-19 C 3 (117) Kazakh Leader Outlines ... · Stage of Modernisation By Aigerim Seisembayeva ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 2017 ad-dress to the nation, published

Kazakh Leader Outlines Five Priorities of Country’s Third

Stage of ModernisationBy Aigerim Seisembayeva

ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 2017 ad-dress to the nation, published Jan. 31, focuses on what he termed a new, third stage of the country’s modernisation. It consists of five top priorities that are to ensure economic growth above the world average and bring the nation clos-er to its goal of joining the top 30 most-developed countries.

Kazakhstan passed its 25-year development phase with honour, said the head of state. He evoked the beginning of the country’s ten-ure on the United Nations Secu-rity Council, the upcoming EXPO 2017 international specialised exhibition and Universiade 2017 in Almaty among the nation’s achievements and successes.

“In 2014-2016 alone, 1.7 trillion tenge (US$5.2 billion) was addi-tionally allocated to support the economy. This provided opportu-nities for economic growth, busi-ness support and creation of over 200,000 new jobs. This resulted in a 1-percent GDP growth in 2016. This is particularly important in the current difficult conditions,” the address reads.

The world today is witnessing the fourth industrial revolution. The digitalisation of the economy, Nazarbayev noted, will make en-tire industries disappear and create fundamentally new ones.

“Great changes are taking place before our very eyes – it is both a challenge and a historic opportuni-ty for the nation. Today, I put forth the task of ensuring the implemen-tation of the third modernisation of Kazakhstan. It is necessary to create a new model of economic growth that will provide the coun-try’s global competitiveness,” he said.

The first stage of modernisa-tion was forming an entirely new state based on the principles of a market economy in the 1990s. The

second was implementing Strategy 2030 and creating a new capital – Astana.

“This modernisation is not a plan to combat current global chal-lenges, but a reliable bridge to the future, to meet the objectives of Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy. It will be carried out on the basis of the 100 Concrete Steps Plan of the Na-tion,” said the President.

The address further outlines the five priorities for Kazakhstan’s modernisation.

The economy’s accelerated technological

modernisationWithin this priority, Nazarbayev

is aiming to create new indus-tries based on digital technolo-gies, such as 3D printing, mobile banking, e-commerce and digital services. The President instruct-ed the government to develop a “Digital Kazakhstan” programme and establish an international IT startup technological park, based on some of the premises to be left vacant after EXPO 2017 which will attract entrepreneurs and in-vestors from around the world. This also includes developing

scientific and innovative potential on the basis of Nazarbayev Uni-versity and Alatau IT City near Almaty.

In addition to creating new in-dustries, impetus is to be given to developing traditional ones. This implies increasing productivity in areas like automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and big data exchange. The government was instructed to develop a package of measures for the technological re-equipment of basic industries until 2025.

Attention was also attached to export promotion. The address in-dicates exporters are to be provid-ed with support based on the ‘one stop shop’ principle. The President instructed forming a governmental council with business representa-tives to discuss export policy and also ordered the government and akims (governors and mayors) to develop a unified export strategy in cooperation with businesspeo-ple by Sept. 1.

Nazarbayev emphasised metal-lurgical and petroleum industries are to remain strategic areas while seeking new markets and activat-ing geological exploration works.

The agrarian sector is to become the new driver of the economy.

Kazakhstan is fully capable, in Nazarbayev’s words, of produc-ing organic foods. The “Made in Kazakhstan” brand must become a high standard in this sphere. At the same time, he set the goal for Kazakhstan of becoming the “bread basket” of Eurasia in terms of grain production.

The President also outlined lo-gistics and construction as parts of the first priority, highlighting the need to ensure free transit of goods, establish and modernise transport corridors and transfer innovation technologies into con-struction and producing building materials. The Nurly Zher pro-gramme will provide housing for 1.5 million families in the coming 15 years.

Modernising the economy will lead to releasing the labour force from traditional industries. In this regard, the President instructed the government to create conditions for a controlled flow of workers into other sectors.

Improving and expanding the business

sphereOne of Kazakhstan’s strategic

goals is to ensure small- and me-dium-sized businesses account for at least 50 percent of the GDP by 2050. In order to achieve this goal, the government must sup-port mass entrepreneurship by providing micro-loans of up to 16 million tenge (US$48,800), reducing all types of business costs, optimising public services and deregulating the business sphere. The President also initi-ated introducing a doing busi-ness rating across Kazakhstan, an analogue of the World Bank’s Doing Business report, with a special prize awarded to pioneer regions annually on Industriali-sation Day.

Continued on Page A4

-12° / -19°C No 3 (117) www.astanatimes.comWEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017

INSIDENATIONNazarbayev Sets Goals Toward Third-Stage Modernisation A2Ministries Reorganised, New Ministers Appointed A2

ECONOMY&BUSINESSKazakh Economy Saw Sharp Increase in Chinese Investment in 2016 A4Kazpost Continues E-Services Drive A5

EDITORIALSLong-Term Planning Has Been, Will Continue to Be Key to Success A6Devolution of Presidential Powers Signals Next Step in Kazakhstan’s Development A6

OPINIONSIGALI: Why Tourism Industry Issues Are Reassigned A7KHAIROV: Improving Climate for Investors Top Priority, Official Says A7

NATION&CAPITALAlmaty Man Travels World with Little Money, Lots of Enthusiasm B1Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army to Be Exhibited at EXPO 2017 B6

US$ 1 = 321.80 KZT € 1 = 345.39 KZT 1 = 5.47 KZT

President Unveils Plans of Constitutional

ReformsBy Aigerim Seisembayeva

ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev gave a spe-cial televised address Jan. 25 to the nation on the redistribution of powers among governmental bod-ies which would involve, among other steps, amending the coun-try’s Constitution.

A special working group had been created by the President’s decree in December 2016, which carried out a thorough work on the issue of redistributing powers.

“The upcoming reform is based on the principles of our develop-ment and the principles of modern development in general. The quin-tessence is that the President del-egates some powers to the Parlia-ment and the Government. Vertical separation of power was necessary to us in the course of overcoming the enormous difficulties of state formation,” Nazarbayev stated in his address.

According to him, the reform is aimed at improving the efficiency of the public administration sys-tem. The essence of the proposed reform is a serious redistribution of power and democratisation of the political system as a whole, he said.

“Under the new conditions the President’s priority areas will be strategic functions, and the role of a supreme arbiter in the relations between governmental branches. The head of state will also focus on foreign policy, national security and defence,” Nazarbayev said.

The role of the government and the parliament will be significantly expanded. The transformation, ac-cording to the Kazakh President,

will be conducted in two key ar-eas. First, a significant part of the president’s functions on regulat-ing social and economic processes will be transferred to the govern-ment and other executive bodies. Secondly, the relations between different branches will need to be balanced at a constitutional level. Nazarbayev proposed to strengthen the role of the parliament in terms of its influence on the government.

“It is important to strengthen the role of Parliament in the formation of Government, to enhance the re-sponsibility of the Cabinet before the deputies. The winning party in the parliamentary election will have a decisive influence on the formation of the Government. On this basis, it will be logical, if the government will abdicate author-ity to the newly elected Mazhilis, not the President, as it was before,” Nazarbayev highlighted.

The reforms also include sim-plifying the procedure of passing a vote of no- confidence in minis-ters from the parliament chambers. This will strengthen the control of the legislature over the executive power.

Nazarbayev proposed to transfer the approval of state programmes to the government, so that it will bear full responsibility for those. The government might as well ac-quire the right to form and to abol-ish central executive bodies that are not included in it. The project on constitutional reform will be presented for public discussion during Jan. 26 – Feb. 26, 2017.

The following is an informal translation of the full text of the televised address of President Naz-arbayev of Jan. 25, 2017.


Kazakhstan Ranks 48 in Bloomberg Innovation IndexBy Lyazzat Shatayeva

ASTANA – Kazakhstan rose two positions to 48th in Bloomberg’s 2017 Innovation Index, marking the second year in a row the country has been among the world’s top 50 innovative economies.

To compile the ranking, Bloomberg evaluated more than 200 countries, of which 78 had data available for at least six of seven factors. The agency uses data from the International Mon-etary Fund, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the World Bank, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Organi-

sation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

The study assesses the countries’ performance in seven categories: Research and Development, Manu-facturing Value-added, Productiv-ity, High-tech Density, Tertiary Ef-ficiency, Researcher Concentration and Patent Activity.

Kazakhstan owed most of its rise in the ranking to patent activity. Manufacturing value-added (MVA) metrics also improved slightly compared to last year’s indicators. The country ranked as high as 28th, according to the number of patent filings, total patent grants and pat-

ents in force. The country ranked 42nd in MVA, measuring the man-ufacturing output as a share of the country’s economy.

Productivity expressed in gross national income (GNI) and gross domestic product (GDP) per per-son aged 15 and older earned the country 34th place in the ranking. Kazakhstan’s spending, as a per-centage of GDP, on research and development placed the country 50th in the category.

The country earned 23rd position in total enrolments in tertiary edu-cation and 49th place in the num-ber of professionals involved in research per population.

The country did not provide

sufficient data available on the number of high-tech public com-panies, which falls under the high-tech density category, even though the country is seeing a rise in its engineering, aerospace, defence and renewable energy in-dustries.

South Korea leads the rating for the third consecutive year. The world’s most innovative country is followed by Sweden and Germany. The top ten also includes Switzer-land, Finland, Singapore, Japan, Denmark, the Unites States and Israel. China remains 21st in the ranking two years in a row. Russia ranked 26th, down by fourteen po-sitions from last year.

Trilateral Working Group on Syrian Ceasefire

Holds First Technical Meeting in Astana

By Aigerim Seisembayeva

ASTANA – The joint working group for monitoring the cease-fire regime in Syria held its first technical meeting behind closed doors Feb. 6 in the Kazakh capital. Representatives of Russia, Turkey, Iran, as well as the United Nations discussed the details of imple-menting the ceasefire agreement from December 2016.

Jordan also participated as an observer, marking the first time an Arab nation, other than Syria itself, took part in this process launched last month.

The head of the Russian del-egation, Armed Forces’ General Headquarters Central Operating Department Deputy Chief Major General Stanislav Gadzhimago-medov, made a statement for the media following the meeting.

“Today, the delegations of Russia, Turkey and Iran, as well as the Unit-ed Nations representatives, held the first session of the working group which was formed following the ar-rangements made here in Astana on Jan. 23-24. The participants of the meeting discussed the progress of the ceasefire regime observance in Syria, the special measures of cre-ating the effective monitoring and control mechanism to ensure full observance of the ceasefire regime, prevention of any provocative acts and definition of all modalities of the regime,” he said.

The participants also discussed measures of mutual trust and free access of humanitarian aid, he noted.

The delegations confirmed their readiness to continue interaction for the benefit of full observance of the ceasefire regime, Gadzhima-gomedov added.


Almaty Hosts Winter Universiade

See coverage on Page B7

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017

NATIONNATIONAL

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ministries Reorganised, New Ministers AppointedBy Aigerim Seisembayeva

ASTANA – The responsibilities of numerous government minis-tries were reorganised Jan. 25 by decree of Kazakh President Nur-sultan Nazarbayev.

The Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development was split into the Ministry of Healthcare and the Ministry of Labour and Social Pro-tection of the Population.

The responsibility to establish and implement state healthcare policy was transferred to the Ministry of Healthcare while forming and implementing state social and labour policies was transferred to the Ministry of La-bour and Social Protection of the Population.

The President also assigned new functions to other ministries. The Ministry for Investments and De-velopment (MID) will perform export promotion, and the respon-sibility for developing tourism

industry, previously with MID, is now within the scope of the Minis-try of Culture and Sport.

The export promotion pro-gramme allows small- and me-dium-sized enterprises that are current or potential exporters of non-raw material processed prod-ucts to receive comprehensive fi-nancial, service and information support, as well as expand the scope and geography of their ex-ports.

The Ministry of National Econ-omy is to delegate the sanitary and epidemiological welfare functions to the Ministry of Healthcare. The Ministry of National Economy also passes electricity issues and some functions in overseeing heating and gas supplies to the Ministry of Energy while the responsibility for architecture, urban planning, con-struction, housing relations, water supply, drainage, utilities and man-agement of municipal waste to the Ministry for Investments and De-velopment.

The President also appointed former Vice Minister of Health-care and Social Development Yelzhan Birtanov the new Minister of Healthcare.

Tamara Duissenova, previous

Minister of Healthcare and Social Development, was appointed Min-ister of Labour and Social Protec-tion of the Population.

Elsewhere, the new Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Sta-

tistics and Special Records of the Office of the Prosecutor General is Bagdat Mussin, until recently the head of KazPost. Saule Aitpayeva was relieved of this post by Presi-dent Nazarbayev’s order.

Nazarbayev Sets Goals Toward Third-Stage Modernisation

By Malika Orazgaliyeva

ASTANA – President Nursultan Nazarbayev led a Feb. 3 expanded government meeting discussing the key objectives of the third stage of Kazakhstan’s modernisation, which were laid out in his Jan. 31 annual address to the nation.

Nazarbayev instructed the govern-ment to take into account the target indicators of the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy while developing a Strate-gic Development Plan until 2025.

He stressed the need for sus-tainable GDP growth at 5 percent pointing to the existing potential for further development of the na-tional economy.

Nazarbayev instructed the re-gional akims (governors and may-ors) and development institutions to reinforce projects in the frame-work of the state programme of in-dustrial-innovative development that are now idling.

Nazarbayev drew attention to the decline of goods and services produced by small- and medium-

sized enterprises (SMEs) and the involvement of citizens.

“According to government re-ports, the scheduled inspections were cancelled, the new risk man-agement systems were implement-ed, whereas the state services were converted into electronic format. However, the number of employ-ees in the inspection bodies was not reduced. For this reason, I instruct the government, the General Pros-ecutor’s Office and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Ka-zakhstan Atameken to conduct a

large-scale audit of the control and supervisory functions until the end of March,” Nazarbayev said.

“It is necessary to revise and cancel all inefficient tax breaks and preferences. Tax legislation should stimulate business activity, invest-ments and reduce the share of the shadow economy,” he added.

Thereafter, Nazarbayev touched the topic of expanding the bound-aries for business. He noted the need to reduce the proportion of the state-owned enterprises, as well as establish a list of organisa-tions in accordance with the prin-ciples of Yellow Pages that will reasonably remain in state owner-ship on the results of privatisation.

The President also pointed out the lack of work on the develop-ment of public-private partnerships emphasising that akims should be more responsible in this area.

Nazarbayev noted the impor-tance of measures of state support for domestic producers. It is neces-sary to ensure long-term contracts and introduce modern technolo-gies and innovations. There should

be created a unified IT-platform for purchases and producers, he said. According to him, it will provide import substitution and develop-ment of domestic production.

Nazarbayev underlined poor conditions of agricultural hold-ings and instructed the General Prosecutor’s Office in cooperation with the Audit Committee to carry out the relevant checks.

Nazarbayev stressed the impor-tance of ongoing healthcare re-forms noting that its results must improve the quality of services.

In addition, Nazarbayev stressed the importance of the transition to a 12-year education system, a new trilingual system and the updating of the rules of the United National Testing (UNT). He instructed the responsible state body to inform the country’s population about the positive effects of these changes.

All reforms are provided with the necessary funding sources, in-formed Nazarbayev. At the same time, he noted the responsibility of the state bodies for effective al-location of the state budget.

Continued from Page A1

“Dear people of Kazakhstan!I address you on a fundamental

issue for our country.The issue is redistribution of

powers between branches of gov-ernment.

A special working group was cre-ated in accordance with my decree. The group has done a great job.

I was briefed on the work accom-plished by the group.

The upcoming reform is based on the principles of our develop-ment and the principles of modern development in general.

The quintessence is that the Pres-ident delegates some powers to the Parliament and the Government.

Vertical separation of power was necessary to us in the course of overcoming the enormous difficul-ties of state formation.

This principle justified itself. All our achievements were accom-plished precisely under this system.

This reform is aimed at improv-ing the efficiency of the executive system.

We have built a new state, a new economy, and a new society.

The efficiency of our devel-opment path proved right in the course of history. Marking the 25th anniversary of our independence, we talked about our achievements, including the work of the authori-ties, the presidential system.

But the world is changing before our very eyes.

The speed and complexity of so-

cial processes are growing in Ka-zakhstan.

Already today we have to think how to respond to global and re-gional challenges that will inevita-bly take place in the coming future.

The essence of the proposed re-form is a serious redistribution of power, democratization of the po-litical system as a whole.

Under the new conditions, the President’s priorities will include strategic functions, the role of su-preme arbiter in the relations be-tween the branches of government.

The head of state will also focus on the foreign policy, national se-curity and the country’s defence.

The role of the Government and the Parliament will increase signifi-cantly.

This work will be conducted in two key areas.

First of all, it is necessary to transfer a significant part of powers in regulation of social and econom-ic processes from the President to the Government and other execu-tive bodies.

The government, ministries and akimats (regional executive offices) will be fully responsible for this.

Delegation of powers can be achieved through changes in the relevant laws. About 40 functions can be transferred either to the Government or the Parliament.

Government will introduce these amendments as a matter of priority to the Parliament for adoption be-fore the end of the current session.

Second, a more difficult task is

to balance the relationship between the branches of government on the constitutional level.

It is important to strengthen the role of Parliament in the formation of Government, to enhance the re-sponsibility of the Cabinet before the deputies.

The winning party in the parlia-mentary election will have a deci-sive influence on the formation of the Government.

On this basis, it will be logical, if

the government will abdicate author-ity to the newly elected Mazhilis, not the President, as it was before.

It is necessary to simplify the procedure for expression of no-confidence to the members of Gov-ernment from the Houses of Parlia-ment.

This will strengthen the control of the legislature over the execu-tive branch of power.

We should also transfer the right of approval of state programs to the Government, for which it will bear full responsibility.

Government should have the right to form and abolish the cen-tral executive bodies that are not included in it.

The President may waive the right to cancel or suspend the acts of the Government and the Prime Minister.

All of this will increase the re-sponsibility of the executive agen-cies and their officials and will give them the necessary authorities.

The current rules on the possi-bility of adopting the presidential decrees that have the force of law have lost their relevance.

It is proposed to strengthen the

role of Parliament in relation to the local executive authorities.

In addition, we need to study the issue of improving the functioning of the Constitutional Council, the judiciary and the prosecutor’s office.

At the same time, we need un-conditional assurances for immuta-bility of our constitutional system.

The working group will continue to operate; they need to thoroughly examine all of these issues and to prepare a package of proposals for further public review.

The proposed programme will help to solve three problems.

Firstly, it will help to ensure sta-bility of the political system for years to come.

Secondly, increasing the role of the Government and the Parlia-ment will provide a more effective mechanism of response to modern challenges.

Yes, it is a more complex control system, but also the society has be-come more complex.

I am deliberately going to dele-gate a large part of the powers held by the president.

And I will do it with a single pur-pose, which is to build a more ef-ficient, sustainable, modern system of governance.

Third, there is no universal mod-el of government in the world. We are all in search of it.

We have never engaged in copy-ing foreign models of government. We have been trying to find our own, often unique solutions, al-though there are questions where we follow international experience.

Our proposed reform is based primarily on our own experience and needs of Kazakhstan.

The reform programme is our answer to the question in what di-rection Kazakhstan will move.

The answer is clear and consist-ent: we will move in the direction of democratic development.

Given the importance of the pro-posed measures, I decided to sub-mit for public discussion a draft of the constitutional reforms, which will be published.

A relevant decree was issued.All of this is in line with the fu-

ture development of the country and meets the five institutional re-forms.

The fifth reform “Open Govern-ment” provides for a serious redis-tribution of powers. To ensure that all branches of government work effectively and responsibly, it is important to create an appropriate system checks and balances.”

The Judicial Situation Centre, which will aim to enable perma-nent centralised control of the proceedings in any case, will be launched in 2017, reported Za-kon.kz. “We will be able to fully control the legal proceedings starting from the registration of applications to executive actions. The introduction of e-justice and other reforms have been positive-ly received by the population and international experts,” said Su-preme Court Chairperson Kairat Mami. Development of an elec-tronic courtroom model with au-tomation-equipped working plac-es for the judge, prosecutor and lawyer is currently underway. The courts will be also soon equipped with computers and technical tools to demonstrate evidence.

Five memorandums on bilat-eral cooperation were signed between Turkey and the South Kazakhstan region as part of the first Kazakh-Turkish Investment Forum held Feb.1-3 in Shymkent, reported Inform.kz. About 200 Turkish and 300 Kazakh business people attended the event. South Kazakhstan region Akim (Gover-nor) Zhanseit Tuimebayev noted the forum is one of the main pre-requisites to implement the tasks stated by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in his “Third Mod-ernisation of Kazakhstan: Global Competitiveness” Jan. 31 address to the nation. A conference on the investment potential of the region, exhibitions of investment projects, manufacturers, tourism projects, development institutions and information tours to local at-tractions are also scheduled. Thir-ty Turkish firms and companies currently operate in the region and four projects worth $33.7 million have been implemented in the past three years.

Sixteen high-tech chemical plants will be constructed at Taraz Chemistry Park, reported Inform.kz. The facilities are expected to produce caustic soda, chlorine, glyphosate, phosphorus trichlo-ride, methanol and dry sodium butyl xanthate and a natural gas deep processing plant is slated to be built. The project investment exceeds more than 27 billion tenge (US$82.8 million). Taraz Chemis-try Park will be launched in stages, with the first plant scheduled to open in 2018. Total investment for the project is 128.3 billion tenge (US$393.4 million) and 25.9 bil-lion tenge (US$80.1 million) was allocated for infrastructure in 2014.

An open digital platform for business will be launched in the country, according to Tengrinews. The project is initiated by Ka-zakhtelecom in cooperation with Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (NCE) and IT com-panies. The platform, an aggrega-tor of services necessary to operate the businesses, will be continuous-ly updated with new digital servic-es. “Digital platform is the world’s latest trend. The company adopted a strategy of gradual transition from traditional telecom services to services with high added value which can be developed by all market participants and provide a telecom operator through an ex-tensive infrastructure,” said Ka-zakhtelecom Board Chairperson Kuanyshbek Yessekeyev.

A new seismic monitoring sys-tem was developed as part of the ecological and seismological monitoring system development project initiated by the National Agency for Technological De-velopment, reported the agency’s press service. The automatic sys-tem is aimed at short-term earth-quake prediction and measuring harmful gas mixtures in the air. “This is a very urgent project due to the air pollution and seis-mic danger in Almaty. We are pleased to have an opportunity to develop this system,” said techni-cal director Vladimir Abelentsev. The system works in real time to study the dynamics of faults, with continuous system monitoring ob-served on www.samos-seismo.kz.

Kazakh President Unveils Plans of Constitutional Reforms

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Delegation of powers can be achieved through changes in the relevant laws. About 40 functions can be transferred either to the Government or the Parliament.

