November 22, 2012, has become a reference point for our country and the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE). On this day, an overwhelming majority of BIE member countries voted for Astana as the venue for EXPO 2017.

ASTANA – On May 29, the Mazhilis of Kazakhstan’s Parliament discussed the legal aspects of the use and acquisition of traumatic weapons at a round table chaired by Speaker Nurlan Nigmatullin. Traumatic weapons are non-lethal or less-lethal weapons, especially firearms that are intended for use against an unarmed person, particularly for self-defence or crowd control.

ASTANA, June 5 – Relations between Kazakhstan and Latvia are marked by the development of close ties across numerous sectors and the June 2-4 visit to Kazakhstan by Latvian President Andris Berzins further strengthened this relationship.

ASTANA – The creation of the Customs Union (CU), the Common Economic Space (CES) and the Eurasian Economic Union remains a priority and offers great potential to move the region forward economically, the heads of state participating in last week’s sitting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana agreed. The presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, Aleksandr Lukashenko, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Vladimir Putin respectively, participated in a May 29 meeting in the capital of Kazakhstan and were later joined by Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich who both also expressed interest in closer cooperation with the three countries that have advanced the most in terms of integration.

Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) countries are the crossroads between Asia and Europe, and have made a remarkable transition from centrally-planned to market economies over the past twenty years. But much still remains to be done if the CCA countries are to take the next step and become dynamic emerging market economies. What, then, are the lessons from the transition so far, and what is required to realize the vision of emerging market status?

ASTANA – The issue of supporting the equality of citizens with disabilities was discussed at the sitting of the government chaired by Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov on May 31.

On the eve of the June 5 Second Ministerial Conference on Refugee Protection and Mixed Migration: Almaty Process, Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, sat down for an exclusive interview with The Astana Times to talk about the challenges his agency faces and his views on what could be done globally to address the problems of refugees more effectively.

The May 26 Giro d’Italia victory of Astana Cycling Team Captain Vincenzo Nibali made big news in Italy, Kazakhstan and the cycling world. Following the race, Nibali, also known as Shark, visited the Kazakhstan capital, where he sat down for an interview with The Astana Times.

‘Economy first, politics second’ has always been the motto of independent Kazakhstan but sometimes you cannot have the first without the latter. The political climate must allow for economic growth. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s strategy Kazakhstan 2050 is in fact a new political course that sets the goal of the country making it into the top 30 countries in the world by 2050.

The Astana Times spoke with Siddharth Saxena, chairperson of the Cambridge Central Asia Forum, Director of Cambridge-Kazakhstan Centre and Honorary Secretary of the Committee for Central and Inner Asia, to get his views on the prospects for renewable energy development in Kazakhstan and the world and the potential of EXPO 2017 to stimulate this development.

SHANGHAI – On May 17, at the invitation of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE), a Kazakhstan delegation headed by Commissioner of EXPO 2017 and Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rapil Zhoshybayev and Chairman of the Board of the JSC Astana EXPO 2017 Talgat Yermegiyayev visited Shanghai.