Interbank QR Code Payments to Launch Across Kazakhstan on 19 July
Images | Depositphotos
Interbank QR code payments will become available to all Kazakhstanis from 19 July, the National Bank of Kazakhstan announced during the presentation of its nationwide interbank QR payment system.
According to the National Bank, all banks offering retail services through mobile applications have already been connected to the system.
"In accordance with the law, the official nationwide launch date for the Interbank Instant Money Transfer and Payment System (IMTPS) is 19 July 2026. From that date, customers of participating banks will be able to instantly transfer money to customers of other banks using a phone number, as well as pay for goods and services via a QR code regardless of which banks the buyer and seller use. Transfers and payments will be available around the clock and processed in real time," the National Bank said.
The system will also enable businesses to accept cashless payments from customers of all participating banks using a single QR code. Merchants will not need to install new equipment, as the service will operate on existing payment terminals. Users are advised to contact their banks regarding updates to mobile banking applications.
In addition to the National Payment System, Kazakhstan's national digital financial infrastructure includes platforms for biometric identification, the digital tenge, open banking, and the National Anti-Fraud Centre.
The National Payment System currently processes transactions worth around 6.3 trillion tenge each day. More than 340 billion digital tenge have already been issued, while the biometric identification platform processes approximately 3.5 million requests every month.
Since its launch, the National Anti-Fraud Centre has detected more than 165,000 cases of fraud and other illegal financial activities, including schemes linked to financial pyramids and illegal gambling operations.
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Atyrau Region hosts LOTUS FEST 2026
Images | Akimat of Atyrau region
The LOTUS FEST 2026 cultural and tourism festival has opened in the village of Teniz in the Kurmangazy district, the regional communications service said.
The festival is dedicated to the region’s lotus fields and aims to attract more tourists to the Atyrau Region.
"This festival not only introduces the wider public to the natural beauty of the lotus fields, but also helps boost the region’s tourism potential. Such unique natural attractions will help increase the number of visitors to the Atyrau Region," Kurmangazy district akim Abat Zhangaliyev said at the opening ceremony.
A concert programme was organised for festival visitors, featuring performances by the Sarmad ethno-folk ensemble, the Zhaiyk Kyzy folk dance ensemble and singer Kuandyk Rakhym.
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Astana Plans District Boundary Changes and Seven New Bus Routes
Astana authorities plan to revise the boundaries of several districts and launch seven additional bus routes, officials said at a city maslikhat meeting on Aug. 14.
Altynbek Akhmetov, head of Astana’s Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Land Relations, said certain sections of the boundaries had been adjusted where they followed the riverbed.
Following the revisions, the district areas will change as follows:
Almaty district will shrink by 106 hectares, from 8,518 to 8,412 hectares;
Yesil district will expand by 87 hectares, from 20,431 to 20,518 hectares;
Saryarka district will expand by 369 hectares, from 6,775 to 7,144 hectares;
Nura district will shrink by 411 hectares, from 18,927 to 18,516 hectares;
Baikonyr district will expand by 61 hectares, from 18,129 to 18,190 hectares.
The changes are intended to update land registry records and bring the districts’ official boundaries into line with their actual boundaries.
The meeting also addressed the development of public transportation. Askhat Karagoishin, head of the Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development, said officials had proposed launching seven additional routes in response to residents’ requests:
No. 67: Prigorodny residential area to Yryskeldi Kazhy Mosque;
No. 74: Uly Dala Avenue to the Yugo-Vostok residential area;
No. 76: Alai Market to the Zheleznodorozhny residential area;
No. 83: Ondiris residential area to the railway station;
No. 506: Zhansugurov Street to the Family Village cottage community;
No. 507: Nurly Zhol railway station to the Zhagalau-4 residential complex;
No. 508: Nurly Zhol railway station to the Logistics Department.
Karagoishin said the new routes were expected to be in high demand, carrying up to 30,000 passengers a day.
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Kazakhstan Pet Owners to Remain Responsible After Abandoning Animals
Kazakhstan is changing its rules on pet ownership. Owners will no longer be able to simply abandon their pets and immediately absolve themselves of responsibility for their care. The amendments have been introduced to the Standard Rules for Keeping and Walking Pets.
If owners can no longer care for their pets, they must make arrangements for the animals’ future. A pet may be transferred to a shelter, a temporary holding facility, or another person or organization capable of providing appropriate care.
However, owners will retain their responsibilities when placing an animal in a temporary holding facility. They must continue to cover the pet’s care until its legal status is determined.
The rules also explicitly state that relinquishing an animal does not terminate the obligations of its owner or the person responsible for it. Those obligations remain in force until the pet is transferred to a new owner or shelter, or until its legal status is determined at a temporary holding facility.
