Khalyk Kenesi to be granted power to call referendum

28.01.2026, 18:52 1551

Tokayev meets Kazakhstani IT entrepreneurs

Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday met with Kazakhstani IT entrepreneurs Yerzat Dulat and Murat Abdrakhmanov, Qazinform News Agency cites Akorda.

The meeting with Yerzat Dulat, CTO of Higgsfield AI startup, and Murat Abdrakhmanov, founder of the MA7 Ventures platform, focused on systemic adoption of AI in the economy, public administration, and social sphere, as well as developing IT entrepreneurship, venture, and AI industry.

President Tokayev commended the success of the Higgsfield AI startup, stressing the importance of emergence of companies in the country, which become global leaders in AI.

The Head of State noted that the key task is to make Kazakhstan a platform, where IT companies could easily launch, scale and enter global markets.

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28.01.2026, 16:45 2076

77 articles set to be amended in Kazakh constitutional reform

Constitutional Court judge Bakyt Nurmukhanov spoke on the extent and nature of the proposed amendments to the Basic Law during the fourth meeting of the Constitutional Commission, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.

According to Nurmukhanov, the draft constitutional reform involves a preamble, 11 sections, and 104 articles. Meantime, it is proposed to introduce two new sections "People’s Council" and "Procedure for amending the Constitution".

Moreover, it was suggested renaming the four existing sections of the Constitution: "The General Regulations" into "The Foundations of the Constitutional System","Man and the Citizen" into "Basic Rights, Freedoms, and Responsibilities", "Parliament" into "Qurultay", "Courts and Justice, Prosecutor’s Office, Human Rights Commissioner’ into Justice, Prosecutor’s Office, Human Rights Mechanisms."

Nurmukhanov said 77 articles of the Constitution are proposed to be amended, representing 84% of its text. So, amendments and additions affect all sections of the Basic Law.

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28.01.2026, 15:25 1806

President Tokayev calls for new approach to Financial Monitoring Agency’s operations

Images | Akorda

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting at the Financial Monitoring Agency on Wednesday, Qazinform News Agency reports via Akorda.

The Kazakh President congratulated the Agency’s personnel on their professional holiday - the Financial Monitoring Agencies Day. The Head of State said that the Agency, which was established five years ago in a time of large-scale transformations in the country, has been successfully handling the tasks assigned.

In general, much work has been done in such a short period of time, significant experience has been gained. As of now, the Agency has established itself as a self-supporting body, playing a key role in the economic and national security system. This is a direct result of your efforts and dedication to duty, said the President.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev urged a fundamentally new approach to work amid rapid advances in digital technologies and artificial intelligence, while pointing to ambitious goals and large-scale work ahead.

There are threats to national security, in case law enforcement agencies, including the Financial Monitoring Agency, fall behind in terms of technology," warned the Kazakh President.

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27.01.2026, 18:55 31861

Tokayev says constitutional reform will positively boost Kazakhstan’s development

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday held a meeting with Chair of the Constitutional Commission - Constitutional Court Chair Elvira Azimova, the Commission’s Deputy Chair - State Counselor Erlan Karin, and member of the Commission - Assistant to the President for Legal Affairs Yerzhan Zhienbayev, Qazinform News Agency cites Akorda.

The Head of State was briefed on the outcomes of the Constitutional Commission meeting held on January 26. Azimova said that to ensure transparency the Commission provides live streams of all meetings in the media space, including via the dedicated channel on Telegram.

The Commission’s chair said an extensive public debate on the constitutional reform took place throughout six months. Over 2,000 initiative proposals from citizens, legal scholars, experts, lawyers, political parties, NGOs, professional and business communities were received via electronic platforms.

It was noted that new editions of the preamble, a number of articles and sections of the Constitution were developed and reviewed at the previous meetings of the Commission.

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27.01.2026, 16:30 30981

Kazakhstan names new labor and social protection minister

Images | gov.kz

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday appointed Askarbek Yertayev as Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, Qazinform News Agency cites Akorda.

Askarbek Yertayev was born in 1977 in Aktobe, where he graduated from the Zhubanov Aktobe State University, ‘NUR’ Aktobe Institute of Management, Business, and Law.

Yertayev embarked on his professional path in 1997 with a role as a specialist (Category 2) in industry, transport, communications, construction, and public utility sector in the Mugalzhar district administration in Akmola region. In 2024, Yertayev was named as Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population. Later, he became First Deputy Labor and Social Protection Minister.

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27.01.2026, 15:30 31256

Zhakupova relieved of post as Kazakhstan's labor and social protection minister

Images | primeminister.kz

The Head of State issued a decree removing Svetlana Zhakupova as Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, Qazinform News Agency reports via Akorda.

Born in Karaganda region, Zhakupova graduated from the Tselinograd State Pedagogical Institute, Almaty Academy of Economics and Statistics. On September 2, 2023, Zhakupova was appointed as the minister of labor and social protection of the population of Kazakhstan. She was reappointed to the minister position in February 2024.

