakhstan to reconstruct the crime scene in the Tokmadi case recently concluded that the gun in question could not shoot by itself. They insist it was a deliberate murder. The Zhambyl regional specialised criminal court continues hearings on the case of Muratkhan Tokmadi, who is accused…
Kazakh authorities detain suspected members of eight organised crime groups
ASTANA – Eight organised criminal groups were detained Feb. 15-16 during special large-scale operations in the Almaty, South Kazakhstan and Zhambyl regions and the city of Almaty, said Oksana Loskutova, an official spokesperson of the Kazakh Prosecutor General’s Office. The operations were organised by the National Security Committee and National Bureau of Anti-Corruption to combat…
Second wave of privatisation: three most profitable companies unveiled
ASTANA – Kazakhstan is set to sell 877 companies, including 215 assets of the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund, through the 2016 to 2020 second wave of privatisation of state-owned companies, according to official data. Following the results of the first wave of privatisation in 2014 and 2015, 37 facilities were sold. The starting price…
2,800 HIV-positive cases in Kazakhstan last year, prevalence remains low, says health official
ASTANA – Last year, more than 2,800 new HIV cases were detected in Kazakhstan, though the prevalence of HIV in the country remains low, said Vice Minister of Healthcare of Kazakhstan Lyazat Aktayeva at a recent technical seminar on HIV and migration in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. “Over the past year, there have been…
Kazakhstan’s external debt increases $75 billion in 10 years
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s external debt has increased $74.6 billion to $168.9 billion in the past ten years as of October 2017, according to Kazakh National Bank press service. The nation’s financial regulator cited several reasons for the increase. Intercompany debts have the largest share in debt structure accounting for 62 percent and totalling $105.3 billion.…
Kazakh association takes initiative to create rules of the game on crypto-currency market in EAEU
ALMATY – Organisers of the Feb. 16 International Crypto Conference 2018 in Almaty said their goal was to become a “translator of the Eurasian view on the problems of the crypto-currency industry development.” Chairman of the Board of the Kazakhstan Association of Blockchain and Crypto-currency Yesset Butin stated this is especially important in the context…
New government website allows citizens to submit documents electronically
ASTANA – Kazakh citizens are now able to provide residence certificates to government agencies and other property information through a government website rather than in paper format. The new pilot project allows receiving three types of information certificates on the consent of the beneficiary via SMS to third parties, according to the Government for Citizens…
