Page 259 – The Times Of Central Asia

06 Jun 2025

Home, Environment, Kazakhstan Environment, Kazakhstan, Features, Kazakhstan Featurees

Kazakhstan Under Pressure to Address Environmental Crisis

June 6, 2025
By Aliya Haidar

The United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF) has pledged $280 million to Kazakhstan for environmental projects, underscoring the country’s increasingly urgent ecological challenges. Experts warn that Kazakhstan faces a widening crisis as environmental degradation accelerates.

Toward a “Green” Transition

Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbayev announced that the GCF will allocate substantial funding to Kazakhstan to support initiatives in renewable energy, electric transport development, and the adoption of low-carbon industrial technologies. “These investments will accelerate the country’s transition to a sustainable, environmentally friendly economy,” Nyssanbayev stated.

The minister said that Kazakhstan prepared a national program for GCF funding in 2024, comprising seven major initiatives. These included reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector, strengthening rural water supply systems, modernizing livestock farms, and promoting private-sector green financing. The program’s total budget exceeds $1 billion, with $630 million potentially financed by the GCF.

Additionally, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) continues to back renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan. Eleven projects with a combined capacity of 330 MW are planned by 2027; nine have already secured financing.

A Mounting Environmental Toll

Kazakhstan continues to struggle with serious environmental challenges, many rooted in the Soviet-era legacy, and others emerging from modern development pressures. The country faces desertification, flooding, frequent wildfires, and escalating urban air pollution, particularly in cities like Almaty, Pavlodar, and Karaganda.

On June 5, the government announced the formation of a Biodiversity Protection Fund at a forum in Astana. Akylbek Kurishbayev, President of the National Academy of Sciences, emphasized the urgency of regional collaboration in biodiversity conservation amid intensifying climate and anthropogenic pressures.

Deputy Minister Nurlan Kurmalayev highlighted biodiversity preservation as a key component of environmental security and sustainable land use, calling for cross-border cooperation.

In parallel, the national initiative “Green Kazakhstan” is advancing afforestation efforts across urban and rural areas, alongside waste management programs, ecosystem restoration, energy efficiency campaigns, and public education on environmental stewardship.

Environmental Disaster Zones: The Caspian and Aral Seas

Two of Kazakhstan’s most pressing ecological crises involve the shrinking Caspian and Aral Seas.

The Caspian Sea’s water levels are falling dramatically. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, levels in 2024 are expected to drop by 22 cm in the northeast and 29 cm in the eastern Kazakh sector compared to 2023. Scientists warn of continued decline due to reduced inflows from the Volga and Ural rivers and rising global temperatures. TCA has previously reported about mass die-outs of Caspian seals in recent years.

Vadim Ni, founder of the Save the Caspian Sea movement, described the crisis as triple-faceted, climate, ecological, and economic. “Its level is falling at an unprecedented rate, 2 meters over the past 20 years. By century’s end, up to one-third of its surface could be lost,” he said, warning that the shallow northern shelf, vital to the ecosystem, is especially at risk.

Pollution, overfishing, and unchecked oil extraction are cited as critical threats. In April 2025, Mazhilis Deputy Sergei Ponomarev addressed a parliamentary inquiry to Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, reporting a 31,000 sq km reduction in the Caspian’s surface area, equivalent to the size of Belgium, since 2005. Caspian seal populations have fallen from one million to 100,000, and sturgeon stocks have declined by 90% in four decades. Ponomarev warned that continued degradation could displace up to five million people by 2040.

Many fear the Caspian may follow the trajectory of the Aral Sea, which has endured catastrophic shrinkage since the mid-20th century. Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, much of the former Aral is now the Aralkum Desert. Kazakhstan has undertaken numerous efforts to mitigate desertification in the north Aral region.

Despite efforts to coordinate with regional neighbors like Uzbekistan, meaningful joint action has been elusive. Most support has come from international partners. Kazakhstan has launched a new phase in its long-term program to support affected communities and ecosystems in the Aral region.

