News

Astana’s Barys hockey club is set to remove all foreign players from its roster. Moving forward, all key positions on the team will be held by Kazakhstani athletes, who will be expected to take responsibility for the team’s performance, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Although a few North American players still remain on the team, they are expected to depart soon.

In parallel, the ministry has expressed its expectation for Barys head coach Galym Mambetaliyev to lead the team to new successes. Ending contracts with foreign players is seen as a step toward this goal.

The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan plans to expand its collaboration with France, according to a recent announcement. This followed a meeting between Water Minister Nurzhan Nurzhigitov and French Ambassador to Kazakhstan Sylvain Guiaugue, where both parties agreed to sign a memorandum and a trilateral agreement to support the exploration of underground water resources and conduct comprehensive scientific studies of the Ile-Balkhash Basin.

Two French agencies will participate in this effort: the Agence Française de Développement (AFD, French Development Agency) and the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM, French Geological Survey). The Kazakh Water Ministry is...

Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili, has refused to accept the results of the recent parliamentary elections, held on Saturday. She has urged citizens to take to the streets to protest alleged vote-rigging. Former President Mikheil Saakashvili has echoed her call for demonstrations.

«This election was completely falsified. Your votes were stolen. We witnessed a Russian special operation and we were its victims. I refuse to accept these election results. We should not recognize them, as doing so would be equivalent to accepting Russian dominance. I invite everyone to join me on Rustaveli Avenue tomorrow at 7 PM...

The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has allocated the first tranche for the establishment of the National Digital Investment Platform in Kazakhstan. The project is aimed at transforming processes associated with raising investments. The platform is expected to enhance transparency and the efficiency of interactions between investors and public agencies.

Once available, the platform is going to streamline integration between participants of the investment ecosystem and simplify interactions between government bodies, the quasi-state sector and investors. The project has been initiated within the digital agenda of EDB member states.

The initiative was first announced by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in...

Kazakhstan and European Union officials recently held their 21st meeting to discuss initiating negotiations on visa facilitation, according to Schengen.news.

Kazakhstan proposed several changes, including:

Kazakhstan assured the EU that these adjustments would not result in increased illegal migration and that Kazakhstan is committed to cooperating with European authorities to readmit citizens who remain in the EU illegally.

David O’Sullivan, the EU’s sanctions envoy, noted that relations between the EU and Kazakhstan are improving, and the proposed visa talks will further...

German Raiffeisen Waren, a multispecialty agriculture company, has discussed potential cooperation in agriculture with Kazakhstani state-owned Baiterek Holding. According to Baiterek, the enterprise plans to establish service centers and construct an assembly plant for Fendt and Valtra machinery.

Moreover, Raiffeisen Waren is also considering the supply of agricultural machinery to KazAgroFinance, a subsidiary of Baiterek, as well as leasing of the equipment to Kazakhstani farmers. KazAgroFinance has already worked with the Fendt and Valtra brands, leasing 34 pieces of machinery worth €3.9 million to farmers since 2000.

“Germany has long been a strategic partner for Kazakhstan. Baiterek...

KazTransOil (KTO), an oil pipeline operator and subsidiary of KazMunayGas, plans to reduce its oil supplies to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline by 11% in October, bringing the total to 133,000 tons compared to September. Meanwhile, the company is expected to increase its supplies through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline by 12%, reaching 160,000 tons, according to an official statement provided to Reuters Russia. 

Market participants attribute the planned reduction in oil supplies to the ongoing scheduled repair at the Karachaganak field. Meanwhile, the increase in BTC pipeline supplies is likely linked to the completion of maintenance at the Tengiz field...

Freedom Bank wants to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to automate compliance checks on transactions and customers. The financial organization said that once the new mechanism is commenced, the analysis time will be reduced from two days to a few minutes. According to Aidos Zhumagulov, a member of the bank’s board, the new technology will mitigate the risks of secondary sanctions and become a benchmark for other financial institutions.

