News

Sappers of the Ministry of Defense of Kyrgyzstan started to work in areas located near the border with Tajikistan to neutralize unexploded ordnance, according to TASS news agency citing the Kyrgyzstan Border Service.

The Kyrgyz authorities called on residents of the Batken region to not panic if they hear the sound of explosions, as the sappers are engaged in the elimination of warheads.

«In the area of Orto-Boz, Batken region, a group of sappers of the Ministry of Defense of the Kyrgyz Republic is working to neutralize all unexploded shells. The situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the state...

The head of a village with the symbolic name of International was taken hostage by Tajik citizens, according to Interfax news agency citing Ms. Damira Yusupova, the official representative of the Batken region (Kyrgyzstan) police department.

As the official noted, the Tajik military started gathering armored machinery to the Leylek district of the Batken region in Kyrgyzstan.

«Tajik soldiers have broken into houses of the Kyrgyz citizens and taken the head of the International village hostage. The situation at the border between the two countries is still raising concerns,» she said.

The police department of the Leylek district...

On May 16, 2021, the airline Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will open a new flight between Nur-Sultan and Abu-Dhabi with a frequency of two flights a week. On May 22 the air travel from Abu-Dhabi to Almaty will also be available twice a week.

On March 14 during an official visit of Prime Minister Askar Mamin of Kazakhstan to the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development reached a deal with Wizz Air Abu Dhabi to open new regular air travel to Kazakhstan. Now, this agreement is a legal basis for new routes between the two countries.

A high-profile case on the unrest in the Zhambyl region, which had been considering by Taraz court, is finished, Kazinform news agency reported.

The verdict was announced by the chairman of the court Aydarbek Zambayev. Nineteen defendants were declared guilty; they will spend from five to 17 years in jail. An additional31 people were sentenced to probation from one to five years because they paid for all the damage they’ve done. One defendant was released due to no proof he committed a crime. 

The total damage throughout the conflict is more than $1.8 million.

On February 7, 2020, in the village...

The net profit of the Almaty International Airport plunged to $3 million or 7.2 times over 2020. Earnings per share have also been reduced to $39.27, according to unaudited consolidated accounts of the airport.

The company’s total income has dropped to $101.6 million or by 42% compared to 2019. This income is a result of sales revenue from air fuel, flight catering and other airport services. Gross profit fell to $11.5 million or by 66%.

At the same time expenditures associated with wage payments, utilities, depreciation and amortization, communication services, etc. have surged by 58% or $2.3 million. The administrative...

Since April 26 Kazakhstan is going to reduce the number of flights to Turkey due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in that country.

According to the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan, the Interagency Commission has decided to reduce the frequency of air travel with Turkey to nine flights. The decision will enter into force on April 26.

As of April 20, there are twenty flights between Kazakhstan and Turkey:

•        Nur-Sultan – Istanbul (two flights per week)
•        Nur-Sultan – Antalya (one flight)
•        Almaty – Istanbul (seven flights)
...

Prime Minister Askar Mamin has met with Sunil Mittal, head of the British company One Web. The company is planning to launch its global network of satellites and therefore is interested in cooperation with Kazakhstan, the prime minister’s press service reported.

One Web is creating a global network of satellites at a low orbit to provide access to high-speed internet (5-50 Mb/s). So far, the company has launched 110 satellites. Over the next two years, it’s going to launch another eight satellites from the cosmodrome of Baikonur. There will be 648 satellites in the One Web network in total. All...

In March the oil output in Kazakhstan was 2.6% higher than the quota Kazakhstan has got under the OPEC+ deal aimed to cut off oil production. 

According to the Kazakhstani Ministry of Energy, March’s output was 1.475 million barrels per day while under the quota it should have been 1.437 million barrels. Over the period, Kazakhstan produced 7.3 million tons of oil and gas condensate in total. 

«In summer we are going to do some renovation work at several large projects. Therefore, the deviation from the deal’s obligations will be fully compensated. Kazakhstan won’t violate the OPEC+ deal and...

