Page 648 – The Times Of Central Asia

08 Jul 2024

More Invacarriages Added to Kazakhstan’s Trains

July 8, 2024
By Sergey Kwan

As part of a scheme to update its fleet of passenger railway carriages, Kazakhstan is set to increase its volume of ‘Invacarriages’, specially adapted to cater for travellers with special physical needs and impaired mobility.

The Kazakh Ministry of Transport has announced that 14 carriages designed for the comfort of passengers in the sector, will be purchased this year, adding to the seven already operating on the Kyzylorda – Semey, Pavlodar – Turkestan, and Aktau – Aktobe routes.

In 2023, 11 Invacarriages were commissioned and today, Kazakhstan boasts 110 trains with specialized carriages for passengers with impaired mobility.

Manufactured to safety standards in Kazakhstan, the Invacarriages offer more space for the free movement of wheelchairs, lifts, and alarm buttons.

In addition to the train carriages, Kazakhstan is also expanding its fleet of Invataxis; specially adapted minivans equipped with wheelchair-friendly hydraulic lifts.

This year alone, the number of Invataxis operating in the capital, Astana, has risen by 26 to 145, and a total of 119 Invataxi services with the combined fleet of 760 vehicles, currently operate in the country’s regions.

08 Jul 2024

Kyrgyz-Uzbek Automobile Plant Imports Components from Uzbekistan

October 8, 2024
By Sergey Kwan

On July 5, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, Akylbek Japarov visited the northern Chui region to inspect the Tulpar Motors assembly plant, a joint Kyrgyz-Uzbek enterprise for the manufacture of Chevrolet and Isuzu vehicles.

Construction of the plant began in May 2023 and the first car rolled off its assembly line in May 2024. Already in operation, the plant will be officially opened in July-August by the president of Kyrgyzstan.

According to plans, within five years, the number of employees at the plant will reach 1,400 and the total investment in the project, will amount to $110 million.

During the first year, Uzbekistan’s UzAuto Motors will invest $50 million in the assembly of 10,000 cars, beginning with the Chevrolet Nexia R3.

At the initial stage, components will be provided by Uzbekistan but thereafter, will be produced inhouse to enable the Kyrgyz plant’s manufacture of some 20,000 vehicles per year.

During his visit, the head of the Cabinet of Ministers noted that the cars, trucks, and buses produced by the plant will meet the demand in Kyrgyzstan and be available for export to other Central Asian countries.

08 Jul 2024

Central Asia, Turkmenistan Life & Culture, Turkmenistan, Life & Culture

Turkmen Sewing: From Ancient Traditions to Modern Art

January 2, 2025
By Times of Central Asia

Turkmen sewing is not just a craft but a real art; its roots go deep into the past, to the Paleolithic era. In the Paleolithic era, people used fur and animal skins for sewing, needles made of bone, and threads made of tendons.

Over the centuries, Turkmen’s sewing has preserved its uniqueness. It is closely connected with national clothing and is an integral part of the people’s cultural heritage.

The national costume of Turkmenistan, especially women’s, has always been and remains an integral part of everyday clothes for girls and women of all ages. The tradition has always been uninterrupted, and today, Turkmen women continue to wear outfits and jewelry similar to those worn by their ancestors in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Women’s everyday clothes consisted of dresses, robes, and scarves made of plain cotton fabrics. Festive outfits were made of bright silk fabrics with rich embroidery, and wedding dresses and robes combined exquisite embroidery with silver jewelry.

The traditional costume of a Turkmen woman was a bright ensemble: a high headdress draped with silk or woolen shawl, a long red dress with a robe over it, shoes on the feet, a narrow strip of embroidered pants, and a lot of silver jewelry.

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Turkmen women in traditional clothes with a national carpet

The modern style of Turkmen clothing preserves the best national features, offering many variants of sleeve shapes and decorative trimming. Each dress is necessarily decorated with ornamental hand embroidery or artistic machine stitching.

Even today, Turkmen women prefer traditional outfits, such as a long velvet dress decorated with modern embroidery and jewelry. Even the wealthiest European-style costume cannot compete with the beauty and traditionality of the Turkmen national dress.

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A group of dancers before the performance at the Kurban-Bairam Festival.