This means owners cannot simply leave an animal at a temporary holding facility and walk away from responsibility for it.
The amendments revise the May 20, 2022, order approving the Standard Rules for Keeping and Walking Pets.
The order will take effect 10 calendar days after its first official publication.
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Volunteers From Eight Countries Join Caspian Sea Action Week in Mangystau
Images | Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture and Information
Caspian Sea Action Week 2026, an international volunteer initiative, has concluded in Kazakhstan’s Mangystau region, the Ministry of Culture and Information said.
The event brought together participants from eight countries: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
They included government officials, international experts, environmentalists, volunteers and youth leaders.
The week featured the "One Caspian - One Future" expert session, the international Caspian Clean Challenge environmental marathon, the opening of the Friendship Alley, and a series of environmental, cultural and youth events.
One of the main events was the international Caspian Hackathon, where participants presented projects focused on environmental protection and sustainable development. The creators of the best projects received awards at the closing ceremony.
Participants were also introduced to "Volunteers of the World," an international volunteer anthem, for the first time.
The international week of action to preserve the Caspian ecosystem began in Aktau on Aug. 7. The initiative brings together volunteers and international organizations to protect the Caspian Sea ecosystem and promote environmental cooperation.
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Google Brings AI-Powered Sign Language Translation to Smartphones
Google DeepMind has introduced a new sign-language-to-text model designed to help Deaf and hard of hearing users communicate through their phones, bringing sign language AI to consumer products for the first time, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The model, called SL2T, powers sign-to-text dictation in Gboard and Live Transcribe on Pixel 11, initially supporting American Sign Language (ASL) to English. Google said more devices and sign languages will follow.
The technology allows users to sign anywhere they would normally type. They can use it to search the web, draft messages and documents, or ask Gemini to complete tasks. In Live Transcribe, users can sign responses during conversations instead of typing them.
Unlike spoken language transcription, sign language translation requires AI to understand independent languages with their own grammars and vocabularies, as well as complex movements involving the hands, arms, torso, head and face.
SL2T was trained on more than 100,000 hours of data covering over 50 sign languages, with about a quarter of the data in ASL. Google said training across different languages, dialects and proficiency levels helps the model learn shared structures.
For privacy, the system does not send raw camera footage to the server. An on-device model tracks points on the signer’s body, and only the resulting geometric coordinates are sent for translation. The original video can then be discarded immediately.
The company developed the system with members and organizations from the Deaf community, including through user studies and the AI Sign Language Advisory Committee.
SL2T is currently available in Gboard and Live Transcribe on Pixel 11 at no additional cost. Google said it plans to expand the technology to additional sign languages and develop sign language generation capabilities.
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Jastar Day Youth Festival Draws 3,000 Participants in Astana
Astana hosted the JASTAR DAY festival dedicated to International Youth Day. The event brought together about 3,000 young people from across Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Today reports.
The festival was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, Astana Deputy Akim Talgat Rakhmanberdi, and representatives of government agencies and youth organizations.
Balayeva read out an address by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev marking International Youth Day.
The president noted that sweeping reforms are underway across all areas of the country and that supporting young people remains one of the government’s key priorities.
"Supporting young people will always remain one of our government’s key priorities. New schools, sports facilities and development centers are being built across the country. Large-scale projects are being implemented, and talented young people are receiving comprehensive support. The Tauelsizdik Urpaktary grant is a clear example of this," the address said.
The festival included an awards ceremony for the Tauelsizdik Urpaktary grant. This year, the authors of 30 projects in science, culture, information technology, media, business and civic engagement received funding. Each winner was awarded a certificate for 3 million tenge to implement their project.
The Tauelsizdik Urpaktary grant was established at the president’s initiative in 2021 to support talented young people. Since the program was launched, 153 young Kazakhstanis have received the grant.
JASTAR DAY also featured talks by speakers working in leadership, media, technology, the arts and social initiatives.
The festival concluded with a concert featuring Kazakh performers Ersultan Omar, DANIAL, Yerkebulan & Bauyrzhan, and other artists.
International Youth Day is observed annually on Aug. 12. It was proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly in 1999 following a recommendation by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, held in Lisbon in 1998.
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AI Uncovers Decades-Old Errors in Chemistry Data
For decades, chemists have relied on handbook values for a molecule’s boiling point to identify substances and plan processes such as distillation. But an artificial-intelligence model has revealed that some trusted numbers in one reference database have been wrong all along, Nature reports.
Sebastian Pios, a theoretical chemist at Zhejiang Lab in Hangzhou, China, was using an AI system to predict the boiling points of several molecules when it began producing values that clashed with long-accepted entries in a 75-year-old reference database. At first, he thought the model was wrong. But when he manually checked the original literature, he found that the reference data were wrong, not the AI model.
