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In 2023, the Eurasian Stars International Piano Competition made a triumphant return to its place of origin in Astana, Kazakhstan, as it celebrated its fifth edition. From April 25th to April 28th, talented pianists from around the globe gathered to showcase their skills in this prestigious event. Not only did they have the opportunity to compete for a substantial prize fund of €15,000, but they also vied for a chance to participate in the exclusive Classic Piano International Competition in Dubai in 2024.

The competition was held at the Kazakh National University...

Under the edict of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, today, June 12, is a day of national mourning in Kazakhstan.

The main flag on a 50-meter-high flagpole on the square of national symbols in the capital city of Astana has been lowered. It is going to remain this way until June 13.

Tokayev declared national mourning for firefighters who died near the town of Semey while he was meeting with their families on June 11. The president has ordered the cabinet to ensure that the families of the fallen heroes receive all the necessary assistance, including material aid. He also promised that...

Kazakhstani chess player Alisher Suleimenov (FIDE rating 2463) won the bronze medal at the Asian Continental Chess Championship, which was held in Almaty.

The final, ninth round of the championship was held on June 11 at the Sports Palace named after Baluan Sholak. The title of the chess champion of Asia went to Uzbek Grandmaster Shamsiddin Vokhidov (FIDE rating 2583), who scored the highest number of points – seven. The silver medal went to Iranian Grandmaster Bardiya Daneshvar (FIDE rating 2555) with 6.5 points, and the bronze medal went to Kazakhstani chess player Alisher Suleimenov (FIDE rating 2463), who also...

In May, the international reserves of Kazakhstan decreased by 1.7% to $94.7 billion after a two-month growth, according to National Bank data. The decrease in the indicator is associated with a decline in gross international reserves.

As of the end of May, gross international reserves decreased by 5.7% to $35.5 billion. The assets of the National Fund, on the other hand, continued to grow, increasing by 0.9% to $59.2 billion month-on-month. Since the beginning of the year, the indicator has risen by 6 .2%. The use of funds from the National Fund is often criticized within the government since President

During any large-scale international conflict, each country must, first of all, think about its national interests. That is why it is wrong to ask such a county to pick sides, according to Maulen Ashimbaev, speaker of the Senate, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament.

«In Kazakhstan, we are implementing a policy that is based on our national interests. Our national interests include territorial integrity, independence, security of citizens, stability of the country and its public institutions. Therefore, I believe it is wrong to ask countries to pick sides. It is better to ask what a country’s...

The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan has signed a memorandum with Terminals Holding from the UAE on the joint development of the international airport in Astana into a regional multimodal hub. Multimodal transportation is the transportation of goods under one contract but performed by at least two different modes of transport, according to the press service of the ministry.

Minister of Industry and Infrastructural Development of Kazakhstan Marat Karabayev met with Suhail Al Mazroui, head of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates (the UAE) and CEO of Terminals Holding, who arrived in...

According to Serik Zhumangarin, deputy prime minister and minister of trade and integration of Kazakhstan, anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Western countries are a huge obstacle to free trade in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. In an interview with Bloomberg, he predicted that China may surpass Russia and the EU in terms of trade turnover with the region by 2030.

So far, despite constantly growing trade with China, Russia has been the biggest trading partner of Kazakhstan since 1991, when the latter became independent. However, as long as sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are in...

All illegal digital miners have been disconnected from the power grid in Kazakhstan while the remaining miners are under the supervision of authorized public agencies, Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev told journalists during the Astana International Forum.

«There are no shadow digital miners in Kazakhstan anymore, although I can’t say off the top of my head how many such companies existed before. Energy officials, representatives of the power grid operator and law enforcement agencies have done a good job in terms of finding illegal digital miners. As far as I know, almost all these companies have been...

ERG, a subsidiary of the Eurasian Group (registered in Luxemburg), is planning to kick off exports of hot briquetted iron (HBI) to China starting from 2026, Serik Shakhazhanov, CEO of the Eurasian Group said.

