Media briefing held in Astana

    At a media briefing in Astana, the Official Spokesman for the Central Communication Service under the President of Kazakhstan, Altai Abibullayev, announced that on January 18^th that the head of state will have an annual meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions.
    Next week, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov will also hold a number of meetings.
    The Cabinet will discuss the development of Kazakhstan’s space industry and the establishment of specialised population service centres.
    On January 15, the cabinet will also discuss preparations for Expo 2017 to be held in Astana. At the same time, the Secretary General of the International Exhibitions Bureau will pay a two-day visit to Astana. As part of his trip to Kazakhstan, Vicente Loscertales will meet with the country’s officials, the prime minister and Astana Akim.
    Abibullayev stated, “The Secretary General of the International Exhibitions Bureau will discuss the organization and staging of EXPO-2017 in Astana. Additionally, it is planned to review the plan for jointly developed events. This is the first visit on part of the Secretary General of the BIE to Kazakhstan after Astana’s victory as the Expo 2017 host country. In accordance with the rules of the organization, we will make a presentation on the project implementation progress twice a year, to be presented at assembly sessions. It is also planned to prepare regular reports about the work being done.
    The Head of the Kazakh Natural Monopolies Regulation Agency Murat Ospanov also took part in the media briefing and said that to date, the country had introduced its peak-period tariffs for energy depending on the amount of electricity consumption and on the time of the day, which resolved the energy conservation issue.
    The same principal has been successfully operating in terms of water consumption. Moreover, Ospanov also explained the reasons for the 12% increase in prices for railways tickets imposed in January.
    Additional earnings will be used for the major repairs of 50 carriages and the purchase of 159 new carriages and other equipment, Caspionet wrote.