Kazakhstan - The Times Of Central Asia

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Responsible AI Rankings: Uzbekistan Leads in Central Asia

The Global Center on AI Governance has published a report titled “Results of the Global Index on Responsible AI in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.” Among Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan has been judged to use artificial intelligence in the most responsible way. Recent AI initiatives in Uzbekistan cover fields including cultural and linguistic diversity, international cooperation, public sector skills development, and transparency. Kazakhstan ranks second in the region. Among Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan ranks first for the number of government initiatives related to responsible AI. Kyrgyzstan ranks third in the region, demonstrating significant non-governmental sector participation in responsible AI. However, the need for a comprehensive government system affects its overall outcome. The report states that the country has received a high rating for responsible AI governance, second only to Uzbekistan in the region. However, due to the scarcity of government frameworks, which, along with government initiatives, had the most weight in the index score, Kyrgyzstan scored lower in the Responsible AI Index. Tajikistan is the only Central Asian country with an AI national strategy aimed at development until 2040. It ranks fourth in the region. However, this strategy covers only 5 out of 19 thematic directions. Tajikistan's scores are relatively high regarding responsible AI governance; however, the country has the most passive non-state sector among the pillars assessed. Turkmenistan has the lowest indicator in the region. Government structures related to the responsible use of artificial intelligence have not been identified in the country.

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Central Asia International Affairs Business & Economy Kazakhstan Kazakhstan International Affairs Kazakhstan Business & Economy

China the Largest Market for Kazakhstan’s Agricultural Products

The Kazakh minister for agriculture, Aidarbek Saparov, has named China the largest market for Kazakhstani agricultural products. Kazakhstan mainly exports grain and oilseeds to China, and imports Chinese vegetables and nuts. In 2023 Kazakhstan’s agricultural exports to China doubled and reached $1 billion. In the first five months of this year, bilateral agricultural trade increased by 14%. It reached $540 million, including Kazakhstan’s exports at $380 million. Kazakhstan has signed protocols with China on the export of 27 types of agricultural products to the Chinese market, including 18 types of crop products and nine types of livestock products. Currently, nine Kazakh companies export livestock products, and 728 companies export crop products. They are waiting to be included in China’s importers register. Kazakhstan's agriculture ministry has signed a protocol with China's customs service to harmonise veterinary requirements for the export of various types of animals and livestock products, including cattle skins, dry mare's milk, frozen poultry products, horse meat, offal obtained from slaughtering animals, meat products that have undergone high heat treatment, as well as chilled beef and lamb. Saparov noted that Kazakhstan is among the world’s top 25 food exporters, exporting Kazakh agricultural products to 80 countries. Over the past five years its agricultural exports have doubled, reaching $5.4 billion. “We intend to continue increasing these figures. In the context of a growing food deficit [in the world], our country seeks to double agricultural exports by 2029,” he said, adding that Kazakhstan is changing the structure of agricultural exports, giving preference to deeply processed products, the exports of which have doubled over the past five years, reaching $2.3 billion.

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Education Central Asia Kazakhstan Kazakhstan International Affairs

Cardiff University to Open Branch in Astana

A branch of Cardiff University will open in Astana next year. Cardiff University, in Wales, founded in 1883. It is one of the leading research universities in the UK, and is part of the prestigious Russell Group. Kazakhstan's ministry of science and higher education has reported that 14 branches of global universities have been opened in the country since 2021. Preparatory work is underway on eight other educational projects.

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Kazakhstan Intensifies Efforts to Combat Extremism

There appears to be a small, but growing problem with terrorism and extremism in Kazakhstan. More than 30 people from regions around the country have been detained in Kazakhstan so far in 2024, and in March, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) killed two Kazakh citizens who were in Russia, allegedly to carry out a terrorist attack. In response, the country’s Committee for National Security (KNB) had conducted dozens of raids. Kazakhstan’s government gave the KNB additional powers to monitor the internet, and authorities are tightening the law on religion. Kazakhstan’s southern neighbors, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, border Afghanistan. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have had problems with the Taliban and other militant groups during the last 25 years. These include domestic terrorist groups, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Tajik-led Jamaat Ansarullah, both of which have been based in northern Afghanistan. Kazakhstan has largely avoided problems with Islamic radicals. Citizens from all the Central Asian states have gone to Afghanistan and Middle Eastern countries to join jihadist groups, including a small number of Kazakh citizens. Turkey extradited a 22-year-old Kazakh citizen back to Kazakhstan on January 27, 2024. The Kazakh national, according to the KNB, was a “native of the Turkestan region [who] went to Syria in 2020, where he joined one of the armed groups operating there.” The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a propaganda video in November 2014 that showed Kazakh nationals, including children, in a training camp in Syria. The video described them as “some of our newest brothers from the land of Kazakhstan.” A group of some 25 men whom authorities said were Islamic militants staged attacks in the northwestern Kazakh city of Aktobe, near the Russian border in early June 2016. The group robbed two stores that sold hunting rifles and were involved in shoot-outs with the police and soldiers. At least 25 people were killed, most of them the attackers. Deputies in Kazakhstan’s Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament, voiced concerns in October 2023 that radical forms of Islam were spreading in Kazakhstan. Controversial MP Yermurat Bapi said followers of these radical Islamic groups were taking over bazaars in the Atyrau, Aktobe, Mangystau, Ulytau, and Almaty provinces. Bapi and 13 other deputies called on the government and KNB to take measures against these groups and stem extremist and terrorist propaganda from being disseminated inside Kazakhstan. On February 17, 2024, the KNB staged a combined 49 raids on eight unspecified religious extremist groups in the Aktobe, Atyrau, East Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, West Kazakhstan, Turkestan, and Zhetysu provinces. The KNB said it detained 23 people and seized weapons, ammunition, religious literature, narcotics, and cash. On April 1, 2024, the KNB detained a man in the Caspian coastal city of Aktau and found material for making explosives. According to the KNB, the suspect was a follower of a “radical religious ideology,” and was planning to carry out a terrorist attack.” At the start of July, five people were detained in KNB raids in the Atyrau and...