According to the executive, the company has already signed an offtake contract with the Chinese side. In order to deliver its business obligation on the export, the Eurasian Group invested roughly $1 billion into the project.

ERG isn’t the only metallurgic company from the CIS that want to work with the Chinese. Russian Metalloinvest controlled by 69-year-old Alisher Usmanov (122nd place in the Forbes Billionaires list...

As the office of Kazakhstan’s prime minister reported, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning to open in Almaty a regional center for Caucasus, Central Asia and Mongolia.

This statement followed the negotiations between Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov and Nicolas Blancher, head of the IMF Mission for Kazakhstan.

According to Smailov, the country’s economy continues to demonstrate positive results. Over the period from January to April, it grew by 5%. In 2022, Kazakhstan reported $28 billion of foreign direct investments, a record high for the past decade.

He also added that the cabinet is conducting a large-scale assessment of the...

Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin has admitted that his ministry has failed in providing local exporters with official support. The minister made this statement in response to a question by MP Nikolay Arsyutin.

In his request, Arsyutin mentioned $1.3 million that was supposed to be used as subsidies to cover banking interest associated with loans issued to those foreign companies that buy products from Kazakhstan. This money should have also been used to subsidize leasing payments from foreign clients for Kazakhstani leasing companies.

As the MP noted, this money never reached their recipients, which the cabinet itself confirmed.

Kazakhstani banks have started to block payments for servers, microchips, processors, telecommunication equipment and other electronics from Russian entities, according to Kommersant.

As a result, Russian suppliers are looking for alternative payment methods. They are also trying to hide sensitive components under unmatched commodity codes. It is expected that the new practice will cause a deficit of electronics in Russia within half a year.

As Kommersant reported, Kazakhstani banks are probably worrying about a new package of U.S. sanctions that may be targeted at banks cooperating with Russia. These new restrictions can be effectively applied against providing money, goods and...

On May 3, 2023, the Asian Continental Chess Championship kicked off in Almaty, Kazakhstan. With a prize fund of $100,000 in total, winners are expected to receive $3,000 each in blitz and $10,000, $8,000 and $7,000 for the top three places in classical chess for men. In the women’s category, these awards are $8,000, $6,000 and $4,000, respectively, according to Gulmira Dauletova, executive director of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KCF).

The press conference was opened by KCF President Timur Turlov, who is also CEO of Freedom Holding Corp.

«We are very pleased and proud that we...

Kazakhstan has been ranked sixth in Europe in terms of availability of electricity with $0.038 per kilowatt-hour. An average monthly salary in Kazakhstan is enough to buy about 16,900 kilowatts-hours, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Iceland, the Netherlands and Liechtenstein are the leaders in the rating, according to the survey.

Iceland is the top-ranked country in Europe in terms of the availability of electricity for the people. Its residents can buy more than 30,000 kilowatt-hours on average thanks to the relatively low cost of electricity on the island and one of the highest incomes in Europe, experts said.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has disqualified Savelii Laptev, a Russian national and member of the Kazakhstan cycling team Astana Qazaqstan Development Team, from competitions in Europe. He’s been accused of supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.

UCI requires cyclists from Russia and Belarus to compete under a neutral flag. The organization has warned that even one word of support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine would be enough to disqualify any athlete from these countries.

According to Grigoriy Laptev, father of the 18-year-old cyclist, his son has been disqualified because he allegedly liked posts on...

Chinese companies are ready to cooperate with Kazakhstan in the sphere of coal chemistry. For example, they are interested in the production of fuel made from coal, according to Turar Zholmagambetov, deputy head of the industrial development committee under the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development.

«We can produce synthetic oil from coal. For example, we need 40 million tons of coal to produce the 20 million tons of oil that our refineries can currently reprocess,» he told Kursiv while commenting on details of potential cooperation with the Chinese in the sphere of coal chemistry.

