KZBlog

An American expat living in Astana, Kazakhstan

Tag archive for ‘Prime Minister’

  • New Law on Religion Criticized

    As Parliament debates a new law “On Religion”, Forum 18 reports on religious leaders’ complaints. Most religious leaders were hesitant to speak publicly, in itself a sign that the atmosphere in Kazakhstan is not as tolerant as the government often claims. However, Lutheran Bishop Yuri Novgorodov, whose church has 52 congregations in Kazakhstan characterized the […]

    5/18/08 • (1)

  • Azat Offers Its Platform on Financial Crisis

    Azat (formerly Nagyz Ak Zhol) announced this week a plan to resolve the financial crisis. The opposition party highlighted the crisis as resulting in a decline in industries unrelated to oil and mining, a stagnant retail market, a decrease in real income for 70% of the population, and causing issues in tax collection. They have […]

    5/16/08 • (Comments Off on Azat Offers Its Platform on Financial Crisis)

  • No More PSA’s

    In a government meeting this week, Prime Minister Massimov assured the cabinet of ministers that work to renegotiate contracts with foreign investors will continue and that abrogations will be made on new contracts. …officials announced that they would no longer negotiate production sharing agreements, or PSAs, which tend to be favored by international energy conglomerates […]

    2/24/08 • (Comments Off on No More PSA’s)

  • More State Control

    One week after the Address to the People of Kazakhstan, the Prime Minister announced that this year Kazakhstan will investigate all existing contracts with foreigners in the area of resource-exploitation i.e. mining and oil and gas. The government will void all contracts with companies that have violated the terms and the resources or rights to […]

    2/15/08 • (Comments Off on More State Control)

  • Kashgan Crisis Has Ended

    After this great article on potential directions an agreement with Eni might take in Kashgan by Ben, it appears a settlement has been reached. KazMunaiGas, the state oil company, will have its share of the project increased “equal to that of the largest shareholders,” according to a statement from KazMunaiGas. According to the AFP report: […]

    1/14/08 • (Comments Off on Kashgan Crisis Has Ended)

  • Problems in the Financial Sector

    As the banking sector in Kazakhstan is viewed internationally as unstable, the government is taking controversial measures to try to stabilize the financial sector, including buying out shares of Kazakhstan companies and cutting the budget to put 4 billion tenge aside as a reserve fund to bail out banks. Last week it was reported that […]

    10/18/07 • (Comments Off on Problems in the Financial Sector)

  • Bread Revolution?

    For the past two weeks, there has been quite a bit of coverage on TV and in the print media about the increases in prices of bread in Central Asia. This week, in Kazakhstan the issue came to a head and was brought to the government’s attention. Some report that in Shimkent a leposhka (flat […]

    10/03/07 • (Comments Off on Bread Revolution?)

  • Another Russian Rocket Crashes in Kazakhstan

    Following the Russian Dnepr rocket which crashed taking off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan last year, A Russian Proton rocket crashed in Karaganda Thursday. No one was hurt as the rocket crashed in an uninhabited area about 30 miles southwest of Zhezkazgan and the rocket was unmanned, carrying only a Japanese satellite. However the environmental damage to […]

    9/08/07 • (Comments Off on Another Russian Rocket Crashes in Kazakhstan)

  • A new Holding Company will Soar!

    From the Kazakhstan Embassy in the US comes the announcement that a new holding company will be established. Samgao (which means ‘to soar’, I think!) National Science and Technology Holding is charged with improving management in these areas. This follows from comments made by the President and more recently, his Address to the People, in […]

    4/15/07 • (Comments Off on A new Holding Company will Soar!)

  • AO Kazakhstan

    While a lot of attention has been paid to the ongoing process of administrative reforms in Kazakhstan in the area of increasing Parliamentary powers, not much has been heard about the plans to reform the civil service. There have been research projects and discussion in the areas of linking government salaries to performance, reducing corruption […]

    3/11/07 • (Comments Off on AO Kazakhstan)