Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, has received prestigious Skytrax awards for “Best Airline in Central Asia and CIS” for the tenth time and “Best Service in Central Asia and CIS” for the first time. Awards were presented to all winners at a Skytrax Awards ceremony in London today.

“Since it was launched 20 years ago, Air Astana steadily built a reputation for safety, efficiency and outstanding customer service. We are once again honoured to receive  awards from Skytrax today, which perfectly reflect our commitment to the very highest standards  of excellence and recognition from our devoted passengers. I would like to thank every one of our almost six thousand staff for their professionalism and dedication on this proud occasion,” said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana.

"Air Astana is celebrating its tenth win this year. The airline's management and employees should be proud of this success and of winning the award for Best Airline and Best Service in Central Asia and CIS. The past two years have been very challenging for the aviation industry; therefore, this award confirms the high quality service that Air Astana continues to provide to its customers,” said Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax Awards.

Winners of Skytrax Awards are determined through an annual passenger survey. More than 300 airlines were evaluated between September 2021 and August 2022. More than 14 million people from 100 nationalities participated in this survey in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. Survey participants rated the airline's website, check-in and boarding procedures, cabin cleanliness, IFE, crew appearance and service, food quality, comfort of seats and more.

Air Astana received the Skytrax "Best Airline in Central Asia and India" award for the first time in 2011 and this was followed a year later by being the first airline in the CIS and Eastern Europe to receive a four-star Skytrax award. From 2013 to 2015, Air Astana was awarded the Skytrax Award for “Best Service in Central Asia and India” and in 2021, it was certified by Skytrax for COVID-19.

On September 7, 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov had a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi.

During the meeting, the parties noted the important role of the high-level and highest level visits in the development of the interstate relations. The diplomats highlighted the need to expand the legal base of the bilateral cooperation.

The launch ceremony of the pilot project of the Global Transit Document took place on August 17, 2022 at the Berkarar Hotel of the Avaza National Tourist Zone.

The Global Transit Document (GTrD), which is a universal digital solution for the development of multimodal transportation, is the result of fruitful cooperation between the Permanent Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Commission of the International Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) with the International Center for Transport Diplomacy, the Intergovernmental Council of Road Workers of the CIS, and the world's largest developers of IT technologies, as well as with countries that have shown interest in piloting the GTrD.

The launch ceremony of the pilot project of the Global Transit Document was attended by the Executive Secretary of the International Center for Transport Diplomacy I.Runov, the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Council of Road Workers of the Commonwealth of Independent States B.Karimov, as well as representatives of the countries of the region - Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The speakers emphasized that at the turn of the third decade of the 21st century, economic realities and trends in the development of the world economy created an obvious need for the development and implementation of a unified Global Transit Document in order to optimize the management of the transport process along multimodal corridors connecting states of different regions and continents.

The introduction of a digital platform of the global transit network based on the latest technologies using the Global Transit Document will make it possible to extend the customs guarantee and insurance regime, as well as ensure the traceability of goods and vehicles along the entire route from the starting point to the destination.

At the end of the official launch ceremony of the pilot project of the Global Transit Document, its participants adopted a Joint Statement, in which they confirmed the readiness of the parties for further cooperation in promoting the proposal to create a global digital transit network at various levels, as well as within the United Nations.

Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgie completed his Official Visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan, within the framework of the Caspian cooperation, supports, firstly, the expansion of transit-transport and investment cooperation, the creation of new multimodal routes, including using the Caspian transport corridors that are not fully involved. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi, speaking at a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Caspian countries on Tuesday.

Secondly, it is necessary to ensure the diversification of trade channels, the diplomat continued, calling on colleagues to jointly oppose trade protectionism, open markets, stimulate international trade and contacts between people.

Among other priority positions of Kazakhstan, Tleuberdi also named the addition of efforts in the field of protection and improvement of the state of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea, the adoption of coordinated decisions to prevent pollution of its waters.

Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov met with his Kazakh counterpart Mukhtar Tleuberdi in Nur-Sultan on Tuesday, where a meeting of foreign ministers in the Central Asia–China format is taking place.

During the conversation, the parties discussed regional policy issues, exchanged views on topical international issues. The most important topic of the talks was the Caspian issues and the holding of the 6th meeting of the heads of the Caspian states in Turkmenistan in 2022, according to the website of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

Rashid Meredov and Mukhtar Tleuberdi assessed the prospects for increasing bilateral trade and economic cooperation, as well as the interaction of the two countries in the regional context. In particular, attention was paid to the importance of maximizing the use of land and sea transport infrastructure in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili held a meeting with the Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for International Affairs, Erzhan Kazykhanov and his associates.

