News

DNA Payments Group, a payment service run by its founders Arif Babayev and Nurlan Zhagiparov from Kazakhstan, has reached a deal with Alchemy Partners. This private investment company from the U.K. wants to pour £100 million into the business of DNA.

DNA provides payment services for more than 45,000 merchants, including big online and offline retailers and small- and medium-sized businesses. Every month, DNA clients have been making about 20 million transactions for more than £600 million.

According to DNA Payments Group founders, the company has managed to expand its business by adding to its system a list of new...

The U.S. government wants to deploy its troops in Central Asia after withdrawal from Afghanistan and has been negotiating with the region’s countries, including Kazakhstan, according to Interfax news agency citing Zalmay Khalilzad, the Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the U.S. State Department.

As Khalilzad has noted, the U.S. authorities want the Central Asian states to cooperate with Washington in the fight against terrorism and the economic development of Afghanistan.

«No official decision has been made yet but I’d like to say that the discussions, negotiations are continuing. The U.S. is full of determination to build potential in the...

The founder of the Tesla company Elon Musk said hello to Kazakhstan during a presentation of Model S Plaid at the plant in Fremont. This video has been published in the Telegram channel of Beybit Alibekov, a prominent blogger from Kazakhstan.

Mask was asked about his projections for Supercharger charging stations in Kazakhstan. He replied that charging stations might appear in the country by the end of this year or next year. Tesla Supercharger is a technology of fast charging developed by Tesla for its electric cars. The businessman was also asked about a plant in Kazakhstan. According to Musk...

Kazakhstanis Alexander Bublik and Andrey Golubev have made it to the final of the 2021 French Open Men’s Doubles.

In the semi-final game with the Spanish tennis team of Pablo Andujar / Pedro Martinez Portero, the Kazakhstani players lost their first set with a score of 1:6. However, they pulled themselves together and won the next two sets with a score of 6:4 each.

In the final game, Bublik and Golubev will play with a duet of Herbert / Mahun from France, who outplayed tennis players from Columbia Cabal / Farah on...

Competition in digital markets raises a lot of issues that regulators from all over the world must address. Kazakhstan along with other the Eurasian Economic Union member states also has to cope with the issue.  

In March 2021, Yandex, a well-known Russian IT company, filed an application to Kazakhstan’s Agency for Protection and Development of Competition (APDC) accusing Google of a monopoly on the market. According to Yandex, the American giant aggressively promotes its services on Android devices while blocking services from other companies.

As Marat Omarov, deputy head of APDC told the Kursiv edition, this case is still under...

The world hockey championship in Riga is now over. Even though Kazakhstan didn’t make it, its national team has caused a sensation during the tournament. 

Under Yuriy Mikhaylis‘s supervision, the Kazakhstani team has shown amazing playing skills in Latvia’s 2021 Ice Hockey World Championship. Even though the Kazakhstani team didn’t make it to the semifinal match, it has shown excellent game within its group. The senior coach of the team Yuriy Mikhaylis gave an interview to the Kursiv edition and explained what happened in Latvia.

– First of all, congratulations! Your team has shown high results. This is probably the...

City Transportation Systems company tries to find an underwriter to raise $1.08 billion through bonds issuing. However, on May 26, 2021, the tender committee declared that the tender is canceled. The reason is that one of the two participants, SkyBridge Invest, left the race because it failed to meet all the requirements. Since there was only one participant, the tender committee couldn’t proceed further with the tender procedures. A suitable time for the second attempt at the tender has not yet been announced.

Prevented from Bidding

City Transportation Systems LLP (former Astana LRT LLP) is owned by the city of...

Boxing champion in three weight categories Firuza Sharipova from Kazakhstan is a leader in an updated rating of female boxers by WBA, according to the sportswoman’s official representative.

The queen among women boxers in the lightweight category is still Katie Taylor from Ireland. However, as Sharipova has reached the first position in the rating, she has become a candidate for a fight with Taylor within WBA activities.

If Sharipova wins in a fight with Taylor she would collect all four champion belts in the lightweight division. This would be a new record for Kazakhstan. For example, Gennadiy Golovkin or GGG...

Businesses have to acquire special equipment to make marking on their packaging. Even though entrepreneurs are forced to spend some money, the final value of their products won’t necessarily be higher. Usually, equipment accounts for a rate from 0.06 to 0.15% of a product’s price, according to Olzhas Bekturov, head of the Center of Digital Economy Development.

There are lots of factors that can affect retail prices. Over the last five years, prices of dairy products with no marking have increased by a rate of 6% to 13%. 

«The fact that retail prices tend to rise proves that marking...

Kazakhstan has risen by nine points and taken the 86th position in the international rating on mobile internet speed. In terms of wideband internet speed, Kazakhstan is still on the 67th position, according to Speedtest global index.

The rating is based on connection speed, network delay and packet loss, which are measured by certain servers. In Kazakhstan, such servers have been working in 17 towns since October 2020 and are run by Kazakhtelecom.

According to the company, the increased speed of mobile internet has occurred because mobile operators changed the way they used to stay connected (MTS...

This article, which is part of the Real Kazakhstan project run by the Kursiv edition and Chevron, is devoted to the Shemonaikha district, its new sports complex and author of the novel Shadows Disappear at Noon.

Editor’s note: the opinion expressed by the author might be different from the official point of view of the edition or the company of Chevron.

The Shemonaikha district was formed in 1928 while the settlement itself was established in 1766 at the Uba River and named in honor of its first resident whose surname was Shemonaevskiy. In 1961 it gained the status of a...