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EURASIA&WORLDEXTERNAL

NEWS IN BRIEF

OSCE to Help Train Kazakh Law Enforcement Staff

Fight Crime

By Dmitry Lee

ASTANA – Head of the Depart-ment of the Organisation for Se-curity and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Economic and Environ-mental Activities Andrei Muntean recently pledged during his meet-ing with Rector of the Academy of Law Enforcement under the General Prosecutor’s Office Ulan Baizhanov to help the academy create a regional law enforcement hub.

The Kazakh head of state set the task to create a law enforcement hub that would meet society’s ex-pectations and would have person-nel trained according to the highest international standards, Baizhanov said. To do this, the country needs leaders of the new formation: edu-cated, trustworthy and with high morals.

The academy is implementing a system of special trainings. Last year, it trained 45 people for the prosecutor’s office, internal affairs, economic and anti-corruption in-vestigation services, while nine of the graduates have been appointed to senior positions.

Baizhanov briefed Muntean about the completion of several intermediate stages of work on the creation of the hub and next steps

towards its completion, suggesting qualitatively new approaches to strengthening the ties between the hub and the academy.

“In the near future, the academy plans to sign a memorandum with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to establish a hub and proceed di-rectly to the training of specialists for the Central Asian states in the region,” said the rector of the acad-emy.

The OSCE’s support for the academy is affirmation of the academy’s commitment to funda-mental OSCE security principles. Baizhanov thanked Muntean for supporting the academy, General Prosecutor’s press service reported in a press release.

Muntean praised the level of co-operation received from Kazakh-stan and highlighted the academy’s contribution to the effective use of scientific and educational spheres as a tool to solve national and re-gional issues.

The parties also discussed im-plementing existing agreements, priorities for bilateral cooperation and future projects.

Baizhanov noted the OSCE has helped strengthen international security over the last four decades and contributed to Kazakhstan’s development by helping the coun-try respond to modern challenges.

Kazakh, Uzbek Delegations Discuss Agro, Industrial Ties

By Botagoz Baltabayeva

ASTANA – A business forum with the participation of Kyzylorda and Navoi region business people was held recently as part of the working visit of a Kyzylorda region delegation to Uzbekistan.

The authorities discussed plans for cooperation, particularly in the industrial sector and agro-process-ing.

The perspectives of the Navoi free industrial and economic zone established in 2008 were presented at the event. A special legal regime, including tax, currency and customs preferences and simplified proce-

dures for entry, stay and departure as well as work permission for non-residents of Uzbekistan were introduced. All the companies in the zone are provided with a high level of infrastructure.

Kazakh authorities also held meetings with Deputy Chairman of the Senate of Oliy Mazhilis of Uzbekistan Sodik Safoev, Tashkent Mayor Rakhmonbek Usmanov and heads of a number of industrial en-terprises.

Kyzylorda region Akim (Gov-ernor) Krymbek Kusherbayev stressed that foreign investors get favourable preferences due to Ka-zakh President Nursultan Naz-arbayev’s initiatives.

“These preferences include cus-toms duty exemption, provision of state land grants and preferences for taxes and investment subsidies. The local administration ensures the provision of land for the organisa-tion of production and supplies nec-essary infrastructure. We would like to adopt the best practices from Uz-bekistan in the agricultural sector, food industry, electrical engineer-ing, construction and automotive industries,” said Kusherbayev.

The Kazakh delegation visited a number of enterprises, and held talks with entrepreneurs and man-agers of local companies. The joint interregional working groups were created to ensure the implementa-tion of the agreements reached as part of the visit.

The partnership in the industrial and trade-economic spheres was discussed at the meeting with the Samarkand region administration.

The delegation laid flowers at the tomb of the first Uzbek President Islam Karimov at the Shahi Zinda Mausoleum in Samarkand, visited the Zhalantos Bahadur Mausoleum and met with Kazakh cultural centre activists in the Navoi region.

Kazakhstan had a 40,000 square-metre pavilion at the BETT Show international exhibition of education technologies in Lon-don this year, Kazakh TV reports. The BETT Show is a global plat-form where professionals share new teaching methods with their colleagues. “The annual event brought together more than 500 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors from 138 countries,” Kazakh TV explained, adding that representa-tives from Kazakhstan also paid a visit to the event. Kazakhstan’s pavilion featured the latest tech-nological advances in education. Organisers of the event say their mission is to bring people and ideas, practices and technologies together so future teachers and stu-dents can utilise their potential in real developments.

Kazakhstan’s manufacturers are actively promoting their products in foreign markets, according to the Khabar Agency. Farmers from the East Kazakhstan region are willing to increase their ex-port volumes. Today, the coun-try’s food products are exported to Russia, China, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. “Export is oriented at more accessible territories; that is, those that entail fewer ex-penses for logistics. State support in this matter is essential,” Ph.D. candidate of agricultural sciences Mukan Agzamov told Khabar. According to the expert, subsidies create incentives for small farms to cooperate and expand produc-tion and finally lead to agro-in-dustrial development. Last year local farmers exported 277,000 tonnes of wheat worth $37 mil-lion and 403 tonnes of buckwheat worth $152,000. In total, 200,000 tonnes of food products were ex-ported to Turkey, Russia, Uzbeki-stan and Iran. In comparison to 2015, the volume of gross agricul-tural output grew by 111 percent. By 2026, it is planned to increase agricultural export performance threefold.

Kazakhstan’s investment op-portunities have been presented at the South Korean Chamber of Commerce, the Khabar-24 news agency reports. About 150 busi-ness representatives learned about Kazakhstan’s investment initia-tives for foreign companies. At-tendees showed interest in gov-ernment support for investors, tax incentives, tariffs and import duties. “Some South Korean com-panies expressed the intention to manufacture their products in Kazakhstan and then send them to the Chinese market. In addi-tion, businessmen were interested in the development of alternative energy sources in Kazakhstan,” Khabar-24 said. More than 300 joint enterprises with the partici-pation of South Korean invest-ment operate in Kazakhstan today; these include confectionery and electronic devices manufacturing, a manufacturing plant in Almaty, an iron alloy plant in Ust-Kame-nogorsk and an oil company in Atyrau.

A Kazakh delegation took part in the internationally acclaimed International Green Week festival in Berlin – one of the oldest and largest public exhibitions for the food, agriculture and gardening industries. The German capital has been hosting the exhibition since 1926, Kazakh TV reports. This year, more than 1,500 agricultural manufacturers showcased their products at the fair and some 26 pa-vilions welcomed festival visitors. There were innovative harvesters, elite horses and a rainbow of ex-otic fruits. Pavilions demonstrated their national cuisines: Hungarian goulash, Ukrainian borscht, Turk-ish baklava and Moroccan tea all could be found at one fair. A wide range of cheeses was brought from The Netherlands, France and Ar-gentina.

Kazakhstan will be represented by 23-year-old Alua Azilkhanova of Semey at the international con-test Miss Eco International 2017, Tengrinews.kz reports. She was selected by the Academy of In-ternational Beauty Contests from more than 100 contestants from all over the country.

Kazakhstan, Czech Republic Work to Reach Cooperation Potential

By Aigerim Seisembayeva

ASTANA – Chairperson of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Repub-lic Jan Hamáček met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Speaker of the Mazhilis (lower house of Parliament) Nurlan Nig-matulin and visited a Kazakh-Czech business forum during his Feb. 6 official visit to Astana.

During the meeting with the Ka-zakh President, the sides discussed bilateral cooperation, including economic and political cooperation.

“Your visit is very important. We have initially established good relations with the Czech Republic. President of the Czech Repub-lic Miloš Zeman has previously visited our country. Now we are expecting him at the opening of the EXPO 2017 exhibition,” Naz-arbayev said.

Hamáček noted Kazakhstan’s successes over the last quarter-century, congratulated the country on its 25th anniversary of inde-pendence and wished the country continued success.

Nigmatulin emphasised the Czech Republic is an important political and economic partner of Kazakhstan in Central and East-ern Europe. The current visit, the chairperson of the Mazhilis emphasised, would give a new impetus to bilateral cooperation,

particularly inter-parliamentary relations. The sides discussed the key directions of the address of President Nazarbayev to the peo-ple of Kazakhstan as well as the proposed constitutional reforms.

The parties also noted Astana and Prague have friendly rela-tions made possible through high-level contacts. The meetings of the heads of state confirmed a desire to deepen bilateral cooperation.

The sides particularly noted Ka-zakhstan’s tenure as a non-perma-nent member of the UN Security Council for the coming two years. Special attention was given to the Astana talks on a Syrian settle-ment, which were held with the support of the Kazakh President. The parliamentarians discussed Kazakhstan’s expanded coopera-tion with the European Union and

other European structures, as well as cultural and humanitarian, trade and economic cooperation.

Talking about Kazakhstan’s de-velopment over the years of inde-pendence, Hamáček noted, “The success is unique and is directly related to the personality of Presi-dent Nazarbayev.”

Hamáček said the President of Kazakhstan’s contribution is sig-nificant in regional and global politics. Noting the initiative of the Kazakh head of state on the proposed constitutional reforms, the Czech MP stressed this step is worthy of an experienced politi-cian with a keen sense of respon-sibility for his country. The sides noted the importance of the par-liamentary component and called for expanding inter-parliamentary cooperation.

During Hamáček’s participation in the Kazakh-Czech business fo-rum, he again confirmed the par-ticipation of Czech President Ze-man at the opening ceremony of the EXPO 2017 exhibition.

According to Kazakh Vice Min-ister of Energy Bakytzhan Dzhak-saliyev, 185 joint ventures involv-ing Czech capital are registered in Kazakhstan. Dzhaksaliyev said the Czech Republic exports cars, spare parts, electrical equipment, furni-ture, glass products and pharma-ceutical products to Kazakhstan.

“An important area of bilateral relations for Kazakhstan is me-chanical engineering, in particu-lar, the expansion of the Czech machine-building technologies. Assembly lines for Skoda Octavia and President Edition cars have been launched in Kazakhstan. Since 2005, Skoda production has amounted to 19,888 vehicles worth almost 70 billion tenge,” Dzhaksaliyev said.

However, the vice minister not-ed Kazakh–Czech partnership has not reached its potential. Indica-tors of turnover between the two countries remain low, including due to lower commodity and en-ergy prices.

“Gross inflow of direct invest-ment from the Czech Republic to Kazakhstan starting from 2005 to the nine months of 2016 amounted to only $186 million. Favourable conditions have been created for

fruitful cooperation between the two countries. The Kazakh-Czech intergovernmental commission plays a key role in such economic cooperation, in particular in the economic, industrial and scien-tific-technical spheres. The ninth session of the commission is to be held in Prague on Feb. 28. A total of 16 agreements have been signed between Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic,” Dzhaksali-yev said.

He also informed Czech busi-nesspersons about Kazakhstan’s investment climate and conditions for business development that have attracted more than $200 billion of foreign direct investment over the past ten years.

“We will welcome the partici-pation of Czech businesses in the projects of the development of do-mestic high-tech export-oriented production in accordance with the priorities of our industrial and in-novation policy,” he concluded.

Hamáček emphasised the del-egation came to Kazakhstan to “give proof of the political dia-logue between our two countries.”

“For us, Kazakhstan is the larg-est trading partner in Central Asia, and the real possibilities of our co-operation are much higher. Over the past two years, there has been a decrease in our trade. It is not that the Czech and Kazakh goods have lost their quality and appeal. Glob-al external factors have played their role in this. Those include the continued drop in oil prices and other raw materials, trade and eco-nomic sanctions against Russia. I am sure that our countries have the opportunities that we need to find and develop,” Hamáček stated.

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“All the members of the delega-tions express sincere gratitude to the Kazakh side for providing the plat-form here in Astana to continue the Astana process and for creating fa-vourable conditions to hold the first meeting of the working group,” he declared.

“During the talks, the Jordanian side presented very interesting in-formation. They described the situ-ation in the south of Syria and the readiness of the opposition groups in the southern provinces to join the ceasefire regime and fight against international terrorist organisations, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra, which operate in southern Syria,” said Gadzhimagomedov.

“In general, Turkey, Iran and UN officials have expressed their inter-est in the report and willingness to continue to work with the Jordanian side,” he added.

The technical meeting came only

two weeks after the sides reached an agreement to create a trilateral mechanism aimed at monitoring the ceasefire regime established in late December. The parties to the nego-tiations included the Syrian govern-ment, 13 Syrian opposition groups and guarantor states – Russia, Iran and Turkey – as well as UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura. U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol also participated in the meeting as an observer.

The talks resulted in the adoption of a three-party declaration estab-lishing, among other decisions, a mechanism of controlling the cease-fire regime observance. The meet-ing was presented as another step towards the resumption of peace talks in Geneva under UN auspices.

Earlier, Staffan de Mistura an-nounced the postponement of the next round of the Geneva talks to “give a chance for this Astana ini-tiative to actually implement itself.” The negotiations, expected to take

place Feb. 8, have now been re-scheduled for Feb. 20.

According to experts, a step for-ward in the Syrian settlement pro-cess was made in the capital. For the first time since the beginning of the conflict, representatives of the Syr-ian government and the armed, rath-er than political, opposition met in the same room. The talks were not held directly, but with the help of in-termediaries, which is considered a big step towards the settlement.

Kazakhstan was able to bring to-gether representatives of the Syrian government and the armed opposi-tion. Kazakhstan once again had a chance to act as a host country that creates favourable conditions for constructive work and dialogue on pressing issues. The nation hosted a similar series of meetings in Al-maty on Iran’s nuclear programme in February and April 2013, which contributed to unblocking the nego-tiations and promptly led to a settle-ment of the issue in 2015.

Trilateral Working Group...

A4


ECONOMYNEWS IN BRIEF

ECONOMY

Kazakh Company Develops Cheese Production Without Additives, GMOs

By Zhazira Dyussembekova

ASTANA – Saba Food has been making Italian cheeses in Kazakh-stan for the last two years. The products, without additives and GMOs, promise to be as tasty as their European counterparts.

Working mainly with restau-rants, the company is expanding production and making its way into the mass market. The original moz-zarella, ricotta and burrata have grown into other types, said Saba Food Director Yerzhan Dzhumabe-kov in a Jan. 30 interview with The Astana Times.

“At the moment, we produce mozzarella, mozzarella for pizza, ricotta (cottage cheese), burrata, scamorza (slightly smoked mozza-rella), bryndza, suluguni and Ady-gea cheese,” he said.

The cheeses are in no way infe-rior to their Italian counterparts, he added, as one of the co-founders was Italian and taught the person-nel the whole technology.

“The main feature of our moz-zarella is its naturalness. There is no milk powder or additives to prolong its shelf life, no GMOs,” he said.

The shelf life is about seven-10 days, similar to the company’s oth-er products.

Cheese manufacturing is a very complex process, said Dzhumabe-kov. The raw materials for the prod-ucts are taken from two farms located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau.

“A lot depends on the quality of the milk, on its fat content, acidity and density. We have chosen the farm milk in Almaty region where veterinary services check the cows regularly. From our side, we check everything in the laboratories and submit the samples to the Sani-tary Epidemiological Service. We also have high-tech equipment produced in Italy. Employees are regularly checked by doctors and we also train employees according to the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system,” he said.

Saba Food’s main customers are restaurants, hotels and cafes, but the company has started working to expand its base.

“Demand is growing slowly; people try it and they like the taste of our mozzarella. … Before the New Year, we had a joint offer with Kazakh service Chocolife. A lot of customers came to try MIA Mozza-rella [the company’s brand] prod-ucts and are coming back again. A delivery service is also available online on the company’s website sabafood.kz. Ordered items are delivered the next day to the cus-tomers’ homes or offices,” said Dzhumabekov.

The company produces about 100 kilogrammes of mozzarella for cheese every day. Technically, it can produce up to 10 times more, he added.

“For the upcoming spring, we plan to launch chechil production. We had a trial run in October and

we have sent samples. Suppliers liked the colour and taste. We have a contract for the supply of three tonnes per month. Due to the lack of Philadelphia cheese (mainly used in the production of sushi), it was also decided to start its pro-duction in the spring, which also passed the certification and appro-bation,” he said.

The company is aiming to grow the number of cheeses from seven to 12, while at the same time in-creasing the production volumes of its existing line. Negotiations are underway to acquire land, construct a private dairy farm and purchase 300 head of black-motley breed cows.

Dzhumabekov noted in-house production was the result of Saba Food’s inability to secure their cus-tomer’s favourite products.

“Before starting the produc-tion, we were importing European cheeses to Kazakhstan. After the introduction of retaliatory sanc-tions by Russia against Europe, it became harder to deliver cargo as Russian customs held our load for a long time and constantly we had trouble with delivery. After a meeting with the founder, it was decided to open our own Kazakh production of mozzarella,” he said.

The Kazakh cheese market is still small and relatively simple in terms of available varieties, as well as characterised by the popularity of Russian, Belarusian and Kyrgyz brands.

Zinc Production Reached 325,500 Tonnes in 2016


ASTANA – Production of un-processed zinc in Kazakhstan reached 325,500 tonnes in 2016, which is 0.5 percent more than in 2015. Kazakhstan exports almost 90 percent of its produced zinc.

Domestic demand has grown by 38,700 tonnes, almost a third, in the last 11 months. Exports, on the other hand, fell by 3.2 percent to 259,400 tonnes.

The East Kazakhstan region is the leader of zinc production with annual production of 325,400 tonnes. Kazzinc, which is located in Ust-Kamenogorsk in the East

Kazakhstan region and KAZ Min-erals are major manufacturers in the field. Nova-Zinc, which is a subsidiary of the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant produces another 66 tonnes in the Karaganda region.

Experts at the Kazakhstan In-stitute of Industry Development predict zinc consumption will be 1.4 times more in 2030 than in 2015. The steel industry, zinc plat-ing, brass and bronze manufactur-ing will remain the drivers of zinc consumption. Vehicle production growth will create additional de-mand for zinc to the amount of 2.4 million tonnes per year by 2030 and 3.6 million tonnes by 2050.

The main consumers of Kazakh

zinc are China at 33.3 percent of the produced volume, Turkey at30.8 percent of the produced vol-ume and The Netherlands at 15.3 percent of the produced volume. Russia and Ukraine purchase 11.3 percent of zinc produced in Ka-zakhstan.

Zinc has good cast-ability, room temperature mechanical proper-ties and abrasive and corrosion resistance. It is widely used in the production of different alloys with other metals and has applications in the automobile, construction and shipbuilding industries, light industry, machinery, household electrical appliances and the man-ufacturing of batteries.

A two-year property and assets legalisation campaign has come to an end in Kazakhstan, Khabar reports. The amount of raised funds totalled 962.1 billion tenge (US$2.95 billion). According to the Astana State Revenue Depart-ment, 41 declarations worth 3.2 billion tenge (US$9.8 million) were submitted to legitimise 44 facilities located outside the coun-try. Shares in the authorised capital of legal entities at 15 billion tenge (US$45.9 million) were legalised. In addition, State Revenue authori-ties legalised more than 10,000 res-idential and commercial buildings for 54.7 billion tenge (US$167.7 million) and shares in the author-ised capital of legal entities worth 40.9 billion tenge (US$125.39 mil-lion). The property and assets le-galisation campaign lasted in Ka-zakhstan from September 2014 to December 2016.

According to Ranking.kz, the re-gions of Kazakhstan showed an in-crease in tax revenue over the past year. In 2016, the actual amount of tax revenues to the local budget exceeded the projected target by 5 percent, while in 2015 the excess was 3 percent. Almaty, Astana and the Atyrau region brought in the major share of tax revenue. The amount of tax revenue in the lo-cal budget for the year increased 13 percent to 1.7 trillion tenge (US$5.26 billion). However, the share of tax revenues in the budget fell slightly over the year.

The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) released its outlook for 2017, predicting relative sta-bility for the Kazakh economy, Abctv.kz reports. The Group of Chief Economists of the Eurasian Development Bank published a quarterly outlook with the results of 2016 and forecasts for 2017. Experts pointed out that the EDB member countries experienced some challenges last year. Amid a sharp decline in oil prices, finan-cial markets and exchange rates experienced increased volatility. At the same time, inflation in EDB countries reached a historic low of 5.8 percent at the end of 2016, compared to 12.8 percent in the previous year.

Kazakh coal exports amounted to 26.2 million tonnes by the end of 2016, Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said, dknews.kz reports. According to him, coal production was 98 million tonnes last year. Of them, 71.8 million tonnes were supplied to the domestic market. In 2017, it is planned to produce 100 million tonnes of coal. Bozumbayev noted that a programme to replace Ka-zakh coal with Russian Kuznetsk Basin coal caused a decline in coal exports. Another reason was the reduction of energy consumption of coal enterprises and high water content of rivers, which increased the production of electricity in hydro-power plants by 25 percent.

Kazakhstan’s insurance market increased premium amounts in 2016 by one quarter compared to the previous year, reaching 357 billion tenge (US$1.09 billion), Khabar.kz reports. Compulsory vehicle and property insurance as well as mandatory employee acci-dent insurance made up the largest share of the total amount. Experts said insurance premiums are ex-pected to grow by 15 to 20 per-cent this year. According to them, regional quotas for repatriates and displaced persons will provide for a one-time grant worth nearly 80,000 tenge (US$246.4) for each family member.

The inflation rate in Kazakhstan averaged 0.8 percent in January 2017 compared to the previous month and 7.9 percent in com-parison with a reporting period in 2016, according to the Statistics Committee of the National Econ-omy Ministry, dknews.kz reports. According to their data, foodstuffs prices increased 1.2 percent in January, non-food products pric-es rose 0.7 percent, as prices for paid services grew 0.4 percentage points. Over the past month, prices of potatoes and fresh vegetables rose 6.9 and 6.7 percent respec-tively.


The state’s share in the econ-omy is to be reduced to 15 per-cent of the GDP. This should be achieved through transpar-ent and effective privatisation and reorganisation of Samruk-Kazyna, Baiterek and KazAgro holdings, delegating to business everything that can be done by the private sector. Only natural monopolies and implementing strategic projects should re-main in the state’s function.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are to become primary mechanisms of infrastructure development, including social, housing and utility sectors. All possible types and forms of PPPs must be used in order to attract private equity.

The President also noted the importance of preventing price and tariff collusions by revis-ing the legislation to identify regulations that hinder compe-tition.

Macroeconomicstability

In this section, the President indicated the task of restoring the stimulating role of the monetary policy and involving private capi-tal into financing the economy.

Inflation is to be reduced to 3-4 percent in the medium term and the financial sector should be “reset.” The latter includes rehabilitating the banking sector, increasing the responsibility of audit companies, ensuring shareholder transparency and improving corporate govern-ance.

Further developing the stock market, increasing budget spend-ing efficiency, fiscal decentralisa-tion and improving tax admin-istration mechanisms are also mentioned as main directions of macroeconomic development.

“The National Fund should be used more efficiently. Guaranteed transfer from the National Fund must be gradually reduced to 2 trillion tenge (US$6.1 billion) by 2020,” the address reads.

