Turkestan to Attract Tourists with Kazakh “Nomad” Shows Featuring Golden Eagles, Horse Culture, Medieval Settlements
Similar to many countries, Kazakhstan has started summer by removing and easing restrictions on internal tourism. In this regard, the Turkestan Akimat (city administration) has plans to generate greater interest to the city by cultivating its tour agenda with entertaining shows featuring hunting with golden eagles, traditional games with horses, a safari tour to the…
“Super Kyz” Children’s Book Hits Shelves, Encourages Young Kazakh Girls to Focus on Pursuing Successful Careers
Bolashak Corporate Foundation Chairperson and life coach Dinara Chaizhunussova published “Super Kyz (Super Girl),” a children’s book engineered to empower girls aged six to 14 with 50 stories of prominent Kazakh women achieving fulfillment and success in the traditionally male-dominated fields of science, politics, and sports among others fields. The book also teaches children about…
Kazakh Film ‘Overcoming Barriers’ Featuring Horse Culture in Central Asia to Compete in Major Festivals in Turkey, Greece, USA
The Kazakh documentary film “Overcoming Barriers” premiered on Feb.12 and has qualified to participate in three prestigious international film festivals, according to Kazakhfilm studio. The film stars Absent, a thoroughbred Turkemen Akhal-Teke stallion, a horse that became a legend in equestrian sports during the Soviet era. The movie explores the sport’s role in Kazakhstan’s culture…
Kazakh Kundelik Online Learning Service Ranks Among Top 50 Educational Resources Worldwide
Similarweb, a New-York based web analytics service for businesses, ranked the Kazakh Kundelik school learning management website among the top 50 educational resources in the world. The list is calculated by measuring the amount of global web traffic, which is calculated by the number of page visits and visitors. Kundelik stands 41st on the list.…
Lockdown Measures Speed Up Nur-Sultan’s Smart City Digitization Plans
The lockdown showed Nur-Sultan Akimat (city administration) the blind spots of its smart city and open akimat concepts which were originally designed to save people the headache of bureaucracy and to minimize people to people contact. As of today, city residents can get almost any service, help or file complaints through all kinds of websites,…
WBC Awards Kazakh Immigrant With Hero of Humanity Honor For Selfless Heroism During Pandemic
The World Boxing Council (WBC) awarded Dimash Niyazov, a famous professional boxer and New York City policeman of Kazakh descent, with the Hero of Humanity award. WBC, one of the four major international boxing organizations has created the award to recognize those heroes and heroines who, day after day through their various actions bravely facedown…
British Investors Consider Plan to Create Caspian Digital Hub in Aktau
Kazakh officials, Kazakh Invest, and Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund (KIDF) are planning an investment strategy for the Caspian Digital Hub Kazakh-Azerbaijani project. The Caspian Digital Hub is an extension to the TransCaspian Fiber Optic project launched in November 2019. In November, the Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan agreed to build fiber-optic communication cables between…
Nazarbayev University Students Recount How Distance Learning Has Changed Their Education
In the year 2020, Nazarbayev University, one of Kazakhstan’s leading universities, celebrated its 10th year anniversary with an international accreditation certificate that they received after the global lockdown forced them to go virtual. Being an alumna of the university myself, I looked into how the pandemic changed the teaching methods and quality of education in…
Kazakh Capital Saves $67.2 Million on Planned Cultural Activities, Redirects Funds to Social Welfare
The Kazakh government revised its budget and slashed money dedicated to Nur-Sultan’s cultural events and saved 28 billion tenge (US$67.2 million), which is 87.5 percent from the total optimised sum. “This money was redirected to financing the social sphere. That is, the development of the education system, the provision of social assistance, healthcare,” said Nur-Sultan…
WHO Approves Kazakh COVID-19 Vaccine for Preclinical Trials
The World Health Organization (WHO) registered the inert SARS-Cov2 vaccine developed at the Kazakh Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems to the shortlist of COVID-19 candidate vaccines in preclinical evaluation on May 15. The developers created it on the basis of a virus strain isolated from patients in Kazakhstan. The vaccine will undergo a series…
EU and UNDP Offer Afghan Women Education Program in Kazakhstan
The European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) opened the 2020 application for full educational scholarships for Afghan women to study in Kazakh-British Technical University (KBTU), one of Kazakhstan’s top universities. Women with Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees with an elementary level English are eligible to apply to the Technical and Vocational Education…
Kazakh-Jordanian mutual trade to boost after finalising several agreements, says envoy
NUR-SULTAN – In the next four years, the Jordanian embassy in Kazakhstan will focus on reaching transportation agreements, establishing direct flights and easing the visa regime, Jordanian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Yousef Abdelghani told The Astana Times in an exclusive interview. Achieving these will encourage Jordanian business circles to expand their business to Kazakhstan and vice…
