This was discussed during a meeting between Uzbekistan’s Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and his Kazakh counterpart, Alikhan Smailov.

The delegation of Uzbekistan, headed by Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov arrived in Almaty (Kazakhstan) to participate in the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and Digital Forum.

At the meeting, the sides noted the rapid development of strategic partnerships and alliances between the two countries in the spirit of friendship, good neighborliness, and mutual respect, and representatives of both countries defined specific tasks for further development of multilateral relations.

They also emphasized positive growth dynamics between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in all directions.

In particular, the volume of trade has more than doubled over the past 7 years, important joint projects are being implemented in various sectors of the economy, and interregional and cultural-humanitarian cooperation is expanding.

At the meeting, the parties exchanged views on these and other topical issues on the agenda.

Meanwhile, trade turnover volume between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan amounted to $4.3 billion.

Source: Trend

The post Transport, energy co-op between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan enhances appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

He made the remark during the Digital Almaty 2024 forum.

“This year, the forum is dedicated to the digitalization of industrial sectors of the economy. Our industry must be digitized. This is not a tribute to a trend; this is necessary for competitiveness. The Environmental Code stipulates that enterprises that release ozone-depleting substances into the atmosphere must install certain sensors,” he said.

According to the minister, these sensors transmit information in real time to a central database.

“That is, we must ensure control of the entire environmental situation at all industrial enterprises. Today, this system has already been created, and enterprises are gradually connecting. Today, about 20 enterprises are already connected,” Bagdat Musin said.

As he added, these sensors are being developed in Kazakhstan.

“We also have experience in creating SCADA systems. Previously, we purchased these systems from abroad; today, there are already several Kazakhstani solutions. Kazakh designs are being installed throughout our entire energy system. And there are many such examples. We also focus on robotization. Industrial sectors of the economy must rely heavily on robots. Therefore, we have created a center for the development of industrial robots, which will help accelerate and scale robotization in industrial sectors of the economy,” the minister noted.

Source: Trend

The post Kazakhstan intends to digitalize industrial sector, minister says appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

President Kassym-Joomart Tokayev approved the new government of Kazakhstan under the leadership of Olzhas Bektenov. The names of the ministers were published on primeminister.kz.

Most of the ministers remained from the old government.

Four ministers were replaced: Nurlan Baibazarov was appointed Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy instead of Alibek Kuantyrov, Madi Takiyev became Minister of Finance instead of Erulan Zhamaubaev, Akmaral Alnazarova was appointed Minister of Healthcare instead of Azhar Giniyat, and Chingis Arinov became the new Minister for Emergency Situations instead of Syrym Shariphanov.

Members of the government who remained in their positions included First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar, Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu, Chief of Staff of the Government Galymzhan Koishybayev, Deputy Prime Minister Tamara Duisenova, Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin, Minister of Defense Ruslan Zhaksylykov, Minister of Internal Affairs Yerzhan Sadenov, Minister of Justice Azamat Yeskarayev, Minister of Energy Almassadam Satkaliyev, Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Bagdat Mussin, Minister of Education Gani Beisembayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbayev, Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, Minister of Tourism and Sports Yermek Marzhikpayev, Minister of Transport Marat Karabayev, Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Population Svetlana Zhakupova, Minister of Industry and Construction Kanat Sharlapaev, and Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev.

There are currently 26 members of the government. The composition was renewed for 16%. There are six deputy prime ministers left. 16% remained women.

President Kassym-Joomart Tokayev decided to resign the government of Kazakhstan on February 5. The duties of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan were temporarily assigned to Roman Sklyar. The next day, the president said the government’s resignation was aimed at providing new impetus and meeting public expectations. In addition, the president promised that the new government will use new approaches.

The head of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan, Olzhas Bektenov, headed the government of Kazakhstan on February 6. His candidacy was proposed by the Amanat party, it was supported by the president, the majority of factions of political parties in the Parliament agreed to the appointment. Olzhas Bektenov replaced Alikhan Smailov, who had headed the Cabinet of Ministers since January 2022.

Source: Akipress

The post Four Ministers replaced in new government of Kazakhstan appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Friends who are old faces and friends in high places: Kazakhstan’s former leader Nursultan Nazarbaev has proven in recent months that he still has both.

Does that mean the 83-year-old is mulling a political comeback?

Kazakh officials loyal to his successor, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, are keen to dispel the notion. But the very fact that they are feeling the need to comment on the idea is indicative of the interest — and, in some quarters, alarm — sparked by the ex-president’s recent return to the national news cycle.

