Latest:

02.07 : President Nazarbayev calls World Religious Leaders to play a role in facilitating spiritual revival as a precondition to harmonious development of the world... President Nazarbayev notes that Kazakhstan plans to implement the recommendations made by the spiritual leaders following the Congress when chairing in 2010 the OSCE and the OIC... 01.07 : Israeli President, Shimon Peres, acknowledges that Kazakhstan can play a significant role in the Middle East conflict settlement...

MORE NEWS

KAZAKHSTAN HOSTS EAPC SECURITY FORUM 01/06/2009

The 3rd Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) Security Forum was held in Astana on June 24-25, 2009. It was the first time ever that EAPC was hosted in Asia - the previous two Forums were held in Sweden in 2005 and in Macedonia in 2007 – and more than 50 EAPC and NATO member-countries, other states, international organizations and media representatives participated.

PLANS FOR FOREIGN TOURIST BOOM ADVANCE

Almaty hosted the 9th International Tourism Fair KITF 2009 in April. The event was a huge success - but underlined the ongoing work necessary to position Kazakhstan globally as a top tourist destination. Kazakhstan boasts extraordinary sites of natural beauty – the Alakol Lake, Borovoye Lake, the Mangistau Mountains, Turkistan (historic mausoleums and mosques), Karkaralinsk National Park, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saryaka (plus the surrounding steppe and lakes) etc..

Recently, the country has been highly successfully developing ecotourism - offering opportunities for stays in natural areas, plus acquaintance with local communities and their lifestyles. A special NGO – the Information Resource Center for Ecotourism – exists to promote and develop networks of guest houses located close to exceptional destinations through providing training and certification procedures.

PRESS AGENCY TURNS TO KAZAKHSTAN

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has opened an office in Almaty. Pierre Louette, Chairman of AFP said at a press conference to mark the opening that “Kazakhstan has established itself as the center of the Central Asian region. There is much to be said about the country; and the variety of geopolitical, strategic and economic aspects are of great interest to the agency. We know that the world is multi-polar and that Kazakhstan is starting to play a very important role.” According to AFP’s Moscow bureau chief, Chris Boian “Today we are talking of a more task-specific, renewed approach to covering what is happening in Kazakhstan. We’ll start to cover developments in Kazakhstan in much more detail. Yes, we have a new office and a new editor-in-chief for the region, but it does not mean that Kazakhstan has been out of our interests up to now”, said Mr Boian. “One definitely cannot say that the variety of events taking place in Kazakhstan and in Central Asia - of which the country is a driving force - are of little interest. This is a region that is taking all the more important positions in our changing world” concluded Pierre Louette.

KAZAKH LESSONS MADE EASY

ABBYY, the renowned developer of linguistic software, has unveiled its latest product in Almaty – the first ever version of ABBYY Lingvo Kazakh language dictionary. The target market includes businessmen, translators, teachers, students. The new software offers functions that can help users learn new words. In particular, there is an option called Lingvo Tutor, which allows a user to create his or her own special dictionaries. Navigation is user-friendly with ‘hotkeys’, Yandex and Wikipedia search options.

FILM : RELIGION IN KAZAKHSTAN

FILM : Contemporary Art in Kazakhstan

FILM: COMMON WORLD FORUM

FILM: THIS IS ASTANA

KAZAKHSTAN - USEFUL LINKS

Kazakhstan - time

III CONGRESS OF WORLD AND TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS: PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEZ LAUNCHES AN APPEAL TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS 02/07/2009

SHIMON PERES: ‘KAZAKHSTAN CAN PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT SETTLEMENT’ 01/07/2009