Improving the quality of human capital

Education is the core of the new model of economic growth and should be focused on developing critical thinking abilities, skills of unaided information search, IT knowledge and financial literacy. Nazarbayev noted the importance of transitioning to trilingual edu-cation. While Kazakh remains the core language, several subjects at schools will be instructed in Eng-lish starting in 2019.

“This year, the Free Vocational Education for All project starts on my initiative. First, free educa-tion should be provided to unem-ployed and self-employed young people and people of working age who do not have professional education. It is necessary to give impetus to the development of the vocational education system for training specialists in the new industries,” said the President.

The fourth priority also in-cludes healthcare issues. Rais-ing the scope of IT use in the

healthcare system, introducing compulsory social health insur-ance, legislative regulation of drug prices, increases in pen-sions, lump sum allowances and living wage are all named among priority tasks.

Institutional reforms, security and fight against

corruptionImplementing the best prac-

tices and recommendations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and protecting private property, the rule of law and equality before the law will re-main pivotal in the new economy model.

Nazarbayev addressed the issue of the fight against terrorism, not-ing it should become more proac-tive.

He also tackled the problem of cybercrime, instructing the government and the National Security Committee to create a

“Cyber Shield of Kazakhstan” system.

Turning to the fight against cor-ruption, the President noted the necessity of identifying and elimi-nating the causes and prerequisites of corruption, rather than elimi-nating its consequences. Creating a single procurement system is one of the proposed steps in this direction.

These are the key areas of de-velopment within the third stage of Kazakhstan’s modernisation, according to the President’s ad-dress. Kazakhstan has no other choice but to accept the challenge of the times with dignity and solve the issues to further modernise the country, he said.

“Having gained a unique wealth of experience of creating a state, we have entered a new stage. I am sure that no matter what difficul-ties are ahead of us, we will over-come them. Our main strength is in our unity. We will turn Kazakhstan into a more prosperous country for our descendants!” the President said.

Kazakh Leader Outlines Five Priorities of Country’s Third Stage of Modernisation

Kazakh Economy Saw Sharp Increase

in Chinese Investment in 2016

By Dana Omirgazy

ASTANA – The inflow of di-rect Chinese investment in the economy of Kazakhstan amount-ed to $623.9 million between January and September last year, seven times higher than in 2015, finprom.kz reports.

However, the reverse trade activity continues to fall. Gross outflows from Kazakhstan to China decreased 3 percent to $41.1 million in the reporting period.

“Kazakhstan’s external debt to China fell to $12.3 billion at the end of September 2016 being constituted of debts by non-bank financial institutions and non-financial organisations, house-holds and non-profit institutions serving households,” said the report.

China is one of Kazakhstan’s four major countries-trade part-ners. Over the past year, two countries signed five agreements on the creation of cluster areas in the field of transport infrastruc-ture, trade, manufacturing, con-struction, agriculture and others.

However, the sides intend to focus on construction and com-missioning of the Khorgos cen-tre of cross-border trade to boost investment.

“In 2016, trade turnover be-tween the two countries consti-tuted 16 percent of Kazakhstan’s total foreign trade volume. Ser-vices turnover ensured 33 per-cent of the volume,” according to the report.

However, the countries mark a slow pace of trade. During the first 11 months of 2016, trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China amounted to $7.1 bil-lion. This is 27 percent less com-pared to a year earlier.

In the meantime, services turn-over increased 21 percent to $1.1 billion with a freight transporta-tion covering 84 percent of all services.

The governments of Kazakh-stan and China are planning to increase the capacity of interna-tional border crossings Dostyk-Alashankou and Altynkol-Khor-gos and have agreed to construct a railway connecting the Altai and Tacheng counties. Under the One Belt, One Road initiative, the sides intend to create more

terminals in the international logistics zones at Lianyungang port, Inche-Burun station and Bandar Abbas port.

Kazakhstan’s exports of food products to China totalled $115.5 million in 2016, down 28 percent from the previous year. Kazakh-stan mainly exports wheat and meslin, sunflower seeds, oils and fats, as well as bakery products to China.

Over the past year, imports into the Kazakh economy decreased 42 percent as well. Kazakhstan imports citrus fruits, tomatoes, apples, pears and apricots from the neighbouring country. The country’s obligations to China in the field of food products decreased to zero by the end of September 2016.

To speed up the passage of ag-ricultural products, Kazakhstan and China intend to modernise the infrastructure at the Bakhty-Pokitu border checkpoint. In ad-dition, the partner countries are planning to cooperate on the production of halal products and everyday items, and jointly de-velop markets outside the region.

Kazakhstan’s exports of min-eral and energy products to Chi-na dropped 33 percent to $133 million between January and November 2016.

The average contract price and volume declined 12 and 24 percent respectively. The reduc-tion followed a decrease in oil and sulphur transportation over the past year. Lead ore exports increased 4.3 times, while crude oil, gas, sulphur and ore remain Kazakhstan’s key export prod-ucts.

“Imports of non-food prod-ucts from China over the re-porting period amounted to $12.7 million decreasing 59 percent. Imports of oil prod-ucts obtained from bituminous minerals declined 90 percent. Kazakhstan’s obligations to China decreased $54 million or 2 percent at the end of Sep-tember 2016. The obligation of direct investment in this sector decreased $72.3 million,” the report added.

The programme of cross-bor-der Kazakh-Chinese cooperation focuses on the joint exploration and development of copper, zinc, titanium, gold and other miner-als.

A5


BUSINESSNEWS IN BRIEF

BUSINESS

Primus Power Presents Innovative Energy Storage System, Sets Goal to Conquer Asian Market


ASTANA – Primus Power, a pro-vider of long-life and long-duration energy storage systems, is working on its second project in Kazakhstan with Samruk Energy, a subsidiary of the Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund. Primus Power’s in-novative EnergyPod has been used to deal with specific energy issues internationally, and now will be showcased as one of the best energy storage solutions at the upcoming EXPO 2017.

Based in Silicon Valley, Primus Power was established back in 2009. It offers innovative flow batteries for international microgrid, utility, mili-tary, commercial and industrial cus-tomers. The company has received 32 patents in seven countries.

“Flow batteries offer a unique advantage for grid storage. As Bill Gates remarked in launching the Breakthrough Energy Coalition in

November 2015, unlike lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries could last for decades and the rechargeable elec-trolyte liquid could last indefinitely,” says the company’s website.

“Simply put, Energy Pod is a giant rechargeable battery – giant not in terms of the sizes, but in terms of its capacity and power. It is very flexi-ble in its usage,” said General Direc-tor of Primus Power in Kazakhstan Ruslan Rakymbay in an interview with The Astana Times.

Also, it takes five to six hours for a flow battery to discharge, while widely used lithium-ion batteries are unable to show such characteristics.

The low-maintenance EnergyPod can solve issues such as high de-mand charges or grid outage and is-landed operation, the likes of which it has managed to resolve at the ICL Phos-Chek Facility or U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The sys-tem can also help manage unstable electricity generation from renew-able sources, said Rakymbay.

“We have to take account that while using renewable power sourc-es, the energy flow depends on the wind or sun activity. For example, there can be energy surges due to cloud movement, so generation jumps and the grid infrastructure – stations, substations, transform-ers and the whole interconnections – suffers from those energy leaps,” he added. EnergyPod smoothes out those jolts by giving its own energy during such leaps, so the flow is con-stant.

Primus Power has worked with Samruk Green Energy on the instal-lation of the EnergyPod at the Ka-pchagai solar power station, and in-stallation at the Yereymentau Wind Power Station is underway. The agreement was signed during last year’s Astana Economic Forum.

The first generation of the battery was made in 2015. At the moment batteries are manufactured only in the United States.

“We have entered Kazakhstan to

open production here as well and to cover the whole region – the Com-monwealth of Independent States, Asia and Southeast Asia,” he stated.

But that’s not the only reason.“Also Kazakhstan was chosen

because there are Kazakh investors in the project. They are represented by the Kazakhstan-Russian Fund of Nanotechnologies, which was creat-ed by Rusnano and Kazyna Capital Management [a subsidiary of Bait-erek National Management Hold-ing]. One of the conditions of the investments was its implementation in Kazakhstan,” said Rakymbay.

The technology was developed and used by NASA, which then re-leased its patents into the public do-main.

“They were not interested in it due to the high cost. Our company has reduced the cost to the minimum, simplified it and reached the result of 20 years duration time,” said Rak-ymbay.

According to him, the use of tita-

nium electrodes is what enables such a life span to be achieved. “Titanium is a durable material that even after a long time does not change its fea-tures. Thus, the electrodes can with-stand more than 15,000 charge and discharge cycles,” he said.

One of the pavilions at EXPO 2017 will be named the Energy Best Practices Area. Primus Power was chosen as one of the 100 companies to be presented there, from a global pool of 600.

“They chose from international companies in the spheres of clean tech, renewables and others and have selected to show our technol-ogy in the pavilion,” he stated.

The Kazakh Ministry of Energy also organised a start-up contest, New Energy Global Start-up Fest, in December. The jury chose 30 start-ups out of 780 to be presented at the expo.

“We were recognised as the best energy storage solution,” said Rak-ymbay.

Kazpost Continues E-Services drive


ASTANA – The last week of Jan-uary was full of events for Kazpost, Kazakhstan’s postal service.

On Jan. 24, they launched the country’s first e-commerce centre. The next day, Kazpost Chairman Bagdat Mussin was transferred to a position at the General Prosecu-tor’s Office, but before leaving he presented 15 projects for 2017 in-tended to continue Kazpost’s inno-vative development.

Over the last several years, Ka-zpost has undergone rapid change, helping to realign its reputation. The launch of the e-commerce cen-tre in Astana was one of the many results of its new, forward-thinking identity. Such centres are planned to be opened in all major cities of Kazakhstan.

“The e-commerce market is growing year on year, and the volume of parcels ordered online grows by about 20 percent annu-ally. It affects the level of conveni-ence and speed of service. Previ-ously, our corporate clients had to run from floor to floor searching for documents, accountants. Now there is a separate office, where they will receive high quality service in a short time and will get all the nec-essary range of services in one cen-tre,” said Mussin at the event.

For the convenience of custom-ers, there is a special area for con-sultations for corporate clients, a meeting room and an area for re-ception, packing and processing orders. The new centre will simpli-fy the difficult process of register-ing parcels ordered online.

“Entrepreneurs are using all pos-sible tools to bring their businesses online. After analysing the situation,

Kazpost realised the need to open a separate centre for servicing entre-preneurs in the field of e-commerce, to provide quality service to existing online shops, as well as tools to cre-ate a successful online business for our offline entrepreneurs,” Kazpost said in comments given by its press service to The Astana Times.

The e-commerce centre is not only about storing, sorting and delivering goods. Kazpost also offers advertis-ing services that send mailings to target audiences. Entrepreneurs can determine the audiences themselves.

“Currently, the company is work-ing on products to add a payment and delivery function to an existing site or to create a new online store with the customer’s design and name,” stated the press service.

Postmarket.kz, another Kazpost project, is an online store designed to reduce the distance between ur-ban and rural areas. It is in demand in the countryside, since there is no access to big brand goods there.

“It works same way other online platforms work. Customers can pay for goods online or offline in cash in the office of Kazpost. Goods are de-livered throughout Kazakhstan and abroad,” Kazpost explained.

Postmarket.kz is also a solution for entrepreneurs who want to bring their sales online, while not spending time and money on site development, online payments and courier delivery.

In other plans, “package super-markets” will be launched across the country for easy sending and receiving of parcels, as well as special self-service drop-off points for sending large numbers of let-ters. The company is also creating a network of self-service payment terminals where customers will be able to pay their bills.

Toyota Remains Most Popular Car Brand in Kazakhstan

By Kamila Zhumabayeva

ASTANA – Toyota has re-mained the sales leader in Ka-zakhstan based on 2016 results. The Astana Times interviewed a car enthusiast to discover why this particular Japanese car brand has become so popular across the nation and the world.

Toyota led the rating of the most demanded brands among Kazakh residents with 8,809 cars sold within the last 12 months, re-ported informburo.kz.

Lada followed with 8,146 units, while third place belonged to Re-nault (3,742). Hyundai (3,535) and KIA (3,229) closed the top five. GAZ (2,247), Volkswagen (1,981), UAZ (1,853), Nissan (1,423) and Chevrolet (1,122) rounded out the top ten successful brands.

“Last year, auto retail did not cope with the downturn caused by currency shocks between 2014-2015. However, following the results of the fourth quarter, the market regained financial growth: in December, residents spent $293 million to buy cars (12 per-cent more than the previous year). This provided the best sales from the beginning of 2016,” said Ka-zAutoProm Chairperson of the Board Oleg Alferov, according to the news agency.

Toyota has become so main-stream some once joked about it being a “Kazakh” car.

“Apart from Kazakhstan, Toy-ota is quite popular across the entire CIS (Commonwealth of In-dependent States), Near East, the U.S., Canada and other countries. But this brand is not as popular in Europe,” motor sport lover Serik

Abduov shared with the Astana Times.

In most regions, Kazakh road conditions are difficult to navi-gate. Complicated climate con-ditions such as cold and windy winters, strong temperature fluc-tuations and hot summers impact a car’s use and resources, he not-ed.

“Toyota always offered high quality and simple cars for export. The company produced an inter-esting right-hand drive car in the domestic market. No one doubts that engineers and designers of this great company make excel-lent cars and know their job, but they always offered pretty simple models such as Corolla, Camry and Prado for export to other countries, including Kazakhstan,” said Abduov.

Due to good quality, Toyotas last longer that some complex European brands, because, for instance, those cars don’t have a multilink suspension and have electronics that can falter, he not-ed.

The way most people in Ka-zakhstan handle their cars plays its role, too.

“It is inherent in our mental-ity that we do not look after our cars well enough. Many cars are second hand, with high mileage and damaged. When sophisticated equipment is involved, it cannot stand such conditions,” he said.

Kazakhstan does not have enough good electricians and en-gine mechanics who could take care of sophisticated and interest-ing foreign car brands, he added. As a result, Toyota became the people’s popular car.

Many who consider themselves car experts and car connoisseurs

dislike the brand because they see it as plain, primitive and a main-stream workhorse. Even the most expensive models such as Toyota Land Cruiser can be rephrased as a Japanese UAZ model, said Ab-duov.

He had a Toyota, but as a motor sport lover did not like the car and its steering. He feels it is great for people who use a car to get from point A to point B.

In his student days, Abduov drove foreign brands. When he faced financial challenges, how-ever, he needed a simple, new car that would consume little petrol and have low maintenance costs for several years. He bought a Lada and kept it for three years with no regrets.

“Yes, it is noisy and has plenty of flaws. Lada is a cart, in fact, but it gave joy with its easy mainte-nance,” he added.

While driving his Lada, Ab-duov had a minor repair that was resolved in two minutes and cost him 400 tenge, a little more than US$1.

“It is no secret that statistically, the average Kazakh resident is not very rich and can’t be compared to the average Japanese, German or U.S. resident. The income level is not very high. When a family or a person in our country tries to decide what car to purchase with a specific amount of money at hand, they come to realise it is better to buy a plain new car under war-ranty and with cheap spare parts. Even if this car breaks down, it can be fixed in the back yard rath-er than buying an interesting car that has to be looked after. That is why Lada became another popu-lar car brand in Kazakhstan and other states of CIS,” he said.

The first H&M store in Kazakh-stan will open in Almaty in March at the Mega Alma-Ata Shopping Centre, according to Kapital.kz. The store will be located on two floors and its area is planned to be 3,345 square metres. “We are very pleased to announce the opening of the first H&M store in Kazakhstan. It is an honour for us to give all res-idents of Almaty real fashion, and the possibility to purchase a unique fashionable wardrobe for the best price and with care for the environ-ment and man,” said H&M Manag-er in Russia and Kazakhstan Saed El-Achkar. The store will stock clothing for women, men, children and teenagers, as well as under-wear, accessories and footwear.

Last year, the volume of net purchases of U.S. dollars in Ka-zakhstan’s exchange offices was $1.4 billion, according to the press service of Kazakhstan’s National Bank. In December 2016, net purchases of U.S. dollars in cash amounted to $358.5 million. The amount of Russian roubles pur-chased in 2016 was 88.1 billion roubles (US$1.46 billion). It is re-ported that the net cash purchases of U.S. dollars and Russian roubles in tenge equivalent last year were almost equal. In 2015, the U.S. cur-rency was 2.7 times more popular than the Russian. The volume of net purchases of euros in cash in 2016 amounted to 373 million eu-ros (US$402 million). The demand for the euro remains limited.

The Development Bank of Ka-zakhstan (a subsidiary of the Bait-erek National Holding) opened financing for the construction of an A-class transport and logistics centre in Shymkent (Continental Logistics Shymkent), according to Kazinform. The project, worth $48.8 million, is focused on the growing infrastructure needs of the border of the South Kazakhstan region for handling goods flows. Funding is provided within the sec-ond five-year plan of the State Pro-gramme of Accelerated Industrial and Innovative Development. The loan amount is 11.8 billion tenge (US$36.4 million); the term is up to 15 years. The project is to be finished in 2017. The total amount of storage space, constructed on 35 hectares, will be about 24,784 square metres. In addition to stor-age space, the centre will have an administrative building, a contain-er terminal, a customs control zone and related infrastructure.

In 2016, the volume of loans by banks increased by 1.5 percent to 12.8 trillion tenge (US$39.5 billion), according to the National Bank of Kazakhstan. National Bank Chair-man Daniyar Akishev said that small business loans, which increased by more than 50.7 percent to 3.1 tril-lion tenge (US$3.6 billion), led to the growth of its share in the loan portfolio by 24.1 percent in 2016. Every fourth tenge was given by banks to small businesses. He also said that lending intensified in the manufacturing industry, agriculture and commerce. The share of loans to individuals decreased from 32.9 percent to 31.4 percent, comparing December 2016 to December 2015.

Three of the most popular roads in Kazakhstan will become toll highways this year, according to Kazinform. “In the current year it is planned to begin construction of payment system in parts of Astana-Temirtau, Almaty-Kapshagai and Almaty-Khorgos [highways],” said deputy chairman of the national company KazAvtoZhol Temirkhan Mendygaliyev at a meeting in the Mazhilis (lower chamber of Parlia-ment). In 2016, Astana-Schuchinsk toll stations collected 1.251 billion tenge (US$3.86 million), which is 108 million tenge (US$333,000) more than in 2015. The tolls cov-ered the maintenance cost of the highway, he said.

Saudi Arabian Al Ramez Inter-national Group will finance a poul-try farm in the South Kazakhstan region with a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes of meat per year, company president Abdullah Zaid Al-Meleihi said during a Jan. 30 meeting with region akim (gover-nor) Zhanseit Tuimebayev, report-ed the governor’s press service.

TCO Projects to Employ 18,000 Kazakhs, Calculations for Expat Workforce Revised


ASTANA – Tengizchevroil (TCO) plans to hire up to 18,000 Kazakh citizens and is committed to continuing personnel education and training as part of the Tengiz Future Growth Project and the Wellhead Pressure Management Project, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Popula-tion Birzhan Nurymbetov told a Jan. 30 forum on the projects.

Nurymbetov said the govern-ment expects the projects to cre-ate more than 20,000 jobs, with 18,000 going to Kazakhs. Ten-gizchevroil, which operates the projects, will educate and train the Kazakh personnel.

So far, 10,500 specialists are working on the projects, including 9,400 local citizens, said Nurym-betov, with plans to attract addi-tional staff from the Atyrau, Man-

gistau, Aktobe, Kyzylorda and West Kazakhstan regions.

Nurymbetov noted that the Ten-gizchevroil project is a prime ex-ample of a successful, national,

long-term investment policy. For-eign investments, which are gen-erated in this project, have a mul-tiplier effect promoting business development and improving the social wellbeing of the population.

Also related to employment in Kazakhstan, Nurymbetov told the gathering the country has improved procedures to attract an expatriate workforce.

“We have revised the procedure for determining the quota for expat workforce. Particularly, we changed the rules concerning the recruitment of an expatriate workforce by em-ployers and issue of permits. Also, we have proposed new approaches for foreigners arriving in Kazakhstan for self-employment,” he explained.

The vice-minister explained that

the quota for foreign labour, which was previously set as a percentage of the economically active popula-tion of the country, is now deter-mined separately for each sector or economic activity. Calculations of the quota are carried out by re-gional commissions on the basis of employers’ applications, taking into account the comprehensive analysis of the projected demand for labour, forecasts for the unem-ployment rate, strategic projects’ requirements and assessments of the likely effectiveness that hiring of a foreign workforce might bring.

Representatives of central and local executive agencies, Kazakh and international contracting or-ganisations of Tengizchevroil at-tended the event.

A6


EDITORIAL&OPINION

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Long-Term Planning Has Been, Will Continue

to Be Key to SuccessGood leadership requires a relentless focus

on the long-term rather than just respond-ing to immediate events or pressures. It is an approach that has served Kazakhstan

well in its first 25 years as a modern country and has been reinforced in recent days.

First over the last week, the President has proposed political reforms to share power, strengthen parlia-ment and boost accountability. It was a signal of Kazakhstan’s determination to ensure the modern institutions and democratic processes needed to move the country forward are in place.

This week also saw an equally comprehensive plan to deliver the third stage of the country’s economic modernisation. Its aim is to set Kazakhstan firmly on track to join the most developed countries within the 2050 timetable, with all the improvements in prosperity and quality of life this will bring to our citizens.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s state-of-the-nation address touched almost every aspect of the country’s economy and the lives of its people. It looked beyond the current difficult global economic conditions to what is needed to prepare the country for the challenges and opportunities in the decades ahead.

There was a commitment to continue reduc-ing state ownership and control of the economy to around 15 percent of GDP. There was new encour-agement for private-public partnerships as a way of introducing new funding and ideas. Red tape is to be reduced and access to start-up finance improved to provide the right conditions for start-ups and small businesses – the engines of growth and employment across the world.

What was clear, too, was a determination to strengthen the attractiveness of the economy to foreign investment, a major reason for the country’s impressive economic performance over the last 25 years. The new Astana International Finance Centre is seen as key to this ambition. Domestic companies, big and small, and overseas partners would also all be helped by the commitment to a stable macro-eco-nomic climate with low inflation and a rejuvenated

banking sector and moves to enhance property rights and the rule of law.

At the heart of the package were measures to accelerate the modernisation of the economy. This went beyond the urgent need to develop new digital industries, such as 3D printing or e-commerce to ensure the technological revolution transformed the productivity and quality of traditional sectors. There was special mention, for example, of the importance of strengthening the energy and mineral industries.

Agriculture, too, was hailed as an important driver of economic growth. With improved productivity, Kazakhstan can become Eurasia’s bread-basket with equally rich potential for the processing of a wide variety of crops for export. Improved transport links to maximise the country’s position as a global bridge will make speedy access to export markets easier.

Successful modernisation across the economy is seen not just as a way to increase economic growth but to provide high-skilled jobs. There is recognition in the plan that many unskilled jobs around the world will inevitably disappear in the decades to come. This reinforced the importance of education so that Kazakhstan produces the labour force equipped for the opportunities of the future.

