Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan plans to modernize 3,477 villages by 2024 in accordance with new regional standards, making drinking water, repaired roads and basic social facilities available in the most remote rural areas, First Deputy Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said Sunday at a Nur Otan Party session.

Addressing the session attended by representatives of regional branches of the ruling Nur Otan Party, Smailov said the party is aimed at improving quality of life and well-being of Kazakhstanis.

NUR-SULTAN, November 12. /TASS/: Persons involved in corruption schemes during the Vostochny spaceport construction in the Russian Far East have been removed from the project, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday.

The Roscosmos chief thus responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s harsh criticism of the Vostochny spaceport’s construction. The Russian leader said at a government meeting on Monday that criminal cases and jailings had failed to stem theft at the Vostochny spaceport’s construction site.

NUR-SULTAN, October 25. /TASS/: Minsk will hold consultations with Moscow on the possible transit of oil from Kazakhstan, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said following a meeting with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Nur-Sultan.

"We have agreed that we would hold consultations with the Russian Federation in the near future, since transit, if possible, of Kazakhstani oil will be carried out by pipeline through Russia. I think we will work out a deal," he said.

ALMATY/NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) - Kazakhs protesting against the construction of Chinese factories held public rallies in three Kazakh cities on Wednesday, demanding a ban on an initiative which the Central Asian nation’s government hoped would bring investment and jobs.

Neighboring China is already one of the oil-rich former Soviet republic’s biggest investors and trade partners, but its broad presence and Beijing’s campaign to “de-radicalise” ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang province have contributed to a growing anti-Chinese sentiment.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Kazakhstan’s capital city of Nur-Sultan. previously known as Astana, is hosting the inaugural forum of Asian Countries’ Writers from today till Sept 6.

The event is aimed at strengthening the connections and development of literary and cultural ties between the countries in the Asian continent.

Chairman of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan, Ulyqbek Esdaulet, said the event can become a platform for the discussion of pressing issues surrounding the development of Asian literature.

NUR-SULTAN, September 2. /TASS/: On Monday, the upper house of Kazakhstan’s parliament elected Dariga Nazarbayeva as Senate Speaker, Chairman of the Senate’s Counting Commission Alimjan Kurtayev announced after a secret ballot.

"There were 48 ballots in favor [of Nazarbayeva]. No one voted against or abstained. Dariga Nazarbayeva was thus elected chairperson of Kazakhstan’s Senate," he stated.

Nazarbayeva was nominated by Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

NUR-SULTAN, August 1. /TASS/: The three guarantors of the Astana process on Syria — Russia, Iran and Turkey — plan to hold a summit on September 11, a source close to the negotiations' organizers told TASS on Thursday.

"A summit is planned to take place on September 11," it said.

However, the Kremlin has not announced the date for the summit yet.

The establishment of the Syrian Constitutional Committee will be announced at the upcoming Russia-Iran-Turkey summit, the source informed TASS.

NUR-SULTAN, July 31. /TASS/: The government of Kazakhstan adopted a decree, which obliges the country’s authorities to buy passenger cars only from domestic manufacturers.

That is according to a report of the Union of enterprises of the automotive industry of Kazakhstan (KazAvtoProm) the organization posted on its website.

BAIKONUR /Kazakhstan/, July 21. /TASS/: The Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft with three crew members on board docked in the automated mode with Russia’s Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) at 1:47 Moscow time.

The live broadcast of the docking is available on the official website of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.

BAIKONUR /Kazakhstan/, July 21. /TASS/: The modernization of the Baikonur launch center’s famous Launch Pad No.1 - the pad Yuri Gagarin used during the humanity’s first space flight in 1961 - will begin shortly after the launch of the Soyuz MS-15 manned spacecraft due September 25, the head of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos said on Sunday.