According to the administration of the Ministry of Economics, deputy Ministers of Economy and Sustainable Development, Guram Guramishvili and Genadi Arveladze as well as General Director of JSC Georgian Railway, Davit Peradze also attended the meeting.

Trade, economic, transport and logistical cooperation between Georgia and Kazakhstan were discussed at the meeting. It was noted that the economic relations between the countries are characterized by growing dynamics, although the potential for expansion of cooperation is much larger.

When discussing transport and logistics links, the parties stressed the need for coordinated work to attract cargo flows through the transport corridor to Kazakhstan and Georgia. It was noted that Georgia’s transport infrastructure is as ready as possible to transport cargo to Kazakhstan and Central Asia, in general.

The Kazakh side expressed interest in increasing the cargo turnover in the corridor to Georgia. It was noted that in 2022 Kazakhstan plans to transport 2-3 million tons of oil through the Georgian corridor, while in the coming years it is planned to further increase this figure.

The parties agreed to make joint efforts to attract and serve the transportation of goods in the transport corridors through Georgia and Kazakhstan in the long run.

On March 15, 2022, a telephone conversation took place between President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym Zhomart Tokayev.

The leader of Kazakhstan cordially congratulated the leader of the nation on the successful presidential elections held in the country, which demonstrated the steadfastness of Turkmenistan's course towards the progressive development and democratization of society.

The head of Kazakhstan noted that under the leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Turkmenistan has changed beyond recognition in recent years; its international authority has significantly increased. As emphasized, Kazakhstan always supports the creative initiatives of the Turkmen side and sincerely rejoices at the success of the fraternal people.

Expressing his sincere gratitude to his Kazakh counterpart for the congratulations and for the high appreciation of the elections, the head of state, in turn, thanked the Kazakh side for active participation in the elections as observers and assistance in organizing the voting of citizens of Turkmenistan in Kazakhstan.

Informing that, following the results of the elections announced today by the Central Election Commission of the country, Serdar Berdimuhamedov was elected the new President of Turkmenistan, the Turkmen leader noted that from now on he intends to continue his active political activity in the new capacity of Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of the Milli Gengesh of Turkmenistan.

Having noted with satisfaction the fruitfulness of many years of personal contacts and joint work over the past years to expand interstate cooperation, the head of Turkmenistan expressed confidence that the constructive Turkmen-Kazakh dialogue would continue to grow steadily and be filled with new content for the benefit of the two fraternal peoples.

Then the leader of the nation handed over the handset to the newly elected President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov.

President Kassym Zhomart Tokayev, reaffirming his country's focus on the further development of the multifaceted Turkmen-Kazakh cooperation, cordially congratulated the newly elected President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov on his victory in the presidential election and wished him good health and great success in his responsible work at the highest state post.

In turn, the newly elected head of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, expressing sincere gratitude for the congratulations and good wishes, declared his readiness to continue the current progressive foreign policy, in which an important role is given to building up a mutually beneficial multifaceted partnership with fraternal Kazakhstan.

In conclusion, the interlocutors expressed firm confidence that the goodwill and cooperation, which have been linking the two peoples since ancient times, will successfully develop for the benefit of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Saying goodbye, the parties exchanged wishes of peace, well-being and prosperity to the Turkmen and Kazakh peoples.

Today, on February 7, 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan R.O.Meredov had a telephone talk with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan M.B.Tileuberdi.

In the light of the agreements reached between the Presidents of Turkmenistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan, the heads of the foreign policy agencies of the two countries discussed the broad range of issues connected with strengthening of bilateral cooperation.

In this context, the sides agreed to further expand interstate contacts, in particular, on the line of Interstate Turkmen-Kazakh Commission on economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation/

Press-Service of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan

We take to heart the tragic events in Kazakhstan that have claimed dozens of lives, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated during today's Cabinet meeting.

The Head of Government also spoke about Georgian citizens in Kazakhstan, with some of them already having returned home, and the embassy maintaining active communication with those remaining on the ground, assisting them as-needed basis; they will return home in next few days.

"Allow me to comment on the situation in Kazakhstan. We are keeping a close eye on the events of the past few days. We take to heart the tragic events in Kazakhstan. We hope that all steps will be taken as fast as possible to deescalate the situation, ensure safety and stability. We want Kazakhstan to leave this crisis behind soon in order to continue its path toward development. As for Georgian citizens in Kazakhstan, the Georgian embassy is maintaining contact with them as much as possible to assist them on the ground. As a result of the Government's active work, some have already returned. The embassy maintains active communication with those remaining on the ground, assisting them as-needed basis; they will return to Georgia in next few days," the Prime Minister said.

Press Service of the Government Administration