There was a promise to close the gap of educa-tional attainment between rural and urban areas. The focus on the English language in schools is another example of the way the government is preparing its citizens and companies to compete internationally and investing in the country’s human capital. Older citizens are also to benefit with a significant increase in pensions while health reforms should ensure the population received the affordable, high-quality care expected in a highly-developed nation.

It is, by any standards, an ambitious plan to secure the future prosperity of the country and its citizens. It will be a remarkable achievement if Kazakhstan can join the ranks of the world’s 30 most developed countries. But then few people would ever have pre-dicted a nation which inherited a ruined economy 25 years ago would already be ranked within the top 50. It is a performance which proves how important it is to keep your eyes always on the long-term.

Devolution of Presidential Powers Signals Next Step in Kazakhstan’s DevelopmentFrom the very beginning of Kazakhstan’s

journey as an independent nation, Presi-dent Nursultan Nazarbayev has said that prosperity and social stability had to be

the initial priorities but that no one should doubt, as these goals were achieved, the country’s com-mitment to democratic reform. By this measure, the proposals announced this week to hand over a whole raft of presidential powers to the Kazakh Parliament and the Government was a clear sign of Kazakhstan’s growing maturity.

It is a notable move and one which, of course, shifts Kazakhstan in the direction of more bal-anced balance of power, if you will, between the branches. It is clear President Nazarbayev be-lieves this is the right approach for our country as it embarks on the next stage of its development.

So his nationally televised address Jan. 25 an-nounced a package of proposals for consultation which would see a decisive redistribution of pow-ers from the head of state to parliament and the executive. Parliament, for example, would have greater responsibility for appointing or dismissing the Prime Minister and Government and have the right to pass a vote of no confidence. It will also be the new Mazhilis (the lower house of Parlia-ment), not the newly elected President, in front of whom the Government will have to resign to allow for the new composition of lawmakers to approve the new Prime Minister and his or her ministers.

In turn, government ministers are to be handed control of large areas of economic and social pol-icy where decisions up to now have been taken by the President. If the plans are approved, around 40 functions will be transferred out of the President’s office through regular laws, while several more important changes will require amendments to the Constitution. The manner in which the latter may be introduced is to be determined at a later stage, after the month-long public discussion is over.

This switch will allow the President in the fu-ture to focus on the critical challenges of foreign affairs, security and defence. The blueprint also suggests that it would be the President’s role, if

needed, to intervene in a case of deadlock be-tween the various branches of government. Such paralysis, as we have seen in other countries, can be very damaging to the national interest.

The reforms will, as the President said, strength-en both parliament and the government and pro-vide a new measure of accountability. They are, by any reckoning, significant reforms which will require changes to the Constitution. It is right that they are put out forthe widest possible consulta-tion.

The aim of those proposed reforms is a more effective, stable and sustainable government system equipped for an increasingly complex and challenging world. It is significant, too, that the President, gives away powers and responsibility voluntarily.

More importantly, it is a vote of confidence in Kazakhstan as it enters its second generation as an independent country. President Nazarbayev made it clear in his address that a more centralised, vertical structure of government had been right for Kazakhstan in its early years. We were, after all, a country without much by way of democratic tradi-tions or institutions in recent history and which, we have to keep remembering, few thought would make its own way successfully in the world.

There is no room for complacency. Even the briefest look at global news underlines how uncer-tain the future is. But our economic record, social stability and international standing – confirmed again in our role in the recent talks over Syria – show how effectively these initial challenges have been overcome.

These reforms, however, underline how ambi-tious Kazakhstan remains for the future. There is a determination to build on all that has been achieved and ensure opportunity and prosperity continue to spread across the country. By decen-tralising power, sharing responsibility and mak-ing accountability more transparent, the aim is to deliver better, more responsive decision-making, stronger institutions and accelerate democratic re-form, just as was promised. Kazakhstan is poised to take another decisive step in its development.

Kazakhstan May Become Education Hub in Central

Asia, Official SaysBy Irina Ignatova

In the near future, Kazakhstan may become a regional education hub, said Zhanbolat Meldeshov, President of the Centre for Inter-national Programmes (CIP), which manages the Bolashak scholarship programme in his recent interview.

The Bolashak international presidential scholarship was es-tablished 23 years ago. How does it help implement state tasks?

The Bolashak international scholarship was established by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1993. Young people received an opportunity to study at leading world universities. In 1997, the programme significantly changed when President Nazarbayev intro-duced the national development Strategy 2030. After that, the op-portunities to receive scholarships to study technical and medical pro-fessions abroad increased and the number of graduates has doubled.

Since 2012, training and retrain-ing of professionals abroad began to be conducted on the basis of a targeted approach. The dynamic development of the country, open-ing of new industrial facilities and the close integration into the global community dictated the need to update the competences of employees of almost all sectors of the economy. Bolashak is now available for older people with ex-perience. In addition to academic training, there were introduced scientific and professional intern-ships abroad. Today, we face an ambitious task to train specialists for the implementation of the pro-jects of the Plan of the Nation 100 Concrete Steps..

The professional community has repeatedly raised the issue of the acute shortage of high-class experts in the technical sphere. Also, the question of professional development of teachers and doc-tors remains urgent. Will the situ-ation get better?

Referring to the statistics, more than 9,000 specialists studied abroad with the help of the Bolas-hak programme. There are about 2,500 graduates working in the sphere of innovative projects and technologies, the oil and gas sector, metallurgy, energy and the agricul-tural complex. For example, Bolas-hak graduates work as construction engineers in large-scale industriali-sation projects, such as modernisa-tion of the Pavlodar petrochemical plant, reconstruction of the Atyrau oil refinery and other businesses. More than 2,000 professionals were trained in the educational sphere. Ninety-eight PhD graduates are engaged in scientific and research projects on the basis of universities and major research institutes. More than 500 highly skilled doctors are working in the regions and leading medical centres of Astana. We can say that there are Bolashak gradu-ates in every regional hospital. Our aim is to provide the villages with doctors and teachers with interna-tional experience.

This year, the rules of selection for higher educational institu-tions have been tightened. What is the process of selecting partner universities now?

The main thing for us is the level of training of the applicants. Therefore, since last year, a list of universities recommended by the CIP focused on the universities positioned at the first 100 of the international ranking and included into the top 10 ranking by subjects. However, some European univer-sities do not have a target to be in-cluded into the ratings. For exam-ple, the University of Strasbourg in

France is far from first place in the international ranking, but among its graduates there were 18 Nobel Prize winners. So, this university is included into our list. We also pay attention to the place of for-eign universities in the national rankings, its achievements in sci-ence, and take into account the recommendations of our foreign partners. Thus, we update our list annually by conducting complex analyses.

President Nazarbayev outlined a new course of reforms in all key areas of state development in the Plan of the Nation 100 Concrete Steps. What kind of work is being done by the centre to implement those tasks?

Last year, the CIP introduced a new development plan for the Bolashak programme until 2020. Since 2016, all internships are targeted and focused on train-ing of specialists who will work on the projects of the Plan of the Nation 100 Concrete Steps. The national commission determines the categories of passing profes-sional training. For, example, we already formed a group of fellows for training in the U.K. and the U.S., who in the future will work at the Astana International Finan-cial Centre (AIFC).

It is no secret that the majority of skilled professionals trained under the programme remain to work in Astana and Almaty. How do you solve the issue of strength-ening personnel potential in the regions?

Indeed, from 9,000 fellows who studied abroad, more than 2,000 engage in labour activity in the

regions. Some imbalance exists due to the fact that the fellows are trained by the tripartite agreement concluded between the student, the programme administrator and the organisation where he works. The prerequisite of the contract is the preservation of the scholarship workplace. Today, the CIP is work-ing to improve its range of admin-istrative mechanisms based on the analysis of the implementation of the programme. In particular, for the development of humanitarian, technical and managerial capacity of the regions, we provide the pos-sibility of an alternative three-year working requirement for those who express the wish to be trans-ferred to local executive bodies and organisations from Astana and Almaty. We believe that obliga-tion to work for three years in the region, instead of five years in the major cities, will ensure personnel rotation.

We know that many of our fel-low citizens have doubts about the language training of subject teach-ers in the framework of the adop-

tion of the trilingual education in the schools’ strategy. The ques-tion is very relevant. Our centre will make every effort to re-train our teachers in the framework of the Bolashak programme.

Applicants for the Bolashak scholarship pass pre-language training in Kazakhstan. How ef-fective is this model?

Last year, we launched a new model of language training, six months of intensive language train-ing in Kazakhstan and six months abroad. The language schools were launched in Astana and Al-maty. The students are engaged in classes seven academic hours, five days a week. The results are very good. Apart from the fact that it significantly improves the quality of education, we have also achieved a significant reduction in language training costs. Thus, the expenses of the national budget for language training were reduced by two billion tenge (US$6.07 mil-lion). In the future, it is planned to extend the positive experience in the regions with transition to a full course of language training in Kazakhstan.

How much are our Bolashak students desired on their return to Kazakhstan?

Employment of the Bolashak students is not a problem. Nearly in 100 percent of the cases, they can apply their knowledge.

Our graduates work in key ar-eas, such as economics, IT, oil and gas sectors, education and sci-ence, the public sector, medicine, law, chemical and petrochemical industry, construction and art. To a greater extent, the programme graduates are in demand in the public sector (56 percent). Howev-er, in recent years more and more Bolashak students find themselves in the private sector (29 percent). A good knowledge of languages helps our graduates to be em-ployed in international companies and organisations.

In general, there are many free scholarship programmes aimed both at the undergraduates and pro-fessionals, who want to improve their skills. Some universities of-

fer not only free training but also provide scholarships to foreign students, in some cases, even pay for the flight. In many cases, Great Britain provides grants and scholar-ships for international students. This is not charity, but a natural process of globalisation of education.

There are a lot of opportunities, but sometimes there is not enough information. The CIP has great experience in international edu-cational cooperation and we are ready to act as an information plat-form on the issues of study abroad. Since the end of last year, we have intensified the work in this direc-tion.

We plan to become a bridge between foreign and Kazakh uni-versities on the establishment of joint programmes and attracting professors to our universities. In addition, for us it is an effective mechanism for the promotion of Kazakhstan’s educational products at the international level. We be-lieve that in the future Kazakhstan can become an educational hub for the Central Asian states.

Zhanbolat Meldeshov

Referring to the statistics, more than 9,000 specialists studied abroad with the help of the Bolashak programme. There are about 2,500 graduates working in the sphere of innovative projects and technologies, the oil and gas sector, metallurgy, energy and the agricultural complex.

A7


OPINIONS

Kazakhstan’s accession to the OECD Investment Committee is a signal to all investors that our investment climate meets the high standards of this organisation.

Why Tourism Industry Issues Are ReassignedBy Marat Igali

A recent decision to transfer functions and responsibilities in the field of tourism from the Min-istry for Investment and Develop-ment to the Ministry of Culture and Sports was made after consid-eration of international experience of those countries where the same state body works with the tourism and culture issues. For example, the United Kingdom, Italy, Cana-da, Korea, Malaysia, Turkey and Switzerland.

Countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and China promote national tourism through promo-tion of cultural brands, whereas Japan almost does not advertise its investment potential, primarily

focusing on promoting its unique cultural tourism.

Kazakhstan’s rich historical and cultural heritage can become an effective tool for the development of the country as a strong tourist destination. The increase of tour-ist flows will positively affect the

promotion of our country’s culture abroad, as well as improve the im-age of Kazakhstan generally.

Taking into account internation-al practices in order to enhance the efficiency of the sector’s management while the process of reorganisation is underway, the issue of raising the status of the authorised department is under consideration. And the Minister of Culture and Sports has in fact instructed to prepare for the de-partment to be reorganised into a committee.

I want to emphasise that all em-ployees of the Tourism Industry Department continue to work at their posts. All plans and activities on Kazakhstan’s tourism industry development will be continued.

In the framework of the Presi-

dent’s instruction, we continue carrying on the work on updat-ing the concept of Kazakhstan’s tourism industry development up to 2020 with the major emphasis on the development of domestic tourism. Those who are inter-ested can email suggestions to [email protected].

The work on reducing administra-tive barriers and improving the mi-gration regime for foreign tourists is ongoing in the framework of the operational working group created to address the problematic issues of tourism industry development un-der the Kazakh government.

In addition, the work is held on separate road maps of the fol-lowing resort areas: Shchuchinsk-Burabai, Imantau-Shalkar, Alakol, Balkhash, Kapshagai, Saryagash,

Bayanaul, Katon-Karagai, as well as Kenderli in the Mangistau re-gion. An interdepartmental work-ing commission for consideration and selection of proposals on de-velopment of these resorts was created. Currently, it considers proposals from the regions.

As part of the transfer of govern-ment functions into the competi-tive environment, we are working on establishing an organisation for the management of tourist destina-tions at the national and regional levels. The main task of such an organisation will be to ensure awareness about Kazakhstan’s tourist potential through active marketing, advertising and promo-tion of the product.

The effective cooperation on tour-ism industry development with spe-

cialised committees and structural divisions of the Ministry for Invest-ment and Development (Civil Avia-tion Committee, Investment Com-mittee, Transportation Committee, Committee on Highways, etc.) will be maintained and continued.

We have many plans and work to be done. We will try to be as open as possible to the public and media. We look forward for the support of the country’s tour-ist community and all the citizens concerned about tourism.

Let’s develop tourism in Ka-zakhstan!

The author is Director of the Department of Tourism Indus-try of the Ministry for Invest-ment and Development of Ka-zakhstan.

Improving Climate for Investors Top Priority, Official SaysBy Gleb Malykh

Global experience has shown that foreign investments have a number of significant advantages over other forms of financing the economy.

In an interview, Vice Minister for Investments and Development Yerlan Khairov dwelled upon the work of attracting investments into Kazakhstan’s economy and im-proving the investment climate.

Mr. Khairov, what is being done today to attract investment and how are the agreements with the investors reached?

It should be noted that Kazakh-stan is a leader in Central Asia in terms of attracting direct invest-ment. Moreover, today many in-vestors perceive Kazakhstan as an investment hub in the region, the so-called investment destination. Products manufactured in Kazakh-stan are exported to Russia, China, Central Asia and many other re-gions. This is definitely a result of the head of state’s personal in-volvement. He always pays special attention not only to the improve-ment of the investment and busi-ness climate in general, but also to the direct work with investors.

During his visits abroad, the head of state personally meets with the leaders of major companies. For example, in Tokyo in Novem-ber 2016, meetings were held with the management of companies such as Marubeni, Toshiba, JGC, Tokyo Rope and Sumitomo. In Seoul, President Nazarbayev met with business “captains” – repre-sentatives of Tong Yang Mool San Co., LTD, Hyundai Heavy Indus-tries Co., Ltd., Sojitsu and Lotte Group. Experience shows this is one of the most successful tools to effectively promote the economic success and favourable investment climate of Kazakhstan abroad. Af-ter such meetings, the investors are enthusiastic and determined to in-vest in our country.

During the President’s visits business forums are held, coopera-tion documents are signed, agree-ments, which are then translated into joint investment projects, are reached. For example, in Tokyo, in the framework of the official visit of the President, a Kazakh-Japanese business forum was held with the participation of 350 com-panies from both sides. Following the business forum, 15 commer-cial agreements worth $1.2 billion were signed in areas such as chem-istry and petro-chemistry, innova-tive technologies, energy, finance, construction materials, tourism, trade and many others.

In Seoul, during the President’s visit, a Kazakh-Korean business forum took place. It was attended by more than 300 representatives of companies from both sides. A total of 23 agreements were signed to implement projects worth $640.2 million in healthcare, in-formation technology, construc-tion, finance, trade and tourism. Our task is to ensure a follow up, i.e. to control the implementation of all agreements reached between the head of state and the investors.

Today, our database comprises more than 300 projects with for-eign investors, 220 of which are

the active ones worth over $30 bil-lion. It is also necessary to ensure the most favourable conditions for investment activity in Kazakhstan, which is why the improvement of the country’s investment climate is another important direction.

It is no secret that there is an in-tense competition for foreign direct investment. It involves both devel-oping and developed economies. Kazakhstan looks quite decent against the general background. It is worth noting that for the first nine months of 2016 compared to the same period of 2015, the gross inflow of FDI increased by 27.3 percent and amounted to $14.5 bil-lion. Over the same period, the net inflow of FDI grew 2.6 times and amounted to $6.5 billion. Thanks to the policies conducted by the President, over the last 11 years the economy of Kazakhstan at-tracted more than $231.6 billion in FDI. Seventy-seven percent of all foreign investment into the manu-facturing sector since 2005 was attracted in the years of the indus-trialisation programme that was announced in 2008.

During the first half of 2016 the gross inflow of FDI amounted to $9.3 billion and grew by 25.8 per-cent compared to the same period last year. Net inflow of FDI con-stituted $3.8 billion, an increase of 4.3 times. The biggest share of gross FDI inflow was attached to professional, scientific and techni-cal activities – 32.5 percent; the mining industry – 28 percent; pro-cessing industry – 14.7 percent; trade – 8.7 percent, and construc-tion – 5 percent.

Could you please comment on Kazakhstan’s position in various world rankings that assess the investment climate? After all, our country has improved its po-sition in the 2017 Doing Business ranking.

Indeed, in the World Bank’s 2017 Doing Business report Kazakhstan has significantly improved its posi-tion, moving up from 51st place to 35th. Kazakhstan has entered the top ten reformers that have greatly improved their business climate. Improving positions in the rank-ings is not a goal in itself, but such reports serve as a benchmark. These ratings help us study the best world practices, learn what we need to strive for, what should be eliminated or improved. The government is permanently work-ing to improve the business and investment climate in the country, removing the barriers for investors and simplifying business proce-dures.

Last October, the Investment Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD), based on the preliminary review of Ka-zakhstan’s investment policy, de-cided to recommend to the OECD Council to invite our country as a member of this Committee. How will this affect the improvement of the investment climate and at-tracting investment?

Let’s start with the fact that the investment climate is a combina-tion of all the factors that every business person analyses when de-ciding whether to enter a country or not. Every detail is important here. A favourable investment climate begins with a smile of a border guard, a taxi driver who can keep a dialogue in English, a safe stay inside the country. It’s important to provide transparent legislation, clear and effective taxation and customs systems, to develop the in-frastructure and improve the qual-ity of human resources. The work on Kazakhstan’s accession to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Investment Committee began a long time ago. In 2011, the commit-tee held its first review of Kazakh-stan’s investment policy, studied the conditions for investment and analysed our investment climate for compliance with the standards of OECD member states. At that time, Kazakhstan did not become a member of the OECD Investment Committee, but recommendations to improve the investment climate have been developed in accordance with OECD standards.

In the course of these five years, our country has carried out a ma-jor work. The 100 Concrete Steps to implement the five institutional reforms under the Plan of the Na-tion has become the main driver of improving the investment climate in Kazakhstan. The Plan of the Nation is, of course, a large-scale programme of reforming public institutions. It includes reforms in the judicial system, strength-ening the antimonopoly service and the protection of competition, the improvement of state regula-tion, fighting corruption and much more.

In addition, in his address to the people of Kazakhstan the Presi-dent gave concrete instructions to improve the investment climate. The government, in its turn, has developed and approved a detailed plan for improving the invest-ment climate aimed at improving the visa and migration regime, the importation of foreign labour, en-suring efficient tax and customs administration and simplifying procedures for obtaining building permits. Very positive impact was given by Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organisation and its commitments to liberalise trade policy and remove the barri-ers to investment in various sectors of the economy.

The policy of reducing the state involvement in the economy in the second wave of privatisation was highly assessed. We are taking measures to promote responsible business practices, reduce admin-istrative barriers and optimise busi-ness processes of public services. In order to attract investment, we have built a three-tier system that provides a synergy among all the state bodies on the external, cen-tral and regional levels.

Much attention was paid to the launch and effective operation of the National Contact Points (NCP), which aims to promote the OECD Guidelines for Multina-tional Enterprises and responsible business-doing in accordance with the best practices of OECD mem-ber states. The NCP aims to ensure a dialogue among all stakehold-ers: government agencies, multi-national corporations and the civil society.

It is this consistent large-scale work that allowed Kazakhstan to join the OECD Investment Com-mittee. The committee members noted the effectiveness of the re-forms in Kazakhstan over the five years. Previously, we used to be the “importers” of international developments, but soon we might start “exporting” our own experi-ence of attracting investment and improving the business climate. Many countries today are already interested in Kazakhstan’s experi-ence. An indicator of increased in-terest was the intense and fruitful discussion in the OECD; the com-mittee members were so interested in our presentation that the session scheduled for two hours lasted a lot longer.

In short, Kazakhstan’s accession to the OECD Investment Commit-tee is a signal to all investors that our investment climate meets the high standards of this organisa-tion. One of the practical steps to improve the investment climate was the unilateral introduction of a visa-free regime for 19 prior-ity countries (Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hunga-ry, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Monaco, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Swit-zerland, the UAE, the UK and the USA) in 2014-2015. A visa-free regime was introduced for citizens

of 55 countries as of 2017. Citi-zens of these countries and inves-tors (if they have an investor visa) are able to stay in Kazakhstan for 30 days without registration.

Today, we can say that we have reached a new level of invest-ment attractiveness. Kazakhstan is already competing for non-oil sector investments on the global market. About 30 major investors came into this sector of our econ-omy. Those include Toyota Tsu-sho, Danone, Vicat, Coca-Cola, Knauf, Total, Posco, Heidelberg and many others. But we must not forget that the world is not stand-ing still. We have to take proactive measures; we shouldn’t forget that the race for attracting investment involves all countries that are also actively improving their business environments and enhancing their investment attractiveness every year.

How is the work on attracting foreign investment being carried out? How does the three-tier sys-tem of attracting investment (ex-ternal/ /centre/region) work?

The economisation of diplo-matic missions of the Republic of Kazakhstan was carried out on the

instructions of the President. There are now ten special investment advisers in ten priority countries (China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the USA).

Moreover, the Kaznex Invest national agency for export and investment has opened five over-seas offices in major cities such as Beijing, Dubai, Frankfurt, Istanbul and New York. These offices will provide the necessary range of ser-vices for the entire region, includ-ing assistance in preparation of documents, advice on issues such

as the definition of an investment platform, selection of partners, ob-taining licenses and permits when necessary and many more. We fo-cus on the external level in order to assist investors, even in their home countries.

The Governmental Council (called investment headquarters) was established at the central level under the Prime Minister to ad-dress the systemic issues of the investors.

We are carrying out a better co-ordination of the work at the level of regions and cities: special coun-cils on attracting investments un-der the leadership of akims of the oblasts have been established with responsible people appointed in them.

