News

Kazakhstan’s national airline company Air Astana will not pay dividends for 2019. It was announced by Ernar Zhanadil, co-managing director for finance at the National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna.

According to Zhanadil, the payment of dividends at the end of 2019 was not planned, despite the fact that Air Astana received a net profit of 5.7 billion tenge.

«This is primarily due to the fact that the company originally planned to use these funds for its IPO events,» Zhanadil noted at a briefing on Thursday, July 30.

Subsequently, those plans were adjusted to reflect the negative impact of the...

The latest amendments to the legislation on improving the business climate in Kazakhstan will help small businesses expand their current ventures or build new ones. In particular, the requirement to develop design documentation for low-tech constructions has been canceled.

Low-tech constructions are mobile complexes made of containers, blocks and modules; single-story buildings used for trade, catering and consumer service, which are built out of prefabricated constructions; warehouses and storage facilities with a height of no more than 7 meters and an area of up to 2,000 square meters; or open parking lots for 50 spaces or less. They also include...

Music streaming service Spotify is a project created by Swedish entrepreneurs Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentson. The domain name of Spotify.com was registered in April 2006. The service started its operation on the European market in 2008 and in the United States in 2010. In 2013 a mobile application was developed. In Kazakhstan, it was available through a VPN only.  

This summer Spotify has decided to extend its influence for the East Europe market by connecting with 14 new countries including Kazakhstan. According to Gustav Gyllenhammar, vice president of Spotify on new markets, the estimated number of music fans in...

According to KazAvtoProm, the automotive industry association of Kazakhstan, despite the pandemic, the car market in Kazakhstan is hot and has archived 313.4 billion tenge ($756.8 million) in revenue during the first half of the year. In total, 35,086 new passenger and commercial vehicles were sold there. 

The average new car price is about 10.3 million tenge ($24873), which is 14.7% higher than last year. The most affordable cars on the local market are those that were assembled in Kazakhstan with the price in 7.6 million tenge ($18353) on average.

The same indicator for imported cars is about 13.2 million...

Polymetal International PLC, which mines gold in Kazakhstan and Russia, has announced the second-quarter financial results.

According to the company, the production of gold in the second quarter has increased by 2% up to 358,000 ounces compared to the same period of last year. Particularly, this growth was based on the work of the Kyzyl mining site (Kazakhstan), which has shown high results and compensated losses at the Svetloe mining site in Russia. In total, during the first half of the year, Polymetal produced 723,000 ounces of gold or 4% more than in the last year.

Thanks to the increase...

According to Dunyo news agency, the ABM ORGANICS LLC Uzbekistani-French joint venture company is planning to cultivate industrial cannabis. The new project is supposed to be launched in the Khorezm region.

On July 12, the new venture ABM ORGANICS LLC was created. The official signing ceremony of the founder’s documents was held in Paris. The main owners of the company are Uzbekistani Marafon Finlex and French Opal & Co. 

As Dunyo reports, the new venture is going to find new opportunities in the economy of the future. For instance, the industrial cannabis might be a core element of the green...

Kazatomprom (the National Company of Kazakhstan) is going to extend its low production activity period for one more month. In August the company will gradually increase personnel on the mining sites if the situation with COVID-19 starts to improve.

According to the company, the extension of safety precautions will barely affect an estimated production result in 2020 expected to be from 19,000 to 19,500 tons. All Kazatomprom’s decisions that come to production as well as contract obligations are backed up by the relevant stocks of product. Therefore, the company keeps following a very responsible approach to supply management, including the...

In June Kazakhstan has fulfilled its obligations to cut oil output under the agreement with OPEC+ by 105% according to Interfax-Kazakhstan, citing the country’s Ministry of Energy.

«According to preliminary data, the oil output in June reached 5.3 million tons or 1,297 million barrels per day without including condensates. Thus, the country fulfilled its obligations under the OPEC+ deal by 105% in the month of June,» the Ministry of Energy said in response to a news agency request.

