L’Etrange Festival to feature three films by Kazakh director
ASTANA – The 24th French film festival, L’Etrange Festival, taking place in Paris Sep. 5-16, will show the entire filmography of Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov within its special Focus programme, reports the Kazakhfilm press service. “The Owners” (2014), “Night God” (2018) and “Realtors” (2017) are among the films to be presented at the festival. They…
Kazakhstan to revoke licenses from universities producing low employment
ASTANA – The Ministry of Science and Education will be introducing new measures that will revoke licenses from higher educational institutions or their faculties producing specialists that have low employability opportunities. The announcement was made Aug. 17 at the annual Kazakh teachers conference in the capital. The ministry has withdrawn 17 licenses from various universities…
Kazakh Prosecutor General’s Office qualifies Ablyazov’s crime as premeditated murder
ASTANA – The Kazakhstan Prosecutor General’s Office announced Aug. 17 that fugitive banker Mukhtar Ablyazov is suspected in organising a premeditated murder of BTA Bank’s former Chairman of the Board of Directors Yerzhan Tatishev committed out of mercenary motives in a group of persons on a preliminary conspiracy with businessman Muratkhan Tokmadi. The announcement was…
Astana offers free, short-term job training
ASTANA – More than 700 unemployed young people in Astana have been going through short-term professional trainings under Employment and Mass Entrepreneurship Programme since the beginning of the year. Currently, 333 people are training for occupations, including 24 people training to be cooks, 48 hairdressers and 85 tailors. The sessions also prepare eight trade managers,…
Kazakhstan to launch one card library pass
ASTANA – Digital library cards, which give readers access to libraries nationwide using a single pass, will soon be introduced in the country, said National Academic Library acting head Nurzhan Zholdybalinov in an Aug. 14 announcement. The project is one of several successful electronic updates, which include implementing automated information systems to ease workloads. Now,…
Astana vocational schools introduce electronic admissions
ASTANA – Astana Education Administration Head Anuar Zhangozin announced during a recent press conference at the Central Communications Service that students are now able to submit documents electronically for admission to the city’s vocational schools. “Since Aug. 1 of the current year, submission of documents is accessible in an electronic form. The service is available…
Astana to add street name prefixes to help residents, visitors navigate the city
ASTANA – The Astana City Administration is proposing a gradual adding of identification prefixes to the existing names of city streets, reported the akimat (city administration) press centre Aug. 6. Identification prefixes are unique alphanumeric zip codes intended to help citizens, taxis and emergency services more easily find their way around the city. The capital’s…
Kazakhstan will help Russia develop a super heavy-lift rocket
ASTANA – Kazakhstan will be involved in the development of a Russian super-heavy rocket, ria.ru reports with reference to the Aerospace Committee of the Ministry of Defence and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan (Kazkosmos). “According to the approved definition of further cooperation at the Baikonur complex, creation of a super heavy class space rocket complex is…
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan strengthen economic ties
ASTANA – An agreement between the Kazakh Chamber of Commerce and Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs to open a Kazakh trade house in Turkmenistan was reached during a trade and economic mission to Ashgabat. The mission, set up with the assistance of the Kazakh Embassy in Turkmenistan, was attended by 16 machinery, construction, pharmaceutical and…
Merger of Kazkommertsbank, Halyk Bank complete
ASTANA – Kazkommertsbank’s merger into Halyk Bank was completed July 27. The merger transfers all property, all rights and obligations of Kazkommertsbank to Halyk Bank. “We have completed a large process that lasted for more than a year and a half, starting with the entering into discussions, due diligence procedures prior to the acquisition of…
Cross-country roller skiers pay tribute to Denis Ten in Astana
More than 150 athletes competed July 29 in the Roller Ski Cup in Astana dedicated to the memory of Kazakh figure skater Denis Ten. Amateur and professional athletes took to the start across eight categories. A minute of silence preceded the start of the race in the capital’s central park, mourning the recent tragic death…
Kazakh citizens’ foreign bank account, property information to be made available starting in 2020
ASTANA – A multilateral agreement was signed 26 June by the Kazakh Ministry of Finance’s State Revenue Committee Chairman Ardak Tengebayev, granting Kazakhstan the opportunity to exchange financial account information and jurisdictions in 102 countries starting in 2020. The agreement was made possible by the adoption of a single standard for the provision of information…
Astana’s new gastronomic market to open in 2019