The important thing is that there are dialogue platforms for inves-tors at all levels: the Foreign In-vestors Council under the Presi-dent of Kazakhstan and Council on improvement of investment climate under the Prime Minister. There is the investment ombuds-man to resolve current issues and assist in the protection of rights and legal interests of investors. These functions are now carried out by Minister of Investment and Development Zhenis Kassymbek. That is, in our work we always listen to the investors when mak-ing decisions both in specific cases and in systemic issues.

In the past year, the “single win-dow” principle was introduced for the convenience of investors. Today, an investor can receive consultations and all the public services required for investing ac-tivities (over 300 public services). Nineteen investor service sectors have been established across Ka-zakhstan under the Government for Citizens state corporation. We can see that the single window is in high demand. Over 3,800 investors have already been provided with consultations and public services. In 2017, the single window will become electronic.

All of these instruments are aimed at providing investment op-portunities and supporting innova-tion and development.

Yerlan Khairov

A8


EURASIA&WORLD

Indian Ambassador Praises Kazakh President’s Modernisation Plans

By Dmitry Lee

ASTANA – Plans for the third stage of modernisation announced by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev Jan. 31 were praised by Indian Ambassador Harsh Ku-mar Jain in a recent interview with The Astana Times.

“I am impressed by the way President Nazarbayev has devel-oped a vision for the country and that vision is being implemented though well-conceived practical strategies,” he said, speaking of the country’s progress in a span of 25 years. “The Nurly Zhol eco-nomic policy, The Plan of the Na-tion and the recent announcement to redistribute powers among vari-ous branches of the government would put Kazakhstan on a new stage of economic development and progress, modernisation, po-litical democracy and prosperity. Kazakhstan is making wise invest-ments in human capital, too, that would pay it rich dividends in the future.”

The Indian diplomatic mission celebrated the 68th Republic Day Jan. 26 and the ambassador noted the mission is readying to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations be-tween the countries later in the year.

“We will organise a series of ac-tivities dedicated to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the es-tablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in Ka-zakhstan as well as India. The first such series of events would be a mixed Indian and Kazakh cultural performance by the Centre of In-

dian Classical Dances on March 11 in Almaty, on March 25 in Chen-nai and on March 28, 29 and 31 in New Delhi.”

The embassy hosted a flag hoist-ing ceremony in the early morning of Jan. 26 on its grounds in the city and hosted an evening reception at the Radisson Hotel the next night. Around 300 guests, including heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations, Ka-zakh senior government officials, journalists, representatives of aca-demic and cultural institutions, members of the Indian community and Indian Technical and Econom-ic Cooperation (ITEC) and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) alumni attended the recep-tion, according to the ambassador.

Bilateral RelationsBilateral relations last year fo-

cused primarily on building the momentum generated by the visit of India’s Prime Minister to Ka-zakhstan in July 2015.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Nazarbayev met briefly in April in Washington D.C. and again in June 2016 in Tash-kent. The Chief Minister of one of our most dynamic states, Andhra Pradesh, visited Kazakhstan in July and Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Akylbek Kamaldinov attended the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process Ministerial Conference held in the month of December in Amritsar in India,” he said.

Jain noted India supported Ka-zakhstan’s candidacy in the run for non-permanent membership on the UN Security Council. He added the countries have participated in several cultural exchanges.

“The Centre of Indian Classi-cal Dances in Almaty celebrated its tenth anniversary in March, the two countries held the first joint military exercise, Prabal Dostyk, in September, India organised the festival of India in four cities in Kazakhstan in the month of Oc-tober and the fourth India-Central Asia dialogue was held in New Delhi in December.”

EXPO and Tourism Potential

The announcement of India’s participation in EXPO 2017 has attracted quite a bit of media atten-tion in his nation, noted the ambas-sador.

“People in India are quite cu-rious about the expo in Astana. India’s participation in the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisa-tion) Summit that is going to be held on the eve of the opening of

the expo would provide further publicity of the exhibition in In-dia. If it is marketed well by the tourist operators and a simplified visa and registration procedure is introduced for visitors to the expo, it may attract a large number of In-dian tourists,” he said.

The Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) is the main agency responsible for India’s participation. It is in regular con-tact with expo organisers and has discussed various aspects related to the concept and design of the country’s pavilion.

“The construction of the pavil-ion, as well as the commercial area allocated for other activities such as catering, handicraft showrooms et cetera, is expected to commence by the end of this month. The em-bassy is also planning India’s na-tional day celebration (the 70th anniversary of India’s independ-ence on Aug. 15), holding the third International Day of Yoga and sev-eral other cultural activities at the expo,” said Jain.

Entering the third year of his as-signment, the ambassador noted his impressions of Kazakhstan.

“I have travelled to several parts of the country including Al-maty, Aktobe, Semey, Ust-Kame-nogorsk, Atyrau and Temirtau and plan to visit a few more cities in the next few months. I have also visited places of tourist interest like Borovoye, Charyn Canyon and Tamgaly Tas. All the places have their own charm and beauty. Kazakhstan is a beautiful country. It has a small population, but rich culture. Given our historical link-ages, it has a lot of cultural simi-larities with India. The country has made impressive socio-economic progress in the last 25 years and has taken several regional and in-ternational initiatives that have enhanced its international standing and prestige,” he said.

Japanese Envoy: Japanese Technology, Kazakh Natural Resources Ideal Match

By Dmitry Lee

ASTANA – Kazakhstan cel-ebrated its 25th anniversary of independence last December and Jan. 26 the nation marked 25 years of diplomatic relations with Japan. In an exclusive interview with The Astana Times, Japanese Ambas-sador to Kazakhstan Ichiro Kawa-bata marked the date and congrat-ulated Kazakhs on behalf of the Japanese mission.

“Since the beginning of our friendly ties, the cooperation has been developing thanks to the ef-forts of many people,” he said.

“In 1991, on Aug. 29, Kazakh-stan shut down the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site according to the decree of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and after gaining in-dependence denounced nuclear weapons,” he said. The ambassa-dor noted Japan had high regard for the move and provided medical assistance to the victims of nuclear tests. His country also helped im-plement “measures for socio-eco-nomic development and reduced the effects of radioactive contami-nation of the Semipalatinsk region by preparing specialists and radi-ologists and providing medical equipment and supplies.”

“In addition, we collaborated in the establishment of new in-

frastructure in Semey to accel-erate nuclear disarmament. Se-mey residents love the big bridge over the Irtysh River [a project financed mostly by Japan and designed by Japanese company Katahira&Engineers Internation-al]; they consider it a ‘bridge of friendship between our countries.’ Today, Japan-Kazakhstan coop-eration is developing steadily in all directions, but it was the nuclear disarmament initiative, proposed by President Nazarbayev, that bridged our countries for initial cooperation, further strengthening our relations,” he added.

Kawabata recalled the devastat-ing earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. He said many

Kazakhs were empathetic and Kazakhstan sent financial and hu-manitarian aid.

“Japanese people thank Kazakh-stan for the firm support and will never forget this gesture,” he said. “Our peoples become closer and closer with each day despite the big distance that separates us.”

Recent high-level official visits have only boosted the already-prospering relations. In October 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe included Kazakhstan as part of his Central Asian tour.

Addressing an audience at Naz-arbayev University, he said Japan would continue the supportive policy towards the open, stable and independent region of Central Asia.

“Abe also announced a policy aimed at active participation in the region’s issues according to the Central Asia plus Japan Dialogue, in which there are plans to train highly qualified industrial person-nel for the diversification of indus-try and the promotion of regional cooperation, as well as the deep-ening of cooperation on the world arena,” said Kawabata.

Nazarbayev paid his fourth of-ficial visit to Japan in November 2016, where he met Emperor Aki-hito, Abe and top managers in eco-nomic circles and delivered a speech

in the Japanese Parliament. He end-ed the trip with a visit to Hiroshima.

“The mutual visits of heads of state in just one year were impor-tant events in diplomatic relations and the Kazakh President’s visit to Japan gave a powerful impetus to the development of bilateral rela-tions,” said Kawabata. He added the two leaders inked a joint state-ment “On the expansion of the stra-tegic partnership between Japan and Kazakhstan in the age of pros-perity of Asia” and oversaw other agreements between the countries’ ministries and enterprises.

“Both for Kazakhstan and Japan, 2017 will be of utmost importance considering the deeper coopera-tion with the UN, as Kazakhstan has been elected to be the first country from Central Asia as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and Japan has been a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council since last year. Japan’s and Kazakhstan’s positions are aligned in numerous foreign policy directions and the countries will further cooperate in resolutions of global issues and in preserving world peace and secu-rity for the international commu-nity,” said Kawabata.

He spoke optimistically about the upcoming EXPO 2017 in Astana.

“The theme of the Japanese pa-

vilion is entitled ‘Smart Mix with Technology – Experience and Challenge of Japan.’ Our country will present the latest environmen-tally friendly technologies and opinions on the use of different types of energy. I hope that this in-ternational exhibition will spawn new business opportunities and human exchange will reach a new level due to the large number of visitors from Japan,” he said.

Kazakh-Japanese cooperation is mutually beneficial, he added. Kazakhstan is rich in natural and excellent human resources, while Japan has cutting-edge technology and know-how for manufacturers that can meet Kazakh demands in ways to diversify industry and es-tablish infrastructure.

“We could expand economic co-operation in such areas as ecology, energy, transport and logistics, geology and many others. During the visit of President Nazarbayev to Japan a variety of economic issues were discussed; it is now necessary to make efforts to im-plement the agreements concluded and, thereby, to build economic relations corresponding to the po-tentials of the two countries,” said Kawabata.

Cultural exchanges continue to expand. A large number of guests visited last year’s Japanese Culture

Day event in Almaty to witness the beauty of ikebana, judo and kendo.

“Japanese manga, anime and na-tional dishes, as well as traditional martial arts, are gaining more and more popularity in Kazakhstan. The first performance of the Astana Ballet troupe in Japan, the staging of the play about the Japanese in-ternee Ahiko Tetsuro at KarLag, in-dicates that the Kazakh art connec-tion with Japan is even stronger. Scientific cooperation also extends into different areas: history, archae-ology, medicine, nuclear energy, space technology. Our embassy will continue to acquaint you with the charm of our country and its achievements,” he said.

Abe addressed the mass media during Nazarbayev’s visit: “Be-sides the resemblance in appear-ance we have a lot in common, as, for example, views on historical events and traditions of the coun-try, respect for elders, open heart, the spirit that appreciates peace and harmony and a lot more.”

“And I often noticed many things in common between our peoples,” Kawabata said. “I am convinced if we deepen mutual understanding, overcoming dif-ferences and taking as a basis the common features, we would de-velop relations between the two countries in the right direction. I like the Kazakh phrase that says ‘when people in Kazakhstan meet for the first time they become ac-quaintances; twice – friends; three times and they become relatives.’ Let us, in the new quarter of a century, deepen our friendly rela-tions to become one family!”

Deputy FM Discusses Peace, Security and Sustainable

Development at UNBy Malika Orazgaliyeva

Kazakh Deputy Minister of For-eign Affairs Yerzhan Ashikbayev participated in Jan. 23-24 United Nations discussions in New York on the synergy of peace, security and sustainable development.

The Permanent Mission of Ka-zakhstan to the United Nations in collaboration with the delegations of Belarus and Suriname, as well as the United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) con-vened a joint event, “Responsible Governance, Disarmament and Non-proliferation for Progress and Sustainable Development.”

UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and Common-wealth of Independent States (CIS) countries Ayse Cihan Sultanoglu moderated the event. UN General Assembly President Peter Thom-son, United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Chair Frederick Shava, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Lenni Montiel, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Valentin Rybakov, rep-resentatives of the UN accredited diplomatic missions, as well as aca-demic circles delivered statements.

Ashikbaev underlined the in-ternational initiatives of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, including the Manifesto “The World. The 21st Century” and the idea of al-

locating 1 percent of the annual defence budget of UN member states to the UN Fund for Sustain-able Development Goals. This initiative will allow the redirect of financial flows from the defence sector to the UN agenda for sus-tainable development.

On Jan. 24, Ashikbayev partici-pated in the high-level dialogue “Building Sustainable Peace for All: Synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Develop-ment and Sustaining Peace.” Ashi-kbayev voiced the measures taken by Kazakhstan toward implemen-tation at the national level of the UN Global Agenda for sustainable development until 2030, including the statement of the Senate of the Kazakh Parliament on reaffirming country’s commitment to interna-tionally agreed commitments.

On the sidelines of the events, Ashikbayev also met with Ryba-kov of Belarus to discuss coopera-tion at the UN.

Ichiro Kawabata

Yerzhan Ashikbayev

Harsh Kumar Jain

Global Index Ranks KazISS Among Top Think Tanks in the WorldBy Dmitry Lee

ASTANA – The country’s top think tank, the Kazakhstan Insti-tute for Strategic Studies under the President (KazISS), was recently ranked among the world’s top think tanks, the institution’s press service reported Jan. 31.

“KazISS’s first-ever rating in the Global Go To Think Tank Index, Defence and National Security Rating is higher than ever,” the headline of the release reads.

“A think tank from Kazakhstan takes a leading position among similar institutions from all over the world for the first time,” the press

release continues. “According to the 2016 Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, KazISS was listed among 150 best think tanks of the other 6,000 analytical institutes and centres in the world. Earlier KazISS had been included into the rating under certain individual categories.”

KazISS had been ranked 148th in the category Top Think Tanks Worldwide (non-U.S.); second in the Top Think Tanks in Central Asia; 95th in the Top Defence and National Security; 27th in the Top Energy and Resource Policy Think Tanks and 56th in the Best Gov-ernment Affiliated Think Tanks.

According to TTCSP, The Glob-al Go To Think Tank Index is the result of an international survey of more than 1,950 scholars, public and private donors, policy makers, and journalists who helped rank more than 6,500 think tanks us-ing a set of 18 criteria developed by the TTCSP. The purpose of the index is to help improve the pro-file and performance of think tanks while highlighting the important work they do for governments and civil societies around the world.

“TTCSP conducts research on the role policy institutes play in governments and civil societies around the world,” the report ex-plains. “Often referred to as the

think tanks’ think tank, TTCSP examines the evolving role and character of public policy re-search organisations. Over the last 26 years, the TTCSP has de-veloped and led a series of global initiatives that have helped bridge the gap between knowledge and policy in critical policy areas such as international peace and security, globalisation and gov-ernance, international economics, environmental issues, information and society, poverty alleviation, and healthcare and global health. These international collabora-tive efforts are designed to es-tablish regional and international networks of policy institutes and

communities that improve policy making while strengthening dem-ocratic institutions and civil soci-eties around the world.”

“Since its inception in 1989, the TTCSP has focused on collect-ing data and conducting research on think tank trends and the role think tanks play as civil society ac-tors in the policymaking process. In 2007, the TTCSP developed and launched the global index of think tanks, which is designed to identify and recognise centres of excellence in all the major areas of public policy research and in every region of the world. To date TTCSP has provided technical as-sistance and capacity building pro-

grams in 81 countries. We are now working to create regional and global networks of think tanks in an effort to facilitate collaboration and the production of a modest yet achievable set of global public goods. Our goal is to create lasting institutional and state-level part-nerships by engaging and mobilis-ing think tanks that have demon-strated their ability to produce high quality policy research and shape popular and elite opinion and ac-tions for public good,” the report stated.

KazISS was established in 1993 in the then capital city of Almaty and in 2014, the think tank relo-cated to Astana.

B2 B3

Nation&CapitalWEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017

B7SPORTS

2017 Winter Universiade Takes Place in Almaty

CULTURE

Kazakh Singer Rises to Stardom in China in One Day

PEOPLE

Kazakh Expedition in Antarctica Inspires Adventurers

B

ASTANA OPERAFebruary 8 at 7 p.m. Between two ages, concert

February 18 at 6 p.m. In dialogue with classical

Composers

February 21 at 7 p.m. Evening of classical music

STATE CIRCUS

February 11, 12 at 4 p.m. African Giants, animal show

KUANYSHBAYEV DRAMA THEATREFebruary 12 at 6:30 p.m. Abai

BARYS ARENAFebruary 14 at 7:30 p.m. HC Barys vs. HC Sibir

February 16 at 7:30 p.m. HC Barys vs. HC Metallurg

THINGS TO WATCH & PLACES TO GO

Newborn Photography Gains Momentum

in AstanaBy Lyazzat Shatayeva

ASTANA – New parents present vast marketing opportunities for businesses worldwide, and baby-crazy Kazakhstan is no exception. One of the trends in the huge and growing baby products industry, newborn photography, is catching on in Astana.

The trend appeared roughly two years ago and has caught fire among parents since. This has given rise to a new, largely female-dominated group of entrepreneurs: newborn photographers.

“There are roughly 13 actively working and somewhat acclaimed newborn photographers in Astana and many more learners. Most of the photographers are stay-at-

home moms who have the expe-rience of caring for newborns,” Assem Smagul, a well-known newborn photographer, told The Astana Times.

“Babies do not pose for a pic-ture; they are natural. There is a profound depth and magnitude in children’s photographs. Newborn photography isn’t just craft, it’s artistry,” Smagul commented.

The mother of two young sons says she would never have at-tempted to get into the photog-raphy industry had she not had her own children. “Newborn photography is a unique genre. On one hand, you have a perfect model, who effortlessly gives you a perfect picture with every shot.

Continued on Page B8 Assem Smagul

Astana Opera to Premiere Kazakh

Masterpiece ‘Kyz Zhibek’

By Dana Omirgazy

ASTANA – Astana Opera will premiere their production of “Kyz Zhibek” by Yevgeny Brusilovsky Feb. 10-11, the theatre has an-nounced.

After “Kyz Zhibek” was re-leased as a film in 1970, the leg-end of love between two young hearts became widely known. But the tale, preserved in a folk poem about a Kazakh girl, was first per-formed in the theatre in 1934.

Great national writer Gabit Mus-repov based the libretto for the “Kyz Zhibek” opera on that epic lyric poem. Now, 83 years later, Astana Opera will present the great project of Brusilovsky and Musre-pov in a modern version.

“Brusilovsky’s music remains

the same. We have recovered sev-eral musical performances that were not used in previous famous productions. In the new version, the opera will be more dynamic. Soloists feel more comfortable on the stage with the musical recita-tives because there is no need for them to transform into dramatic actors, who have completely dif-ferent means of expression not typical for vocalists. The orches-tra has quietly become richer as well,” Music Director and Con-ductor, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Abzal Mukhitdinov said.

The folk poem “Kyz Zhibek” expresses a dream of happiness, talks about loyalty to loved ones and friends and celebrates brav-ery and honour.

Continued on Page B3

New Shoe Manufacturer

Achieves Success with First Men’s Collection

By Lyazzat Shatayeva

ASTANA – New shoe manu-facturer Shoes Republic has had a big impact on Kazakhstan’s shoe industry just a few months after unveiling its first collection by tar-geting middle class customers and offering the best value.

The industry newcomer present-ed its men’s winter collection in late September, featuring quality leather shoes for nearly the lowest market prices under 20,000 tenge (US$60).

“My partner and I came up

with the idea of launching a shoe-making business in the spring of 2016. We did all the preparatory work in summer and launched our first collection over four months ago,” Chief Oper-ating Officer Dauren Ramankul told The Astana Times.

The manufacturing plant and adjunct brand store are in Almaty and the company makes deliveries virtually anywhere in Kazakhstan via Kazpost. The manufacturer employs eight people and has a production capacity of 300 pairs per month.

Continued on Page B2

Almaty Man Travels World with Little Money, Lots of Enthusiasm

By Dana Omirgazy

ASTANA – Forty-five-year old Umarzhan Urakhunov returned to Kazakhstan Jan. 24 after an epic round-the-world tour lasting five months. The Almaty resident set a goal to set foot on all seven con-tinents and visit African tribes, having only three visas and know-ing nothing of foreign languages. The Astana Times interviewed the enthusiastic traveller about his impressions of visiting beautiful places in the world.

“This trip was a great lifetime experience for me that changed my thinking. I did not tell anyone about my intention, no one knew about my travel plans. Initially, I wanted to visit only the Central Asian countries. A few weeks be-fore departure, I decided to apply for Schengen and U.S. visas. I did not expect to get them, to be hon-est, I was very unsure about it, but I decided to try it. Finally, having obtained both visas, I packed up and headed south to neighbouring countries,” Urakhunov said.

The Kazakh tourist started his trip in Kyrgyzstan and continued the international journey in Uzbek-istan – a land of sun and warmth. Further, he enjoyed a marvel-lous trip to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus. Then, the Al-maty resident went to Europe.

After enjoying time with friends in Turkey, he flew to Rio

de Janeiro and then went to the southernmost city in the world – Ushuaia – to start a cruise to Antarctica. People prepare for such tours in advance, buying tickets six months before depar-ture. However, Urakhunov was lucky to buy the cheapest ticket and spent unforgettable days in the Antarctica. He says the se-vere climate of the continent requires physical training and endurance.

Returning to Ushuaia, Urakhu-nov continued his journey in the northern part of South America and departed to the U.S. After Florida

and New York, he flew to Califor-nia and travelled in the western part of the U.S. Further, the travel-ler went to Alaska and arrived in South Korea. After riding through countries of Southeast Asia, he fin-ished the trip in Malaysia.

“I mostly visited non-touristy places, but they were all amazing. I started travelling with a small amount of money. I got unforget-table memories and incredible and life-changing travel experience. Now, I am convinced that major-ity of citizens can afford to travel the world too. There are the same roads, food, people and hotels in

every country. One can visit so many countries having only three visas and a great enthusiasm. Peo-ple are kind and open everywhere, I saw no problem with that. I lived in both expensive and nice budget hotels. Maybe one day I will even write a book about my adventure,” he told the paper.

According to him, he visited all the visa-free countries for citizens of Kazakhstan. He also walked across deserts in Uzbekistan, ex-plored the Amazon’s wildlife, had exotic and adventurous travels in Africa, and visited the largest mir-ror in the world – the Bolivia Salt Flats – and Iguazu Falls in Argen-tina, spent a night in the famous Grand Canyon in the U.S., and tried delicious fruits in Southeast Asia.

“It is always easy to say and hard to do. Of course, many things can happen while travelling in for-eign countries. You can get sick or something may happen at home and you would be forced to return home. However, I was lucky, eve-rything went smoothly and I man-aged to complete a tour around the world,” he added.

According to Urakhunov, he de-cided to travel because he was out of work. The Kazakh man could not find a suitable job. He had some savings and decided to do something he always wanted to do.

“It was not a dream of mine; I just always knew that I would do it one day,” he concluded.

Shymkent Named Safest City in Kazakhstan

Staff Report

Shymkent was recently named the country’s safest city with the lowest crime rate, according to the official statistics.

Compared to other major cities,

the second most populous city in Kazakhstan had the lowest rate of violent crimes, such as homicide and rape last year. The majority of criminal offences, about 60 percent, were theft. The theft of mobile phones made up approxi-

mately half of all reported thefts in the southern city.

In 2016, 20,892 criminal of-fences were registered in the city with a population of almost mil-lion people, compared to 39,727 offences in Astana and 66,913 crimes in Almaty.

