Kazakhstan repatriates almost all of its citizens from Gaza - Foreign Ministry

06.02.2025, 18:20 15906

Irakli Kobakhidze invites Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to visit Georgia

Images | Akorda

Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has met today Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze, Kazinform News Agency reports citing the press service of Akorda.

Welcoming Irakli Kobakhidze, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated him on his reappointment as the prime minister of the country and wished him success in his responsible activity for the benefit of prosperity of Georgian people.

The President pointed out dynamic progress of Georgia in recent years emphasizing significant results of ongoing reforms and impressive growth of economy by 9.4%.

The President highly appreciated comprehensive development of the Kazakh-Georgian relations. According to him, Georgia has been a reliable partner of Kazakhstan in the Caucasia, with which Kazakhstan enjoys strong ties of friendship and close historical ties.

Kazakhstan and Georgia effectively interact at different levels, including cooperation between parliaments, governments and government agencies," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.

In turn, Irakli Kobakhidze thanked the Kazakh President for a warm welcome and emphasized that Kazakhstan became one of the first countries he visited after his assumption of office.

He said that Georgia targets on fruitful development of multifaceted relations with Kazakhstan.

Strengthening the political and economic cooperation is of great importance for us. We are ready to actively support Kazakhstan’s interests in various formats, including multilateral platforms," the Georgian Prime Minister said.

Irakli Kobakhidze invited Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to pay a visit to Georgia.

The sides discussed the issues of boosting cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and modernizing transit infrastructure of the corridor.

The meeting also focused on the prospects for deepening the bilateral interaction on a wide range of issues, including trade, energy, investment, tourism, AI, digitalization, as well as pressing issues of international agenda and regional security.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

06.02.2025, 11:33 15291

Olzhas Bektenov holds nuclear power development meeting

Images | primeminister.kz

The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov reviewed the implementation of the instructions of the Head of State on the development of energy and the creation of a nuclear cluster, given at an extended Government session, primeminister.kz reports.

Taking into account the task set by the President on the advanced development of electricity infrastructure and creation of necessary reserves, the forecast balance of electricity for 2025-2031 was heard. In connection with the constantly growing consumption of electricity, the structure of capacities with new generation at the level of 26.5 GW until 2035, including through the modernisation of existing power plants at the expense of private investments, was envisaged.

Minister of Energy Almassadam Satkaliyev reported on negotiations with potential suppliers for the construction of the first nuclear power plant.

The head of the Government emphasised that the construction of nuclear power plants should ensure maximum economic effect for the country. When selecting a vendor, it is instructed to pay attention to increasing intra-country value, localisation of production, technology transfer.

Prospects for the development of nuclear science and educational programmes to train specialists for the nuclear industry were also discussed. The heads of Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants LLP Timur Zhantikin, National Nuclear Centre Erlan Batyrbekov, Institute of Nuclear Physics Sayabek Sakhiyev shared their expert vision.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

04.02.2025, 14:27 15696

Internet on highways, drones and innovations: Kazakhstan's transport industry on its transformation path

Measures to provide the Internet on the highways of national importance and the implementation of innovative projects in the transport industry were discussed during the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov. The report was made by the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, primeminister.kz reports.

To date, according to Zhaslan Madiyev, the digital transformation of the road industry in Kazakhstan is aimed at creating a safe and comfortable transport environment for citizens. Currently, work is being done in the following areas:

introduction of the internet on the roads;
digitalisation of public services;
implementation of innovative projects through Astana Hub.

In terms of infrastructure, work is underway to cover motorways with the Internet. In 2024, field surveys and detailed analyses of motorways were completed to measure signal strength and identify areas without internet. As a result, 243 antenna-mast structures will be installed along the republican roads in the first stage. Positive conclusions of expertise have already been received for 104 antenna-mast structures.

Within the framework of the national project ‘Affordable Internet’, 100 per cent of republican and regional roads will be covered with mobile Internet in 2027. In addition, artificial intelligence is already penetrating the industry. For example, work on diagnosing motorways with the help of AI is being actively carried out. The Smart Road Diagnostic System will diagnose 15 thousand kilometres of roads for flatness and rutting in 2024. The company is a resident of Astana Hub.

Three state services are provided in the road sector, entirely in electronic format. For example, previously overloaded cars were detected by a weight sensor, a camera took a photo separately, and the inspector stopped the car to formalise the violation on a paper protocol. This year it is planned to exclude the human factor and protocols will be drawn up automatically. For this purpose, amendments have already been made to the Administrative Code and integration works are being carried out.