The first week of January will mark the second anniversary of the Bloody January unrest that exposed fractures in the elite and, for many, definitively marked the end of the long Nazarbaev era in Kazakhstan.

Since ceding all his remaining positions and titles in the aftermath of the violence that left at least 238 people dead, Kazakhstan’s first president has mostly shunned the limelight.

But in the final months of 2023, Nazarbaev’s name is once more on everybody’s lips.

One public appearance in November was perhaps unavoidable, after his controversial younger brother, Bolat Nazarbaev, passed away. But even then, the grand, elite-packed memorial for a former plumber who grew fabulously rich during the reign of his older sibling turned out to be more like an homage to that same older sibling.

After that appearance came the release of Nazarbaev’s autobiography: My Life: From Dependence To Freedom. The book was not his first, but proved sensational in that the author acknowledged for the first time that he fathered children — sons, no less — by a woman other than his official wife, Sara Nazarbaeva.

Later this month, Nazarbaev addressed the seventh meeting of the Astana Club, his own geopolitical talking-shop initiative that included former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and ex-Afghan President Hamid Karzai among the speakers.

But it was his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, likely in Moscow on December 19 — which Putin’s press spokesman Dmitry Peskov described as “absolutely private” — that really set tongues wagging and provided the context for comments by Yerlan Koshanov, chairman of the lower house of parliament, on December 27.

“Dual power does not exist today and cannot exist. Today, all decisions are made by the head of state, Toqaev, elected by the overwhelming majority of the people,” said Koshanov, who told journalists that people had “no reason for concern” over Nazarbaev’s activities as a “private citizen.”

Fulfilling Allah’s Task

Toqaev made similar comments about “dual power” in 2019, just months after he stepped into the presidential hot seat as Nazarbaev’s hand-picked, loyalist successor.

Nobody believed him then, and with good reason.

At that time, Nazarbaev was serving as the “lifelong” chairman of the Security Council — a role that raised questions about which of the two was commander in chief. And the former president also chaired the ruling party and enjoyed extensive perks and protections thanks to his constitutionally enshrined status as “elbasy,” or leader of the nation.

Subsequent “de-Nazarbaevification” was seemingly driven by two factors.

Firstly, protesters had signaled right before the January 2022 unrest turned deadly that they had had enough of the authoritarian who dominated Kazakh politics for more than three decades, beginning in Soviet times.

And Toqaev, having been constrained by his predecessor for the best part of three years, probably felt the same, not least because of the way the “dual power” situation had paralyzed the security apparatus, dividing loyalties in the process.

After the deadly January events, the power struggle was laid bare.

In addition to transferring his remaining power to Toqaev, Nazarbaev’s relatives and allies lost powerful and lucrative positions. At least three members of the president’s extended family were jailed on corruption charges. The capital, Astana, also got its old name back after spending three years as Nur-Sultan in Nazarbaev’s honor.

In public, the former president has said only positive things about Toqaev and his policies. But it can be assumed that in private he is less than happy — and probably worried for his family’s future. Notable then was the guest list at the closed-doors memorial for Nazarbaev’s brother, Bolat.

The younger Nazarbaev had been buried four days earlier in the family’s home village of Shamalgan in the Almaty region, more than 1,000 kilometers away.

And if Toqaev’s government was represented at the funeral by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov — presumably as a courtesy to Nazarbaev — then the faces captured in footage from the Astana memorial luncheon were former officials: ex-police chiefs, prosecutors, defense and education ministers, as well as his ex-lawmaker daughter, Darigha Nazarbaeva.

“It was not easy for us to establish independence,” the former president told his appreciative audience after thanking Toqaev, “a number of heads of state,” officials, and ordinary citizens for their condolences.

“When the Soviet government fell in 1992, 1,500 manufacturing plants were shut down, leaving 2 million people unemployed,” Nazarbaev said. “The store shelves were empty, salaries and pensions were not paid. At a time when there was the question, ‘Will we be a country or not?’ [We] colleagues and comrades came together to lift up the country. In this way, I believe that I fulfilled the task assigned to me by Allah.”

Meet My Other Family

Even some of Nazarbaev’s critics give him credit for dealing with the manifold challenges of early independence.

Opinion is more divided over the subsequent repression that included the killing of opposition figures, the elbasy cult, and the excesses of relatives like Bolat, who allegedly acquired huge tracts of valuable land around the country’s largest city, Almaty, at little or no cost and had millions of dollars in luxury properties around the world.

