Articles by AIDANA YERGALIYEVA

NUR-SULTAN – The stock market is facing a highly uncertain economic environment. Although many experts forecasted a decrease in investment flow to developing countries during the pandemic, Kazakhstan might compensate by boosting its investment flow to other economic sectors such as mining, the Astana International Exchange (AIX) administration said during a July 2 press briefing…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan launched a pilot project that provides free virtual consultation with qualified doctors in three medical institutions in Almaty, Nur-Sultan and Shymkent on June 30th. The service is regarded as a part of the primary health care (PHC) program and is part of  a package of guaranteed volume of free medical care (GOBMP).…

NUR-SULTAN – Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Kyrgyzstan Chingiz Aidarbekov, Tajikistan Sirojiddin Mukhriddin, Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov, Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale discussed plans to expand trade and economic ties in a June 30th regular C5 +…

NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan celebrated its Diplomatic Service Day on July 2nd. Kazakh Ambassador-at-Large Bulat Sarsenbayev spoke to The Astana Times about the history of the diplomatic service, the people who helped forge Kazakh diplomacy and the role of women in diplomacy. Sarsenbayev has himself been a pillar of Kazakh diplomacy for the past 23 years.…

The third annual Astana Finance Days (AFD) five-day conference began on June 29 with virtual discussions, webinars and live panel sessions on support mechanisms to reverse the economic repercussions of the global lockdown. The third conference was named: “Markets in a Disrupted World” and as the name implies, was set up to  discuss the global…

NUR-SULTAN – Popular Kazakh singer Dimash Kudaibergen sang “Thousands of Miles, a Common Dream” in perfect Chinese on the pilot episode of the “Classical Wings Project” a who that began airing on June 25th on the China Central Television 1 (CCTV 1) state channel. According to Kudaibergen’s Eurasian Fan Club on vk.com, the show is…

The Kazakh government will update the Strategic Development Plan For 2025. The new document will incorporate a mechanism called the “institute of regulatory appeal.” This mechanism will allow entrepreneurs and business associations to cancel or suspend the decisions of central and local governmental bodies by filing a complaint. The Minister of National Economy Ruslan Dalenov…

Kazakhstan celebrated June 21 Medical Workers Day, the third Sunday of June. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated Kazakh medical workers with their professional holiday and decreed to award the most distinguished medical workers with medals and orders. “Congratulations to the doctors of Kazakhstan on their professional holiday! Your calling is to restore health to people,…

Popular Kazakh pop-star Dimash Kudaibergen marked two important milestones in his career on June 18. The singer signed on with the American IPZ talent promotion agency on June 1st, the agency’s press service announced on June 18th. IPZ will represent Kudaibergen and develop strategies to promote him to American audiences. “Reaching audiences in the United…

Kazakhstan has an immense potential to diversify and develop its economy through the agro industrial complex. The nation’s vast agricultural resources can produce goods meeting the needs of both its population and foreign countries. Its strategic location grants it access to a combined market of more than 500 million people. The investment opportunities in the…

NUR-SULTAN – One of Kazakhstan’s top ten travel destinations, the Balkhash Lake shoreline, will have a major infrastructure renovation operation finished by 2025. The Karaganda Region Akimat (administration) plans to build more than 20 new coastal recreation areas, to complete the repair of the Karaganda-Balkhash highway and to reconstruct the Balkhash city airport, the regional…

Approximately 200 million years ago, the deserted steppe of the Mangystau Region was once the  bottom of the ancient Tethys Ocean – a habitat for ancient marine organisms. Some locals seeking adventure sometimes go after prehistoric treasures for fun, but rarely find anything. For civil engineer Vladimir Yartsev such a hobby became an important part…

Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev tested positive for COVID-19 on June 18th, according to the Elbasy (Leader of the Nation, the constitutional title accorded to Nursultan Nazarbayev) official press service. “Currently, the First President of Kazakhstan is in self-isolation. Unfortunately, the last test of the Elbasy for coronavirus infection showed a positive result. But there…

Mariya Agapova, 23, consolidated her name as the first Kazakh woman in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and entered history on June 13. Agapova won her debut fight against American UFC veteran Hannah Cifers in the women’s flyweight division at the UFC tournament in Las Vegas, reported sports.kz. In 2 minutes and 42 seconds of…

In 2006, creating a world-class university seemed like an almost impossible goal of Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who wanted to create a world-class higher education hub in an almost uninhabited suburban area on the left bank of the Kazakh capital. Four years later, Nazarbayev University (NU) opened its doors to its first students, who…

In a June 12 presidential decree, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev scheduled a new date for deputy elections to the Kazakh Senate (the upper house of the Parliament) to be held on Aug. 12. This election will decide the electoral fate of 17 current Senate deputies whose term expires in October. The Senate has 49 members…

Kazakh singer Danelia Tuleshova, only 13, appeared on the June 10th episode of the 15th season of America’s Got Talent – a famous Hollywood televised talent show. Her audition video hit over 1.7 million views in a day making it the fourth trending video on YouTube in all of Kazakhstan. Tuleshova covered Canadian-Morrocan singer and…

The Kazakh-Uzbek partnership in car production at SyryarkaAvtoProm, an automobile plant in Kostanai that opened only three months ago, has recently begun mass production. Its first Chevrolet cars appeared at car dealerships in Kazakhstan. The plant also exported Cobalt and Nexia passenger cars to Russia during the first few weeks of June, according to forbes.kz.…

Social Innovation Lab, a project created by Astana Hub and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was launched in 2019. Since then, the lab has announced a competition for a digital innovative project that will assist in protecting children around the world from violence and discrimination. Сandidates can send their project proposals through June 22.…

Kazakh scientist and inventor Galimzhan Gabdreshov developed Sezual (from Kazakh sezu means to feel, al – to get), a device to aid the people with blindness that has the potential to be truly revolutionary. Sezual brings back “sight” for people with visual impairment using echolocation that allows them to build a 3D image of surrounding…

NUR-SULTAN – The Kazakh government has broken with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) unwritten rule of one three-letter geocode identifier per airport for eternity. Kazakhstan changed Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport’s location identifier from TSE to NQZ on June 8. This new tag has already appeared in all reservation systems, boarding passes, luggage tags and…

Where does Kazakhstan stand in terms of its environmental friendliness rating on June 5th, World Environment Day? The state and non-governmental campaigns bringing awareness to climate change and encouraging sustainable lifestyle changes have experienced steady success over the last few years in Kazakhstan. To comply with the Paris Agreement, which Kazakhstan ratified in November 2016,…

Eurasia Invest, a Karaganda-based Kazakh company producing dried mare’s and camel’s milk, exported its first batch of Saubota powdered camel milk to Lanzhou, a Chinese trade and cultural center on May 20th. The Chinese capital is up next and the Kazakh company also plans to extend its export to four more Chinese provinces. Kazakh President…

During and shortly after the lockdown, Kazakh graffiti artists created murals expressing feelings of gratitude to pandemic frontline workers in Nur-Sultan and Almaty. The murals have been widely discussed on Kazakh social media. Over the last few years, Urban Art Fest, a city akimat (administration) initiated a project that popularised murals as an art form.…

As tennis matches started to resume and gain steam after the global lockdown, Kazakhstan’s No. 3 professional tennis player Dmitry Popko is taking part in the six-week US MatchPlay 120 exhibition tournament. As of June 1, having won three games and lost in one, Popko stands second in the tournament’s leaderboard. Popko, who is ranked…