«Geopolitics has made us stand in the crosshairs of the corresponding banks since we are in a somewhat risky zone for them. They keep an eye on every...

In the first nine months of 2024, facilities using renewable energy sources (RES) generated 5.7 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, accounting for 6.67% of total production. This represents an 18% increase year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan.

Out of the 5.7 billion kWh generated, the breakdown by energy source is as follows:

For comparison, in 2023, RES facilities generated a total of 6.6 billion kWh of electricity, which accounted for 5.92% of total output. In...

Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development proposes that the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), of which Kazakhstan is a member, conclude an agreement on cross-border bankruptcy. This would allow any CIS country to initiate bankruptcy proceedings by court order against citizens and legal entities that have a significant portion of their assets and creditors in that country, regardless of their place of residence or registration.

The draft agreement has been prepared to «establish legal certainty in cross-border bankruptcy relations.» It outlines a bankruptcy process involving international elements, such as when a company has foreign debtors, creditors or assets in multiple countries.

Since January 2024, companies in Kazakhstan have raised over $6.2 billion through bond issuing, a 2.3-fold increase year-on-year, according to the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK).

The top corporate bond issuers were:

The AFK also reported that bond yields range from 12% to 20%, while deposit yields are between 13% and 16%.

As for government securities, the AFK noted that high rates...

President of Russia Vladimir Putin has gotten familiar with a symbolic banknote of BRICS during the organization’s summit in Kazan. The banknote’s design includes flags of all the alliance member states, including Kazakhstan, that in fact had refused to join BRICS.

According to Dmitry Peskov, the official spokesperson for the Russian president, the banknote was printed by «someone of ours, probably by someone from the trade chamber or someone else.» Putin showed the banknote to his ministers after a meeting with a wide smile on his face.

Elvira Nabiullina (the governor of the Central Bank of Russia) didn’t like...

The Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan is asking other public agencies to find new markets for grain exports due to record-high yields of 26.5 million tons. However, the Ministry of Trade estimates the overall market capacity for Kazakhstani grain exports to be 12 million tons. The government aims to export Kazakhstani grain to Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil and Malaysia while boosting supplies to China and other Asian countries by 1.6 million tons.

Agricultural Minister Aidarbek Saparov recently revealed that this year, the country harvested a record-high yield of nearly 16 centners per hectare (26.5 million tons), a significant boost compared to...

The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) has granted Recognized Non-AIFC Member (RNAM) status to Raiffeisenbank, a Russian subsidiary of Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International, as reported by the Astana International Exchange (AIX) press office. 

«Raiffeisenbank has been granted RNAM status by the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA). This means that the regulator recognizes the active broker license of Raiffeisenbank. This status is a milestone on becoming an AIX trade member, but the bank still has to go through an onboarding process,» the statement read.

This means that AIX has acknowledged Raiffeisenbank’s broker license, paving the way...

Kazakhstan plans to begin exporting domestically produced cars to Afghanistan next year, according to Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin.

«Kabul is developing rapidly, marked by ongoing construction and increasing trade. A middle class seems to be emerging, bringing greater purchasing power. As a result, our Afghan colleagues have requested that I arrange meetings to discuss establishing car centers for selling new and used cars from Kazakhstan. I’ve already reached out to several contacts and we are pursuing this initiative,» Zhumangarin said.

He added that Kazakhstan may begin exporting cars next year, but first, they need...

According to Bagdat Musin, former minister of digital development and current CEO of the Kazakhtelecom telecommunications company, the sale of Mobile Telecom-Service, which operates under the Tele2 and Altel brands, will be completed by the end of this year. The deal was initially planned to be closed by late September. 

«We are going to close this deal before the year ends, but there is room for some challenges to appear, making us meet the buyer halfway. Although the contract has already been signed, this is a foreign investor, so we have to adjust to their procedures...

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will jointly implement 74 industrial projects valued at $3.4 billion, creating 14,600 new jobs, according to Kazakhstan’s government press office.