After Bloody January, some of Bolat Nazarbaev’s businesses and land were returned to the state, while he was also named and shamed by the authorities as a participant in an illegal cryptomining venture. Yet despite strong public demands, he was not brought to justice before his death.

As November became December, Kazakhs were already discussing another family of the former president, which had been an open secret but was only officially revealed in Nazarbaev’s autobiography. His description of falling in love with Asel Qurmanbaeva (then Asel Isabaeva) — a woman some 40 years younger than him — certainly made for awkward reading.

His only legal wife, Sara Nazarbaeva, responded to her husband’s decision to tie the knot with Qurmanbaeva in an Islamic ceremony, “with nobility,” Nazarbaev wrote, adding that the pair’s three daughters — Darigha, Dinara, and Alia — had also understood.

Qurmanbaeva bore him two sons, his only confirmed male heirs. In an interview with RFE/RL, former diplomat Talgat Kaliev said that Nazarbaev’s book reveal was a bid to publicly legitimize the two boys “[so] it is officially possible to leave something to them…. Otherwise, their destiny would be very challenging.”

Qurmanbaeva — Miss Kazakhstan in 1999 — and Nazarbaev began their relationship when the former was just 19, and she is most often referred to as Nazarbaev’s third wife, with former air stewardess Gulnara Rakisheva reportedly bearing the president two more daughters.

And the elder of Nazarbaev’s two sons, 18-year-old Tauman Nursultan, has already been romantically linked to the daughter of Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliev.

Responding to rumors that the young pair had married, the Energy Ministry published a statement in April calling the information “inaccurate,” stressing that the minister “does not have and did not previously have any family ties with the first president.”

The ministry’s press department was pressed into action once more last month to deny reports that Satkaliev was among the guests at Bolat Nazarbaev’s memorial.

Putin Meeting

One person who might be sympathetic to Nazarbaev’s complicated situation is divorced Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin, after all, is rumored to have fathered at least two children with Alina Kabayeva, a retired Olympic gymnast who was placed under sanctions by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

But there was no shortage of suspicion that the two men were talking about things other than family when they met in Moscow earlier this month.

This was not the first time the two have met since Nazarbaev formally retired from politics, famously declaring himself “just a pensioner.” They had previously met in June 2022, almost immediately after a constitutional referendum promoted by Toqaev that, among other things, removed all the basic law’s references to Nazarbaev as elbasy, a move that, in theory, made him more vulnerable to prosecution.

At the time, Russia’s Nezavisimaya gazeta speculated that Nazarbaev was seeking “assurances for himself and his capital,” and referred to “various estimations” of the octogenarian’s net worth at around $200 billion.

Before that, in late December 2021 — weeks before the unrest in Kazakhstan and two months before Russia launched its full-scale aggression against Ukraine — Nazarbaev and Toqaev held talks with Putin in St. Petersburg with Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka along for the ride.

It was undoubtedly Toqaev, not Nazarbaev, who benefited from the CSTO peacekeeping intervention. But public figures and politicians close to the Kremlin were soon complaining that Toqaev had failed to show gratitude for the mission, after Astana chose to remain neutral in the Ukraine war.

In this light, Nazarbaev’s sudden return to prominence looks like something of a “cliffhanger” for Kazakhstan.

Source: RFERL

The post ‘Private’ Meeting With Putin, Public Appearances Stir Talk Of Nazarbaev Comeback appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

The capital’s police officers detained a group of young people suspected of hooliganism, reports the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan.

According to the source, a 43-year-old local resident contacted department 1 in the Sino district of Dushanbe with a statement that on November 29, 2023, at approximately 19:15 in the evening, not far from the “Khalovat” store, located on the territory of the Giprozem mahalla capital, an unknown group of young people who, out of hooligan motives, beat his 23-year-old son, stabbed him in the stomach and fled the scene.

As a result, the victim was seriously injured. During operational search activities, police officers detained 21, 24, 21 and 27-year-old residents of Dushanbe on suspicion of hooliganism. An investigation into this fact is underway.

Source: Avesta TJ

The post A Group of Young People Suspected of Hooliganism Were Detained in Dushanbe appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

Seequent, The Bentley Subsurface Company, has announced the establishment of a regional hub in Kazakhstan, expanding its presence in Central Asia.

Staffed by a dedicated local team, the strategic move demonstrates Seequent’s commitment to providing cutting-edge subsurface software solutions to the rapidly growing local market and wider Central Asia region, it says.

Seequent shared the news last week at an event in Almaty, which brought together partners, stakeholders and leading industry representatives. Seequent has supported the Central Asian business community since 2011, and major companies in the region are already using Seequent’s earth-modelling, analysis, data management and collaboration software, the company says. These applications help users understand the underground in the mining, energy, civil infrastructure and environment industries.