In May Kazakhstan fulfilled its obligations only by 71% and promised to compensate for the lag in August and September...

The Tengizchevroil Company temporarily stopped some types of work at the Tengiz oil field due to COVID-19. This measure will stay in place until the epidemiological situation starts to improve, the Interfax news agency reports.

According to the latest data, 73 Tengizchevroil employees were infected with new coronavirus, as well as 1194 personnel of the company’s contractors.

«We just suspended some work at the oil field. Actually, these are very small projects that do not have any impact on the production cycle. The Future Growth Project has been implemented by 77%; for now, only very critical projects are under...

Various industries were forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to reassess their businesses. The devastating impact of the coronavirus has shown the importance of a sustainable and clean source of energy such as nuclear energy to support utilities around the world. The surge of uranium prices amid a plunge in oil and other commodities prices proves the uniqueness of the uranium market. Stable demand, as well as uranium products oversupply downsizing, helped the market to raise the price by 40% in 2020.

The Samruk-Kazyna holding, the majority stakeholder of Kazatomprom, took into consideration the positive market environment and good performance of...

The new 500-megawatt wind power plant will be built in Uzbekistan under a deal between the Uzbekistani Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade and Masdar Company from the United Arab Emirates. 

In terms of the contract, the value of investments is about $600 million. After the project will be completed, about 1,300 new jobs will be created.  

The construction should start before the end of this year. As expected the first stage, a 250-megawatt power plant, should be launched in the mid of 2022 and the whole project will be over in 2023.

Officials expected the wind power plant...

According to a rule of the Chief Sanitary Officer of the West Kazakhstan Region, a quarantine is declared at the Karachaganak oil and gas field. Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. (KPO), the operating company, has confirmed that an employee has tested positive for new coronavirus.

As the company’s press service reports, this specialist has been hospitalized and all his contacts were put in quarantine.

«We already know with whom this employee had contacts and all these people were subject to quarantine for further medical examination. KPO is going to follow all local health official rules and is ready to work...

Chairman of Uzbekneftegaz company Mekhriddin Abdullayev told S&P Global Platts edition that  Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are now in discussion to downsize their natural gas supply into China. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for this type of fuel has heavily declined.

According to Abduallayev, the government of China asked to downsize supplies from all three states proportionally.

«The coordination committee which includes all Central Asian states that are natural gas exporters to China now discuss precise volumes of downsizing. The decision has not yet been taken,» Abdullayev stated.

As S&P Global Platts wrote, Uzbekistan provides China...

According to the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, there are 3.6 billion people in the world who remain offline. The organization’s experts met online to discuss how to push for action to extend internet access and boost capacity to fight COVID-19.

Agenda for action

The emergency virtual meeting of the Broadband Commission attracted the attention of over 100 representatives from around the world including stakeholders from international organizations, the tech sector, civil society and academia.

«UN advisory body sets out an Agenda for Action to ensure that the networks the whole world is now relying on are robust...

According to the press service of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy, the country took this obligation as followed to the OPEC+ decision.

On April 12 members of the OPEC+ built a consensus on a collective cut in oil production. Under this decision, all OPEC members and non-members must reduce their output by 9.7 million barrels per day. This agreement is the largest in oil production history. Kazakhstan, in turn, has supported this initiative and voluntary cut daily oil output by 390,000 barrels.

The cut in oil production was forced by low oil prices and a recession in the international economy. Because...

The Tengizchevroil oil company (TCO) temporarily closed its rotational camp in Tengiz, Atyrau Oblast (Region), for rotation workers from other Kazakhstani regions. This information was released by Interfax Kazakhstan cited to Rzabek Artygaliev, PR manager in the TCO.

«Except for the Atyrau region residents, no workers from other Kazakhstani regions can enter our rotational camp in Tengiz. Personnel who live in the Atyrau region might get permission to work if they have only been staying in the region for the last fourteen days and can pass through medical control before traveling to Tengiz,» Artygaliev said.