According to Armen Grogoryan, secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, the country’s membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) gives «some troubles.»

«Even though the Armenian membership in the CSTO gives us some troubles, it doesn’t prevent us from cooperating with other nations. We have been cooperating with Western partners in the sphere of security for years,» Grogoryan told an Armenian Public TV channel.

The official said that his country reported three attacks from Azerbaijan since 2020. However, the CSTO has never given a hand.

According to the Interfax news agency, CSTO offered...

The central election commission of Uzbekistan has registered four candidates who are going to run for the presidency.

According to Gazeta.uz, each of the candidates has been registered from a certain political party: Shavkat Mirziyoyev from the Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party, Ulugbek Inoyatov from the People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, Robakhon Makhmudova from the Social Democratic Party Adolat and Abdushukur Khamzaev from the Ecological Party.

On the other hand, the Milliy Tiklanish Democratic Party of Uzbekistan said it won’t nominate a candidate but rather support Mirziyoyev, the current president.

The elections campaign will start on June 7, while the elections...

According to Marat Karabayev, minister of industry and infrastructural development in Kazakhstan, companies that have been conducting geological exploration at a site for a while will get the opportunity to continue this work with a right for extraction.

«We are focusing our attention on modern methods of geological exploration. One of the potential novelties we are discussing is the issue of mineral license. We are now suggesting that a company involved in geological exploration must also be able to get a mineral license to continue exploration and extracting operations on a certain site. We are discussing...

The two sides have significantly strengthened their cooperation

The portfolio of joint projects by Uzbekistan and the World Bank has grown threefold since the beginning of bilateral cooperation. By 2026, the two sides are going to launch new projects worth $4 billion, according to the press service of the president of Uzbekistan.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with Vice President of the Europe and Central Asia Region at the World Bank Antonella Bassani to discuss new ways to expand cooperation between Uzbekistan and the World Bank in order to promote social and economic reforms in the country.

Currently, Uzbekistan and the...

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with President of the European Council Charles Michel during the European Union – Central Asia Summit, which is taking place in Kyrgyzstan, and said that cooperation with the EU is a top priority for Kazakhstan.

The two officials have also exchanged their opinions on the global and regional agenda.

«During the meeting with Charles Michel President Tokayev underlined that the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and the EU takes top priority. The Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan and the EU was a good start for this new extended cooperation,» the president’s...

According to data from the National Bank, Kazakhstan’s international reserves grew by 1.8% to $96.3 billion in April 2023. In March, this rate was 2.9%. Since the beginning of the year, the growth has been about 6%.

This growth was driven by a 3.8% increase in gross international reserves on a month-on-month (m/m) basis. The National Fund also reported an increase in its assets to $58.7 billion (+0.5%) in April.

However, the regulator’s assets now include less gold, as the metal’s share in the National Bank’s reserves declined by 3.7% m/m to $20.3 billion. On the other hand, assets nominated...

Polymetal, the biggest Russian producer of silver and gold, is going to redomiciliate its business in Kazakhstan. The move has recently been approved by 92% of shareholders of the company after nine months of discussions, according to the Qazaqstan Association of Minority Shareholders’ channel on Telegram.

As of today, the company is still registered with Jersey Island.

The first reports about the possible redomiciliation of Polymetal to the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) appeared last fall. At the time, the company also reported that it postponed the Pacific Hydrometallurgical Plant project in the Khabarovsk Krai, Russia.

Later, Vitaly Nesis, CEO...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is responsible for attracting foreign investments, has invited 401 international companies to relocate their business from Russia to Kazakhstan. All these companies previously announced their intention to leave Russia, according to Almas Aydarov, deputy foreign minister of Kazakhstan. While speaking to the members of the Senate, he reported that 67 companies agreed to relocate and 25 businesses have already done so.

The MFA never mentioned China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and Clariant, the Swiss producer of chemical products, as companies that plan to relocate their offices to Kazakhstan. However, both companies have done so...