Colin Hay, EMEA, Executive Vice President, EMEA with Seequent (pictured on the left with Inna Shalovenkova, Regional Sales Director, Mining and Minerals on the right), said: “Seequent’s expansion into Central Asia marks a significant milestone in our global strategy. Kazakhstan, situated in the heart of Central Asia, serves as an ideal hub for the region. With a robust economy, rich metal reserves, advantageous location and a focus on attracting foreign investment, Kazakhstan stands out as a key market for Seequent’s solutions.”

Hay added: “We are seeing a growing demand for our solutions that support the evolving needs of industries in this market seeking digital innovation to drive efficiency and value in their operations. We will continue to hire locally as our Central Asia operations expand.”

Seequent offers software solutions for geoprofessionals including geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, geotechnical and geomechanical engineers, hydrogeologists, ecologists, as well as builders, designers of structures, quarries and underground mine workers. Products include the geological 3D modelling solution Leapfrog and Oasis montaj for working with geophysical data.

Source: IM Mining

The post Seequent Expands Subsurface Software Presence in Central Asia With Kazakhstan Hub appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

Via Metal Miner ArcelorMittal recently completed the sale of its steel making and mining operations in Kazakhstan. This move came after the Central Asian state’s government demanded its renationalization due to an October blast at a coking coal mine.

On December 8, the Luxembourg-headquartered group reported that the state-controlled direct investment fund Qazaqstan Investment Corporation (QIC) acquired ArcelorMittal Temirtau. ArcelorMittal received $286 million from QIC on completion of the transaction, plus an additional $250 million as repayment of outstanding intra-group dues.

“ArcelorMittal will also receive an additional sovereign-fund guaranteed payment of $450 million, paid in four equal annual installments, as repayment of an intra-group loan,” the group added. “All ArcelorMittal Temirtau assets have been transferred on an ‘as is’ operational basis, meaning QIC has now assumed control and accountability for ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s operations, which will be renamed.”

A methane blast at ArcelorMittal’s Kostenko mine in October claimed 46 lives and prompted Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to call for the group’s departure from the country.

The Kostenko accident was reportedly not the first to occur in ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s eight coking coal mines. Five workers died at the Shakhtinskaya mine in August 2022, followed by an additional five at the Lenin in November of the same year. The latter was also due to an explosion. According to reports, the Lenin mine was the site of 41 worker deaths in 2006 alone.

Arcelor Temirtau is in central Kazakhstan, about 200 kilometers southeast of the national capital Astana. The plant has four blast furnaces, which can pour 5.84 million metric tons of pig iron per year. It also boasts one convertor shop with three 350-ton basic oxygen furnaces, which produce five million metric tons of crude steel annually.

Meanwhile, two continuous casting machines produce slab for rolling into hot rolled and cold rolled coil, plus hot dipped galvanized sheet further downstream. A third caster produces billets in 130x130mm and 150x150mm sizes for rolling into long products. Temirtau uses this for feedstock to roll up to 400,000 metric tons of rebar and merchant bar per year, including rounds, squares, flats, and channels.

Some Insiders Claim the Move Came “Just in Time”

A group official told MetalMiner that ArcelorMittal’s sale included ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Aktau. This facility lies in western Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea. It mainly rolls spiral welded tube in 500-1,420mm diameters for the oil and gas sector, heating systems and water transmission, as well as in the construction sector.

Much of Aktau’s production shipped to Iran, which also has a coastline on the southern Caspian Sea. ArcelorMittal’s predecessor company, Ispat International, originally acquired the plant in 1995 and named it IspatKarmet. One industry watcher told MetalMiner that the group’s exit from the plant was a timely move. “It’s not a high-profile asset,” the source noted.

Sending Production to Russia Amidst Sanctions Escalation

At least part of Temirtau’s production was going to Russia, who invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. However, ArcelorMittal has listings on exchanges in New York and Europe. For that reason, sending material to Russia could put the group afoul of sanctions imposed by the U.S., UK, and European authorities due to the ongoing invasion.

Sanctions against Iran over that country’s nuclear and ballistics programs also make it difficult to send tubular products from Aktau. On top of that, that analyst added that Iran has sharply increased its crude steel capacity in the past 15 years. Estimates indicate the growth to be around 60%, putting their total capacity at around 16 million metric tons.