The city saw a general decline in the level of crime. The number of criminal offences decreased by 7.4 percent compared to 2015. In par-ticular, violent crimes went down 6.1 percent, indictable felonies de-creased 21.4 percent and minor as-saults reduced 26.9 percent.

In a recent survey by OLX advertising, Shymkent was also named the best city for living in Kazakhstan.

The online survey assessed the quality of life in the country’s major cities, based on ten criteria, such as safety, cleanliness, ecol-

ogy, transport, quality of housing and communal services, infra-structure for children and enter-tainment, trade and goodwill of the neighbours. The respondents graded each criterion from one to seven with the maximum pos-sible score on aggregate perfor-mance being 70.

Shymkent ranked first, earning 43.3 points. The city scored high-est on the availability of shops, sports and leisure facilities, the friendliness of its residents and the quality of public services.

Some of the positive comments from the respondents were “a warm city with warm people,” “the people are responsive,” “high work ethic and human-ness.”

Taldykorgan and Uralsk shared second place in the ranking, fol-lowed by Kostanai.

Umarzhan Urakhunov


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Kazakh Expedition in Antarctica Inspires Adventurers

Continued from Page B1

“We are planning to recruit five more people soon and in-crease production to 800 pairs per month. Most of the produc-tion is manual at the moment. We are actively looking for funding to be able to buy equip-ment, automate and expand monthly production to 5,000 pairs of shoes,” said Ramankul.

Shoes Republic has pledged to provide the best quality to its customers at the lowest profit margin. The company makes daily casual shoes for men wearable for a variety of occa-sions and targets customers with

average and below average in-comes.

“We want office workers, builders, common people who make around 100,000 tenge (US$300) a month to be able to afford good shoes at least twice a year, during summer and winter seasons. The prices for the lowest quality leather shoes coming from abroad start at 30,000 tenge (US$90). How is an average family to afford good shoes at such prices? We decided that we want to make quality shoes for half the price compared to imported shoes,” he said.

One of the main challenges

of starting the business was the scarcity of experienced profes-sional shoemakers.

“We had to hire a technolo-gist from Afghanistan who has helped us to put production in place and train the local staff. In the 1990s, under the mar-ket pressure and abundance of cheap consumer goods from China, entire industries went into decline and local business-es were forced to shut down. This has led to the current short-age of industry experts,” said Ramankul.

The company’s management is looking into expanding the production line.

“We started with the men’s collection because for us it was the segment we understood the most. We didn’t know much about women’s fashion. We will soon launch women’s ballet flats. In the fall, we want to start introducing kids’ shoes. The net cost of the children’s shoes is lower than of the adults, but the market prices are still very high. We want to offer our customer a fair price,” he said.

Shoes Republic has al-ready built partnerships with wholesalers and retailers in Aktau, Atyrau, Uralsk, Ak-tobe, Taraz and Astana. In spring, shoes will be made

available to retail customers in these cities.

The company’s website is un-der development, yet the brand has already caused some buzz on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

“We thought about a great va-riety of brand names. We initial-ly were inclined to choose a Ka-zakh title, indicating that we are a domestic shoe manufacturer. Then, we realised that eventual-ly we want to export our goods and expand as an international brand well represented beyond Central Asia. That’s why we picked Shoes Republic as a brand name,” said Ramankul.

New Shoe Manufacturer Achieves Success with First Collection

Dauren Ramankul

SAGIMBAYEV: “Every team member of our expedition did their best. We supported each other in difficult moments. Knowledge and the professional skills that we have accumulated were very useful.”

Fifteen KazGeo team members visited the Arctic and Antarctica as part of three polar expeditions from 2011 to 2017.

By Zhanna Shayakhmetova

ASTANA – Bravery, persistence and thirst for discoveries. The In-dependence Pole expedition mem-

bers found a great way to challenge themselves personally and profes-sionally and demonstrate their best qualities in hard times during a re-cent expedition in Antarctica.

Team leader Magzhan Sagim-bayev, climbers Ilyas Galimbe-kov and Yuri Yushin and scientists Arman Baimukhamedov, Daulet Sharipov and Aliya Yernazarova performed a speed climb on Vin-

son Peak, went for a ski expedition of more than 200 kilometres to the South Pole and conducted research in Antarctica within 42 days.

The scientific part of the expedi-tion included research in the field

of ecology, biology and impact of extreme conditions of Antarctica on the human physiology. A round table and master classes will be held on the results of research.

“I was prepared for the worst but I hoped for the best. You can endure all the things physically, but moral and psychological pres-sure is stronger. The sun does not go down and you can’t hide from

wind and cold weather. We lived in tents and slept in sleeping bags and it was an interesting experi-ence. Exploring harsh and extreme conditions was possible thanks to the people around me. They are so amazing, open and friendly. They greatly inspired me and I immedi-ately joined this group. The atmos-phere was good, in spite of all the obstacles and extreme conditions,” Yernazarova told The Astana Times.

A number of candidates from the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University applied to take part in the expedition. Representatives of the Kazakh Geographic Society (KazGeo) conducted interviews with each candidate. Yernazarova passed a rigorous selection process to be among the participants.

She became the first Kazakh fe-male member of the expedition. A microbiologist by profession, she is pursuing her career as an Associate Director of Science at Al-Farabi Kazakh National Uni-

versity Ecology Research Institute.“I have never participated in

such kind of expeditions, but as a student, I went to field expeditions. We had our own programme at the Union Fletcher station. We skied and climbed the peak with special equipment. Also, we established contacts with foreign experts and this is the most important part of the voyage. There were scientists from all over the world. It was a useful exchange of information and contacts. Our negotiations are the foundation for future expedi-tions and research. In the future, we plan to have joint research with these scientists,” she said.

The organisation is currently de-veloping a membership scheme, announced KazGeo Presidium Chairman Tolegen Tastanbekov at a Jan. 18 press conference in the capital.

“All three stages of the project, including climbing the Vinson Peak, ski expedition and research were successfully completed. The

Kazakh flag was raised for the first time on Antarctica’s highest peak on Independence Day. Members of the expedition congratulated peo-ple from the Vinson Peak Dec. 16 and from the South Pole Dec. 31. The expedition took place thanks to the efforts and participation of many people who are not indiffer-ent,” Tastanbekov said.

According to team leader Mag-

zhan Sagimbayev, the members were ready for a variety of chal-lenges and unfavourable weather.

“Every team member of our ex-pedition did their best. We support-ed each other in difficult moments. Knowledge and the professional skills that we have accumulated were very useful,” he said.

After the expedition, Kazakh-stan also plans to offer to establish an automated research station on the ice continent.

Fifteen KazGeo team members visited the Arctic and Antarctica as part of three polar expeditions from 2011 to 2017. KazGeo Board Chairman Nurlan Abduov is the head of the Arctic and Antarctic programmes and catalyst of the

expedition. An earlier automobile expedition also earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest ascent-descent.

The Independence Pole cam-paign was conducted under the auspices of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan and sup-ported by KazGeo.


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The opera is based on a story of two lovers, Zhibek and Tulegen. Beautiful Zhibek rejects the suit of the overbearing Bekezhan. She will only marry her one true love. She chooses Tulegen, who has come from far away, intrigued by tales of the beautiful girl. How-ever, Bekezhan kills him, cutting off a beautiful love story.

Mukhitdinov has also introduced a children’s choir for the first time and uses the sounds of traditional instruments both as solo perfor-mances and in collaboration with

the Astana Opera Symphony Or-chestra. Thus, along with classical instruments, the audience will en-joy folk instruments including the dombra, kyl-kobyz, shan-kobyz, zhetіgen and kerney.

“Vintage national instruments add special colour to the sound of the opera. However, now I am working on another version of in-strumentation, so that it could be performed by the standard sym-phony orchestra composition. I hope that this opera will become very popular and in-demand af-ter our performance. It is close to the heart of every Kazakh per-

son, and at the same time it talks about what all people are always interested in, what stirs their minds – love, the struggle be-tween good and evil, loyalty and betrayal,” Mukhitdinov noted.

Principal Stage Director of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus and the Samara Opera and Ballet Theatre Mikhail Pandzhavidze, famous for his unique style and unusual approach to opera, is supposed to surprise Kazakh audiences with his choices as stage director of “Kyz Zhibek.”

Having studied the traditions, culture and lifestyle of Kazakh

people, the Russian director brought great enthusiasm to his work for “Kyz Zhibek.” Pan-dzhavidze will show the change of all four seasons in his modern pro-duction. Although this is his first work at the Astana Opera House, Pandzhavidze met Astana audienc-es and opera singers in 2010 when he staged Jacques Offenbach’s op-era “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” at the Baiseitova Opera House.

Designers Sofya Tasmagambe-tova and Pavel Dragunov, who have been working in tandem for almost 10 years, are responsible for the costumes and sets for the new production. Astana Opera’s Costume Shop will use a record number of costumes for this fairy tale: 350 sets.

Set designers have created an immense steppe with an unusually blue sky, high hills, a large caravan and a mysterious city of artisans on the stage.

“We will not only show the eve-ryday life of people that existed 500 years ago, but create a specific atmosphere, convey the spirit of that era,” the designers noted.

“Kyz Zhibek” depicts a woman wanting to freely choose her life partner, and stage directors have often deliberately emphasised the tale’s protest against marital tradi-tions and customs of courtship in Kazakh society. The main charac-ters, Tulegen and Zhibek, embody the ideals of freedom-loving youth. Directors have portrayed them as representatives of the traits people want to see in the younger gen-eration – however, Pandzhavidze says the new production will differ from previous examples of his col-leagues.

US Audience Explores Kazakh Music, Traditional InstrumentsBy Zhanna Shayakhmetova

ASTANA – KUSC, the Los Angeles-based classical music radio station, has released “A Breathtaking Musical Journey through Kazakhstan,” a four-part series produced by Adriana Cargill for Arts Alive. The pro-gramme focuses on “The Silent Steppe Cantata” created by Ka-zakh contemporary opera singer Timur (formerly known as Timur Bekbosunov) and acclaimed Ca-lArts composer Anne LeBaron.

Inspired by Kazakh folk in-struments, Timur and LeBaron produced the large-scale project and music composed by the latter successfully premiered in Astana in 2011.

“I have always been genuinely interested in the traditional folk culture of Kazakhstan as well as the classical music that co-exists with it and I recommended Radio Classic create a sister-radio part-nership exchange with KUSC. I made an introduction to KUSC and eventually KUSC’s director Brenda Barnes with her social media director visited Kazakh-stan to present a series of mas-

ter classes and workshops about public radio in the U.S.,” Timur told The Astana Times.

American producers also de-cided to create a programme about the country’s traditional folk music and instruments.

“The four-part series is delving deep into ‘The Silent Steppe Cantata’ and showcas-ing the sounds of Kazakh folk

instruments to the American au-dience,” he added. “It also talks about my upcoming projects, classical music folk musicians and the partnership exchange be-tween KUSC and Radio Classic. I think the series is the first major step in surveying the Kazakh mu-sical culture fully developed by an independent public media or-ganisation and without involve-

ment of any government agency. I am very proud that Kazakh instruments are getting impor-tant recognition. There is also a glowing response to Kazakhstan on air in an interview with Los Angeles Philharmonic Chief Op-erating Officer Chad Smith.”

Authentic Kazakh folk music continues to be a source of inspi-ration for many composers. The

style looks beyond the Russian school of composition and ex-plores other styles of music, like American minimalism and post-modern, with jazz, folk and rock influences.

Timur is currently perform-ing with different opera compa-nies, symphonies and art centres around the U.S. He made solo ap-pearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sarasota Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Utah Opera, Bang on a Can All-Stars and Beth Morrison Projects. He has collab-orated with composers including LeBaron, David Lang, Thomas Ades, Evan Ziporyn, Louis An-driessen and Péter Eötvös.

“My glam-rock band Timur and the Dime Museum presented a show at Redcat Theatre in Los Angeles, Miami Art Centre, Op-eradagen Rotterdam and the Next Wave Festival 2015 at Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn. I also develop, conceptualise and direct different theatrical projects with my company The Opera of Timur Productions. Our current project is Love, Honour, Obey in collaboration with comedian Margaret Cho,” he said.

The opera singer also conducts

classes at California Institute of the Arts on classical vocal tech-nique for popular musical styles such as rock, pop and punk. He recently gave a master class and performed a recital at Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo.

Timur aims to premiere “The Silent Steppe Cantata” in the U.S. in 2019 in collaboration with the Almaty-based Sazgen Sazy ensemble.

“There are several stakeholders of the project in Los Angeles and we are engaged in several discus-sions as well as fundraising. I am developing the Open Road Pro-ject, which will increase aware-ness of Kazakh cultural heritage, create new and contemporary repertoire for performers and promote Kazakhstan through the grassroots process. The project will explore 1,000 folk themes collected by famed Kazakh mu-sicologist Alexander Zataevich. The songs will serve as a base for American composers to create innovative arrangements or new compositions for voice, piano and other instruments,” he said.

The series is available as a podcast on http://kusc.org/series/arts-alive/.

Kazakh Actress Torry Talgat to Take Part in

Berlinale TalentsBy Zhazira Dyussembekova

ASTANA – Kazakh actress Tor-ry Talgat will be participating Feb. 11-16 in Berlinale Talents, the an-nual summit and networking plat-form of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). Her ap-plication was one of 250 selected among 2,700 applications from 127 countries, and she is among 15 individuals selected in the ac-tors category.

“I found out about the Berlinale Talents from [director] Olga Ko-rotko, who also participated in the festival in 2016. She advised me to apply to the acting studio, which I did. While filling out the applica-tion, I was absolutely unsure that I would pass such a big competi-tion. But in the end of December, I received an official invitation from the Berlinale,” Talgat told The Astana Times.

The mandatory requirements were knowledge of the English language and performance in at least two films that have partici-pated in international festivals.

“I think it was important that the participant should be really interested in his profession and was looking for new ways of self-development,” she added.

The theme of this year’s Berli-nale Talents is Courage: Against All Odds.

“Every time a filmmaker acts with courage, their step takes the true measure of a challenge. For the anniversary edition, Berlinale Talents will focus on these crucial points while celebrating a new generation busy making films with unshakeable optimism and against all odds,” said programme manager Florian Weghorn, according to the website.

The event will include master classes, seminars and meetings with prominent representatives of the film industry.

“For me, an important event at the seminar will be the meeting with director Paul Verhoeven. And of course, I’m sure that I will meet many professionals in their field who also will share their knowl-edge,” said Talgat.

The actress began her stud-ies in 2009 at Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts, where from her first year she acted in student films as well as stage and street performances. After gradua-tion in 2013, Talgat started work-ing in Datheatre, a private inde-pendent theatre, later moving to the German Drama Theatre, where she has worked for three years. She has studied auteur documenta-

ries at Zhurgenov in pursuit of her Master’s degree.

Talgat is currently involved in several projects.

“I have completed the shooting of a feature film by Olga Korotko “Tak Sebe Zima” (“So-So Win-ter”). On Feb. 1-13, there be will the Revelation Theatre Festival in which I will participate with two plays. One of them is ‘Psychosis 4.48’ by playwright Sarah Kane, directed by Darya Spivakova. The second one is a play by the German Theatre. It is ‘The Government In-

spector’ by Nikolai Gogol, directed by Natasha Dubs,” she said.

Talgat noted it is complicated to be an actress or actor in Kazakh-stan “especially in the film indus-try,” as film language and intel-lectual movies are not extremely popular nor in demand.

“The theatre actor, I mean a good actor, will find his place and role. It is not the same with mov-ies. First, we do not have such a big film market and therefore the number of films is small. The large projects involve the same actors, which is very frustrating. Sec-ondly, good directors and a literate script are lacking. I am not inter-ested in same-script soap operas and melodrama, but I have realised that it was still quite popular and profitable in our country,” she said.

At the same time, she added there is a new wave of Kazakh filmmakers.

“I see that young talents take cinema seriously and with great love. There are young filmmakers who are looking for a cinematic language, write a good script, car-ry out castings honestly and work with actors. It pleases me person-ally, as an actress and as a person, because we can shoot good mov-ies. It is necessary to work hard and not be lazy. All routes are open,” she said.

Kazakh Singer Rises to Stardom in China in One Day

By Dmitry Lee

ASTANA – Kazakh singer Di-mash Kudaibergenov beat his op-ponents Jan. 21 in the first stage of the popular Chinese show “Singer 2017” and instantly rose to fame in China.

Kudaibergenov, 22, was in-vited by the organisers and is the youngest participant, tengrinews.kz reports. He performed the song “SOS d’un terrien en détresse” in French after which he rose to star-dom in China in just one day.

Chinese mass media writes: “China is shocked by Kazakhs,” while Kudaibergenov’s name has

been discussed all over social me-dia in China.

Kudaibergenov’s manager Al-pamys Sharimov told the media that the singer’s image has been changed to suit the show.

“We have changed Dimash’s im-age so he would have a new look. This is not ‘The Voice,’ this is a contest of established and famous singers,” Sharimov noted.

“Singer 2017” is a Chinese tel-evision series in its fifth season. The season launched Jan. 21 and will air on China’s Hunan Televi-sion until April 22. Eight singers remain in the competition, all fa-mous and established stars.

A few days after Kudai-

bergenov’s sweeping victory, his father Kanat Aitbayev asked Ka-zakhs to support his son in the contest and thanked his son’s fans.

“Thanks to the Ministry of Cul-ture and Sports for the support in participation of my son in this large-scale project,” his press ser-vice reported. “I wanted to thank personally Minister Arystanbek Mukhamediuly for the opportunity to take part in the show in China.”

Kudaibergenov is the winner of the Grand Prix Slavic Bazaar 2015 in Vitebsk, Russia. In early Janu-ary, he was awarded a state grant of the President of Kazakhstan in the field of culture for 2016, ac-cording to Sharimov.

Astana Opera to Premiere Kazakh Masterpiece ‘Kyz Zhibek’

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Timur and the Dime Museum.

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NATION&CAPITAL

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Car Sharing Gains Popularity

in AlmatyBy Yerbolat Uatkhanov

ASTANA – Car sharing has sprung up in many countries, in-cluding Kazakhstan. With access to a fleet of vehicles on an as-need-ed basis, Almaty residents gain the benefits of private cars without the costs and responsibilities of own-ership.

“[Having one’s] own car has one real advantage: it is parked very close to where its owner lives or works. The owner can use it any time. Basically, car sharing pro-vides the same flexibility and ad-vantages as car ownership. Also, a car sharing user doesn’t need to purchase a car and pay the corre-sponding expenses,” said Doscar car sharing company director As-sylbek Yessenov in a Jan. 20 inter-view.

Car sharing is positioned as a replacement for personal or cor-porate vehicles. Its main benefit is dividing the fixed costs of mainte-nance among the many members of a car sharing club, while an in-dividual owner is responsible for all costs. Car sharing also contrib-utes to environment protection, as people use one vehicle instead of their own cars.

The programme benefits those who drive fewer than 13,000-15,000 kilometres per year, noted Yessenov.

“Some of our clients often use our services when there are two drivers in a family using one car. Therefore, in some cases when they need to use two cars, one spouse gets one of our cars. Also, some of our clients use our cars

when their own cars are being re-paired,” he said.

Car sharing is not suitable for those who drive more than 15,000 kilome-tres annually, he added. Studies show those who use the service share cars more responsibly, carefully plan their trips and begin travelling less than if using their own cars.

“We decided to establish a car sharing company in Almaty in October 2014. But unfortunately, preparation took some time and we only started to work in Febru-ary 2016. We are going to expand our business and Astana will be the first city where the company will open the next office,” he said.

Traditional car rental differs from car sharing because the lat-ter offers greater ease of use, he added. The terms of lease are 30 minutes or more compared to car rental calculated in days.

Car sharing offers fast booking. Doscar can reserve a vehicle in a few seconds through the mobile app and clients need not go to the office each time to get a car.

Vehicles are also conveniently located, as they are parked in dif-ferent parts of the city and can be chosen and used immediately. A virtual key on a mobile phone works for all cars. There is no need to return the vehicle with a full tank of gas – leaving at least a quarter tank is sufficient.

Yessenov noted the company faces two main challenges: Almaty residents don’t know about its ser-vices and the city administration doesn’t support car sharing com-panies. He feels the city should help them because they contribute to its environment protection.

Electric Bus Plant Launches Production in Almaty, Showcases Two Models


ALMATY – Parasat Holding showcased two models of electric buses Jan. 19 to local government of-ficials. The safe, silent and environ-

mentally-friendly vehicles, designed to carry 53-110 passengers, can hit city streets as soon as next year.

“Parasat Holding, part of a group including the Satpayev Na-tional Technical Research Uni-versity and the Kazakh-British

Technical University, has built an electric bus assembly plant in Almaty region. The new project was implemented in record time – just a year ago, it was still an idea. Then, the company’s man-agement decided that an innova-tive production site would be a great research platform for stu-dents and faculty. The idea was to set a factory of electric buses and later create a design bureau on its basis,” Forbes Kazakhstan reported.

The company partnered last year with Higer, China’s leading electric bus manufacturer. Higer makes one of the best batteries for electric buses, which was one of the main reasons for choos-ing the company as partner. A titanium-ion battery provides a city bus with a power reserve of 70 kilometres (km). An average bus route in large cities does not

exceed 50 km; in Almaty, the av-erage route is 34 km. Moreover, the Higer battery operates safely at temperatures as low as -30 de-grees and the charging time to start the bus takes no longer than eight minutes.

Parasat and Higer have signed two agreements, one on the joint construction of the plant in Al-maty with a 51-percent stake owned by the Chinese side and the other on the transfer of tech-nology and joint research activi-ties. In addition, Higer has given Parasat the patent on all its models throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), report-ed Forbes Kazakhstan.

The vehicles differ from the Chinese analogues in design and equipment set. The 160-kilowatt (kW) electric engine was replaced by a 15-kW Jing Jin TM5027H with liquid cooling and is de-

signed for operating at an input voltage of 387 V. Rather than a lithium-ion battery, a lithium-titanate battery (Li4Ti5O12) was installed in the models. Front in-dependent air suspension comes with hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers and a stabiliser bar, while the rear dependent air sus-pension is equipped with hydrau-lic telescopic shock absorbers and anti-roll.

The buses are furnished with an emergency call device, rear-view video system, digital clock and wheelchair ramp. Audio and video systems, air conditioning, route display, tachograph, cruise control and satellite navigation system are available on request.

Electric buses are considerably more expensive, approximately $40,000 higher than the diesel models manufactured in Europe, according to the developers. Their

operation, however, is significant-ly cheaper. The average daily mile-age for a city bus is 300 km. At current fuel prices, running a die-sel bus costs 22,000tenge (US$66) per day. Its rival will require only 3,200 tenge (US$9.60) of electric-ity. Constructing the necessary gas station costs nearly one billion tenge (US$3.02 million), whereas a charge station for ten electric buses will cost 16 million tenge (US$48,000), they added.