Kazakh President promotes stronger economic ties on visit to UAE
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed bilateral relations and economic cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates during President Tokayev’s Jan. 27-28 first presidential visit to Abu Dhabi. Both leaders acknowledged the positive state of relations and a desire to continue…
Zhambyl entrepreneurs to implement 62 projects creating nearly 2,000 jobs
NUR-SULTAN – Zhambyl Region entrepreneurs will be receiving more than 20 billion tenge (US$52.88 million) to start 62 projects as part of the Economy of Simple Things state programme. The Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs estimates the projects should create 1,845 jobs. The economic effect should reflect “an increase of production in the implementation of…
Rich soil, increased European demand make Kazakhstan world’s largest flax oil producer
NUR-SULTAN – Global flax imports have grown 1.7 times from 1.04 million tonnes in 2008 to 1.76 million tonnes in 2018. Kazakh farmers, with acres of the black soil needed for flax seeds, have conveniently supplied the growing demand. The country produced 94,600 tonnes of flax in 2010. By 2018, production reached 719,000 tonnes and…
Tokayev’s visit to UAE will boost cooperation, says Kazakh envoy
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s first visit to the United Arab Emirates, which is also his first visit to the Middle East as head of state, will boost cooperation between the countries, Kazakh Ambassador to the U.A.E. Madiyar Menilbekov tells The Astana Times. The visit, scheduled for late January, “will allow the discussion…
Nazarbayev University scientists develop mobile app for coeliac disease awareness
NUR-SULTAN – Nazarbayev University (NU) scientists have developed CeliacTest, the first mobile application with a short questionnaire that can identify the risk of a person having coeliac disease, a genetically predisposed immune-mediated gluten intolerance. The creators want to increase the currently low awareness of the common disease that can lead to a severe health condition.…
Kazakh President stresses modern-day relevance of Abai’s ideas
NUR-SULTAN – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev published Jan. 9 an article titled “Abai and Kazakhstan in the 21st Century” in the Egemen Kazakhstan newspaper in honour of Kazakh poet, writer, philosopher, composer and translator Abai Kunanbayev’s 175th anniversary. In the article, Tokayev shares his thoughts about the relevance of Abai’s ideas to the contemporary world…
Digital Kazakhstan programme created 8,000 jobs in 2019
NUR-SULTAN – Digital Kazakhstan programme helped create 8,000 jobs last year, with the programme’s total economic effect exceeding 600 billion tenge (US$1.58 billion) for 2018 and 2019. The digital technologies brought noticeable improvements in the public services, education, healthcare, financial, transport, mining and metallurgical sectors. “Digitisation can become an engine of the national economy and…
UNDP, Bitfury to create Pavlodar forestland as Kazakhstan’s first carbon reducing initiative
NUR-SULTAN – Bitfury, the world’s leading blockchain company, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will be the first big business to compensate for its carbon footprint in Kazakhstan. The two entities will sign an agreement in late January with the nation’s Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources to create a forestland…
Government commission finds icing most likely cause of Bek Air crash
NUR-SULTAN – A Kazakh government commission assessing the Dec. 27 crash of a Bek Air plane near Almaty has found icing to be the most likely cause of the accident, Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar told a Jan. 10 Central Communication Service press briefing. The Bek Air Fokker 100 plane collided with a two-storey building…
Baiterek Holding creates venture capital fund, pursues long-term construction projects in 2020
NUR-SULTAN – Baiterek National Managing Holding, the Kazakh government’s key financial agent, will continue to pursue its long-term goals this year. It ended 2019 included in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating and creating a venture capital fund. As of Dec. 30, the Fitch Rating of BBB confirmed the holding was responsible for the…
Lonely Planet names Central Asia 2020’s best travel region
NUR-SULTAN – Lonely Planet, the Australian-based travel guide, has chosen Central Asia as best travel region in 2020. The online service ranked the area at the top as it has become more open and accessible. “A region once made rich by trade and travellers, the Central Asian Silk Road is again at the centre of…
Kazakh capital adds electric buses to public transportation fleet
NUR-SULTAN – Fifteen additional electric buses began making the rounds in Kazakhstan’s capital with the start of the New Year. Nur-Sultan Akim (Mayor) Altai Kulginov checked the technical condition and features of the new buses Jan. 2. The buses produce zero amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Their maintenance will also be cheaper than…
Kazakhstan’s Law on Cinema to increase country’s attractiveness with support centre, 30-percent rebate, unified cinema ticket
NUR-SULTAN – The Law on Cinema which Kazakhstan adopted as of Jan. 3 has brought many positive changes to film industry management. Kazakh movie makers have waited for the law for many years, said National Cinema Support Centre Chair Gulnara Sarsenova. “For me as an independent film producer, these are very big changes that can…