ASTANA – Capital residents: get your appetites ready. Construction has begun on Keruen Global gastronomic market in the city’s Saryarka district, reported abctv.kz. The 7,900-square metre mall, to be built on 3.14 hectares, will devote approximately 6,400 square metres to commerce and food courts and the remaining space to warehouses, refrigerators and a terrace, according…
Fugitive banker Ablyazov is suspected of murder in Kazakhstan
ASTANA – The Kazakhstan Prosecutor General’s Office announced July 31 that BTA Bank’s former chairman of the board of directors Mukhtar Ablyazov is suspected in organising a premeditated murder of his erstwhile business partner Erzhan Tatishev in 2004. According to the prosecutors’ statement, in 2004, Tatishev, the then head of Bank Turan Alem, died from…
Kazakh President visits Burabai, reviews tourism development
ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited tourist attractions in Burabai July 11. He reviewed the development of the region’s tourism cluster and noted the importance of promoting Kazakh tourism potential. Nazarbayev said Borovoye Resort is an important tourism area and can be more popular with additional development. He also stressed that it is not the…
Kazakh government to create new department to deal with social modernisation, committee on youth and family affairs
ASTANA – The Kazakh government plans to create a new department to regulate social modernisation and the Committee on Youth and Family Affairs, Minister of Social Development Darkhan Kaletayev announced during a July 17 government meeting. “The functions remained the same. We plan to create a project office for the Department of Social Modernisation, which…
Kazakh citizens to re-register land when renouncing citizenship
ASTANA – Kazakh citizens will have to re-register land when renouncing their citizenship, the Akmola region’s Regional Communication Service announced as a reminder of Kazakhstan’s land code standards. Citizenship renunciation is a citizen’s statutory right to end his or her relationship with the state of nationality in a prescribed manner. In Kazakhstan, it is realised…
Film studio plan for Technopark in Astana
ASTANA – Astana Invest City Development Centre for Investment and V.S.E.E. company headed by Kazakh actor and director Niyaz Abdygapar recently signed a memorandum to establish a film studio at Technopark located on the premises of the Tselinselmash plant, reported Astana Akimat (city administration) press service. “We helped find the venue thanks to social entrepreneurship…
Kazakhstan to upgrade prisons to international standards
ASTANA — Kazakhstan’s correctional facilities will be reconstructed corresponding to the international standards in which convicts have to be detained in a single prison cell, said Prosecutor General Kairat Kozhamzharov in his interview with informburo.kz. Kozhamzharov discussed measures to strengthen the rule of law and the prospects for the development of human rights mechanisms. “First…
Kazakh President signs amendments in laws on education, energy and finance
ASTANA — Kazakh President Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed July 9 amendments to laws in education, energy and finance. The educational amendments seek to improve the system of post-secondary, technical and vocational education. They eliminate conflicts and contradictions in legislative norms in the field of technical and vocational education. In addition, a programme of moral and…
Sergek video surveillance system detects unlicensed drivers
ASTANA – Since the beginning of the year, the Sergek video surveillance system has helped to detect 30 drivers whose licenses had been revoked, according to the press service of Astana Department of Internal Affairs. “These criminal offences are in many cases detected by police officers using a system of CCTV cameras. The Criminal Code…
Russian Progress MS-09 cargo spacecraft sets record with fast-track rendezvous with space station
ASTANA – A Russian Soyuz-2-1a rocket with the Progress MS-09 cargo spacecraft was launched July 10 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to RIA Novosti. A few minutes after the launch, the cargo spacecraft separated from the third stage of the launch vehicle and entered the flight path to the International Space Station (ISS).…
Kazakh boxers win gold at Brandenburg Youth Cup boxing tournament in Frankfurt
ASTANA – The Kazakh boxing team took first place at the July 3-8 Brandenburg Youth Cup in Frankfurt, Germany. The team won seven gold, one silver and one bronze medals. The first gold was won by light flyweight Makhmud Sabyrkhan (49 kg), who secured a 3:2 victory over Adam Hession in the final. Beybars Zheksen…
Astana hosts Koshpendiler Alemi Festival to preserve nomadic culture
ASTANA – The brightest representatives of the genre assembled in the capital June 30-July 1 for the Koshpendiler Alemi (World of Nomads) international festival. The event, held in the Ethnoaul National Cultural Complex at Kazanat race track, was dedicated to the city’s 20th anniversary. The programme included performances by participants and musicians from Bashkortostan, Bulgaria,…
New website monitors Nurly Zher housing construction progress
ASTANA – Baiterek Development recently launched a website to monitor housing construction. The website is funded by the Nurly Zher state housing construction programme. Baiterek Development, a subsidiary of Baiterek Holding, operates the Nurly Zher affordable housing programme. The Nurly Zher land and housing development programme offers mortgages for qualified citizens at low interest rates.…