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Central Asia Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Lead Story Local Politics Uzbekistan Business & Economy Kazakhstan Business & Economy Kazakhstan Business & Economy Uzbekistan Local Politics

How Limits on Electricity Use will Impact Uzbekistan

This year, Uzbekistan implemented reforms aimed at modernizing and optimizing energy consumption, including a new scheme introduced by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Entitled “Additional measures to introduce market mechanisms in the fuel and energy sector,” the scheme comprises a new pricing structure for fuel and energy resources for 2024-2025, alongside revised basic standards for monthly household electricity and natural gas consumption, starting May 1, 2024. Under the new regulations, residents must pay 450 UZS (3.6 cents) for each kilowatt used up to 200 kWh per month and 900 UZS (7.2 cents) for 201 kWh to 1,000 kWh per month. If energy consumption increases, the price changes accordingly. Household consumers living in apartment buildings and dormitories equipped with centralized electric plates for cooking will be charged 225 UZS (1.8 cents) for up to 200 kWh per month, from 201 kWh to 1,000 kWh – 450 UZS (3.6 cents). Negative reaction to the move has been widespread with numerous complaints posted on social networks such as Instagram and Facebook, demanding the cancellation of the limit of up to 200 kWh. One of the key protests is that the number of family members was not considered when setting the limit and that it will need to increase in the colder months of autumn-winter. Residents also commented they will need to save up to pay for their bills and one Facebook post commented that the 200-kWh limit should be cancelled or at least increased to 500 kWh. In response to public outcry, Uzbekistan's Ministry of Energy issued an official statement announcing that there was no reason to revise its decision and reported that since 71% of the population consumed less than 200 kW of electricity in June, the limit was realistic. When interviewed by TCA on the situation, Umida Ahadova from the Navoi region, commented, “Four people live in our family, and electricity is mainly used for housework. Since it is summer, we often use the air conditioner to cool the house. But the electricity consumption rarely exceeds the set limit of 200 kW." Another interviewee Roziboyeva, who shares a rented house in Tashkent with seven friends said, “Eight girls have lived in a 3-room apartment for almost a year, but our energy consumption is only slightly more than 150 kW. That said, we don’t use air conditioners to heat and cool the house." According to the ministerial statement , 1 kWh of electricity costs 895 UZS (7.1 cents) (without VAT). The state reimburses 552.4 UZS (4.4 cents) for each kWh of electricity supplied to the population within the basic norm and 102.1 UZS (0.81 cents) from 201 kW to 1000 kWh. “It should be said that consumers' electricity savings have increased due to increasing tariffs, " claimed the ministry. " As a result, the load on the system is reduced, people’s electricity systems are cut, and accidents are also decreasing." Research conducted by Asia-Plus last year showed that Kazakhstan has the highest electricity tariff among Central Asian countries....

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Central Asia Life & Culture Kazakhstan Local Politics Kazakhstan Justice Local Politics Kazakhstan

Nursultan Nazarbayev Stripped of Academy of Sciences Membership

News that the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been stripped of his status as a member of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan, was announced by Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek. Nurbek explained that in 2023, Kazakhstan's current president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, decided to create a new Academy of Sciences with just nine members and in the process, 'reset' the status of former academy members. Nursultan Nazarbayev was awarded the status of academician of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan in 1995 and in 2011, whilst participating in a scientific forum at the academy, received the honourable title of “Scientist of the Century.” The loss of his membership of the academy is the most recent example of Nazarbayev's fall from grace. In July last year, he was deprived of his position as head of the supreme board of trustees of autonomous educational organizations. Then, this spring, a waxwork of the first president, installed six years ago in the State Military History Museum of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan in Astana, disappeared. Previously, the monument to Nursultan Nazarbayev, inaugurated on his 80th birthday in 2020, was dismantled from the territory of the National Defense University in Astana, in tandem with the removal of another memorial to the man from the National Museum.

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