Out of the 74 projects, 11 have already been completed — nine in Kazakhstan and two in Uzbekistan — employing 4,800 people. Examples of joint ventures include the small-scale production of Chevrolet cars in Kostanay, the Silk Road Electronics household appliance factory in Saran, sewing and textile factories in Shymkent and the Turkestan region, and autoclaved aerated concrete production in Angren.

In total, 65 of the planned projects will be carried out in Kazakhstan, creating 13,600 jobs.

Kazakhtelecom, the national telecommunications operator, plans to invest up to $1 billion to provide fiber-optic internet to one million Kazakhstanis by the end of 2027, according to Bagdat Mussin, head of Kazakhtelecom, who spoke at the recent Kursiv Ecosystems Forum 2024 in Almaty.

Mussin stated that approximately 1.8 million households use fiber-optic and wired internet services provided by Kazakhtelecom, with about 800,000 using wired connections.

«You’re probably wondering what we can do to make everyone happy. Well, you likely already know the answer — focus on improving internet quality. So I started thinking about how to...

A new satellite internet service from Eutelsat OneWeb (a joint company of the UK and France) is set to begin operating in Kazakhstan next year. According to Digital Minister Zhaslan Madiyev, this new provider will ensure that people living in remote areas gain access to a high-speed internet connection.

The Kokterek Center of Space Communication, located in the Almaty region, has already tested the technology. Madiyev announced that residents of more than 300 villages currently lack access to quality internet services in Kazakhstan, and the new provider is expected to improve this situation. However, he did not clarify whether the...

Uzbekistan has introduced criminal liability for child abuse. Additionally, domestic abusers can no longer settle with their victims before court hearings. If a settlement is to occur, it must happen in court. The Senate emphasized that this change serves as a message to abusers, signaling that there is no way to escape punishment.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has already signed the law, according to Gazeta.uz.

«We are going to establish legal liability for child abuse within families. Please note, children have only been added to articles addressing physical violence,» the media outlet reported.

The amendments...

According to Freedom Holding Corp. Founder and CEO Timur Turlov, an ecosystem developed by the company has the potential to become part of a larger global network or extend well beyond Central Asia.

«I keep telling my team that even if we become the most popular service in Kazakhstan, it won’t be enough to ensure our survival. So we need to expand globally to secure the resources necessary to compete with tougher players in the market. Ultimately, we may become part of a larger ecosystem, which overall isn’t bad and could perhaps be beneficial for our...

The governor’s office of the Kostanay region has announced plans to build 165 wind power plants with a total capacity of one gigawatt (GW).

“Kumar Aksakalov, governor of the Kostanay region, has signed a memorandum to construct 165 wind power stations with a combined output of 1 GW. This marks a key step towards energy independence for the region, which is currently facing an electricity shortage for its industrial needs,” the statement read.

Current energy consumption in the Kostanay region is 0.45 GW, while local production lags significantly, generating only 0.12 GW. The governor’s office...

The Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan has prepared a draft regulation proposing that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev revise two key agreements with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The proposal seeks to strengthen coordination between the military forces of member states during emergencies. Both documents have been published on the http://legalacts.egov.kz website.

The first agreement focuses on cooperation between CSTO member states regarding troop and equipment transportation. The document outlines common procedures for troop movement and transit during force majeure circumstances and crises.

The proposal introduces new standards for information exchange in the event of a failure or catastrophe, and...

Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO and co-founder of Kaspi.kz, has recently explained the reasoning behind his company’s acquisition of a 65% stake in the Turkish marketplace Hepsiburada. The Kazakhstani fintech giant struck the deal last week.

According to Lomtadze, many companies were considered, but Hepsiburada stood out because of its appeal and Turkey’s strong economic and structural performance as its country of origin.

«Making decisions like this requires a 50/50 blend of intuition and analysis. The Turkish market is appealing to us due to its structure, economy and large market size, with over 85 million people. However, the...