Kazakhstan Enters Top 50 Most Peaceful Countries As Global Peacefulness Declines, Report Shows
ALMATY – Kazakhstan ranked 44th among 163 countries in the 2026 Global Peace Index (GPI), placing it among the world’s 50 most peaceful countries and reflecting an improvement from the previous year as Central Asia continues to diverge from a broader global decline in peacefulness.

Astana. Photo credit: The Astana Times.

Kazakhstan recorded a…
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Kazakhstan Looks For New Deposits as Expert Points to Investment Challenge Beyond Exploration
ALMATY – Kazakhstan plans to increase exploration drilling over the next three years, with up to 200 exploration and appraisal wells expected to be drilled by 2028. While the expansion could help replenish the country’s resource base, experts say the real challenge will be turning geological discoveries into economically viable projects.

Yerlan Akbarov. Photo…
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World Nomad Games: Where Sport Meets Spirit of Steppe
ASTANA – The sixth World Nomad Games (WNG) came to a close in the Kyrgyz Republic on Sept. 6, leaving a lasting impression on athletes, visitors, volunteers and everyone who helped bring the event to life.

Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic faced off in kok boru, with the Kyrgyz team taking gold. Photo credit:…
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S&P Sees Stronger Bank Oversight in Kazakhstan as Credit Growth Slows
ASTANA – S&P Global Ratings improved its assessment of Kazakhstan’s banking industry risk and upgraded or raised the outlooks on several financial institutions, citing stronger supervision as credit growth and banking-sector profits slowed in the first seven months of 2026.

Photo credit: the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market.

In its…
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Next Opportunity in Central Asian Wealth Management: Singapore-AIFC Corridor
For much of the past three decades, the international wealth-management conversation has centred on a relatively small number of financial centres: Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, London and until Donald Trump’s special military operation against Iran, Dubai. Central Asia has rarely featured prominently in that discussion. That may be beginning to change.

Rainer Michael Preiss.…
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Kazakhstan’s Tourism Sector Enters New Growth Phase As Investment And Visitor Numbers Rise
ALMATY – Kazakhstan’s tourism sector is entering a new stage of development as investment, visitor numbers and transport connectivity expand, with the industry increasingly positioned as a contributor to economic growth rather than simply a recreational sector.

Photo credit: Tassan‘s personal archive

The sector’s total contribution to Kazakhstan’s economy reached 5 trillion tenge (US$9.26…
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US Lawmaker Urges End to Cold War-Era Trade Restrictions on Kazakhstan
ASTANA — The United States should establish permanent normal trade relations with Kazakhstan and offer greater economic opportunities rather than pressure the country to choose between Washington, Moscow and Beijing, Congressman Jimmy Panetta said during a Hudson Institute discussion on Sept. 2, as Washington weighs how to deepen its economic and strategic engagement with…
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Joint Statement by Ministers of Foreign Affairs of States Parties on Occasion of 20th Anniversary of Signing of CANWFZ Treaty
We, the Foreign Ministers of the States Parties to the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia (hereinafter referred to as the “CANWFZ Treaty”), on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the CANWFZ Treaty in Semipalatinsk

Participation in the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty as of November 2008. Photo…
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Experts Say Kazakhstan’s Youth Advantage Won’t Last Without Action
ALMATY – Kazakhstan has one of the relatively young population structures globally, with people under 18 accounting for 34.2% of the population in 2025 and placing the country 80th among 163 countries and territories. Experts say the large share of children gives Kazakhstan a potential demographic dividend, but realizing that opportunity will depend on…
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Caspian Sea’s Decline Raises Water Security Concerns As Kazakhstan Strengthens Management
ALMATY – The rapid decline of the Caspian Sea is emerging as one of Kazakhstan’s most complex water and environmental challenges, with falling water levels threatening ecosystems, fisheries, coastal infrastructure and communities. As the country strengthens its broader water management system, the changing Caspian is adding urgency to efforts to improve how Kazakhstan monitors…
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Kazakhstan Takes Lead as Central Asia Expands Space Cooperation
ASTANA — Kazakhstan is positioning itself as a Central Asian space hub as the nation expands its satellite and spacecraft capabilities and deepens regional cooperation, including discussions on a proposed Central Asia Space Agency.

Space Days Kazakhstan 2026 brings together government representatives, space agencies, scientists, technology companies and investors. Photo credit: Ministry of Artificial…
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EDB: Kazakhstan Maintains Growth, Strengthens Position Amid Tighter Global Financing Conditions
ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s resilient economic growth, moderate public debt and strong external buffers are strengthening its ability to access global capital markets despite tighter borrowing conditions worldwide, according to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) September Macroeconomic Outlook.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

The EDB experts said the economy continued to expand this year, with GDP growing…
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Expert: Kazakhstan Residents See Infrastructure Gains, Demand Further Development
ASTANA – Kazakhstan residents are largely positive about improvements in their towns and villages, but their expectations are shifting toward further development of everyday infrastructure and services, according to a nationwide survey presented on Sept. 7.

Photo credit: The Astana Times

National Analytical Center expert Roza Tleukhan said the findings show that people continue…
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Kazakhstan Expands Air Links to Southeast Asia with New Singapore Route
ASTANA – Kazakhstan is continuing to broaden its aviation network across Asia, with SCAT Airlines set to launch flights from Shymkent to Singapore via China’s Sanya on Oct. 20. The new service comes amid a wider expansion of routes by Kazakh carriers to China and other Asian destinations.

Photo credit: Shutterstock.

Via Sanya…
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Experts: Kazakhstan’s AI Balancing Could Challenge Old Logic of Geopolitical Rivalry
ASTANA – For decades, Kazakhstan has built its foreign policy around a principle central to its place in the world: maintaining productive relations with competing powers without becoming dependent on any one of them. This has allowed Astana to work with Russia, China, the United States (US), the European Union and others, even as…
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EBRD Supports Alatau Zharyk’s Grid Modernization Program
ASTANA – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a long-term loan of up to 102 billion tenge (US$224.2 million) to Alatau Zharyk Company (AZhC) to modernize its electricity distribution infrastructure and expand digitalization.

Photo credit: EBRD

The financing will help AZhC, a regional electricity distribution company supplying around 4 million…
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Almaty and Astana Maintain Economic Lead as Central Asia’s Cities Race to Catch Up
ALMATY – Almaty and Astana are likely to retain their position as Central Asia’s leading economic centers, even as Tashkent and Bishkek record rapid growth and invest heavily in their future expansion. Kazakhstan’s two largest cities benefit from an economic scale, financial infrastructure and established business ecosystems that have been built up over decades,…
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The Semipalatinsk Treaty at 20: Enduring Logic of Nuclear-Free Central Asia
Twenty years ago today, representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan gathered in Semipalatinsk, now Semey, to sign a treaty that would make Central Asia the first nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Northern Hemisphere. It was also the first such zone established in a region where nuclear weapons had actually been tested and deployed.…
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Can Kazakhstan Take its Capital Markets to Next Level?
The sense of progress and economic momentum in Kazakhstan is tangible and impossible to ignore. Having spent this week at the Astana Finance Days conference, I understand why. The government’s clear growth agenda, combined with bold steps to reform the nation’s capital market, is having a real, positive impact.

In my conversations with policymakers,…
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Golden Horde History Challenges Europe-Centered View of Medieval Eurasia, French Historian Says
ALMATY – For centuries, the history of the Golden Horde has often been told from the perspective of the societies it encountered. French historian Marie Favereau is trying to turn that perspective around. Her book, now available in Kazakh, examines the Ulus of Jochi not as a peripheral chapter in European or Mongol history,…
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