New programme provides loan subsidies for low-carbon city projects

ASTANA – Kazakh Ministry for Investments and Development and Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund have launched a programme to support entrepreneurs running investment projects related to energy saving...


Kazakhstan boosts oil, gas, fuel and electricity production

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s fuel and energy industry is showing signs of growth. This year, Kazakhstan has increased oil production 6 percent, gas production 6.4 percent and electricity...


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...


Indian Cultural Centre in Astana offers yoga, Indian dance and other classes

ASTANA – Free classes on Indian music, dance, the Hindi language and yoga were recently launched at the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC), the Embassy of India...


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...


Five-year-old artist holds charity exhibit to help children with visual impairments

ASTANA – Five-year-old artist Zere Dzhamalova raised 4 million tenge (US$11,614) for children with visual impairments at her personal exhibit in Almaty July 3. The funds were...


Denis Ten: a great loss and an inspiration

The terrible news of the passing of Denis Ten, one of Kazakhstan’s most celebrated Olympians, has shocked Kazakhstan and the global community. It is difficult to accept...


Kazakh figure skater Denis Ten dies from stab wounds at age 25

ASTANA – Kazakh figure skating medallist Denis Ten died at age 25 after being stabbed in Almaty July 19. Ten died at the hospital following an attack...


Food box delivery service makes healthy eating easy in Astana

ASTANA – Kese.kz, a food box delivery service, launched two weeks ago in the capital. It offers customers daily, affordable meal kits with recipes that are both...


Astana marks Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday with charitable acts

ASTANA – The Mimioriya Development Centre, partnering with the South African Embassy in the city, marked the centenary of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela’s birth July 18 with...


Kazakhstan enacts law developing private venture financing

ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a law on venture financing July 9 providing a number of innovations that should stimulate the private venture capital market....


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...


Kazakh literary collections to be translated into Spanish, English and French

ASTANA – In mid-July, Kazakhstan has concluded agreements with various institutions in Spain, Britain and France to translate, publish and disseminate two major anthologies of modern Kazakh...


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...


Number of children in Kazakh orphanages decreases 40% in five years

ASTANA – The number of children in Kazakh orphanages has decreased 40 percent in the last five years, as 4,445 children have been returned to their biological...


Kazakh state healthcare programme services, contributions expanding

ASTANA – Contributions for compulsory social health insurance totalled more than 80.6 billion tenge (US$233 million) for a one-year period, said Social Health Insurance Fund Chairperson Yelena...


Kazakh anti-nuclear activist wins 2018 Nuclear-Free Future Award

ASTANA – Karipbek Kuyukov will receive the 2018 Nuclear-Free Future Award (NFFA) in the education category for his essential contribution to the anti-nuclear movement. The award will...


Astana’s cash-for-trash programme pays residents for recyclables

ASTANA – Astana residents are able to earn cash for bringing their waste to one of nine waste collection points, reported the Astana Akimat (city administration) press...


Kazakh chess champion Saduakassova ranks 11th among world’s top female players

ASTANA – Kazakh chess champion Dinara Saduakassova, 21, is ranked 11th among the world’s female chess players after winning first prize among women at the recent Porticcio...


Kazakhstan to create list of travel agencies qualified to assist international travelers

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Travel Agencies Association and Turistik Kamkor Corporate Fund plan to create a list of travel agencies qualified to assist Kazakhstan citizens experiencing emergency situations...


UNFPA ‘Right to Choose’ campaign raises youth awareness of reproductive health

ASTANA – Family planning is key to economic stability and prosperity. Giulia Vallese, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative for Kazakhstan and Country Director for Kyrgyzstan and...


Smart city innovations being implemented in cities throughout Kazakhstan

ASTANA – Smart city project innovations are being introduced in many sectors throughout the country, according to a report delivered by Minister of Information and Communications of...


Zhambyl region establishes sugar beet seed fund

ASTANA – Seed-breeding farms for sugar beets are being revived in the Zhambyl region. Farmers formerly spent up to $1.2 million to import seeds and the administration...


Kazakh finance minister recommends quick sale of privatised state assets

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s second privatisation wave is more than 75 percent complete. Results from the first half of 2018 show that 502 out of 887 state-owned enterprises...


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...


Bolashak Scholarship programme celebrates 25th anniversary in 2018, sets sights higher

ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Bolashak International Scholarship will mark its 25th anniversary in November. More than 10,000 specialists have been trained in 200 of the best universities of...


Average inflation rate falls in first six months of 2018

ASTANA – The average inflation rate in Kazakhstan for the first half of 2018 was 6.4 percent, down from 7.7 percent in the same period the previous...


Astana Opera presents open-air performance in Borovoye

ASTANA – Astana Opera travelled to Borovoye July 14 to present “Birzhan-Sara.” The open-air event was dedicated to the capital’s 20th anniversary, and the directors decided that...


Kazakhstan’s Golden Man, priceless Saka artefacts travel to China

ASTANA – Exhibits of priceless Kazakh art and photography of ancient sites opened July 12 in Xi’an, the capital of China’s Shaanxi Province. The Legacy of the...


Astana Pro Team remains in Tour de France top 10

ASTANA – Astana Pro Team leader Jacob Fulsang climbed to seventh place July 15 in stage nine of the Tour de France general classification (GC). Although the...