The measures taken will reduce the number of transport inspectors on the roads, reduce the corruption component, as well as increase the life of roads and reduce accidents with trucks.

In addition, Astana Hub actively supports startups and companies working in the field of road technology, providing them with access to mentorship, accelerator programmes and investments.

To date, Astana Hub has registered 24 innovative projects working in the road and transport sector. Their revenue was 15 billion tenge, exports - 1 billion tenge and more than 1700 jobs have been created.

Zhaslan Madiyev also noted the importance of introducing international experience in the use of unmanned transport. In a number of countries, according to him, projects involving unmanned vehicles have already been successfully implemented.

The market of unmanned vehicles itself has a huge potential. According to expert forecasts, exponential growth in this market is expected in the near future. For example, by 2035, the unmanned vehicle market will be worth $3 trillion, a growth of almost 100 times.

We see the need for systemic support for the development of the electric vehicle market. For this purpose, it is proposed to develop a programme to develop infrastructure for electric cars and incentives for their purchase. For example, some countries apply discounts for car parks, toll roads and permission to use public transport lanes," the minister said.

By the way, to attract global players in the market of unmanned transport in Kazakhstan, it is proposed to create the appropriate conditions in several stages. At the first stage - it is a regulatory sandbox, within the framework of which NAPs will be adopted, test sites for pilot launch will be selected. In the next phase, as the project is successful, it will be launched on a National scale.

Launching such an initiative for unmanned transport will bring a number of strategic advantages to Kazakhstan. First and foremost is the attraction of international companies and investments. Companies such as Waymo (Google), Tesla, Baidu, Mobileye, Yandex, Huawei are actively looking for countries with flexible regulation to test drones ," Zhaslan Madiyev added.

In addition, this will attract foreign investment in research, infrastructure and production of components for autonomous cars. For example, in the UAE, the regulatory sandbox allowed WeRide and Cruise to test unmanned taxis in Dubai, which accelerated the local digitalisation of transport. Also, it will facilitate the development of local startups in the field of unmanned technologies.

The Minister summarised that as a result of the implementation of these initiatives, Kazakhstan will be able to strengthen its status as a regional technology hub.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

04.02.2025, 13:29 15491

Digital solutions implemented in road construction quality control in Kazakhstan

Director General of the National Centre for Quality of Road Assets Bolatbek Aitbayev reported at the Government session on the work on expertise of quality of roads, primeminister.kz reports.

He said that by the end of 2024 the enterprise's coverage of quality expertise was 100% on the republican network of roads, 99% on the local network. 47 thousand samples of materials were tested. Instrumental inspection and diagnostics were carried out on 22 thousand kilometres of highways.

In general, comparing the results of 2023-2024, there is a positive dynamics of improving the quality of motorways. The coverage of the local network in 2023 was 89%, in 2024 increased to 99%. There has been a 16% reduction in non-conforming road construction materials and defects. There was a 5% reduction in the volume of non-compliant works being re-installed. The pavement evenness improved by 5% due to average repairs based on the results of diagnostics. These indicators have resulted due to timely decisions," Bolatbek Aitbayev said.

The speaker also said that in order to minimise the human factor, the company develops and implements digital technologies of quality control. One of such solutions is a system of automatic recognition of road surface defects, based on the principles of artificial intelligence. This allowed to reduce the time of diagnostic data processing from 4 days to 4 hours for every 100 kilometres. The enterprise has created a unified portal of departmental expertise. It ensures transparency and control of business processes and reliable storage of documents. The portal allowed reducing the number of required documents from 15 to 5, the processing time from 3 months to 15 days and increasing the number of expert examinations 5 times.

The KazRoadLab information system was introduced, which displays all quality expertise processes and automates testing of road construction materials. Data from the equipment is automatically uploaded into a single system ensuring transparency and eliminating the human factor.

The development of the information system ‘Control of executive documentation’ for medium repair projects is being finalised. This system automates the processes of control over the maintenance of executive documentation and eliminates the commissioning of facilities without the required permits.

Director General of the National Centre for Quality of Road Assets RSE also spoke about other measures taken to improve the work. In particular, according to him, in order to fully cover the expertise of the quality of roads, legislative amendments have been developed and adopted by the Majilis of the Parliament.

Regarding the prohibition of commissioning of objects in the presence of unremoved remarks, this norm has been introduced and is already in force on the objects of medium repair. On construction projects, the norm is provided for in standard contracts, in parallel, amendments are being made to the law," Bolatbek Aitbayev explained.