He also explained...

According to Uzautosanoat press service, an agreement was signed with Volkswagen Group Rus to produce light commercial Volkswagen cars.

This auto factory is expected to be built in the free economic zone in the Jizzakh region. The new plant will be built on site of the Jizzakh Auto Factory and will be able to produce 20,000 cars per year. Under the terms of the contract, the German giant will provide the new plant with all technologies, equipment, and personnel training needed. The full production cycle is projected to start at the end of this year to produce light commercial Volkswagen...

The Republic of Uzbekistan ratified the Statute of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

According to its Ministry of Justice, Uzbekistan officially became a member of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) on March 4, 2020. With Uzbekistan and the Dominican Republic also joining, the HCCH now has 85 members.

The website of the Republic’s senate says that «Uzbekistan’s membership in the Hague Conference will allow the country to participate in unification of the norms of international family and private law and to further develop the legal system of Uzbekistan with respect to the global standards.»

From...

As the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Atameken press service reports, one in ten companies in Kazakhstan struggle with hurdles when looking for staff.

«As the survey showed, in which 600,000 enterprises participated, the main problem is the lack of seasonal workers and mid-level specialists, 63,000 enterprises have a shortage of personnel,» states the chamber in its job market research.

Among the most sought-after specialists are tractor drivers, machine operators, drivers, waiters, sales representatives, welders, handymen, movers, cooks, tutors, bricklayers, and office managers. About 48,000 people are required for the positions of sellers, store supervisors, security...

Belarus is planning to alter its national emblem so as to align the imagery with «the peaceful purport» of the state, Interfax says.

«We’ve prepared a bill which adjusts the law on national symbols. This is due to questions arising over the imagery of the national emblem,» Belarussian Minister of Justice Oleg Slizhevsky said at a press conference in Minsk.

He said that the Presidential Heraldry Council re-evaluated the current symbols of state and concluded that the emblem design needs «to be perfected.» As an example, he cited the depiction of the star on the emblem, which has sharp edges...

According to the GSAdigital Telegram channel, popular Apple Pay payment service is now available in Uzbekistan through terminals of the Humo local payment system. 

As Shukhrat Kurbanov, director of the National Interbank Processing Center (Humo payment system emitter) told Kursiv in an interview, the service will be available only for cards that were issued in the countries where Apply Pay already works. There is no opportunity to connect Uzbek cards to the international payment system right now because Apple has not included Uzbekistan in the list of states where an application is officially supported.

«We have talked to Apple...

According to Kazakhstani Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov, American Tyson Foods Corp. might start building the first of three meat processing factories in April or May next year with $1.25 billion in investments.

«Tyson Foods plans to build here in Kazakhstan three factories in stages. Two plants will be beef processing factories and another one will process chicken. Construction of the beef processing factory will start next year.

The expected output of the new plant might amount to 2000 bovine per day. That’s 100 to120 thousand tons of meat per year if I am not wrong. The amount of investments...

As expected, more than five million passengers will have used the services of Air Astana and the low-cost Fly Arystan this year. This growth is more than 17% from 2018.

«This year was crucial for our company due to new company Fly Arystan launching its operations on May 1, 2019. From that time, the low-coster has shown good results and perspectives of growth. We believe that together these two companies might show much stronger results by offering people a choice when traveling domestic routes. For example, they can still choose full service with Air Astana or lower-cost options with...

Next season’s team will consist of 28 riders from eight countries. A major part of the Astana team are local athletes, eight in total, including leader Alexei Lutsenko. There are also six Spaniards, including Luis Leon Sanchez and the Isagirre brothers, four Colombian bicycle professionals headed by team captain Miguel Angel Lopez, two Danes led by Jacob Fuglsang, as well as legionnaires from Canada, Belgium, Eritrea, and Russia.

The bet is made on Miguel Angel Lopez and Jacob Fuglsang, who both have a strong chance to be among the main contenders for victory in the Grand Tours — super-day races...