In addition, the ornaments used in Turkmen embroidery have a deep symbolic meaning, tying together passed-down knowledge and traditions. Each pattern’s history is connected with nature, the cosmos, and mythology.

Turkmen embroidery is famous for its skill and precision. It is done by hand, using thin needles and silk or cotton threads. Traditionally, Turkmen women begin sewing in childhood, mastering the embroidery technique from their mothers and grandmothers.

Modern Turkmen sewing is actively developing, combining traditional techniques with contemporary trends.

Masters use new materials and experiment with colors and ornaments, creating unique works and patterns.

@tourstoturkmenistan.com
Turkmen national carpets

Despite the development of technologies, Turkmen sewing remains a valuable type of hand labor passed from generation to generation. It is a bright symbol of Turkmenistan’s national wealth and cultural heritage.

In 2022, Turkmen embroidery was included in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

08 Jul 2024

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

EBRD Plans to Double Investments in Kazakhstan in 2024

July 8, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Nurlan Baibazarov, met with Hussein Ozkhan, the Acting Managing Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Central Asia and Mongolia, it has been reported.

The meeting discussed the status of current projects and EBRD’s plans to finance new initiatives. Special attention was paid to attracting investments for Kazakhstan’s sustainable socio-economic development.

Ozkhan said the bank plans to double its investments in Kazakhstan’s economy this year. In particular, the EBRD is developing a significant project with Kazakhstan’s power grid management company, KEGOC, which aims to improve the reliability of electricity supply in the country’s western regions.

The largest territorial project, the construction of new sewage treatment facilities in Aktobe, was signed earlier. Funds have also been allocated for constructing new production facilities for Araltuz JSC, a leading producer of table salt, and support for women’s and youth entrepreneurship. In June 2024, ahead of schedule, the new passenger terminal of Almaty Airport opened, also financed by the EBRD. The bank also participated in the IPO of the national air carrier Air Astana.

Baibazarov emphasized that Kazakhstan intends to expand cooperation with the EBRD at national and regional levels, supporting the bank’s desire to invest in the private sector.

“Our country is ready for mutually beneficial work with the EBRD to attract investment for the implementation of projects in energy, transport and logistics, the development of renewable energy and private business,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Since the beginning of cooperation with Kazakhstan, the EBRD has invested €10.2 billion in the country’s economy through 324 projects. The bank’s project portfolio in Kazakhstan currently includes 121 projects worth more than €2.9 billion.

08 Jul 2024

Central Asia, Environment, Home, Tajikistan International Affairs, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan International Affairs, Turkmenistan, International Affairs, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan International Affairs, Kazakhstan International Affairs, Kazakhstan, Features, Uzbekistan International Affairs

UN: Central Asia’s Big Youth Population is Key to Progress

July 8, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres shook hands with presidents and addressed dignitaries in ornate halls during a tour of Central Asia last week. But he also spent a lot of time with young people, saying “their potential is largely untapped” in a region where, by United Nations estimates, people under 30 years old make up more than 50% of the population.

Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, met young climate activists in Kyrgyzstan and students in Turkmenistan. In Tajikistan, the U.N. chief said 70% of that country’s population is under 30 and told young people at a school there to hold elders to account on the pressing challenge of climate change.

“You have the moral authority to talk to others – as those that suffered the impacts of climate change and are not contributing essentially to it,” Guterres said at a school established by UNICEF with funding from the European Union. “You are the victims of climate change. So, you have the right to tell the others, ‘Behave.´ Because they are not behaving.”

Think globally, Guterres told the students. “It’s not Tajikistan or Uzbekistan,” he said. “No, it’s everything together.”

The U.N.’s focus on young people having a say in Central Asia stems from a sense of possibility in what could shape up as an increasingly strong labor and leadership pool, as well as concern that young people with few prospects drift into unemployment and disenchantment, fueling social pressures and instability.

The fertility rate in the wider region comprising Europe, North America and Central Asia has dropped in numerous countries in the last decade, while the “five Central Asian countries, Georgia, Israel and Monaco are the only countries in the region with a total fertility rate at or above replacement level,” the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe said in a report in October.

At the same time, the report said, the Central Asian states are among the countries in the region that have “experienced negative net migration” since 2015, while countries receiving the largest numbers of migrants in that period were the United States, Russia, and Germany. The total population of the five Central Asian countries is about 76 million.

