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The official visit of U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken to Kazakhstan is very important for the build-up of strategic cooperation between the two countries, according to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who met Blinken in his official residence Akorda.

Tokayev highlighted that Kazakhstan and the U.S. have already built a very good and reliable long-term partnership in so many strategically important areas like security, energy, trade, and investment.

«We are ready to follow up on this cooperation.  And taking this opportunity, I would like to express our appreciation for the continuous and firm support of the United States...

The U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken is traveling to Kazakhstan. This is his first visit to the country after his appointment as U.S. State Secretary.

«Today I’m embarking on a trip to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and India. It will be my first time as Secretary visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan — and I look forward to advancing our Central Asian partnerships. From there, I’ll head to India for the #G20 Ministerial,» he wrote on Twitter.

Blinken will arrive in Kazakhstan on February 28. It is expected he’ll meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Mukhtar...

According to Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, the construction of the gas plant at Kashagan must be accelerated.

As the prime minister’s press service reported, the cabinet discussed a set of issues related to gas processing plants at Kashagan, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas fields discovered over the past 30 years, on February 25. Once the plant is completed, it will produce about one billion cubic meters of commercial-grade gas, liquefied gas, sulfur and gas condensate. The plant is expected to start its operation in 2025. 

«In light of the expected increase in oil...

According to the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of Kazakhstan, more than 400 long-haul drivers have been stuck in Poland due to closed borders for all foreign cargo trucks except those from the E.U. The ban entered into effect on February 21.

The ministry negotiated with Kazakhstan’s embassies in Warsaw and Vilnius and local authorized agencies to let Kazakhstani drives leave Poland through Lithuania.

On February 20, the Foreign Ministry of Poland said that Belarus is preventing polish truck drivers from crossing border checkpoints between Belarus and Lithuania and Belarus and Latvia. As a result, Polish Internal Minister Mariusz...

According to the administration of the Jambyl district of the Almaty region, authorities are going to hold public hearings on the matter of building a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan when the parliamentary election is over. The government has chosen the small Ulken settlement at the shore of Balkhash Lake as a location for the plant. On the other hand, authorities are keeping in mind the town of Kurchatov as a likely site for the second nuclear power plant.

«As all maslikhats (local representative bodies) in our country have stopped working until the upcoming elections, we...

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has put upward its outlook for the GDP. It is expected that the GDP will grow at the rate of 3.5% to 4.5% over the next three years, according to the bank.

«The economic forecast has been reviewed because of new positive expectations on Kazakhstan’s oil output and export while the country’s trading partners gradually rebound their economies,» the regulator said in a statement.

In December 2023, the central bank of Kazakhstan forecasted that its GDP would add 3-4% in 2023. The regulator also said that «the sustainable increase in...

According to Azamat Zholmanov, deputy head of Kazakhstan’s Agency for Civil Affairs, the agency is going to change its approach to hiring civil servants from the so-called corps B.

Those who want to become civil servants need to pass through three selection rounds. In the first round, a candidate has to demonstrate his knowledge of the law; in the second stage, the agency estimates his personal qualities and the third round is an interview with a selection committee in person. 

«We want this selection process to rely on an automated system when it summarizes all scores a candidate has gotten...

According to Arman Kasenov, deputy head of QazaqGaz, Kazakhstan hopes to get a share in the transit gas pipeline that Russia and China plan to build via Kazakhstan.

«We have a good example of the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline. These are two highly effective models: the Asian Gas Pipeline and the Beyneu-Bozoy-Shymkent gas pipeline. Kazakhstan has a 50% share in both pipelines. (Chinese CNPS controls the other 50% share in the companies). These two projects generate $701 million of profit for our country,» the official said.

However, no details of the project have been released yet...

UzAuto Motors, Uzbekistan’s automobile giant, hoped to sell at least 5% of its shares during the initial offering. In reality, it managed to sell just 0.29% of its shares. The company raised about $5 million instead of $90 million. Even so, it is still the biggest IPO in the country’s history.