06 Jun 2025

Home, Kazakhstan Local Politics, Local Politics, Kazakhstan, Features, Kazakhstan Featurees

Opinion: In Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Race, Financial Muscle Will Decide the Winner

June 9, 2025
By Andrei Matveev

The most closely watched development in Kazakhstan this June is the decision over which foreign company will be awarded the contract to build the country’s first nuclear power plant. According to earlier announcements, the Kazakh Atomic Energy Agency is expected to make its decision by the end of the month. Bidders from South Korea, France, Russia, and China remain in contention, although recent expert commentary suggests that earlier assumptions favoring Russia’s Rosatom may no longer hold.

Competing Interests Beneath the Surface

In Kazakhstan, there appears to be an internal struggle between two strategic camps with opposing visions for the project’s future. Each faction has its own backers, deeply embedded in the country’s nuclear ambitions.

One group, primarily composed of financial officials and economic policymakers, is advocating for the least expensive option. Their preferred bidder is China’s China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), which is offering the lowest project cost, backed by Chinese bank financing. This group is influenced not only by CNNC’s competitive pricing but also by China’s broader economic leverage over Kazakhstan.

The second group consists of nuclear professionals, scientists, engineers, and technicians, who prioritize reliability and operational familiarity. Their preference leans toward Rosatom, given Russia’s historical involvement and established presence in Kazakhstan’s nuclear sector. This technical camp is widely viewed as a de facto ally of the Kremlin, as Rosatom’s participation would extend Moscow’s long-term strategic influence in Central Asia. Given the 50-60-year operational lifespan of such reactors, this influence would be enduring.

Though this tension remains speculative, patterns observed over the past decade suggest a real and ongoing tug-of-war.

No Thermal Power, No Nuclear Power?

At the end of May, media in Kazakhstan reported that Russia might not fulfill its commitments under a 2023 memorandum signed during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Astana. The agreement with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev concerned the construction of three coal-fired thermal power plants (TPPs) in Kokshetau, Semey, and Ust-Kamenogorsk, with Russian energy giant Inter RAO designated as the turnkey builder. The total cost was estimated at $2.8 billion.

However, in April 2024, First Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar acknowledged financial hurdles. While design and preliminary work continue, difficulties remain in subsidizing equipment interest rates. Sklyar noted that a change in investor may be considered, and the situation could be resolved within a month.

Oil and gas expert Olzhas Baidildinov has speculated that the nuclear power plant project may be bundled with the thermal plants as a “social burden”, a condition that CNNC might accept more readily than Rosatom. “If CNNC is chosen to build the nuclear power plant, the thermal plants could follow as part of the package,” Baidildinov suggested via his Telegram channel.

Sergey Agafonov, head of the Kazakhstan Association of Energy Supply Organizations, also sees the nuclear and thermal plant projects as interconnected, particularly with regard to financing.

Debunking the Price Myth

The technical community has responded swiftly to growing narratives about CNNC’s supposedly unbeatable offer to construct the nuclear plant for $5.5 billion, a claim spread via Chinese sources.

Nuclear physicist Sayabek Sakhiev, Director General of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, called these figures implausible. Citing global construction costs, he estimated a realistic price range of $10-15 billion for such a facility. He noted that even a Chinese-built plant in Pakistan, completed in 2013, cost $9.1 billion, equivalent to $12.5 billion today after adjusting for inflation.

“Announcing that China can build 2.4 GW of nuclear capacity in Kazakhstan for $5.5 billion is simply untrue,” Sakhiev emphasized.

A Decision Rooted in Financing Power

Ultimately, the decision may not hinge on technical reliability or long-term geopolitical considerations, but on which bidder can shoulder the heaviest financial burden. If Kazakhstan has indeed conditioned the nuclear plant contract on the simultaneous construction of three coal-fired TPPs, a deeply unfashionable investment globally, then the financially stronger Chinese side is likely to emerge victorious.

In the end, the race for Kazakhstan’s nuclear future may be decided not by reactors, but by balance sheets.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the publication, its affiliates, or any other organizations mentioned.

06 Jun 2025

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Opinion: What Uzbekistan’s FIFA World Cup Breakthrough Tells Us About State-Building

June 9, 2025
By Khusanboy Kotibjonov

When Uzbekistan’s goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov made those crucial saves against the UAE last night, securing his country’s first-ever FIFA World Cup qualification, he was putting the finishing touches to a decade-long story about how nations build capacity, and what happens when they finally get it right.