Some of those countries, especially Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, rely heavily on remittances from nationals who struggle to find work at home and seek opportunities abroad, particularly in Russia. The alleged involvement of several Tajiks in a deadly terror attack in the Moscow area in March led to a backlash of harassment and intense scrutiny aimed at many Central Asian migrants in Russia.

At a regional health forum in Kyrgyzstan last month, the Europe director of the World Health Organization, a U.N. agency, noted that Central Asia has a “significant young and educated population” at a time when European populations are aging.

“This will – if the youth potential is maximized – give Central Asia an edge in the decades ahead,” the director, Dr. Hans Kluge, said.

08 Jul 2024

Central Asia, Kazakhstan Local Politics, Kazakhstan Life & Culture, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Business & Economy, Kazakhstan Opinions

Kazakh Government Is Trying (Again) To Introduce An Unpopular Betting Law

July 8, 2024
By Times of Central Asia

A newly resurrected Law on Gambling Business is set to come into force in Kazakhstan. The law will see the introduction of a new private betting regulator that will be granted extensive government powers, and pocket 1.5% of all betting transactions. Its return bodes yet another bout of strategic networks in the Kazakh government, where powerful lobbying forces from private companies are increasingly finding a presence in the corridors of power.

The fast track of this new regulator is unusual. Despite protests from the betting industry, the bill passed the second reading. The regulator, formerly known as the Betting Accounting Centre (BAC) and now renamed the Unified Accounting System (UAS), passed the first reading in Parliament on June 3, and the second reading on June 5. Later on 28 June, the Senate approved the bill and it is now waiting to be signed into law.

Several consequences could follow once this new regulator is enforced. They include the new body performing as a gambling referee, and therefore possessing privileges in terms of resource allocation, production, and sales. At the same time, the regulator will determine market competition and pocket 1.5% of all profits. With such sweeping powers, there is no mention as to how the regulator will be monitored and controlled to ensure it acts transparently.

In January this year, the Kazakh parliament announced that it intended to reintroduce the new betting law in parliament, two years after a scandal involving a deputy minister accepting bribes from pro-regulator lobbyists forced the government to abandon its first attempt to pass the law. This year’s bill would be identical to the previous one, except for two changes: the term “Betting Account Centre” will be replaced by the more circumlocutious “Unified Accounting System”; and the regulator will perform the role of a fintech company controlling all financial transactions of the betting sector.

The introduction of the bill just over two years ago shocked the Kazakh betting industry. The introduction of a third-party regulator with government powers that could control and determine market players and obtain 1.5% of profits drew immediate comparisons to old Kazakhstan, a troubled history which president Tokayev insists the country is moving away from. After speaking up against the regulator in 2019, particularly on its powers to obtain shady profits and capacity for abuse, the owners of independent bookmaking company Olimp were arrested by the government as members of ‘organised crime syndicates.’

The conventional wisdom was that the parliament had learned from the debacle and would now be pursuing more subtle means of silencing the opposition to this bill. So, besides the polishing up of the regulator label, what has changed? And why might the Kazakh parliament think things will turn out differently for them this year?

For one, the Kazakh parliament has labelled this new law under the guise of a public health concern and to help the younger generation combat the rising problem of gambling addiction in Kazakhstan. This includes increasing the age of betting to 21 and banning all advertisements of betting and gambling across the internet and by mobile operators. While promising, these laws would not make a significant impact to the gambling addiction that the country appears to be faced with, but rather create another problem: the creation of a de facto market monopoly. The regulator, which was inserted into the law last minute, is the main purpose of this bill. The government will devolve far reaching powers to an unknown entity that will be “selected” to carry out the functions of this new regulator.

Aside from the political rhetoric around this new law, the majority of the industry believe that this bill represents private rather than public interests. A few weeks ago, a press conference was held in Kazakhstan by the Association of Fintech and Payment Companies, who spoke against the introduction of this new regulator. The commercial director of the payment organisation PayDala, Ilya Efimenko, commented: “I appeal to the senators, who need to know the true purpose of why the UAS has made a comeback in the bill.”

“This is a re-emergence of the ‘Betting Accounting Center’ (BAC), a strikingly similar entity that was withdrawn before”, he continued. And behind them, as the deputy from the Amanat party Elnur Beisenbayev said, are the powerful forces of “Old Kazakhstan.”