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27.01.2026, 13:40 32376

Government Approved the Unified "Children of Kazakhstan" Concept

was reviewed. Reports were delivered by Minister of Education Zhuldyz Suleimenova, Minister of Healthcare Akmaral Alnazarova, and Minister of Internal Affairs Yerlan Sadenov, primeminister.kz reports.

Today, Kazakhstan is home to approximately 7 million children, which accounts for more than one third of the country’s population, or 34%.

The future of the country depends on the conditions in which our children grow up. That is why, at the National Kurultai, the Head of State instructed the development of a unified ‘Children of Kazakhstan’ Concept. Comprehensive care for children is our top priority, and the state is implementing a set of measures aimed at improving the quality of life of children. The ‘Children of Kazakhstan’ Concept includes a specific action plan to protect children’s rights in the fields of education, healthcare, safety, social protection, and family well-being," Olzhas Bektenov emphasized.

It was noted that in recent years a number of measures have been taken to improve the system for protecting children’s rights.

The legislative framework has been significantly expanded, particularly with regard to ensuring the inevitability of punishment for crimes committed against children.
A unified contact center 111 operates on issues related to family matters and the protection of the rights of women and children. Assistance is provided and inspections are conducted for all appeals.
Regional commissioners for children’s rights operate in all regions.

From February 1, a special procedure for control and supervision of educational organizations based on the principle of unannounced inspections is being introduced. These measures concern issues of child safety, health improvement, and nutrition. In this regard, the Prime Minister instructed the Ministries of Healthcare, Education, Culture, Labor and Social Protection of the Population, Tourism, and Internal Affairs, together with regional akimats, to form by January 30 of the current year a register of facilities subject to special control and supervision.

To strengthen the protection of children’s rights, a new staffing standard for guardianship authorities has been introduced, providing for at least one specialist per 5,000 children. This made it possible to increase the number of such specialists by more than three times within one year. Based on these specialists, regional departments for the protection of children’s rights are being established.

At the same time, Olzhas Bektenov noted that in a number of regions work in this area is being carried out insufficiently actively. Such work has been completed only in Akmola Region, Aktobe Region, and in the capital. The remaining akimats were instructed to complete the establishment of the relevant departments within two months.

Attention was drawn to the implementation of a new form of family placement-the professional foster family-which has been in effect since July 1 of last year. Funding has been allocated for these purposes; however, work on introducing this mechanism has not been sufficiently intensified in the regions. Akimats were instructed to take the necessary measures.

The Prime Minister pointed out ongoing problem issues in the field of children’s healthcare, including shortages of medical specialists, medicines, and opportunities for child rehabilitation, as well as a lack of highly specialized professionals such as defectologists, speech therapists, and audiologists for children with special educational needs.

The need was emphasized to strengthen measures to ensure children’s safety, including in the digital environment, and to expand access to supplementary education and modern educational technologies in rural areas. Adolescents face a lack of attention and limited opportunities for self-realization.

It was stressed that work in these areas should be carried out on a systemic basis, with strengthened interagency coordination among the Ministries of Education, Healthcare, Labor and Social Protection, Internal Affairs, and regional akimats.

As a result of achieving the target indicators set out in the Concept, a sustainable system for the development, support, and protection of children should be formed.

The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Education, together with interested state bodies and akimats, to ensure high-quality and timely implementation of the Concept’s measures, to establish effective interaction with the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, and, jointly with the Ministry of Culture and Information, to organize an information campaign for its implementation.

Following the vote, the Government approved the unified "Children of Kazakhstan" Concept.

Overall coordination has been assigned to Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva.

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27.01.2026, 11:30 29981

Kazakhstan to digitalize 5 mln geological records by yearend

Kazakhstan is implementing a large-scale project to digitalize geological data using artificial intelligence, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Construction.

The main objective of the digitization effort is to convert historical geological records-around 5 million items created between the 1950s and 1990s and held in geological archives across Kazakhstan-into a machine-readable format using AI technologies. This will provide centralized access to structured, reliable and comprehensive geological data nationwide, a key factor in investment decision-making in the subsoil use sector.

To date, 97.5% of the total volume of primary geological information has already been digitized, amounting to nearly 4.7 million individual data storage items. These include 4,289,571 sheets of paper materials, 250,000 sheets of graphical appendices, 96,020 magnetic tapes and 62,245 cartridges.

The complete digitization and systematization of all geological information in Kazakhstan is expected to be finalized by the end of 2026.

Upon completion, the project is expected to deliver several key outcomes, including the conversion of textual, tabular and graphical data into a machine-readable format, the creation of a structured database based on a comprehensive geographic information system with spatial data filtering capabilities, the training of specialists in artificial intelligence and data science, and the deployment of an interactive map, analytical tools and an intelligent chatbot.

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Khalyk Kenesi to be granted power to call referendum

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