The company has indicated charging the buses will not be problematic for the city, as the electric substations currently used for trolleybuses and trams can be used. Their capacity will be ad-equate to simultaneously charge 500 buses.

The plant plans to initially pro-duce nearly 300 vehicles a year. If the volume of orders increases, the company is prepared to intro-duce a second shift and release up to 1,000 buses per year. In the meantime, Parasat is in talks with local officials and trucking com-panies to introduce Quasar elec-tric buses in the public transporta-tion system.

New App Helps Almaty Residents Monitor Air Quality


ALMATY – Almaty Urban Air (AUA or “air” in Kazakh) is a mobile app that helps to monitor air quality and increase public awareness on air pollution to im-prove city planning and decision-making practices. The new app is available on IOS and Android.

Air pollution is becoming an ur-gent matter for the city. Industrial production, transport and poor urban planning have made a last-ing negative impact on the qual-ity of the environment, and, as a consequence, the quality of local residents’ lives. The surrounding Tien Shan Mountains allow little chance for wind and as a result the

urban area is often trapped under a layer of toxic smog.

Air in the city is heavily pol-luted by suspended particles, commonly known as dust, car-bon monoxide and nitrogen di-oxide, the levels of which, in some months, exceed allowable levels by 936 times, according to AUA’s developers.

The information presented in the app is based on data ob-tained from one unit of BAM-1020 ambient particulate mass monitoring equipment installed at Kazakh National Medical Uni-versity. The equipment measures the levels of PM2.5 (particulate matter), fine dust particles up to 2.5 micrometres in size. High concentrations of PM2.5 parti-

cles are a health hazard and the maximum permissible average concentration is 35 micrograms per cubic metre.

Users can follow the posted recommendations. Depending on the collected data, the app warns city residents to spend as little time outside as possible until the toxic smog lifts or on the contrary, to use the “good” days for prolonged outdoor activities. It also features sec-tions that allow users to learn more about air pollution and its effects on health and environ-ment.

The information collected from just one data collection cen-tre does not provide a complete picture of Almaty’s air quality,

the developers warn. Moreover, atmospheric pollution due to the physical properties of air is dif-ficult to locate and keep under control. The particles travel, de-posit and transform under the in-fluence of solar radiation. Thus, following an app recommenda-tion is a user’s personal choice.

The project has been under-taken by Common Sense Civic Foundation with the support of the U.S. Consulate General, Cen-tral Asia Regional Office of the U.S. Centres for Disease Con-trol and Prevention, Asfendi-yarov Kazakh National Medical University and the young team of developers, including Anel Moldakhmetova, Timur Nusim-bekov and Dauren Shubayev.

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Saudi Company Allocates More Than $90 Million to South Kazakhstan Poultry Farm

By Dmitry Lee

ASTANA – Saudi Arabian Al Ramez International Group will finance a poultry farm in the South Kazakhstan region with a produc-tion capacity of 30,000 tonnes of meat per year, company president Abdullah Zaid Al-Meleihi said during a Jan. 30 meeting with re-gion akim (governor) Zhanseit Tu-imebayev, reported the governor’s press service.

The project will be implemented in two stages, it noted. The first phase will include the allocation of 61 million euros (US$65.8 mil-lion), followed by an investment of 24 million euros (US$25.9 million). The project includes

construction of a poultry yard for growing chickens, incubator and broiler body shop slaughter and fodder plant.

Representatives of the Arab company are willing to invest in other agricultural areas, such as cultivating sheep and cattle, and have offered to help in exporting meat. During the meeting, Ka-zakh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Bakhyt Batyrshayev spoke about important steps in the relations be-tween the countries and develop-ing partnerships in various sectors.

“We are implementing reforms aimed at diversifying the econ-omy,” said Tuimebayev. “The South Kazakhstan region is a re-gion where all sectors of industry and agriculture of the country are

developed. We are introducing the best terms to attract investment and creating the most favourable con-ditions to support local business.

We have also reduced administra-tive barriers for doing business. Currently, we have created three special economic zones where the

work is carried out according to a simplified tax system.”

The men discussed distributing powers and duties to implement dif-ferent joint investment projects. They also noted the need to launch a new level of relations between the region and the Middle Eastern nation.

The governor also focused on the systematic efforts in the region to improve the business and in-vestment environment.

Al-Meleihi noted Kazakh busi-ness ties with Saudi Arabia have a good prospect in the future and the South Kazakhstan region has all the conditions for doing business. In particular, he outlined the po-litical stability and harmony in the country which will allow investors to work at liberty.

Tuimebayev emphasised provid-ing new opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships and expressed confidence in their prospects.

The trade turnover between Ka-zakhstan and Saudi Arabia reached US$50 million in 2015 and op-portunities exist to significantly increase the figure. With the par-ticipation of the Saudi companies, 17 companies are working in Ka-zakhstan.

Al Ramez International Group was established in 1991 and has invested in a number of businesses including advertising, brand man-agement, security equipment, con-struction equipment, consumer products, retailing and trading. Its annual turnover exceeds US$800 million.


NATION&CAPITAL

SOCIETYB5

Green TAL Help the Vulnerable

Help Themselves

By Kamila Zhumabayeva

ASTANA – Started initially as a willow-weaving workshop, Green TAL has turned into a bigger pro-ject that provides vulnerable social groups training with employment by producing quality products demand-ed on market.

Green TAL literally means green osier – a small Eurasian willow which grows mostly in wet natural surroundings.

“Initially we started as a willow weaving workshop, therefore, we joined those two words together so the name had something Western and Kazakh in it,” Emin Askerov, project founder, told The Astana Times.

The project was launched in June 2015 under the Best for Kids pub-lic fund. Teaching willow weaving to vulnerable social groups was its pioneer activity. As the first lessons began, learners were learning the ba-sics of weaving and creating pieces during the year. However, this did not lead to much of a success among customers and Green TAL decided to develop new activities.

In September 2016, Green TAL began producing handmade decora-tions for home and souvenirs made of wood, running a sewing work-shop, a carpentry shop and offering IT services such as website develop-ment and support.

“Green TAL’s vision statement is every member of a vulnerable so-cial group had worthy earnings that

allow them to provide for them-selves and their family,” accord-ing to a statement on their website greental.kz.

About 80 people have undergone training at the workshop. As of pre-sent, 15 people work at Green TAL. Some of them left the workshop after a while to focus on different things, Askerov notes.

And employment centre helps Green TAL by providing salaries for its workers, 49,000 tenge (about US$150) per month. They also re-ceive bonuses from Green TAL if new orders come in.

“We have already entered the com-mercial market. We have our carpen-try shop. We are starting to produce and sell now. I see no point yet to enter the foreign market because we need to tap our market. That is my philosophical approach. As soon as we accomplish it, we can go on fur-ther,” the founder said.

“We have big plans and see big prospects. The pressing problem is many people are unemployed among vulnerable social groups, many of them call asking for a job. It is quite difficult that we have very big problems with this. For some rea-son, employers are reluctant to hire such people. That is why we take this mission upon ourselves to spread in-formation about social entrepreneur-ship. I give speeches and lectures on this topic from time to time. It is our wish that more people join this so we could solve our problems with our own hands,” Askerov said.

Pavlodar Police Officer Saves Life of 8-Year-Old Boy


Pavlodar Police Department of Internal Affairs Sergeant Dau-let Mukhamedsalykov recently saved the life of an 8-year-old boy, by getting him out of a manhole in which the boy acci-dentally fell.

Mukhamedsalykov was driv-ing his own vehicle on his day off when he saw the boy run across the road and suddenly dis-appear from his view along the Tsaryov Street in Pavlodar. The off-duty policeman immediately drove up to the scene and began looking for the boy and saw the open manhole, from which he heard the boy scream.

He looked inside and saw a boy at the bottom of a water well. The well was about five metres deep, and it was impossi-ble for anyone to get out of there without a ladder.

Decisiveness was a priority in the situation, otherwise the boy

could have frozen or drowned to death. The officer saw a truck passing by, Mukhamedsalykov stopped the truck and asked for a ladder, luckily the driver had one. Mukhamedsalykov was able to get to the bottom of the well and rescue the boy. Before the ambulance got to the boy Mukhamedsalykov helped him warm up and gave him his jack-et, also protecting the boy from the cold.

The boy’s father Daniyar Zhandilov sent a letter of thanks to head of the Police Depart-ment of Internal Affairs of the Pavlodar region, Major-General Marat Kozhayev. In the letter, he and his family expressed grati-tude to the police and gratitude for saving the life of their son Bakhtiyar.

By order of Chief of Police Department of Internal Affairs Sergeant Mukhamedsalykov was awarded with a letter of gratitude for vigilance and swift action.

Kazakh Fashion Designers Launch Country’s First Clothing Line for People with Special Needs

By Dana Omirgazy

ASTANA – The Light Industry Enterprises Association has re-leased its first collection of cloth-ing for people with special needs in partnership with the Ministry of Healthcare as part of the Adap-tive Clothing and Shoes project.

“Prior to the designing and pro-duction of clothes, we conducted a survey among people with lim-ited abilities to determine their preferences and wishes. Special focus was made on simplicity, functionality and comfort. Our first collection named ‘Colours of Autumn’ features five models of casual wear, business and sports styles,” Lyubov Khudova, presi-dent of the Light Industry Enter-prises Association said at a Jan. 11 press conference.

According to her, this is the first mass production of comfortable clothing and shoes for the physi-cally challenged in Kazakhstan. Comfortable adaptive clothing for wheelchair users and people with limited abilities will be manufac-tured at local ateliers.

“The association consists of 114 enterprises manufacturing all types of knitwear and produc-

ing leather shoes and fur cloth-ing. Companies and designers are willing to manufacture special clothes under the special project,” Khudova added.

Approximately 770,000 adults and children with limited abilities

live in Kazakhstan. While creat-ing new clothing line, design-ers took into account features of wheelchair users making clothes comfortable, easy to put on and fashionable. The new clothing line offers functional dresses and

can satisfy the needs of people suffering cerebral palsy, visual impairment and elderly people.

“We are going to open stores in Astana and Almaty. Now we are developing an online shop to offer clothing for persons with limited

abilities throughout Kazakhstan. We want to attract public atten-tion to our new clothing store. We did not receive any state order yet, however, we hope for fruitful co-operation with large companies,” Khudova admitted.

Designers offer high-quality clothes made of soft, elastic knit-ted fabrics using special function-al details at affordable prices.

“People need simple and com-fortable clothing. Of course, we considered the pricing policy in the internet market for the same products from Germany, the U.S. and Russia. We will have a different price range. For ex-ample, the average price of an imported jumper is 20,000 tenge (US$60.46). In Kazakhstan, the price will be 6,000 tenge (US$18.13). We believe that it is quite an acceptable price,” Khu-dova pointed out.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 15 percent of the world’s popula-tion has some form of disability. Designers believe that clothing should fit their needs and meet requirements. In general, clothing for people with special needs only became available in the world market recently. There are about

200 producers of such clothes in the world. Most of these compa-nies operate in Germany, Russia and the U.S. In Kazakhstan, the Light Industry Enterprises As-sociation became the first to start creating a fashion line for people with limited abilities.

“Now, people with limited abil-ities are socially active people en-gaged almost in all spheres. They are involved in sports and par-ticipate in competitions. I think this project is relevant and people are certainly interested in wear-ing comfortable clothes,” Dina Yerdildinova, chair of Public As-sociation of People with Limited Abilities DOS Independent Life Centre, told The Astana Times.

In addition, Yerdildinova spoke about the DOS Art project launched last year by the centre. Musical and choreographic group DOS Art intends to bring chal-lenged people to cultural and so-cial life. Here one can learn sing-ing, dancing in wheelchairs and playing musical instruments.

“Our organisation agreed with the Kazakh Light Industry Enter-prises Association on designing and manufacturing dresses for the DOS Art team’s performances,” she said.Ph

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Light Oil and Gas Deposits Found in

Atyrau RegionBy Yerbolat Uatkhanov

ASTANA – Rich deposits of light oil and gas were recently found in the Devonian deposits at Ansagan in the Zhylyoi district of the Atyrau region.

“The possible reserves are highly valued and a large amount of exploration work is planned to confirm the predicted hydrocarbon resources,” according to a Minis-try of Energy report.

The oil and gas horizons are located deeper than the Tengiz

field. Getting high debits on light oil at Ansagan confirms the large resource potential of the subsalt sediments at greater depths of the territory.

In the future, the ministry plans to conduct appraisal work on the entire contract area with explora-tion drilling on such prospective areas as Maksat, Prorva Glubokaya and others. The areas were studied using detailed seismic methods.

According to the ministry, on Feb. 24, 2014, a contract with Almex Plus was signed on the sub-soil use and exploration of hydro-carbons in the pre-salt deposits in the Atyrau and Mangistau regions. The contract excepts the using of post-salt structures and fields on the site. Almex Plus was estab-lished in 2001 and started explora-tion works in 2014.

The site is 1,460.01 square kilo-metres. The depth of discharge is from the ground-bed of post-salt sediments to the surface of the crystal base.

KazMunayGas Introduces QR-Code

Payments for Fuel Cards

By Zhaniya Urankayeva

ASTANA – The KazMu-nayGas National Company has introduced a QR-code payment option for fuel cards at one of its gas stations with plans to extend the service system wide. The service is in test mode and is the first time such technology has been introduced at a gas station in Kazakhstan.

The innovation is now availa-ble only in Astana at the gas sta-tion named after Olympic cham-pion Serik Sapiyev located on Hussein Bin Talal Avenue, near the building of City Court of the Yessil district. In the future, QR-code payment service will be ex-tended to the entire network of KazMunayGas stations.

“QR-code (quick response) is

a matrix code (two-dimensional bar code) that is used for visual coding of information and is in-creasingly being used in various fields, including the marking of buildings and a way to get bo-nuses from shops and producers. Fuel card holders of KazMu-nayGas are able to create their QR codes through a personal account in a mobile application or at www.azskmg.kz, using the fuel card number,” according to the press service of the company.

The generated QR-code can be shown at the gas station instead of the card in a printed form and on the screen of the mobile de-vice, smartphone or tablet. Then the cash system will ask the customer to enter the confirm-ing PIN-code. All the data of the club card is read from the QR-code.2


NATION&CAPITAL

TOURISM&EXPO 2017B6

Qatar to Participate in EXPO 2017

By Zhanar Seitnazarova

ASTANA – Qatar has signed an agreement to participate in the upcoming EXPO 2017, the exhibi-tion’s organising committee press service said.

The agreement was inked dur-ing a meeting at the organiser’s office between expo chairperson Akhmetzhan Yessimov and Qa-tar national section commissioner Ahmed Ali Al-Tamimi.

The Astana EXPO 2017 national company is currently working to transfer the pavilions to the inter-national participants, said Yessi-mov. At present, 13 pavilions have been accepted, including by Arab countries such as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Yessimov and Qatar’s Ambassa-dor in Kazakhstan announced the delegation had the opportunity to see its pavilion and was satisfied with the quality of the work.

“Lately, we have been trying to participate in all EXPO-level ex-hibitions and even received bronze

medals for our expositions in 2012 in South Korea’s Yeosu. I think we can surprise our guests and visi-tors at the upcoming exhibition, as Qatar’s pavilion will be one of the best at EXPO 2017. During the na-tional day celebration, high level officials might arrive at the exhibi-tion,” said Al-Tamimi.

Attendance at Qatar’s pavilion during EXPO 2015 in Milan was one of the highest, with more than two million visitors. The coun-try’s 457-square metre pavilion at EXPO 2017 will be located near the UAE, France, Romania and Slovakia.

Qatar’s participation agreement was signed and documents passing the pavilion to the country were held at the end of the meeting. Pa-vilions were transferred to delega-tions from Azerbaijan and Austria the same day.

To date, 112 countries and 18 international organisations have confirmed their participation in the international specialised exhibi-tion that will last from June 10 to Sept. 10, 2017.

Ninety Hotels and Food Facilities Are

Recommended by EXPOBy Kamila Zhumabayeva

ASTANA – Thirty-five hotels and 55 food and beverage facili-ties have been accepted into the Recommended by EXPO 2017 programme, the capital’s official website reports.

About 23 hotels and 39 food and beverage facilities have undergone accreditation.

“Requirements for participants are available in open sources. … English language proficiency of the personnel, accessible menu for tour-ists and a number of other indicators are some of the main requirements,” according to astana.gov.kz.

Evaluations are done by a team consisting of representatives from the akimat (city administration), Astana EXPO 2017 national com-pany, Astana’s chamber of entrepre-neurs and other institutions.

The Recommended by EXPO 2017 programme was launched in 2015 by the Astana akimat in co-operation with the Astana EXPO 2017 national company. The pro-gramme’s purpose is a consolidated approach to improving the quality of

services for tourists coming to the international exhibition.

Hotels, hostels, food and beverage facilities, transport companies, apart-ments for rent, apartments with hotel service, companies operating in a co-working format, service firms, guides-translators and city guides are participants of the programme.

“Receiving the status of Astana city’s partner means the highest lev-el of trust and a guarantee of a city for the quality of services rendered. In addition, non-financial support mechanisms held by governmental organisations are rendered in the capital to improve the quality of ser-vice industry,” the website reported.

Approximately 250 entrepreneurs and others operating in the hotel and restaurant businesses have under-gone training since last November in cooperation with the Damu Entre-preneurship Development Fund.

As part of preparations for EXPO 2017, the Astana Convention Bu-reau in cooperation with the Di Beis-sen language training centre held a training course of English language lessons free of charge for its staff of 56 people working in 40 food ser-vice outlets.

EXPO Guests to Be Met In the Best Traditions of Hospitability, Official Says

By Gulyaim Tulesheva

Approximately 35,000 tour-ists are expected to visit Astana every day during EXPO 2017. In an interview, Astana Conven-tion Bureau Director Saniyar Aitekenov spoke about the city’s readiness to cater to them.

Tell us about your company:

when and why was it created, what has already been achieved?

It’s a unit of the city Akim’s (Mayor’s) office that was en-trusted with functions of tour-ism management. It has operated since November 2015. At the headquarters we are responsi-ble for preparing the city for the expo led by the akim of Astana; we play the role of an executive agency for implementing the ac-tion plan.

Out of 245 scheduled meas-ures, we have just over 140 left to implement. All of them are functionally connected into a single system; there are people in charge of each area of action. The staff meets once a week in full force and each of the five deputy akims reports on the work carried out in their field. People are put in charge of transport, volunteer network, medicine, construction and safety. A “road map of ex-ecution” has been designed for each area – from laying asphalt and installation of curbs to ac-commodation of tourists.

In just a few months, a huge number of visitors are expected in Astana. What are you ready to offer the tourists visiting the country for the first time?

As a rule, people need informa-tion upon arrival. To help them find their way in the city, we cre-ated round-the-clock information desks – at the airport, at the rail-way station, in the Khan Shatyr shopping mall. We are planning to increase their number to six.

Information desks have already proved to be of demand. For exam-ple, at the train station tourists are often interested in transport routes, means of getting to their destina-tion, transport transfer schemes. At the airport, accommodation issues are added to this. Sometimes, the hosts forget to meet their guests at the airport or the tourist doesn’t manage to book a hotel in time. In such cases, our managers are at their service. They will not only help with accommodations, call a taxi and, if necessary, deliver them to their destination, but can also take them sightseeing.

Did you provide special train-ing for these people?

We tried to attract young peo-ple, students for whom it’s a good language practice and experience as guides. I would like to say that these guys are doing a wonderful job; they are united by team spirit and are making progress largely due to their enthusiasm and re-sponsibility. They can tell a lot about the city.

You said that guests will be provided with accommodation

assistance, but we are talking about thousands of visitors.

Indeed, according to the reg-istration dossier of the Astana EXPO 2017 National Company, 2.3 million tourists, of which 15-20 percent are foreigners, are expected to visit Astana. This is a very large number. It makes an average of 32,000-35,000 tour-ists in the city on a daily basis. The issue of accommodations has largely been resolved. Cur-rently there are 184 hotels in Astana, which makes 12,500 beds. By the time of EXPO 2017, 23 more accommodations facili-ties with 2,829 places are to be commissioned.

Moreover, the city has 25 hos-tels providing 664 places. By May, 15,975 places are to be pre-pared in them. In case of a lack of space, we are planning to use university and college dormi-tories. Plus, 18,000 apartments are available for rent, including about 3,000 apartments for daily rent. That makes three-four beds per 10,000 people on average. To date, 10 college dormitories for 1,710 people and university dor-mitories for 8,500 people have been prepared.

Still, how is the plan going to be implemented?

Here, I would like to talk about the single simulation system that will allow us to observe the overall picture and maintain the normal functioning of the city. The capital is divided into three districts and all the sites that will be used for accommodations are combined into a single system. Through computer modelling we can simulate any situation, to say, “try” it to the city, to the number of tourists, according to

their hotel accommodations and arrange the whole day in 15-min-ute intervals.

If a traffic jam, a big crowd or other difficulties arise, the sys-tem immediately notifies us of problem areas, labelling them in red. It doesn’t only “see” the problem, it also suggests ways to solve it. For example, some-where mobile canteens or pub-lic toilets need to be added, in some places the road needs to be blocked or public transport has to be re-routed.

Let’s imagine the following: one day in the early morning peo-ple start gathering at the expo site. By 10 a.m., a person spends over three minutes in a queue and this can cause crowdedness. The sys-tem offers to open two additional entrances. By 11 a.m. the tour-ist flow becomes more intense; a person stands in line for more than seven minutes and there is already a need to involve volun-teers. This is how the situation is simulated for every minute. This system has already proved itself in the biggest events around the world. I think that in our case everything will be fine as well.

It is clear that the success of an international event depends on the efforts and coordinated actions of partners and asso-ciates. Tell us about Astana’s Recommended by EXPO 2017 partnership programme: what is it aimed at and who are you cooperating with?

We developed and launched Recommended by EXPO 2017 in partnership with a national com-pany. We made a list of restau-rants and hotels and developed requirements for them. Many ho-tels call themselves five-star, but in reality they do not meet the re-quirements for this level.

The programme involves a spe-cial commission which includes the employees of the Astana EXPO National Company, Aki-mat (mayor’s office) officials and representatives for emergencies and sanitary inspections. The commission examines the sites from the list, gives its assessment and defines which one of them belongs to which category. If a hotel or a restaurant has a Rec-ommended by EXPO 2017 qual-ity mark, it means that a tourist will be provided with high level service there.

About 100 hotels have already become partners of our pro-gramme. They are all included in the materials provided by our information desks. We want this city-business partnership pro-gramme to work on a permanent basis.

How many events are planned as part of the expo? Is there an event calendar?

The calendar, indeed, has al-ready been formed; it is now at the stage of approval. Three thousand events are scheduled over the entire period of the expo. About 50 of them are ma-jor forums and summits. All the events are scheduled for each day. In June alone, there will be 488 events. For example, the of-ficial opening ceremony of the international specialised exhibi-tion is scheduled for June 9. The same day, we will host a sum-mit of the heads of the Shang-hai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states. The first China industrial exhibition will open June 10 and July 1, Astana is to host 29 sports and cultur-al events. I think that soon the whole calendar will be available in the mobile application and in the handouts.

