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Freedom Telecom Holding is set to establish the West-East fiber-optic hyperhighway, as well as a data processing center (Tier III or higher) to transit and store international traffic, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan reported. The corresponding agreement was signed on Feb. 6, 2024.

«The national West-East fiber-optic hyperhighway will boost the volume of data transferred through Kazakhstan and solidify its role in international internet traffic transit. This project aims to reduce delays in data transfer, increase connection speed and create an alternate route for traffic transit between Europe and Asia...

More than 90,000 foreigners have obtained Kazakhstani citizenship over the past four years. The process involves both state authorities and private companies that help applicants submit their documents more efficiently. Demand for these services has risen significantly since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Who has obtained Kazakhstani citizenship since the war began?

According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, 93,306 people became citizens of Kazakhstan between 2021 and 2024:

How to...

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport has proposed urgent amendments to the legislation to enhance the investment appeal of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the national railway company, in anticipation of the initial public offering (IPO), as reported by the Association of Kazakhstan Freight Rail Carriers. The organization strongly opposes the move, calling it premature. Additionally, Kazakhstan’s Supreme Audit Chamber warned of financial risks affecting KTZ.

The association claimed that the proposal includes granting KTZ an exclusive right to transshipment across Kazakhstan, lifting the cap of no more than 10% minus one share for stock market placement and the deconsolidation of the company’s...

Switzerland is set to transfer approximately $182 million of confiscated assets previously owned by Gulnara Karimova, the convicted elder daughter of the late President Islam Karimov, back to the people of Uzbekistan.

The corresponding agreement was signed between Uzbekistan’s Justice Minister Akbar Tashkulov and Swiss Ambassador to Uzbekistan Konstantine Obolenskiy, as reported by the Ministry of Justice’s press service.

«Under this agreement, Uzbekistan will recover about $182 million. The statement read that these funds were illegally obtained by certain citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan and confiscated in 2012 as part of the criminal case initiated...

Kyrgyz citizens can now change their last names by removing Russian suffixes, following the approval of new name-spelling options by the country’s parliament, according to the 24.kg news agency.

«The regulation is designed to give citizens the choice to use last names without Russian endings. However, the current spelling of last names and patronymics, including the suffixes -ov, -ev, -vich and –vna, will remain unchanged unless citizens opt to modify them,» said MP Mirlan Samyikojo, one of the authors of the new law.

Under the new regulation, women’s last names can now include the suffix...

Kazakhstani airline Air Astana reported completing the first stage of its buyback program. The company has repurchased 4.63 million securities out of the 4.78 million planned. The air carrier intends to continue the process, according to Qazaq Association of Minority Shareholders (QAMS).

The company announced the buyback as early as late April 2024. The decision was made 2.5 months after the long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) to reward employees for their «hard work.» Overall, 1.3% of the total capital placed has been bought back.

According to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), Air Astana was repurchasing its shares from early May...

Serik Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister and minister of national economy, has expressed interest in optimizing the national budget by following the example of Elon Musk and the newly established U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He suggested that budget-cutting strategies used by President Donald Trump’s administration could serve as a model for reducing government spending, particularly in social services.

Zhumangarin noted that the Ministry of National Economy is currently reviewing social programs, which account for 37.5% of Kazakhstan’s state budget.

«Recently, someone approached me with the idea of implementing the same cost-cutting measures Elon Musk...

Companies in Central Asia (CA) and the Caucasus are considering fewer areas for IT investment compared to the global average. One of the key areas for investments in 2025 is XaaS, which is any service rendered via cloud computing, according to a tech report by KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services. The data for the report has been collected through a survey of more than 70 managers responsible for implementing the tech agenda in companies based in CA and the Caucasus.

According to the report, 93% of enterprises in these regions plan to...

The World Bank (WB) has issued a report on Kazakhstan’s economy, citing the budget deficit, an increase in public debt and a decline in investment inflows as key challenges for the country.