Uzbekistan’s journey to the 2026 World Cup is not just a sports story. Go deeper, and you’ll find something more interesting: a case study in institutional development.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Consider what Uzbekistan has pulled off in recent years. At Rio 2016, the country won 13 Olympic medals, placing 21st globally. In Tokyo, they obtained three gold medals despite disruptions caused by the pandemic. Uzbekistan achieved its best-ever performance at the Paris Olympics, securing 13 medals (8 gold, 2 silver, and 3 bronze), placing them 13th overall in the medal standings, first among post-Soviet states, and fourth among Asian nations overall.

But the real story is the systematic nature of their success.

Seven of those 13 Rio medals came in boxing alone, with three golds. At the 2023 World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbek fighters received five gold medals, the tournament’s best overall performance. Boxers also dominated the Paris Olympics, bringing five gold medals to the national team’s account.

Uzbekistan’s youth football teams have been even more dominant: AFC U-23 champions in 2018, U-20 Asian Cup winners in 2023, and U-17 continental champions twice since 2012.

This is not random. Big tournaments reward institutional capacity, not just individual talent. Success on this scale requires functional sports federations, coherent youth development systems, and the kind of long-term planning that only works when bureaucracies can actually implement policies rather than just announce them.

Small Economy, Outsized Results

What makes Uzbekistan’s breakthrough particularly striking is the economic context. Uzbekistan is not Germany or Japan leveraging massive GDP advantages. Uzbekistan’s sports budget doubled to roughly $230 million by 2025, serious money for the country, but pocket change compared to what traditional powers spend.

Yet they’re outperforming nations with far deeper pockets. Their junior teams dominate youth football rankings. Their boxers routinely defeat athletes from wealthier countries. That efficiency ratio, results per dollar invested, suggests something important is happening at the governance level.

The government has built over a hundred new sports facilities while doubling coaches’ salaries. President Mirziyoyev’s Presidential Olympics program scouts talent across all regions, attracting the best prospects to national training centers. Athletes now receive meaningful incentives: houses, cars, and scholarships. This is a systematic investment with clear metrics and accountability.

The Quiet Politics of Athletic Success

Sports remain one of the few arenas where state effectiveness can reveal itself without the outsized intrusion of politics. You can’t fake your way to consistent Olympic medals or sustained success in FIFA youth competitions. These achievements require multiple sectors – education, healthcare, and urban planning – to function in coordination.

Uzbekistan’s sporting surge coincides with broader signs of improved state capacity under Mirziyoyev’s administration. The infrastructure investments are real. The youth development programs are producing measurable results. The bureaucratic reforms that enable coaches to be paid properly and facilities to be maintained suggest a departure from the pure patronage politics that characterized the Karimov era.

What This Means Beyond the Pitch

Uzbekistan’s World Cup qualification should be understood as one data point in a larger pattern of institutional development. The same state capacity that produces Olympic champions also builds roads, improves healthcare delivery, and attracts foreign investment. The organizational competence that turned Uzbek boxing into a global powerhouse doesn’t exist in isolation from other forms of governance.

The sporting successes serve both genuine developmental purposes and political ones, bolstering the narrative of a “New Uzbekistan” under strong leadership.

When Uzbekistan takes the field at the 2026 World Cup, they’ll represent more than just 35 million people cheering from home. They’ll embody a particular model of how nations can build capacity and deliver results, even when the political architecture remains a work in progress.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the publication, its affiliates, or any other organizations mentioned.

06 Jun 2025

Home, Uzbekistan, Life & Culture, Uzbekistan Life & Culture

Uzbekistan Sends 183 Tons of Aid to Afghanistan for Eid al-Adha

June 6, 2025
By Sadokat Jalolova

Uzbekistan has delivered 183 tons of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in honor of Eid al-Adha, reaffirming its commitment to supporting its southern neighbor.

According to the administration of Termez city in Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya region, the aid was transported to Afghanistan’s Balkh province. The shipment included essential food items such as flour, rice, sugar, pasta, vegetable oil, red beans, mung beans, instant meals, and sweets.

This assistance was dispatched on the instruction of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and has been described as a gesture of solidarity and compassion from the Uzbek people during the religious holiday.