What are your bureau’s pri-orities for today?

The main task for us all is to make sure that all the partici-pants and guests of the exhibi-tion, both residents and foreign-ers, are satisfied. A lot is being done for this. There’s an orienta-tion system for pedestrians which will help you not to get lost even if it’s your first time in the city. There are about 100 information stands and 140 signposts that in-dicate the final destination; they are all written in English, Kazakh and Russian languages.

The Friendly Taxi project has been launched for the conveni-ence of tourists and reduction of the language barrier. The system is a communications centre be-tween foreign guests of Astana city and taxi drivers. Since the launch of the project, about 300 vehicles have been connected to the system. In addition, Friendly Police, a state car fleet and, of course, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) will be launched in the capital by 2020. Moreover, we plan to train 100 tour guides and about 1,500 vol-unteers. In short, we are living through a historic moment and three months of hard work are awaiting us. Let people visit us and learn about our country. To-day, by the way, 260,000 tourists visit Kazakhstan and by 2020 the number is sure to rise to one mil-lion.

We have everything necessary for tourism development – unique nature, favourable geographical position and, most importantly, friendly, hospitable people open to the world and new knowledge. Welcome to Kazakhstan!

Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army to Be Exhibited at EXPO 2017

Staff Report

ASTANA – The exhibition “Cultural monuments of terracotta army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang” will be held at the National Mu-seum of Kazakhstan July 5-8, ac-cording to the press service of EXPO 2017.

The terracotta army exhibition will be held within EXPO 2017 In-ternational specialised exhibition.

The terracotta statues were bur-ied with the first emperor of the Qin dynasty – Qin Shi Huang, who unified China and connected all parts of the Great Wall in 210-209 BC. The year he took the throne in 246 BC, a 13-year-old Ying Zheng (later Qin Shi Huang) began to build his tomb.

According to his plan, the stat-ues had to accompany him in the afterlife and gave him the opportu-nity to realise his power ambitions in the afterlife, as it was during his lifetime.

The figures of warriors are real works of art crafted individually

by hand with the use of a variety of techniques. Each statue has its own unique features and even fa-cial expressions.

They were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in the Lintong District, Xi’an in the Shaanxi province of China. The figures

differ in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. There are warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates were that the three pits contain-ing the terracotta army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry

horses, the majority of which re-mained buried in the pits nearby Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum, ac-cording to online sources. Also, other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.

Air Astana Wins Pulkovo Airport Award

By Kseniya Voronina

ASTANA – Kazakh airline Air Astana was named the most dy-namically developing carrier of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at the Pulkovo Saint Petersburg Airport in its LED To-gether competition.

The sixth annual ceremony LED Together brought together repre-sentatives of airlines, tourism and cultural industries of Saint Peters-burg and North-West Russia.

Pulkovo is the fourth largest air-port in Russia by the number of passengers served. It is located 23 kilometres from the Palace Square in the centre of St. Petersburg. LED is the code that was assigned to the airport when the city was called Leningrad. This code was used throughout the Soviet era and is still used today.

In December last year, Air Astana for the first time won Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport award for Best Foreign Airline by passenger choice as voted by followers of the airport’s social media networks.

The Pulkovo Airport opened June 24, 1932 as a state-owned domestic airport. In 2013, some 12.8 million passengers, a 15.6 percent increase from 2012, travelled through the Pulkovo airport, making it the third busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states. Pulkovo had a passenger traffic rate of 9.8 mil-lion as of Sept. 1, 2014. The airport holds the title of being one of the largest airports in Russia and East-ern Europe.

Construction of the airport’s latest Terminal 1, which began in 2010, had been delayed several times. In November 2013, the airport was tested for errors by more than 5,200 residents of Saint Petersburg who partook in the process. Several days after the testing, the new Termi-nal 1 opened on Dec. 3, 2013. On Feb. 14, 2014, all operations were consolidated into the new terminal as the old Pulkovo 1 and Pulkovo 2 terminals were shut down. The new terminal contains several busi-ness lounges, restaurants, including chains such as Starbucks, Burger King and McDonalds, pharmacies and an Irish pub.

Saniyar Aitekenov


NATION&CAPITAL

Kazakhstan Wins Record Number of Medals at Universiade

By Anuar Abdrakhmanov

ASTANA – The Almaty 2017 Winter Universiade, running be-tween Jan. 29 and Feb. 8, has been the most successful for Team Kazakhstan in the history of its participation in the world student games.

One day short of the finish, Ka-zakh students have won 34 medals, including 11 gold, 7 silver and 16 bronze and have guaranteed them-selves second place in the unofficial team standings. Russia has domi-nated the games, with 67 medals, of which 27 are gold. South Korean students have also claimed 11 gold medals with five silver and five bronze medals.

The Universiade’s inaugural gold for the hosts came from biathlete Alina Raikova who finished first in the individual 15-kilometre race. Another representative of Kazakh-stan, Galina Vishnevskaya, won sil-ver in the same race.

“I have been struggling through-out this season because of a number of failures and injuries. So, my goal in this race was to win over myself rather than winning the race. I man-aged to concentrate, to cover the track, shoot well and avoid mis-takes. It was hard and I was nerv-ous but I tried to cope with emo-

tions to achieve a good result,” said Raikova.

Two days later, it was Vishnevs-kaya’s turn to climb the top as she triumphed in the 7.5-kilometre sprint race.

“I am very glad with my result. It was hard in the beginning though. The race was not going well, and I made quite a lot of mistakes. I erred at the first shooting but tried to im-prove and not to think about it. So, it worked out in the end. I would like to thank the fans for their sup-port. I can feel it [during a race], and it helps to achieve good results. There are many important compe-titions ahead – the World Cup, the Asian Winter Games, so I will con-tinue training to further enhance my performance,” the champion said.

On Feb. 7, Vishnevskaya added one more gold medal to her col-lection as she finished first in the 12.5-kilometre mass start. Also, the Kazakh team earned silver in 4*6-kilometre + 4*7.5-kilometre mixed relay, while in the men’s 10-kilometre sprint Roman Yer-emin won silver and bronze in the 10-kilometre and 15-kilometre, with Anton Pantov adding one more bronze in the latter race.

However, it was the Kazakh free-stylers’ team who delivered the most impressive performance in front of

the home crowd. They secured al-most half, namely five, of the total of 11 gold medals claimed by Kazakh students at the games so far.

Dmitry Reiherd and Yulia Galy-sheva brought Team Kazakhstan two gold medals each. The two won in the men’s and women’s individ-ual and dual moguls respectively while duo Zhanbota Aldabergenova and Baglan Inkarbek claimed gold in mixed team aerials. In individual ski aerials Zhibek Arapbayeva won silver and Aldabergenova grabbed bronze. Pavel Kolmakov climbed the podium along with Reiherd in the men’s individual moguls, claiming bronze.

“The Shymbulak track meets all international standards and is very challenging. There was a strong competition today but (I am glad that) we managed to show a good result. Ahead of the Universiade, we trained really hard, participated in (a number of) World Cup events, and came to Almaty at the peak of our form. Today, we proved to eve-ryone we can win (such contests),” Reiherd said following the first of his victories.

According to Galysheva, who two years earlier also won moguls at the Universiade in Spain, as the defending champion, she felt a spe-cial responsibility to perform well

in front of so many of her compa-triots.

“I feel great! Winning at home means a lot to me. I am happy the Universiade is being held in Ka-zakhstan so I was aiming for noth-ing less than the top position. Of course, I wanted very much to de-fend my title and I am glad it hap-pened,” Galysheva said at a press conference.

Kazakhstan’s cross-country ski-ers also performed well. Ivan Luft won in the men’s ski sprint while Anna Stoyan came third in wom-en’s race. Three days later, Anna Shevchenko and

Olzhas Klimin claimed gold in Mixed Team Sprint. Both women’s and men’s team won silver in relays, 3.5-kilometre and 4.7.5 respective-ly. Shevchenko also won two indi-vidual bronzes in two 5-kilometre races, individual and pursuit.

On Feb. 4, the first place in men’s figure skating went to the home crowd’s favourite Denis Ten. In short programme, he presented a completely new programme to the theme of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” The 2014 Sochi Olympics bronze medallist eventually claimed gold in Almaty with 266.97 points. Silver went to a strong Japanese skater Keiji Tanaka (252.09), and bronze to

Alexander Mayorov from Sweden (246.56).

“Now, when the figure skating competition of 2017 Universiade is over, once again, I want to thank those who made this competition so spectacular, so high-level. It was a great honour to take part in it. I de-buted on the ice in Almaty. I have achieved my goal and am now at a new stage in my development (as

a sportsman). I cannot stop now. I need to grow from start to start to be ready for the 2018 Olympics. I am 23, but I still learn something new each time. Figure skating is developing and so am I. I had to take certain measures to cope with some challenges. What I showed on the ice today is a bit different from what I have showed before,” said Denis Ten at a press conference.

In speed skating, Yekaterina Aidova twice won bronze med-als in women’s 1,000-metre and 1,500-metre races.

Short track skaters brought quite a few medals to the national stu-

dent team’s tally as well. Nurber-gen Zhumagaziyev came in third in the 1.500-metre race. The young athlete from Uralsk won the World Cup stage this season before this achievement at the student games. His teammates Abzal Azhgaliyev and Denis Nikisha won silver and bronze in the 500-metre race. Ni-kisha also won bronze on Feb. 7 in the 1,000-metre. Relay teams placed third in 3,000-metre race for women and 5,000-metre race for men.

On the last day of the world stu-dent games, the 30-kilometre mass start for men in cross-country ski-ing promises a medal to Kazakh-stan as well. Also, the third-place match and the final of the ice hock-ey tournament among men will be contested. Team Kazakhstan was playing Czech Republic in a semi-final at press time.

The closing ceremony is sched-uled for 7 p.m.

Overall, with the record indi-vidual medal count, the historically highest place in team rankings and some spectacular performances in front of the home crowd, the Winter Universiade 2017 in Almaty can be marked a big success for Kazakh-stan’s student athletes.

Kazakh fans hope to see similarly successful results from the national team at the Asian Winter Games be-ginning Feb. 19 in Sapporo, Japan.

It is hoped the Winter Univer-siade has served as an inspiration to aspiring young Kazakh athletes who have had the opportunity to witness historic feats of athleticism.

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Universiade Athletes Impressed with Almaty, Opening CeremonyBy Kamila Zhumabayeva

ASTANA – More than 2,000 athletes from 57 countries have converged on Almaty for Univer-siade 2017, with many visiting Ka-zakhstan and the country’s capital for the first time. A few of those athletes have shared their impres-sions of the host country, Almaty and the opening ceremony.

“Almaty is a very nice city. I have only positive emotions. You have very interesting buildings and mag-nificent sports facilities. It is a little cold in the city right now but it is normal for winter. It is my first time in Kazakhstan and I like your coun-

try. Everything is great,” Korea’s curling national team player Eun Soo Oh shared with Prosports.kz.

Other athletes from colder cli-mates, however, feel quite com-fortable with Almaty’s climate, said a coordinator at the athlete’s village.

“I saw that Norwegians, Canadi-ans and Americans wear shorts and sneakers. It seems like such weath-er is warm enough for them,” he noted, according to caravan.kz.

Eun Soo Oh also said the gala opening of the ceremony im-pressed him the most. The player described it as fantastic, interest-ing and breathtaking. A representa-tive of Latvia’s team also said he loved Kazakhstan more after the opening ceremony.

“I loved Kazakhstan much more after the first days of staying here. We can feel that we are taken care of while what was seen at the opening ceremony impressed. … My debut as a coach coincided with my arrival to Kazakhstan. As a player for the Latvian team, I had a chance to see the opening of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City and Turin. Your opening ceremony surpasses the opening of the Olympics in some aspects. Everything was beautiful, creative and positive,” Atvars Tribuncovs stressed, according to almaty2017.com.

He added the team will try to

make it to mountains around Al-maty and have a ride along the cable railway. Tribuncovs said he hoped to establish stronger ties be-tween the two countries by person-ally communicating with Kazakh residents.

A book that was recently pre-sented and released in honour of Universiade introduces readers to the history of university sports and worldwide Universiades from the past century to present day. The authors collected in-formation about sports achieve-ments of youth from all conti-nents.

“Fifty-six Universiades were

held during the entire history of university sports. We told about each one of them in details, such as in which city they were held, what type of sports and the names of winners,” one of the authors of the book, President of Student Sports Federation Kairat Zakiryanov told 24.kz news channel.

At press time, Kazakhstan had 11 gold, six silver and 11 bronze medals in the 12 sports offered at the Universiade, and was firmly in the second team place trailing only Russia. The performance is already a record for Kazakh ath-letes. The games will continue un-til Feb. 8.

2017 Winter Universiade Takes Place in AlmatyBy Yerbolat Uatkhanov

ASTANA – Delegations from 57 countries participated in the Jan. 29 opening ceremony of the World Win-ter Universiade 2017 at the Almaty Arena ice palace. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the opening, saying Kazakhstan would hold the most cost efficient games and discussed the benefits of the event for the Kazakh people.

“Almaty has already created re-cords. For the first time in the his-tory of the Winter Universiade, an athletic village was built. At the same time, we will hold the most cost efficient and compact games. The investments in the project will benefit the people of Kazakhstan. The Universiade will be shown on 43 channels in 80 countries, its au-dience will be more than 1 billion

viewers. We see that the Univer-siade has spread its wings and is

ready for an historic start,” Presi-dent Nazarbayev said.

The central scene of the ice pal-ace, which can accommodate more

than 12,000 spectators, looked like a giant and gorgeous petal, the symbol of life, wisdom and love. The opening ceremony lasted two hours and 40 minutes and includ-ed a traditional parade with the participation of national teams, consisting of delegations from 57 countries, from China and Japan to Austria and Latvia, the United States and Canada.

President Nazarbayev said Al-maty was chosen to host the games partly because the city has a mil-lennial history, calling it the cradle of Kazakhstan’s independence.

“Almaty is a vibrant and modern city, the business centre and the driver of Kazakhstan’s economy. It is a city of young people, city of students, where one-third of [the country’s] universities and colleg-es are situated and where 137,000 students study,” he said.

“Legendary and beloved Medeo ice rink will find its former glory, getting the atmosphere of a grand fight. Shymbulak will shine in the crown of the Zailiyskiy Alatau and the Universiade will become the symbol of a healthy lifestyle. Its effect can be compared with the state programmes to strengthen the health of our nation,” the Kazakh President added.

He highlighted that the Almaty Arena will become a centre of at-traction for sports and the athletic village will become a new micro district, where 1,700 families will live under social programmes once the games are over.

On Jan. 25, the torchlight pro-cession passed Astana. The fire travelled across the regions of the country and arrived in Almaty on Jan. 29. The Universiade will last until Feb. 8.

Barys Nears Securing Place in Gagarin Cup PlayoffsBy Ilyas Omarov

ASTANA – With a narrow 1:0 victory on home ice over Dina-mo Riga last weekend, the Barys hockey club virtually secured its place in the Gagarin Cup playoffs three rounds before the end of the

regular season of the Continental Hockey League (KHL).

Now, the “snow leopards” oc-cupy the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference table with 87 points, having a comfortable advan-tage over their main rivals – the League’s first Chinese club – Kun-

lun Red Star, with its 83 points, HC Admiral Vladivostok and HC Salavat Yulaev Ufa, with 82 points each (in addition, the Ufa club played one more game).

Barys will play the remaining three games at home. On St. Valen-tine’s Day, Feb. 14, they will host

HC Sibir Novosibirsk, and then on Feb. 16 and 18 – Metallurg Novo-kuznetsk and Avangard Omsk. Per-haps the most challenging will be a rivalry with Sibir, which has a real chance of getting into the playoffs. At the same time, Metallurg has long lost its chances while Avan-

gard, on the contrary, has long ago secured the second place in the East.

In the three matches, Barys needs to score only two points to secure a place in the playoffs, or seven to keep fifth place in the East. Kunlun Red Star and Admiral, in contrast to Barys, will play their last games

of the regular season in tough away matches with strong teams from the Western Conference, and, there-fore, risk missing on the desired points. All this can significantly simplify the Astana club’s task of reaching the coveted eight of the Gagarin Cup playoffs.

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One day short of the finish, Kazakh students won 11 gold, 7 silver and 16 bronze medals and have guaranteed themselves second place in the team standings.


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School of Medicine Building Opens at Nazarbayev University

Newborn Photography Gains Momentum in Astana


But on the other hand, parents entrust you with a few-days-old precious child, so you need to have the right skills to be able to dress them, put them in the de-sired poses. On top of that, a pho-to shoot may take multiple hours with breaks for sleep or breast-feeding. Photographer moms know all these nuances.” Smagul said.

Newborn photo shoots are typi-cally done within the first two weeks of birth. The sessions in-volve props like dream catchers, cribs, baskets, blankets, wraps, hats and headbands. Sessions can last up to five hours. Selected im-ages are then edited for a polished end result.

Beauty is in the eye of the be-holder, they say. Smagul confessed

that a child’s picture is priceless and beautiful for a mother no mat-ter how professional or unprofes-sional the photograph is. This benefits the photographer’s craft commercially. “Despite that, I love

having enough material and vast options. I can take up to 600 shots during a session to be able to pick the best 20,” the photographer ex-plained.

A photo shoot for a newborn in a studio with all the necessary cloth-ing and props may range between 40,000 to 100,000 tenge (US$120 to $300), resulting in 20 to 30 pro-cessed baby pictures and two or three family photographs.

Newborn photography has its own changing fashion trends. Ac-cording to Smagul, famous, award-winning photographers from Aus-tralia and the United States are the biggest trendsetters in the industry. “Blankets and clothing made from fluffy maher are the latest fashion trend,” the photographer said.

Smagul also had some advice for aspiring photographers. “If you want to be a good photogra-pher, you need to pick what kind of photography you want to go into. You cannot be universally good at every genre and type of the fine art. Master your craft; once you feel you’ve done it, you can set the price you believe your work is worth. There is nothing better than knowing that the work you do is fairly valued,” she said.

LOT Polish Airlines to Launch Direct Flights to Astana


ASTANA – LOT Polish Airlines will launch direct Poland to Ka-zakhstan flights for the first time in May. Tickets are already on sale.

“I want to stress that besides the commercial aspect, the launch of the direct flights proves the high dynamic of our bilateral relations and Polish-Kazakh cooperation and it is part of the agreements from last year’s visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Warsaw. Intensification of economic coop-eration was one of the main themes of negotiations,” said Polish Charge d’affairs a.i. Andrzej Skrzydlo at a Jan. 27 briefing in the Central Com-munications Service.

Warsaw airport is the first in Cen-tral Europe to open direct flights to Kazakhstan, while Astana is the first city in the Central Asia where airplanes of Polish LOT will fly, he added.

The first flight from Warsaw to Astana is scheduled for May 8. The first return flight will be the next day.

Flights from Astana to Warsaw will be available on Tuesday, Thurs-day, Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm. And flights from Warsaw to Astana will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10:50 pm.

“The launch of the direct air communication between Poland

and Kazakhstan coincides with the 25th anniversary of cooperation between the two countries not by chance. We hope that passenger flows from Kazakhstan will grow. And we also hope that many peo-ple from Poland will decide to visit the unique country of Kazakhstan,” said LOT Polish Airlines CEO Ra-fal Milczarski at the briefing.

The transfer time for many Eu-ropean locations will be less than an hour, he added. Through War-saw, people will be able to reach Zagreb, Budapest, Vienna, Lon-don, Paris, Barcelona and many other destinations, said Milczar-ski, adding that LOT’s network is large, including the United States.

According to First Secretary in the Department of Commerce and Investment Policy (WPHI) in the Polish Embassy Tomasz Zapalski, Kazakhstan is Poland’s sixth larg-est economic partner in Asia. In 2015, trade turnover between the two countries totalled more than $1 billion. And in January-Novem-ber of 2016, Kazakhstan-Poland trade amounted to $708.9 million despite the unstable geopolitical situation, he said. Poland’s direct investments to Kazakhstan totalled more than $20 million for the first three quarters of the last year.

“It shows the big potential of Polish and Kazakh economic co-operation,” said Zapalski at the briefing.

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By Zhanna Shayakhmetova

ASTANA – A new building opened Jan. 25 at Nazarbayev Uni-versity School of Medicine.

Designed by leading American architectural firm Perkins + Will, the 39,825-square metre institute includes research and teaching laboratories, a simulation cen-tre, anatomical laboratory, lecture halls, group study rooms, library and dining room.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with faculty and students as part of the official opening.

“The level of teaching and medi-cal school equipment can be com-pared with the world’s top univer-sities. I am expecting life-changing scientific discoveries from you. The research, laboratory capacity and scientific potential of teachers allow you to find new methods to treat the most difficult diseases and prolong life. This school is created

as the main basic school which will lead the way for other univer-sities,” he said.

The head of state noted the world is currently experiencing scientific progress in the fields of medicine and biology, subjects which play major roles in conjunction with in-formation technology.

“All subjects are interrelated and a lot of discoveries occur at their confluence. We should develop science and we need versatile sci-entists,” he said.

The University of Pittsburgh will serve as the school’s strategic academic partner.

“We will cooperate as part of the Doctor of Medicine programme development. It is a four-year pro-gramme designed according to an American model. Students enter-ing the programme must have a Bachelor’s degree. We will also cooperate with the School of Nurs-ing to develop a programme for training nurses. We conducted a

six-month course titled profession-al development programme for the nurses to work at the Univer-sal Medical Centre clinics, which became part of our university in 2016. We plan to launch a two-year undergraduate programme for practicing nurses this year,” School of Medicine Executive Di-rector Nurlan Algashov told The Astana Times.

The school has a diverse faculty, with local teachers and professors from the U.S., U.K., Italy, Singa-pore and Malaysia.

“Our local teachers are mainly practitioners with knowledge of English. We pay special atten-tion to teaching experience and research activities when we select teachers,” he said.

Opened in 2015, the School of Medicine has a mission to train physicians to become highly quali-fied doctors with research skills and a fundamental understanding of medical science who are ready

to contribute to the development of medicine and medical science in Kazakhstan.

The school has a current enrol-ment of 75 students for the Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Public Health (MPH) programmes. A Master’s course in molecular medicine is scheduled to launch in August.

The simulation centre enables students to learn and practice with mannequins and other medi-cal simulators. The practice al-lows students the chance to mas-ter specific skills, then work with patients. The school is also teach-ing students using standardised pa-tients, specially-trained individu-als who pretend to be patients.

Students also have opportunity to participate in small research summer projects in collaboration with sec-ond year teachers and are required to participate in research projects with faculty members the next year.

Documents

-19 C 3 (117) Kazakh Leader Outlines ... · Stage of Modernisation By Aigerim Seisembayeva ASTANA – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 2017 ad-dress to the nation, published