That said, Chinese steelmakers now supply much of Central Asia’s needs.“They had no place to sell their products,” the source added, referring to ArcelorMittal’s departure from Kazakhstan.

Source: Oil Price

The post Arcelormittal Exits Kazakhstan Following Deadly Mine Blast appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

An update on transport and infrastructure developments in Central Asia.

A Chinese company, Shipbuilding Industry Corp., is exploring the possibility of building container facilities at the Kazakh port cities of Aktau and Kuryk, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport. A ministry statement added that China Railways Group Ltd. has “expressed interest in projects to modernize existing [routes] and build new railway lines.” Discussions have so far yielded no specific deals. 

In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, representatives of Kyrgyz Railways (KTZ) say freight rail traffic in the country experienced a 15 percent increase during the first 10 months of 2023, compared with the same period the previous year. Cargo traversing Kyrgyz rails during the January-October period amounted to 7.45 million tons, according to KTZ.  The “implementation of multimodal corridors,” including plans to develop a new China-Uzbek-Kyrgyz line, helped boost cargo traffic, KTZ added. The new project has had trouble attracting investors. At a recent press conference, KTZ Deputy Director Dastan Usubakunov put the price tag of the China-Uzbek-Kyrgyz railway at $4 billion.

In aviation developments, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry announced that a Chinese carrier, Loong Air, was set to operate a new route between Bishkek and Chengdu starting December 12. Initial plans call for two flights per week between the two cities. 

Elsewhere, Chinese and Tajik officials held talks on opening a new air connection between the two states.

Source: Eurasianet

The post Kazakhstan: China Explores Developing Infrastructure at Caspian Ports appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

In Kazakhstan, it appears that fresh vegetables in the spring of 2024 may become more affordable than they were a year ago. Owners of agricultural greenhouses are set to receive a 25% reimbursement for expenses related to electricity, gas, seeds, the adoption of new agricultural technologies, drip irrigation systems, and the purchase of fertilizers. However, these subsidies will be available only to greenhouse owners who meet national standards, as reported by Caravan.kz.

The situation regarding vegetable harvests and expectations for 2024 are crucial to understand. Prices for vegetables and fruits have decreased by an average of 1.8-2.3% since the beginning of autumn, mainly due to seasonal factors. Yet, this summer, farmers in the southern part of the country faced significant challenges as a lack of water led to crop failures. While neighboring Kyrgyzstan did not provide the expected irrigation water, it’s now imperative for Kazakhstan to take matters into its own hands.

Azat Sultanov, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, recently announced plans for constructing vegetable storage facilities between 2023-2025. Currently, there are already 901 such facilities with a capacity of 1.8 million tons in operation, with additional plans for 646 more, totalling nearly one and a half million tons.

To be eligible for subsidies, greenhouse owners must adhere to the requirements of the National Standard implemented on May 1 of this year. Compliance with these standards qualifies them for a 25% subsidy. Additionally, a 50% discount is available for those who use or expand drip irrigation systems. These incentives aim to support the development of greenhouse agriculture in Kazakhstan.

Source: Horti Daily

The post Greenhouse Vegetable Growers in Kazakhstan Can Receive 25% Subsidies appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

(WO) — TotalEnergies’ CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, and the Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan have signed an investment agreement for TotalEnergies’ Mirny project during COP28 in Dubai. Mirny, the largest wind energy project ever initiated in Kazakhstan, will provide low-carbon electricity to over 1 million people, averting the emission of 3.5 million tons of CO2 annually in the country.

The Mirny project aims to construct a 1 GW onshore wind farm comprising up to 160 turbines, paired with a 600 MWh battery energy storage system for a reliable power supply. Mirny represents an investment of approximately $1.4 billion and serves as a prime example of TotalEnergies’ capability to leverage its position as a major partner in the upstream sector to expedite the development of renewable energy in oil and gas countries.

This investment agreement follows the signing in June 2023 of a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Mirny project, marking the first such agreement in the country for a wind project of this scale. TotalEnergies will develop the Mirny project in collaboration with the National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna and the National Company KazMunayGas, each holding a 20% stake in the project.

“At COP28, more than 110 nations committed to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. TotalEnergies supports this call. With this innovative wind and battery project, our company is making a direct contribution to this ambition and to the energy transition in Kazakhstan,” remarked Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies. “The signing of this Agreement on Investment will allow us to launch the Mirny project, helping TotalEnergies triple its power generation from 33 TWh to more than 100 TWh by 2030.”

Source: World Oil

The post Totalenergies Signs Investment Agreement for Kazakhstan’s Largest Wind Power Project appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.