Kazakhstan’s reforms all point one way
On 12 June the party that ran Kazakhstan for a quarter of a century voted to dissolve itself into a party loyal to the sitting president. It was called renewal. It is the latest step in a steady concentration of power that the country’s reformist vocabulary keeps describing and never quite reverses.
Kazakhstan’s ruling party votes to merge into a new pro-Tokayev party
Amanat, the party built around Nursultan Nazarbayev and in power since 1999, said at its congress on 12 June that it will merge into Adilet, a party created this year by President Tokayev’s allies. It is the clearest break yet with the Nazarbayev machine, weeks before August’s elections.
Kazakhstan approves a national AI and digitalisation strategy to 2029
President Tokayev signed the Digital Qazaqstan strategy on 9 June, a plan to push artificial intelligence across the economy by 2029. It is the centrepiece of the year he declared the Year of Digitalisation and AI.
The Tsar, the Steppe, and the Very Friendly Lunch
What Vladimir Putin’s second state visit to Kazakhstan really said — and what everyone agreed not to say out loud