In 2025 Uzbekistan is going to host the Fourth Asian Youth Games where athletes from 45 states are expected to take part in 20 sports events. Currently, the country is doing its best to build an infrastructure suitable for the international event and enough to take on board more than 6,000 foreign guests. For example, Uzbekistan plans to build an Olympic village at an area of 150 hectares as well as a 270-hectare park and a five-kilometer-long riverside for rowing along the Chirchik River.  
 
Uzbekistan’s authorities have been making a bet on sports tourism. Due to its geographical...

Oktyabrskiy District Court of the city of Bishkek ruled that Kumtor Gold Company is obliged to pay $25 million to clear off debt for insurance fees that the company failed to pay on time, Interfax news agency reported citing the High Court of Kyrgyzstan press service.

The court decision followed the claims of the State Tax Service, which accused Kumtor Gold Company of not paying insurance fees.

«The company is obliged to pay $24.8 million to pay off a debt plus an administrative fee of $124,000,» the court said.

The company can file an appeal within 30 days...

Kazakhstan’s Interpol National Central Bureau in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement determined and detained three Kazakhstani citizens who were trying to hide in America, according to Nurdilda Oraz, an official representative of the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

All those detained were deported back to Kazakhstan, where they are currently staying in custody.

These arrests by U.S. authorities followed the request from Kazakhstani police. It accuses the threesome of large-scale fraud in Nur-Sultan and Almaty.

As the Internal Affairs Ministry spokesperson noted, the geographical reach of Kazakhstani law enforcement has been expanded tremendously in recent years. 

«Over five recent...

The flow of religious tourists who want to visit holy places has been rising in recent years. The Kursiv edition tries to describe how religious tourism is developing and what Uzbekistan can offer to pilgrims.

Visas for Believers

Since 2018 the number of tourists from various Muslim countries has been constantly growing, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Republic of Uzbekistan. For example, the quantity of guests from Indonesia has risen by 70%, from Malaysia by 58%, from Turkey by 54% and from the UAE by 53%. 
 
Evolving visa regulations play a key role in...

In terms of tourism, Uzbekistan is primarily known for its ancient cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. However, there are several completely new directions available for tourists. Among them are unique historical sights, nature monuments and brand-new cultural sites, which attract travelers from all over the world. The Kursiv edition has prepared a list of the top 10 new routes for traveling across Uzbekistan.

Louvre in the desert

In the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan, which occupies almost a third of the territory of Uzbekistan, everyone can find something interesting that will match his interests. One of the main centers of...

These days Uzbekistan shows incredible growth in so many sectors of its economy. One of the fastest-growing sectors is tourism. The country is becoming more open, the visa regulations have changed and Uzbekistan, which used to be like a white spot on the map, is now considered an attractive business and travel destination. The combination of all these factors along with huge infrastructural projects creates ideal conditions for MICE tourism. Now, its perspectives in the country are just perfect.

New Direction

The number of all types of international and regional events in Uzbekistan has been growing for several years. Exhibitions...

Atyrau is one of the richest cities in Kazakhstan. It is located in the Western part of the country in an area where the Ural River flows into the Caspian Sea. There are lots of stereotypes about the city, including those about «serious boys,» fish dishes, rich foreigners and bad air. A journalist from Atyrau gives a story about the city within our ongoing project called the Real Kazakhstanby by the Kursiv edition and Chevron.

My name is Farkhad Abilov. I am 24 years old and I work as a journalist for the Ak Zhaik newspaper. Previously, I used to...

The new normal in the post-coronacrisis world is something that no one can ignore. Safety and health protection have turned into top priorities, especially for travel abroad. Now, air travel is starting to rebound but the COVID-19 threat is still there and of course, it’s very important what the government is going to do to protect foreign guests. 
 
Uzbekistan is one of seven countries with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases in the world. In 2021 the country with a population of 34 million people has reported up to 300 cases a day, which is pretty low. In total, Uzbekistan...

Despite being richer with architectural heritage and natural monuments than other Central Asian states (the vast majority of historical monuments are inside big Uzbek cities or near to them), for a long time Uzbekistan couldn’t make any progress in the development of its internal tourism. 
 
However, after the political reforms of 2016-2017, the number of foreign tourists had been steadily increasing: from two million in 2016 to 6.7 million in 2019. If compared with 2010 figures, the growth was sevenfold (592%) which is one of the most impressive results all over the world. 
 
According to the World Bank...

Tourism is a key sector for the entire economy of Uzbekistan and it was nearly suffocated by the COVID-19 crisis. For example, in 2019 the UN World Tourist Organization put the country on the list of five countries with the most dynamic developing tourist industry. The pandemic stopped this fast growth. However, Uzbekistan has been doing its best to support the industry and has never stopped the flow of investments to this sector.
 
The Uzbekistani tourist sector has shown explosive growth since 2018. That year the country simplified its visa regime and the number of foreign tourists surged fourfold...

The opening of regular air travel in Uzbekistan helps the country’s tourism industry to rebound after the coronacrisis. However, getting back to the pre-pandemic level will take some time. According to experts from the World Tourist Organization (UNWTO), this process may last up to four years. In an exclusive interview with the Kursiv edition deputy prime minister, minister of tourism and sport of Uzbekistan, Aziz Abdukhakimov talks about the country’s tourism and the pandemic consequences it has faced.

Despite Quarantine

– What are the consequences of the pandemic for the Uzbekistani tourist sector? 
 
– Coronacrisis and quarantine measures have...

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...