On February 20, 2023, the Tashkent Stock Exchanges included UzAuto Motors stock in its standard trading books. It was presumed that the carmaker would hold an IPO last year, but due to low demand, the company was forced to reschedule the event from December 22, 2022, to December...

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) announced that it has suspended taking Tengiz oil at its Tengiz oil pumping station.

The company was forced to suspend taking the oil due to overstocking. The CPC’s oil reservoirs are full and can’t take any oil, so the Atyrau (Kazakhstan) and Komsomolskya (Russia) oil pump stations have significantly reduced their output.

According to Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium continues to work and the Novorossiysk seaport may resume the loading of oil tankers on February 23.

«Concerning the CPC, as you can see there are lots...

The government of Kazakhstan has approved the new Corporate Governance Code of the National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna. The new version of the code doesn’t include any references to the role of Ex-President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Fund Management Council (FMC).

The previous version of the code said that issues related to the governance of the fund must be considered at meetings of the FMC. In turn, the FMC was chaired by the first president – Elbasy (Leader of the Nation). Now any references to him have been removed from the document.

According to Samruk-Kazyna, the changes to item 4 of...

The Bostandyk district court in Almaty has arrested common and privileged shares of Jusan Bank that belong to First Heartland Securities, the majority stakeholder of the bank, according to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).

The court arrested 131.3 million common and privileged shares belonging to First Heartland Securities – the company that controls 78.23% of Jusan Bank stock – back on February 15, although the news about the move went public only on February 21. The lawsuit doesn’t cover 33 million other shares (19.67%), which are controlled by businessman Galymzhan Esenov.

On February 16, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan...

More than 60 countries including Kazakhstan took quick actions to help Turkey and Syria when a set of powerful quakes hit these two countries on February 6. The earthquake destroyed thousands of buildings in ten provinces of Turkey and four provinces of Syria. Kazakhstan has sent to Turkey the necessary goods and dispatched its rescue team to help Turkish civil defense specialists.

What Kazakhstan has done to assist Turkey

Immediately after the tragedy on February 6, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his condolences to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. He also ordered the cabinet to allocate $1 million for...

According to the Applied Economics Research Center (AERC), the annual inflation in Kazakhstan is expected to reach its peak in February (21.06%). On the other hand, the monthly inflation will continue to slow down.

«In March, the annual inflation will slow to 17.84% while the monthly inflation is expected to be at 0.95%. Last year’s high base is the key driver of that slowing,» the agency said.

The monthly inflation rose by 3.7% in March and by 2% in April 2022.

The strengthening of the tenge exchange rate to the U.S. dollar and declining food...

KazMunayGas (KMG) failed to send Tengiz oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route in February due to the devastative earthquake in Turkey, according to the Interfax news agency citing Kevin Lyon, director general of Tehgizchevroil.

As Lyon said, Tengizchevroil has cooperated with KMG in order to establish a new route for its oil to Baku. It was presumed that Tengiz oil would be delivered by railway.

«Unfortunately, you are all aware of this, this tragic earthquake has hit almost all parts of the Turkish infrastructure, including the seaport of Ceyhan,» Lyon said while responding to the question about...

On February 12, Olga Rypakova, a prominent Kazakhstani female athlete, announced the end of her sports career. The sportswoman from Ust-Kamenogorsk is the winner of several Olympic Games and numerous world championships.

It’s no exaggeration that Rypakova is a legend in Kazakhstani sports. Here is a short story about the Olympic champion.

Olga came to track and field athletics when she was eight thanks to her father who was a decathlete. She spent several years in the heptathlon (100 meters hurdles, the 200 and 800 meters runs, long jump and high jump, shot put and javelin throwing).

In 2002, Rypakova...

