Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakh court convicts labour union leader

JULY 26 2017 (The Bulletin) — A court in Kazakhstan convicted labour union leader Larisa Kharkova of abuse of office, sentenced her to 400 hours of community service and banned her from holding public office for five years. The authorities in Kazakhstan have been cracking down on what they see as troublesome unions. Human Rights Watch said it was “another nail in the coffin of the independent trade union movement in Kazakhstan”.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Kazakhstan and China sign agriculture deal

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JULY 14 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan and China signed an agriculture deal worth a reported $160m, state-linked media said. The deal, at a China-Kazakhstan investment forum three days earlier, will mean that Kazakhstan will send 200,000 tonnes of grain and 100,000 tonnes of oil crops to China. It will also mean that a grain terminal is set up on the border of Kazakhstan and China.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Nicolas Cage gets serious at film festival in Kazakhstan

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ALMATY, JULY 23 2017 (The Bulletin) — A photo of Hollywood actor and Oscar winner Nicolas Cage dressed in traditional Kazakh nomadic costume, but looking more like a lost Cossack, set twitter alight.

He was photographed next to the wife of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Sara Nazarbayeva, at the 13th Eurasian Film Festival in Astana.

It was not entirely clear why Mr Cage was wearing the Kazakh outfit or why he was even in Astana. He does not have any Kazakhstan-linked films coming out, but he was later videoed giving a short speech and saying that he was having a “great time” in the Kazakh capital.

The state-linked Astana Times also said that John Malkovich and Adrien Brody also attended the film festival this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Alstom opens repair hub in Kazakhstan

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JULY 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — French train-maker Alstom has opened a new repair depot in Astana, media reported, underlining its interest in the region. Bernard Peille, Alstom’s managing director for the CIS region, said it would act as a hub for the wider region. Alstom and Spain’s Talgo have been competing to win business in Central Asia to modernise Soviet-era train stock.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Metal production rises in Kazakhstan

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JULY 19 2017 (The Bulletin) — Metal production in Kazakhstan mainly rose in the first half of the year, government data showed, giving the country’s metal producers and miners a lift. Data showed that Kazakhstan’s copper output increased by 5.4% in the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2017, and that steel output rose by 9.7%. KAZ Minerals is Kazakhstan’s biggest copper producer and Arcelor Mittal, which owns the Temirtau steel factory is the biggest steel producer.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Kazakhstan establishes national tourism company

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JULY 23 2017 (The Bulletin) — Looking to attract more tourists to Kazakhstan, the Kazakh government set up the Kazakh National Tourism Company. Shrugging off accusations of an old-fashioned top- down approach to tourism development, Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, the Kazakh minister for culture, said that Kazakhstan’s tourism potential was untapped.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

AIFC promises Bitcoin lead for Kazakhstan

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JULY 17 2017 (The Bulletin) — Nurlan Kussainov, head of the Astana International Finance Centre Authority (AIFC), said that he wanted Kazakhstan to become a global centre for the bitcoin virtual currency, promising to set up a legal framework to regulate and stabilise the controversial cryptocurrency. The AIFC Authority is the legal body set up to regulate the AIFC, an attempt by the Kazakh government to lure international finance companies to set up companies in Astana.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Chinese arrest Kazakhs in the West

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JULY 7 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in China have been detaining Kazakhs in an apparent crackdown on ethnic minorities, angering relatives in Kazakhstan, media reported. There have been reports from China for the past month that the authorities were targeting ethnic minorities, including Kazakhs, living in the Xinjiang region of western China.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Kazakh police arrests four officials

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JULY 10 2017 (The Bulletin) — Police in Kazakhstan arrested four members of the pharmacy committee within the health ministry for corruption, Kazakh media reported. Reports said that the four officials were suspected of taking bribes to give distribution certificates for drugs and of embezzling state funds by overstating the cost of medicines they were buying. Kazakhstan is trying to improve its reputation for corruption and this year has arrested several senior officials, including a former economy minister.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)

Kazakh buys regional bank

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JULY 4 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh businessman Arif Babayev bought the Ukraine-based Region- Bank, renamed Sky Bank, for an undisclosed fee, Ukrainian media reported. Mr Babayev used to be the managing director of Kazkommertsbank, which has recently merged with Halyk Bank. He bought an initial 53.54% stake in Region-Bank in December 2016.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)