The bond placement on KASE allows the company to support financially its leasing deals. Freedom Finance was an underwriter and bookrunner of the deal.

According to Freedom Finance representatives, Capital Leasing Group had planned to raise roughly $2.3 million initially. However, given the high demand (about $4.2 million) the company has decided to increase the issuing by 30%. 

According to Sergey Grishin, founder of Capital Leasing Group, these bonds are nominated in tenge and with an interest rate of 18% might be considered as high-yielding assets.

«The vast majority of investors who have shown their interest in our bond...

The volume of the export of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, bitum and liquid petroleum gas will be increasing over 2021-2025, according to the new national project. The goal of the document is to increase the level of business competition in the country. The Agency for Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which is an authorized body in this field, has published this document to let all interested sides share their views on it. 

The government expects that the new approach will allow businesses to increase sales of gasoline from 57.8 billion tenge ($138 million) in...

Kazakhstan’s government considers the processing industry a key driver of the national economy and has already developed a plan to accelerate its growth.

Despite the crisis of 2020, the processing industry in Kazakhstan managed to keep a positive dynamic and has risen by 3.9%. This is the fourth highest result after the pharmaceutical industry (risen by 47%), machinery manufacturing (16%) and the garment industry (15%).

However, the future of the processing industry in Kazakhstan is not clear because it does not grow as fast as it might be. For example, over the period from 2010 to 2019, it added just...

Two countries are going to explore new gas and oil field in the Caspian Sea named Dostluk together, according to the CentralAsia news agency.

Parliament of Turkmenistan has ratified a memorandum between Ashgabat and Baku on the exploration. As expected, the joint treaty should be signed by presidents Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedow (Turkmenistan) and Ilham Aliev (Azerbaijan). Russia and Turkey are considered as the other two partners of the project.

This agreement means a lot for both countries because they had argued about the field since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The field is located right at the state border between...

On March 13 at 5.20 p.m. an AN-26 aircraft crashed during the landing in Almaty airport. 

The aircraft of Kazakhstan’s Border Service with six people onboard has crashed in an accident while headed from Nur-Sultan to Almaty.   

The National Security Committee (KNB), which is an agency that supervises the Border Service, has confirmed that the plane was registered in the Aviation Service of KNB.

«The KNB Aviation Service AN-26 aircraft crashed while trying to land in Almaty Airport,» the KNB press service reported.

According to the Department of Emergencies, on March 13, 5:25 p.m. the Almaty airport...

In an interview with Kursiv, deputy head of the Digital Innovation & Transformation company Vitaliy Pustovoytenko has told how the company has created the Ashyq app and how long it may work to support the sector of services in Kazakhstan.

At the end of February, chief sanitary doctor Erlan Kiyasov officially approved the mobile application Ashyg for businesses in Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Karaganda. The app’s work is based on a QR code that is assigned to each business whether it is a spa, fitness center, or computer club. In turn, those who come there are obliged to use the app...

Minister of Energy Nurlan Nogaev has announced five new petrochemical plants will be put into operation in Kazakhstan by 2025.

According to the official, the ministry is planning to prepare a national plan on petrochemical industry development this year. The task is to boost the petrochemical industry and make it even more attractive for foreign investors.

Three new factories will be built in the Atyrau region: a polypropylene production plant with the capacity of 500,000 tons of product per year; a technical gas production plant that will produce 57 million cubical meters of azote and 34 million cubical meters of...

The head of the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, Energy Minister Nurlan Nogaev, and CEO of KazMunayGaz Alik Aydarbayev have met with Nigel Hearne, president of Eurasia Pacific Exploration and Production in Chevron to discuss the perspectives of oil production, according to the government’s press service. 

American Chevron Corporation is one of the biggest foreign investors in Kazakhstan. The company has shares in three oil projects: Tengiz (50%), Karachaganak (18%) and Caspian Pipeline Consortium (15%).

In 2020 the joint U.S.-Kazakhstani company Tengizchevroil produced 26.5 million tons of crude oil and transferred $6.6 billion to the state budget...