The aid was officially handed over in the border city of Hairatan, at the site of the Astras company. The handover ceremony was attended by Uzbekistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ismatulla Irgashev; Surkhandarya regional governor Ulugʻbek Qosimov; deputy governor of Balkh province, Nurulhodi Abuidris; and other officials from both countries.

Afghan representatives expressed their gratitude to President Mirziyoyev and the Uzbek people for their continued humanitarian support and extended warm Eid greetings in return.

In a similar gesture earlier this year, Uzbekistan sent approximately 200 tons of aid to Afghanistan for the Navruz and Eid al-Fitr holidays, consisting of similar food supplies.

06 Jun 2025

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The Kyrgyz AI Startup Making U.S. Immigration Simpler

June 6, 2025
By Daniel Abdyldaev

These days, public debate is dominated by the issues of immigration and AI. But until the emergence of the new startup Alma, they had existed as entirely separate discussions. Alma’s co-founder Aizada Marat, raised in Kyrgyzstan, has been one of the first to ask: can AI be used to simplify immigration?

Marat first came to the U.S. as a FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) student when she was 17, before graduating from Harvard Law School in 2015. It was then that her own immigration problems began. Due to visa issues, Marat had to move to London, before coming back to America three years later.

“Since relocating to the Bay Area in 2018 [for family reasons] the seed of becoming a founder was planted in my head.” Marat has said on her social media. “When I moved back to the U.S., that’s when the immigration nightmare began. As I would with any other service provider, I used Google to find lawyers who could help me with my immigration process. I found a firm. I hired them. I was given the wrong advice. That advice led me to almost miss out on a job offer that, thankfully, I later secured. I also couldn’t travel and see my family during that time. With that frustration in mind, I realized I had to start a company to solve the problem professionals were facing.”

Image: Aizada Marat/Alma

Before Marat could become an entrepreneur, she needed to learn more about business. This is how she ended up at McKinsey, one of the leading global consulting firms. Soon after, Alma was born.

Alma is a legal-tech startup, which uses AI to simplify the immigration process. The company was founded in October 2023 by Marat and Assel Tuleubayeva, a former product manager at Step. A month later the startup secured $500,000 of investments from Village Global, John Hale, and other angel investors. In March 2024 Marat and Tuleubayeva found Shuo Chen, who was previously a manager with Uber. In July 2024 Alma raised $5.1 million in combined seed and pre-seed rounds from leading venture capital funds..Last month it was selected for Google Cloud’s AI Accelerator.

Alma was founded as a company offering solutions for law firms, but in 2024 it took the decision to help professionals directly, without any intermediaries. Marat, Tuleubayeva and Chen are immigrants themselves, who combined have had to apply for around 15 separate visas to allow them to work in the U.S. This month Alma reached over 300 clients, including both B2C and B2B.

“I’m an immigrant who went through the immigration maze myself, so this is deeply personal”, Marat tells The Times of Central Asia. “With my legal and business background, starting Alma made perfect sense. Immigrants drive the U.S. economy, and to stay competitive in the AI race, we need to help the best talent achieve their American dream.”

She adds: “Alma disrupts the immigration in the US and forever streamlines it for the better. Small and big companies use Alma because they care for employee experience, speed and excellence. Individuals use it because it’s best in class for all talent visas. We are on a mission to make immigration better, forever.”

06 Jun 2025

Kazakhstan Life & Culture

Bright Objects in the Sky? Nothing to Worry About, Kazakhstan Says

June 6, 2025
By Times of Central Asia

Witnesses in Kazakhstan reported seeing bright objects streaking through the sky late Thursday, prompting defense officials to say that there have been no reported violations of the country’s airspace and that there is no threat to the population.

“This phenomenon resembles the debris of spacecraft entering the atmosphere or a meteor shower. Such objects usually burn up in the dense layers of the atmosphere and do not reach the ground,” the Kazakh Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“We ask citizens to remain calm and not spread unconfirmed information. The competent authorities are investigating this phenomenon and will provide an official explanation if necessary,” the ministry said.

Videos posted on social media platforms showed clusters of what appeared to be fiery objects over parts of central and northern Kazakhstan, including the capital Astana.