SEPT. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan is successfully rejuvenating the northern section of the dried up Aral Sea, media quoted the governor of the southwest Kazakhstan region of Kyzylorda, Krymbek Kusherbayev, as saying. He added that the Aral Sea’s water is now only 17km from the town of Aral. It had retreated 74km away.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan has introduced extra tests and is buying new equipment to increase the competency of its medical professionals, media reported.
Analysts have said that the quality of health care in Kazakhstan has not kept pace with economic development in the country over the past decade. Last year, government officials said that many medial staff in rural parts of Kazakhstan had never received formal training.
Now, according to the Tengrinews website, the government has introduced a series of tests for health carers. It reported that since Sept. 2, 300 doctors and nurses in Astana and Almaty have been sitting a 3-1/2 hour theory test followed by an hour-long practical exam.
This is part of a nationwide strategy to improve the level of healthcare in the country.
In its 2013 report on global competitiveness, the World Economic Forum generally rated Kazakhstan highly. The big exception was the quality of its healthcare which the report said was poor.
Kazakhstan’s minister of health, Salidat Kairbekova, admitted that too. Answering a question at a parliamentary committee meeting he said that some medical staff didn’t even know how to use a computer mouse properly.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nine national teams from Mongolia, Afghanistan, Turkey, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan convened on Astana to compete in what was touted as the first Asian kokpar championships.
Kokpar, also known as Buzkashi in Afghanistan where it is popular, is not for the feint hearted. Described as a mixture of rugby and polo, four horsemen on each team have to hustle, bustle and muscle the torso of a headless goat into the opposition’s goal.
The best players have to be tough, determined and extremely skilful horsemen.
Kokpar’s historical heartland has been the steppe and mountains of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Mongolia where nomadic horsemen still roam with their livestock. The game reflects the simplicity and hardiness of the nomad’s lives.
Watching European Champions League football on satellite television may now be the favourite sporting pastime of most urban Kazakhs but skilled horsemen and the nomadic lifestyle are still venerated in Kazakhstan.
The Soviet Union banned kokpar but a confident and proud Kazakhstan looking to promote its national identity has been eager to revive it.
Fittingly, in the tournament in Astana, the Kazakhstan team beat Kyrgyzstan in the final. Third place was Tajikistan. Kazakhstan will have a chance to defend their title in Turkey in two years time.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s parliament will debate a proposal to ban homosexual nightclubs and gay rights marches, local media quoted MPs as saying. The proposal follows a law brought in by Russia earlier this year that bans homosexual “propaganda”. Russia’s ban triggered an international outcry and accusations of homophobia.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Broadcasting Union is investigating allegations that Azerbaijan offered bribes to members of this year’s Eurovision jury, media reported. Eurovision is a major TV song contest. Many European countries view it as way of promoting themselves. Azerbaijan won the contest in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — KazPost has started to close dozens of branches in villages with less than 2,000 inhabitants, media reported. As well as delivering mail, KazPost provides vital services, such as paying out pensions and salaries and taking in tax and utilities bills. KazPost announced the closures this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan plans to simplify the registration process for migrant workers by the end of 2013, media quoted Serik Sainov, head of the interior ministry’s migration department, as saying. Thousands of foreigners work illegally in Kazakhstan. Simplifying registration rules should benefit both businesses and individuals.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A drop in savings held in Kazakh tenge in July showed people were losing confidence in Kazakhstan’s currency, the respected kapital.kz said. Central Bank data showed 350b tenge was withdrawn from bank accounts in July, reducing the proportion of savings held in tenge to about 61%, down from 66%.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In front of thousands of fans at the national stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s football team lost to Jordan in a penalty shootout in the second match of their World Cup playoff tie. The match had ended 1-1. Uzbekistan had been trying to become the first team from Central Asia to reach the World Cup finals.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — President Ilham Aliyev’s team have been highlighting Azerbaijan’s jump up the ranks of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness annual report.
It’s an election year, after all, in Azerbaijan and the WEF report is significant.
In an interview, Elnur Aslanov, head of the Mr Aliyev’s information centre, said Azerbaijan had moved to 39th position in the rankings from 48 last year because of the social and economic policies of the president.
It’s an impressive statistic. Azerbaijan has jumped from 55th position in 2011 and now lies above several EU states.
But it’s also worth looking at the detail.
The reason Azerbaijan ranks so highly in the WEF index is its high score for macroeconomic stability. Azerbaijan’s energy wealth gives it a healthy government debt ratio, a decent government budget balance and strong gross national savings. Azerbaijan also has relatively low inflation, another positive.
The report, though, also details serious shortcomings. These were mainly in the health and education sectors. Notably amongst these was the ranking for school management — 133rd in the world, out of 148 countries.
Significantly, too, of the business executives interviewed for the report nearly a quarter said corruption was still the biggest problem for doing business in Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