According to the bank, Kazakhstan’s economy is expected to grow rapidly this year due to increased oil output, as Tengizchevroil reported the first oil from its Future Growth Project (FGP). Authorities estimate that the launch of the FGP will boost oil production at Tengiz by 12 million tons per year.

However, after 2025, Kazakhstan’s economic growth is expected to slow down to 3% to 3.5% due to low...

Kazakhstani court orders KPO to pay hefty penalty / Photo: KazMunayGas

The economic court of Uralsk, the administrative center of the West Kazakhstan region, has partially upheld a lawsuit filed by the country’s Ministry of Energy against the Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. consortium (KPO), ordering the company to pay 543.19 million tenge (approximately $960,000) in damages, according to the Bes.media news portal.

The lawsuit was brought by Kapitalneftegaz, a company controlled by the Ministry of Energy, after an inventory check revealed the loss of 44 state-owned assets that had been provided to KPO for free use. The damage assessment was...

By October 2025, Uzbekistan will supply 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of water to Kazakhstan, an increase of 1 bcm year-on-year, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.

Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, Kazakhstan’s minister of water resources and irrigation, and Shavkat Khamrayev, Uzbekistan’s minister of water resources, held the 12th meeting of the joint task force on water resource cooperation. They agreed that by Oct. 1, Uzbekistan will increase its annual water supply to Kazakhstan to 16 bcm.

During the previous irrigation season (October 2023-October 2024), Uzbekistan provided Kazakhstan with 15 bcm of water. The neighboring country has also committed...

The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation) has commented on the preliminary report of the investigation into Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) Embraer 190 crash near Aktau, which was released by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport. Russian officials stressed that, unlike Kazakhstan’s investigators, the Russian side hasn’t had a chance to examine external objects found in the aircraft.

Russia’s agency also highlighted that Kazakhstan’s report is preliminary in nature and does not contain a summary of the causes of the accident.   

«The preliminary report confirms that the aircraft sustained damage caused by external interference. At the same time...

Nurlan Smagulov, the founder of Astana Group and a prominent Kazakhstani businessman, is going to invest $3.5 million in Automotive Ventures, an American venture capital fund founded by Steve Greenfield. The fund specializes in supporting promising automotive and digital projects in the U.S., Canada and Australia, as reported by Forbes.kz.

General Partner of Automotive Ventures Greenfield evaluates up to 60 startups related to the automobile industry each month. He met Smagulov last fall when the Kazakhstani businessman traveled to the U.S. Later, Greenfield visited Kazakhstan to participate in a corporate automotive forum organized by Astana Group.

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development has proposed mandatory artificial intelligence (AI) training for all civil servants, with a pilot program set to launch in March 2025. Over the next five years, the initiative aims to equip 1 million people with AI skills.

On Feb. 5-7, 2025, Kazakhstan will host a workshop as part of the International Telecommunication Union’s «AI Skills Accelerator for Girls» program. The initiative is designed to expand access to emerging technology trends for girls and women, according to the press office of the Ministry of Digital Development.

«Our goal is to integrate AI...

Kazakhstan plans to introduce criminal liability for bride kidnapping. Offenders will face fines, community service and prison sentences ranging from three to five years. The relevant legal amendments are expected to be approved in the near future.

Members of the Mazhilis, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s parliament, have already proposed sanctions for bride kidnapping to be added to the country’s Criminal Code, as reported by Vlast.kz.    

“I have proposed this. It is now being reviewed by a working group responsible for optimizing the Criminal, Penal Execution and Criminal Procedure Codes,” MP Murat Abenov said.

In January, the monthly trading volume on International Trading System (ITS) reached $670 million, marking a 7.3-fold increase from $91 million in December, the platform said in a press release available on its website. In late January, ITS attributed the rise in trading activity to a sell-off of Big Tech stocks driven by the release of the Chinese AI assistant DeepSeek.

