Kazakhstan established a new ministry of artificial intelligence on September 18. The new office will take over from the ministry of digital development. A minister has yet to be appointed; in his address to the nation President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the new minister of AI should be a professional in the field.
Kazakhstan’s government presented to Parliament on September 15 a new draft law focused on the banking sector, which aims to update the legislation to include the latest trends concerning fintech and small-size lenders. For the latter, the regulators plan to establish a lower-tier “basic” banking license, which would open up the market to more players. [Read more here.]
Former Almaty-mayor and head of the Central Bank Yerbolat Dossayev was appointed deputy head of the Presidential Administration on September 19. Dossayev was fired from the top job in Kazakhstan’s largest city in May, after more than three years at the helm. His successor, Darkhan Satybaldy, was picked after a short tenure as deputy head of the Presidential Administration.
Two former Kloop journalists were sentenced to five years in prison in Bishkek on September 17. The ex camera operators had been arrested in May, amid a widespread crackdown against independent media in Kyrgyzstan. Press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists called the sentencing “absolutely absurd.”
Four candidates will face off on October 12 in Semey for the mayoral elections in the north-eastern city. This is the first time that a regional capital holds direct elections for its mayor. Semey is located near the nuclear testing site of Semipalatinsk, used for decades during the Soviet era. The regional governor, Berik Uali, served as presidential press secretary for two years before being appointed to lead the region in February.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline resumed shipping Kazakh oil on September 13, according to state-owned company Kazmunaigas. In July, the BTC pipeline halted oil loadings from Kazakhstan because of organic chloride contamination.
The construction of the Butadiene Project, a butane gas processing plant, could be assigned to Chinese contractors, sources told Upstream on September 15. The plant, linked to the Tengiz oil and gas field, should have a capacity of 380,000 tons per annum.
A fire at a solid waste landfill in the Almaty region filled Kazakhstan’s largest city with smoke on September 15. The fire continued to burn for days, causing a sharp increase in air pollution, which was only mitigated by the rain. On September 16, Almaty had the second-most polluted air in the world.
FC Kairat Almaty lost to Portuguese team Sporting on September 18 in the Kazakhstani team’s first Champions League appearance. The final score was 4-1 for the hosts. Kairat recorded the longest distance travelled for an away game in the competition. In the first half of the game, 18-year-old Kairat goalkeeper Sherkhan Kalmurza became the youngest to save a penalty in the Champions League. In the next Champions League round, Kairat will host Spanish giants Real Madrid.
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