In two other cases, Pios’s AI model spotted errors in older papers and reference books - mistakes that have made their way into the scientific canon. One was a typo in a paper; another was incorrect values of century-old boiling-point measurements. Both errors are likely to have caused researchers using the database "a lot of trouble", says Pios.
Pios is one of a growing number of scientists using AI as a tool for auditing scientific knowledge.
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Kazakhstan’s Cultural Moment: Comic Con Astana Draws Record Crowds and Global Talent
Kazakhstan is increasingly becoming a venue for major international events at the intersection of technology, sport and culture. In recent months, the country - and Astana in particular - has hosted a series of events involving representatives from dozens of countries and thousands of participants, ranging from artificial intelligence competitions to major sporting and cultural projects.
The international multisport tournament Games of the Future 2026 recently concluded in the capital. It is one of the most prominent projects in phygital sports, combining traditional and digital disciplines.
A distinctive feature of the tournament is its combination of physical and virtual stages. International teams competed in eight disciplines combining real-world sports with digital technologies. The total prize fund amounted to $4.65 million.
The competitions were held at four sports venues in Astana. A total of 528 pieces of gaming equipment and more than 500 gaming stations were used, while 800 volunteers were involved in organising the event.
According to the organisers, hosting the tournament enabled Kazakh specialists to gain experience in esports, IT, television broadcasting, engineering, logistics and security.
At the same time, Kazakhstan is strengthening its position in science and education. The International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) 2026 was held in Astana from 2 to 8 August, bringing together participants from more than 100 countries and providing a platform for the exchange of knowledge and technological developments.
The Olympiad attracted additional attention following an announcement by Telegram founder Pavel Durov. He said he would provide more than $106,500 in prizes for participants who achieved the best results. According to Durov, the organisers are already in contact with Telegram representatives to arrange the transfer of prize money to the winners.
Political analyst Gaziz Abishev explained how such international projects can influence Kazakhstan's image and strengthen its position on the global stage. In his view, such initiatives can also serve as instruments of "soft power".
"Those who come to humanities and technical Olympiads are not ordinary people, not average school pupils or students, but most likely leaders in their fields. And when these brightest students from the best schools in their countries come to Kazakhstan and spend several days here, Kazakhstan is added to their list of countries they have visited. Of course, some people are indifferent to the countries they visit, while others remember them fondly. And even those who think they are indifferent still retain some kind of impression," the political analyst said.
According to Abishev, the impact of such events may become apparent years later. He believes that the personal experience of spending time in Kazakhstan can influence the attitudes of participants who later go on to occupy leading positions in their respective fields.
"They go on to become leaders in politics, leaders in technology corporations and leaders in start-ups. Not all of them, but some do. And they are more receptive to new start-ups from Kazakhstan. They understand Kazakhstan better and are more favourably disposed towards it when shaping corporate policy. They project a positive attitude towards Kazakhstan," the expert said.
At the same time, Gaziz Abishev noted that a single Olympiad cannot have a significant impact on the country's international image. However, a series of such events can gradually become part of a broader soft power architecture that Kazakhstan, like other countries, uses to strengthen its position on the international stage.
Meanwhile, the cultural agenda is also maintaining momentum. One of the most prominent international events was Comic Con Astana 2026. The festival, which expands the geographical reach of its participants each year, brings together fans of film, gaming and contemporary pop culture, while also attracting international visitors to Astana.
This year, the festival hosted four international headliners for the first time: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Paul Anderson, Iñaki Godoy and Taz Skylar. The actors met fans, took part in Q&A sessions and held autograph and photo sessions.
Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau praised the warm welcome he received in Kazakhstan and said he would like to return to the country to visit Mangystau.
Paul Anderson, known for his role as Arthur Shelby in the television series Peaky Blinders, described Comic Con Astana as the best Comic Con he had ever attended.
The programme also featured an international cosplay competition with a prize fund of 20 million tenge. The festival also included concerts and meetings with bloggers, artists, cosplayers and content creators.
The scale of the event was also reflected in attendance figures. Comic Con Astana 2026 attracted more than 16,000 people on its first day alone, setting a record for the festival.
Against the backdrop of these events, a clear trend is emerging: Kazakhstan is strengthening its presence on the global agenda not only through economics and politics, but also by developing new industries, international communications and platforms that bring professional communities together.
Major sporting, technological, educational and cultural events attract participants and visitors from different countries, expand international contacts and give foreign audiences an opportunity to become more familiar with Kazakhstan. Taken together, such projects are becoming an additional tool for promoting the country and shaping its image abroad.
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