Main Transport Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation against unidentified top executives of the Kazakhstan Temir Joly (KTJ), the country’s national railway company. The authorities have accused KTJ managers of obstruction of business activities that caused $3,376,800 in damage.

According to the press service of the Main Transport Prosecutor’s Office, the agency is investigating in conjunction with the Astana Department of Anti-Corruption Agency.

«The investigation has already proven several facts of obstruction of legal business activities by KTJ top managers. The preliminary data shows that the damage is more than $3.3 million,» the agency said.

A special group of prosecutors...

Ingka Group, the owner of IKEA shops and MEGA trading centers in Russia, is going to sell more than two million square meters of real estate. Currently, the company is looking for buyers. Once the property is sold, Ingka Group will leave Russia completely, according to RBC citing sources familiar with the matter.

These sources insist that Ingka Group wants to sell everything it owns in Russia. The group already negotiated with two potential buyers but has not made a final decision yet.

Nevertheless, the press service of Ingka Centers, a subsidiary of Ingka Group, refused to comment on «rumors...

Freedom Holding Corp. is going to acquire Maxim Group LLC, an American financial organization, and its subsidiary Maxim Financial Advisors LLC for about $400 million in cash and common shares, according to Freedom Holding’s press service.

The holding representatives said that the deal will intensify the company’s international expansion started in December 2020, when Prime Executions was acquired. Once the deal is completed, Robert Wotzyak will lead Maxim Group as its executive chairman, while Clifford Teller will serve as CEO and Chris Fiore as president of the company.

«We are eager to expand our business globally...

The General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan is going to take back control over the Jusan Group to protect the interests of thousands of students of Nazarbayev University and Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools. Despite this statement the agency published on Telegram, Jusan Bank rushed to say that any initiatives, comments or rumors about the asset recovery have nothing to do with the bank itself.

The General Prosecutor’s Office insists that the transfer of property of Pioneer Capital Invest (the company that owns Jusan Group) was opaque. The agency came to this conclusion after a review of the country’s banking sector to see...

Kazakhstan and Russia continue to proceed with the process of demarcation of a 300-kilometer-long section of the border between the two states, according to Erlan Aldamzhumanov, head of the Border Service/deputy head of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan.

The official noted that Kazakhstan has no border issues with other countries. The country managed to delimitate all its borders, although it has to complete the process of demarcation at the border with Russia.

Given that the border between the East Kazakhstan region and Russia stretches through mountains, the demarcation here isn’t an easy process.

“We have...

In 2023, Kazakhstan will produce 160,000 more barrels of oil and gas condensate per day than it did last year, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Expansion projects by Kashagan, Tengiz and Karachaganak are expected to be behind this increase in Kazakhstan’s output. In December 2022, the country already increased its production by 7,000 barrels to 1.6 million barrels a day thanks to Kashagan and Karachaganak.

OPEC believes that non-member countries will decrease their oil and gas condensate production by 150,000 barrels a day to 67.01 million barrels a day this year. However, countries such as...

Kazakhstan authorities have accused a Russian citizen of illegal business activity while staying in the country. Over three years he earned more than $397,500, a sum that is considered a large-scale financial crime, according to the Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market (ARDFM). 

«The Kostanay Department of the ARDFM has stopped the illegal activity of cryptocurrency exchange shops KZobmen.com and KZobmen Ltd.,» the agency said in a statement.

The local court has arrested the property of the accused man worth $187,739, including his digital assets at the Binanсе crypto exchange.

The agency said that it managed to identify...

The Central Bank of Russia has cleared the way for Timur Turlov’s company Freedom Holding to sell its two subsidiaries – Freedom Finance (Cifra Broker) and Freedom Finance Bank (Cifra Bank) – to Maxim Povalishin, former deputy director general and member of the board of directors of Freedom Finance Investment Company. The deal is estimated at $140 million, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website.

Plans for the future

The deal between Turlov and Povalishin was approved by the regulator on February 10. The two sides plan to close the deal by the end of this month...