It was noted that in terms of strengthening control over the quality of work carried out, the following measures have been taken:

13 normative and technical documents have been updated;
developed rules for the minimum number of tests of materials within the framework of quality expertise, which will strengthen the incoming control of the materials used;
the work of technical supervision is constantly monitored. In 2024, more than 250 violations were identified, as a result, the SACC suspended 19 engineers' certificates and imposed fines for 53 million tenge;
testing laboratories were opened in Abay and Ulytau regions. About 200 units of modern equipment were purchased.

In addition, problematic issues on quality improvement measures and ways to solve them were also highlighted. In particular, it was reported that documentation on medium repairs is not always properly maintained. To eliminate this problem, the system ‘Control of executive documentation’ is being introduced. This year it is planned to pilot implementation of the system in Karaganda and Akmola regions, as well as in Astana city, and full implementation is planned in 2026.

There is also a shortage of qualified road specialists in local Akimats. In most cases, the customers of road projects are employees of the departments of public utilities. To solve this problem, it is necessary to create a service of project management consultants, consisting of road engineers, in each region.

In addition, the rules for certification of technical supervision experts do not provide for the speciality of ‘road construction’. Experts working in the construction of gas and oil pipelines, civil and industrial facilities, as well as in other spheres are authorised to carry out supervision at road facilities. In order to organise technical supervision in the road sector at the proper level, it is proposed to introduce the transport construction specialty.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

24.01.2025, 19:16 162546

Kazakhstan’s inflation hits National Bank's target, says Chairman Suleimenov

Images | Depositphotos

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting with Chairman of the National Bank Timur Suleimenov, Kazinform News Agency cites Akorda.

During the meeting, Suleimenov briefed the Head of State about the Bank’s monetary policy in 2024 and its plans for 2025 as well as informed about the state of Kazakhstan’s economic and financial systems, business activity, inflation factors and measures taken to stabilize prices and achieve an inflation rate at 5%.

As Suleimenov informed, in 2024, inflation stood within the target range of 8.6%, the National Fund’s assets grew by 4.5 billion US dollars or over 7.5%, the Bank’s gold and forex reserves hit 45.8 billion US dollars, a 27.4% rise, the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund’s (UAPF) investment revenue was at 3.4 trillion tenge, exceeding inflation by more than twice and reached 17.8%.

The National Bank Chairman also briefed about the situation in the foreign exchange market and the measures taken to keep the tenge stable, and so on.

During the meeting, the Head of State highlighted the importance to stabilize inflation, continue close coordination between macroeconomic policies of the National Bank and the Government as well as set a number of tasks regarding the Bank’s activities.

Earlier, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had received Chairperson of the Management Board of JSC QazPost Assel Zhanassova.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

24.01.2025, 17:09 162746

Improving transparency of scholarship process in Kazakhstan

Images | primeminister.kz

Scholarship payments from the state are an important instrument of support for students, helping them to partially cover financial expenses and focus on their studies. In recent years, a significant step has been made towards strengthening material support for students, which is an important part of the state policy to improve access to education and stimulate academic performance, primeminister.kz reports.

Thus, from 2020 the amount of state scholarships has been doubled, with additional payments provided for excellent students, as well as for students from socially vulnerable categories: orphans and persons with disabilities.

Since 2022, according to the Education Law of RK, the responsibility for the payment of scholarships was transferred to Financial Centre JSC. However, only in 2024, due to the automation of business processes of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, it became possible to fully centralise the process of scholarship payments in organisations of higher and postgraduate education, which significantly increased the transparency and efficiency of the system.

The transfer of functions to Financial Centre JSC contributed to the introduction of a unified approach to the administration of scholarships, optimisation of labour costs and improvement of overall transparency. To minimise the risks of misuse of funds, student data is checked in several state databases.

To date, scholarships are paid on time in more than 88 higher education institutions, covering more than 200,000 students every month. Funds are transferred to the recipients' current bank accounts opened with second-tier banks or through the national postal operator. All payments are received by the end of the current month, in accordance with the established rules.

