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ASTANA (TCA) — Countries around the world on October 25 agreed to the Declaration of Astana, vowing to strengthen their primary health care systems as an essential step toward achieving universal health coverage. The Declaration of Astana reaffirms the historic 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata, the first time world leaders committed to primary health care, the World Health Organization said. Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) has the potential to become an essential pillar on the new Silk Road and a financial bridge between China and Europe. We are republishing this article on the issue, written by Rafis Abazov*: Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — The prospects of the recently inaugurated Astana International Financial Center may be uncertain, observers say, and it is yet to be seen whether this ambitious project will succeed in becoming Central Asia’s main financial hub. We are republishing this article on the issue, written by Joanna Lillis, originally published by Eurasianet: If the gamble behind the Astana International Financial Center pays off, Kazakhstan could be propelled into the international financial services premier league. The main champion of the AIFC, President Nursultan Nazarbayev, rung a confident note at its raucous official inauguration on July 5. “Astana should become the region’s main financial hub, and in the long term join the ranks of leading Asian financial centers,” he enthused, banging an opening gong, a nod to the New York Stock Exchange’s celebrated bell, as he was showered in glittery ticker tape. The AIFC has set out several lures to tempt companies into relocating there – among them are 50-year tax breaks and the creation of a legal framework modeled on English common law. The aspiration is for the center to draw $40 billion in finance by 2025 and in the process rebrand oil-rich Kazakhstan as a financial hotspot and help wean it off its addiction to commodity revenues. So far, so good. But with memories of the launch party now fading, is it time for a reality check? Targeting areas ranging from capital markets, asset management and fintech to Islamic and green finance, the AIFC may have a bright future. At the moment, however, it is very much a work in progress. The stock exchange is not yet trading. Its facilities at Astana’s EXPO-2017 site, near a glass globe that foreign visitors dubbed the Death Star, much to Astana’s chagrin, are not yet finished. And for all the fanfare, the flagship financial hub has registered only 49 companies, few of which have brand recognition. The center has potential, analysts say, but there are challenges ahead. “AIFC is a state project and hence relies heavily on state support,” Kassymkhan Kapparov, director of Almaty’s Bureau for Economic Research of Kazakhstan, told Eurasianet. “That is a major strength and the biggest weakness at the same time.” The government has committed investments worth $180 million over the next three years, so the AIFC’s success “depends largely on the ability of the state budget to continue to fund its activities and the ability of the government to sustain macroeconomic stability over the long term,” Kapparov said. From a Kazakh perspective, oil prices have reverted to a healthy high level, but a dip could spell trouble. Another question is whether investment will flow in as the government expects. “The AIFC will struggle to overcome low international recognition and it is unclear if it is meeting existing demand for any of the areas it is targeting,” said Maximilien Lambertson of the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit. “It is one thing to base the AIFC on the successful models of Dubai and Singapore, but another to know if...
ASTANA (TCA) — At the meeting of the Government on August 7, Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev reported on the implementation and use of projects demonstrated at the International Specialized Exhibition Expo-2017 held in Astana last year, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported. Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — The rapid growth and development of Kazakhstan’s capital Astana has been achieved largely at the expense of other regions of Kazakhstan and due to internal migration. We are republishing this article on the issue, written by Rafis Abazov*, originally published by the CACI Analyst: Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — As Kazakhstan’s capital city has lavishly celebrated its 20th-birthday, some in Kazakhstan argue that the festivities were ‘a feast in time of plague’. We are republishing this article on the issue, written by Joanna Lillis, originally published by Eurasianet: The capital of Kazakhstan has just enjoyed a 20th-birthday blowout costing more than $55 million. July 6 was not just a national holiday to celebrate the anniversary of Astana’s elevation to capital status – it was also President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 78th jubilee. This extravagant and highly personalized state-funded partying is provoking mixed sentiments. “We are having a great celebration. We love Astana, and it’s Nazarbayev’s birthday today,” said Marua Zhanuzakova, an elderly woman sitting on a bench at the foot of the Baiterek Tower, a white and golden lollipop-shaped Astana landmark that served as a focal point for festivities. There is muted discontent from others, however, at the sense of waste in celebrations for a city whose patina-deep slick modernity has been funded at the expense of development elsewhere in the country. Such cynicism was far from view on July 6. Throngs of locals and visitors, some of whom had travelled thousands of kilometers to attend, milled around Astana in the muggy conditions of the day. Indeed, the appeal of the city is so strong that many continue to flow into it for good, despite the inhumanly cold and windy weather in winter. Zhanuzakova recently moved to the capital from the city of Semipalatinsk, just ahead of her 80th birthday later this month. “She said: ‘I want to live out my life in Astana,’” said her daughter Raushan Ramazanova. “All her grandsons and granddaughters and great-grandchildren live here. So we moved here.” Astana has become indelibly associated with President Nazarbayev, who is cast in state encomiums as the originator of the idea of relocating the capital away from Almaty. The site chosen for Astana – named after the Kazakh word for capital – could not have been less promising. A dismal, snow-whipped, boggy, mosquito-infested backwater, the town then known as Akmola – “white grave” in Kazakh – was home to around 200,000 people. In the past 20 years, it has become a playground for architects and their quirky designs and the population has more than quintupled. In formal terms, the capital moved in 1997. But the official unveiling happened in June 1998. And then in 2006, in a reflection of the incipient cult being erected around Nazarbayev, the city anniversary was moved to July 6. The final touch, timed for Astana’s 10th anniversary in 2008, was to make the day a national holiday. For the president’s admirers, the notion that Nazarbayev would have agreed to have his birthday turned into a national festivity is accepted as a matter of course. “Happy birthday to Nazarbayev and happy birthday to Astana!” said Tazhegul Abdurakhmanova, a 75-year-old woman who travelled 1,200 kilometers from the southern town of Turkestan to join the celebrations. There is even a whispering campaign underway to have...