On March 1, the Uzbekistani government approved a new system of subsidies for local tourists, Kazinform news agency reported citing the State Tourism Committee of Uzbekistan.

It’s going to be much cheaper to travel inside Uzbekistan. All airline tickets are now available with a 25% discount. If you’ve bought a ticket from a local tour operator, you can get an additional discount of 15%, so the total discount for air travel will count 40%. Those who prefer railways can buy their tickets with a 15% discount. And all of them can expect a 10% discount on hotel accommodation.

«In...

The new certificate, which Kazakhstan’s government suggests people use, is not verified by the international certification authorities. As a result, potential vulnerabilities of it could be dangerous for regular citizens, according to Mikhail Klimarev, IT specialist and head of the non-profit organization Internet Protection Society, who has given a speech at the Privacy Week 2021 conference.

In 2015 Kazakhstan developed a digital security certificate Qaznet Trust Network, which is supposed to be a shield to protect people against hacker attacks or sensitive content. However, as Russian expert Klimarev has noted, none of the international certification centers confirmed it.

«It...

As the Mangystau region administration’s press service reported, a huge oil field has been discovered in Mangystau.

The preliminary data shows that the new field, which was named after prominent explorer and oil worker Khalel Uzbekgaliev, contains light, sweet crude oil that can be produced by standard means.

«The new oil field is located at the territory of Mangystau and Beyneu districts on Tepke site. The oil volumes the exploration well has shown are very promising. It became known at the meeting of Meridian Petroleum oil company executive managers with Serikbay Trumov, head of the Mangystau region,» the press...

The United States is offering a $1 million reward for information that can help to bring Kamchybek Kolbaev, boss of a well-known Kyrgyzstani criminal network, to justice, according to Interfax news agency citing the U.S. Embassy to Bishkek.

As the Embassy’s press service has reported, the United States will continue to support the fight against corruption and organized crime in the Kyrgyz Republic and across the globe.

«The United States recognizes the destabilizing effects of corruption around the world and has made combating it a priority. The U.S. government has confiscated and successfully returned over $1 billion in corrupt...

Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shulba hydro-electric power stations, which are the biggest stations of that kind in Eastern Kazakhstan, should be sold in May 2021.

On December 29, 2020, the government of Kazakhstan approved a Complex Privatization Plan for 2021-2025. Both hydro-power stations have been included in the list of state property that should be sold as soon as possible.

According to the website privatization.gosreestr.kz, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shulba hydro-electric power stations must be prepared for sale. This pre-selling procedure will last four months, with the first auction already scheduled for May 4. It’s expected that on May 17 the government and potential...

Giorgi Gakharia, prime minister of Georgia, has said today that he will resign because of discord with his team amid the attempt of Georgian authorities to arrest the opposition leader Nika Melia.

Nika Melia has been put into custody by the local court. 

«This man has never respected Georgian laws; on June 20 last year he tried to incite a riot by calling people on to storm the parliament; eventually he was proved to be one of the organizers of that attack. However, this is my strong belief, we can’t prosecute any person if there is a risk of...

Indian Monnet Group may purchase Tau-Ken Temir, silicon plant in Karaganda, according to Nursultan Jienbayev, deputy head of the Karaganda region. While the negotiations are still underway, local officials said that the investor might be considering converting the plant. 

According to Kanat Kudaybergen, chairman of the board of directors of Tau-Ken Samruk, which is the corporate parent for Tau-Ken Temir, a group of technical experts from the investor side visited the plant in early February. However, he’s declined to reveal any details because they might affect the negotiations. 

«Because there is no fixed arrangement with an investor, we are...

According to the airline press service, the rule will help passengers get on board and get off the plane more easily. The size and weight of the luggage won’t be changed, the company said.

«These changes are not something completely different we have today; I mean we are not going to change the size or weight of the luggage. The only difference is the quantity of luggage; passengers will be allowed to carry on only one bag with them. What it would be: a handbag, rucksack or suitcase – people can decide on their own,» said Daniyar Uskenbayev, head...