From September 2025, the amounts of state scholarships will be as follows:

for doctoral students, including Health Care - 262,500 tenge;
for resident doctors and master's students of medical specialities - 134,664 tenge;
for master's students - 117,098 tenge;
for interns - 94,862 tenge;
for students of pedagogical and medical specialities - 84,000 tenge;
for students of other specialities - 52,372 tenge;
for students of technical and vocational education (working qualifications) - 41,896 tenge;
for students of secondary technical and post-secondary education - 43,574 tenge.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

21.01.2025, 19:30 201046

Taza like, Ayala and other projects to promote environmental culture in 2025

In 2025, Kazakhstan will continue to actively work on the formation of a new eco-culture aimed at improving the environment and involving society in environmental initiatives, primeminister.kz reports.

This was reported at the Government session by Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva. She emphasised that the theme of ecology and eco-culture is under the close attention of the President.

The huge work done during this time has directly influenced the mobilisation of our country around the President's initiative and contributed to the consolidation of the concept of eco-culture among the population," the Minister said.

The Minister also spoke about the organisation of more than 15 thousand events attended by more than 90 thousand eco-volunteers. One of the most significant projects was the cleaning and improvement of historical and cultural sites within the framework of the action ‘Kieli Meken’, during which 717 memorial sites across the country were reconstructed.

Special attention was paid to public environmental monitoring. As a result of public monitoring of 300 sites, attended by more than 3 thousand people, work was carried out to clean these sites from rubbish, landscaping and improving the environment.

Taza Kazakstan should become not just a public action, but a systemic ideological position of the nation - emphasised the Minister, quoting a recent interview of the Head of State to the publication "Ana Tili". The main idea of the President is to elevate the future spiritual wealth of the nation to a worthy civilisation, to turn the soul and purity, natural harmony and human factors into its highest values of life.

The Minister also shared her plans for the near future. The first direction is the formation of a new eco-culture through the organisation of large-scale events. To share experience and knowledge, the project ‘Taza like’ will be implemented, which will unite public organisations, scientists, and all people who are not indifferent. The project will start after the National holiday Nauryz and will continue until 25 April, covering all regions of the country. Its culmination will be a large-scale eco-festival in Astana. In addition, the Ayala art festival will be held, which is aimed at attracting young people to environmental issues.

The second direction is environmental education. In addition to traditional awareness-raising work, modern technological solutions will be actively used. In particular, a new tab Eco-Events in E-gov and banking applications to widely inform the population about environmental events. The work on separate collection of rubbish and plastic products will continue. It is also proposed to expand the project of eco-hubs on the basis of youth resource centres. The Green School project will involve 500,000 schoolchildren and more than 3 million parents and their relatives.

Attention to ecology will also be paid to film production. A film project ‘38’ about foresters will be launched, as well as a series ‘Akzhauyn’ about an eco-activist who opens a rubbish processing plant and conducts various environmental actions. In addition, a national TV project ‘Sayahat Time’ will be launched, the purpose of which is to popularise a careful attitude to nature and ecologically clean places in Kazakhstan, and 3 animation projects developing environmental awareness for young viewers.

The third direction is to consolidate responsible attitude to ecology not only inside but also outside the country. A project of plogging (an ecological movement that combines jogging with rubbish collection) on the Caspian Sea embankment will be realised with the participation of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other countries.

The work is not limited to the projects above. We believe it is necessary to continue and expand the republican action on public environmental control, as well as eco-patrols with the participation of public councils, civil society, business, educational institutions, scientific institutions, media and volunteers. This will not only mobilise society, but will also give us an opportunity to develop environmental culture, a task set before us by the Head of State," the Minister summarised the report.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

21.01.2025, 18:53 199866

President Tokayev meets with Supreme Court Chairman Asslambek Mergaliyev

Images | Akorda

Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has been briefed on the outcomes of the judicial system’s activities for 2024, Akorda reports.

According to Mergaliyev, courts prioritize the protection of rights, freedoms and legal interests of citizens and entrepreneurs as well as ensuring the rule of law.

The Kazakh President was briefed that the number of cases and materials examined in courts is on the rise, with the highest quality of justice reached over the past five years (as 98.9% of judicial acts of local courts are recognized as legal and justified).

There was also increase in the share of conciliation procedures in civil and administrative cases. Thanks to expanding jurisdiction, the number of jury trials doubled from 147 to 261.

The Supreme Court Chairman spoke about implementation of AI technologies, contributing to the uniformity of court practice as well as making the work of judges much easier.

Mergaliyev also informed about the establishment of courts of cassation, legislative initiatives aimed to enhance independence of judges and expand the sphere of administrative justice.

Following the meeting, the Head of State highlighted the importance to ensure the rule of law and increase the trust in justice.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.

Kazakhstan repatriates almost all of its citizens from Gaza - Foreign Ministry

relevant news

Most viewed