Articles by Staff Report

ASTANA – A U.S. State Department official praised the progress of EXPO 2017 preparations after a recent visit to the expo site, according to the Astana EXPO 2017 national company. “We looked at the international exhibition pavilions and I saw a huge amount of work carried out by the organisers. I am very impressed. At…

ASTANA – Fifteen countries are getting ready to present their national cuisine at EXPO 2017 with more than 10,000 square metres of the exhibition area to be allotted for commercial catering facilities. Daulet Yerkimbayev, director of the Astana EXPO 2017 commercialisation department announced interim results on competition among catering renters, according to the company’s press…

ASTANA – The Accounts Committee for control over execution of the national budget audited the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund and identified a number of violations related to the budget programme’s target indicators. The findings were reported by accounts committee member Aigul Mukhametkarim at a meeting in Astana early in February. The so-called People’s Initial…

Shymkent was recently named the country’s safest city with the lowest crime rate, according to the official statistics. Compared to other major cities, the second most populous city in Kazakhstan had the lowest rate of violent crimes, such as homicide and rape last year. The majority of criminal offences, about 60 percent, were theft. The…

ASTANA – The exhibition “Cultural monuments of terracotta army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang” will be held at the National Museum of Kazakhstan July 5-8, according to the press service of EXPO 2017. The terracotta army exhibition will be held within EXPO 2017 International specialised exhibition. The terracotta statues were buried with the first emperor…

Experts are forecasting a honey production boom in eastern Kazakhstan in the next two-three years amid increased exports to China. The history of beekeeping in the area dates back more than two centuries. The first 200 beehives were brought from Russia’s Orenburg oblast in 1792 and a century later, the vicinity had 150,000 hives spread…

The Kazakh Armed Forces recently took delivery of a new batch of modern multifunctional Su-30SM jet fighters of the 4++ generation, the press office of the Defence Ministry reported. The fighter jets are capable of performing a wide range of all-weather combat missions and counter hostile aircraft at a considerable distance from the base. The…

The international rating agency S&P Global Ratings confirmed Dec. 22, 2016 the long-term credit rating of TengriBank at B+, which reflects the bank’s stable financial status, provided also due to high quality of the loan portfolio and high level of the capital adequacy. Enjoying the unconditional support of Punjab National Bank, the assets of TengriBank as…

EVAK, the Kazakh national emergency call system in case of accidents and catastrophes, began operation Jan. 1.   The developers of the device, from the Institute for Space Applications and Technologies, reduced the time on alert rescue services for accidents to 20 seconds. In late December, First Vice Minister for Investment and Development Albert Rau…

ASTANA – A pilot project on utilising old cars or those unfit for use was successfully realised in several of the country’s regions. Aktobe residents gave away 448 cars, receiving 150,000 tenge (about US$451.90) for each vehicle. “A person who has an old or perhaps unusable vehicle should come to a registration and examination subdivision…

ASTANA – Ten Kazakh school students were invited to participate in the Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Programme in Science (SAKURA Exchange Programme in Science) Jan. 22-28 in Tokyo. The Kazakh school students are winners of various international competitions. The SAKURA Exchange Programme in Science is an international academic project implemented and supported by the Japanese Ministry…

ASTANA – The gross grain harvest in Kazakhstan this year was 23.7 million tonnes, almost 4 million tonnes more than last year’s yield. Kazakh farmers have also harvested 3.6 million tonnes of vegetables and 2.2 million tonnes of melons, exceeding last year’s produce yield by 511,000 tonnes. First Vice Minister of Agriculture Kairat Aituganov reported…

ASTANA – Foreign direct investment in the country increased 4.7 percent to 6 trillion tenge (US$18.12 billion) in the first 11 months of 2016, according to Kazakh Minister of National Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev. “Realisation of industrial-innovative and infrastructural projects within the state programme Nurly Zhol and the anti-crisis programmes contributed to the growth. Since the…

Kazakh programmers recently created an intellectual quiz mobile application “Smart Country.” The application is for all ages and offers the opportunity to play against people from all over the world: the opponent is determined randomly. The idea is to demonstrate your knowledge of an opponent’s country better than he knows yours. According to Talgat Taiymov,…

Kazakhstan’s economy has adapted to new exchange rate conditions, said National Bank Chairperson Daniyar Akishev Dec. 20 at a governmental meeting. The annual inflation rate fell to a single-digit value. Akishev cited data on inflation, according to which by the end of November, inflation was at 1.2 percent and, since the beginning of the year,…

ASTANA – Kazakh alpinists raised Kazakhstan’s state flag at the peak of Antarctica on the country’s Dec. 16 Independence Day, according to the Kazakh Geographic Society. “A special gift was made to all Kazakh people for Dec. 16. The state flag was set at the highest point of Antarctica – Mount Vinson (4,892 metres) for…

ASTANA – Central Asia’s largest bridge crossing held its official opening Dec. 14 in Pavlodar to mark the 25th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s Independence, KazAvtoZhol press service reported. “Today we are witnessing a historic day. We are opening this important facility. I congratulate all residents on this significant event,” Pavlodar Region Akim (Governor) Bolat Bakauov told…

ASTANA – A new high-voltage Ekibastuz-Shulbinskaya-Ust-Kamenogorsk power line will cover the electricity needs of eastern Kazakhstan. Implementation of a large-scale project titled “Construction of 500 KW North-East-South Transmission Grid” began in 2014. It was launched by President Nursultan Nazarbayev during the Dec. 6 annual teleconference on the Industrialisation Day. The project seeks to create a…

ASTANA – A new high-voltage Ekibastuz-Shulbinskaya-Ust-Kamenogorsk power line will cover the electricity needs of eastern Kazakhstan. Implementation of a large-scale project titled “Construction of 500 KW North-East-South Transmission Grid” began in 2014. It was launched by President Nursultan Nazarbayev during the Dec. 6 annual teleconference on the Industrialisation Day. The project seeks to create a…

ASTANA – Both houses of the Kazakh parliament have passed a draft law on amnesty initiated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Mazhilis voted in favour on Dec. 7 and the Senate on Dec. 9. Presenting the bill in both houses, Prosecutor General Zhakyp Asanov commented on the amnesty marking the 25th anniversary of the country’s…

Kazakhstan will nominate the Assyk and Heritage of Korkyt games and other examples of Kazakh culture for acceptance to a UNESCO cultural heritage list. Kazakh officials announced the submissions during the Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 11th session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative…

A new Customs Union law will require certain cars in Customs Union countries to be equipped by Jan. 1, 2017 with a device to assist emergency responders. The ERA-GLONASS device is able to call emergency services and provide location, direction and speed information after the emergency button is pressed. It also sends an emergency signal…

ASTANA – Drone Racing Kazakhstan dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Independence will be held for the first time in Kazakhstan Dec.16. The championship will include racers from all regions of the country and feature a one million tenge (US$2,938) prize. The event is being sponsored by Kazakhstan Engineering and will be at the Barys…

ASTANA – The Astana akimat (city administration) has adopted a new concept for tourism development that will focus on events and business and health travel, according to the press service of the akim (mayor) of the city. According to Marat Igaliyev, director of the Kazakh Ministry for Investments and Development’s Department of Industry and Tourism,…

ASTANA – Kazpost is offering new services to residents of rural settlements that will allow them to purchase electronic tickets for domestic flights and spare parts for cars made in Kazakhstan online. Customer can get their goods in any of Kazpost’s 2,000 post offices. “Kazpost is actively diversifying its portfolio of services. More than a…