The growing number of investors and an expanding range of financial instruments available for them have contributed to the surge in trading activity. The hub emphasized that keen market interest in new financial instruments, such as exchange-traded funds...

The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) has prepared a draft law on credit rating agencies. The regulator expects that once the law is adopted, a new national rating agency will be established in Kazakhstan.

The draft law is currently available on Legalacts.egov.kz for public consideration, which will last until Feb. 25. The document aims to:

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport has published a preliminary investigation report on the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) Embraer 190 aircraft accident near Aktau that occurred on Dec. 25, 2024. According to the data released, numerous punctures and partial-through damages of different shapes and sizes were found in the rear fuselage, empennage, rudder and elevators.

Similar forms of damage were discovered on the aircraft’s left engine and left wing, as well as on accessory units and components. Several points exhibited damage with regular rectangular shapes.

The preliminary report also includes photos showing evidence that three hydraulic systems were damaged before impact. They were...

In January, the Business Activity Index calculated by Freedom Holding Corp. and S&P Global rose to 51.3 from 49.7 in December. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading above 50 indicating growth and below 50 indicating contraction.

The index is based on a single question that asks about changes in the volume of business activity compared to the previous month.

«The latest increase in service sector activity, though modest, was the most pronounced since July of last year,» Freedom Holding Corp. said in a statement on Kazakhstan Services PMI® for January 2025.

To enhance tourist safety, every foreign visitor arriving in Kazakhstan will receive a special card with a QR code at border checkpoints or airports, according to the Polisia.kz news portal. The QR code will direct travelers to the multilingual electronic portal Safetravel.kz, which provides essential information.

The Safetravel.kz system is designed to ensure the safe movement of tourists throughout Kazakhstan. The portal offers key resources, including:

Kazakhstan’s National Bank will continue buying back older-design U.S. Federal Reserve notes, commonly known as «white dollars,» from Kazakhstani banks to prevent the accumulation of unclaimed cash in the country, according to the regulator. To remove these older, unpopular banknotes from circulation, the National Bank began repurchasing them from financial institutions last year.

«At the end of last year, the National Bank facilitated the return of $48 million in unclaimed U.S. dollar cash to the U.S. Federal Reserve. This direct arrangement with the Fed, involving older banknotes accepted from second-tier banks, helped minimize transportation, insurance and...

In 2024, two Kazakhstani banks changed ownership, while two others received additional capital investments from their majority shareholders. The banks affected by these changes were Bereke Bank, Al Hilal, Home Credit Bank and ForteBank.

The state-owned holding Baiterek sold its 100% stake in Bereke Bank to Lesha Bank from Qatar for $125.7 million last year, according to Forbes.kz.

Moreover, Kazakhstan’s regulator also authorized the acquisition of 100% of Al Hilal’s common shares by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB). In October, media outlets reported that ADCB had become the direct owner of Al Hilal, renaming it ADCB Islamic Bank.

Home Credit...

Speaking at the Digital Almaty 2025 forum, Timur Turlov, president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KazChess) and founder of Freedom Holding Corp., stressed the importance of chess in maintaining intellectual agility, arguing that this skill is crucial for adapting to the challenges of the digital era.

«Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, making it increasingly difficult for humans to compete with its latest models,» Turlov said. «But chess offers a proven way to maintain intellectual flexibility and adapt to the digital age. This ancient game sharpens our minds and develops our ability to make quick decisions...

Kazakhstan’s leading pension fund management entities have released performance reports for the past year. Kursiv.media analyzed them to see which entities outperformed their competitors.

In 2024, pension asset management companies (PAMCs) in Kazakhstan delivered solid returns for depositors. However, six major players in this review showed mixed investment results. BCC Invest had the lowest return at 15.2%, while Halyk Finance led the pack with 18.1%, according to data from Kazakhstan’s Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF).

For comparison, in 2023, the performance gap between the highest- and lowest-yielding funds was 7.1 percentage points (p.p.), whereas in 2024, it narrowed to...