Skopje, September 16, 2026 – As Ambassador Satybaldy Burshakov concludes his tenure as Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of North Macedonia, he had held farewell meetings with H.E. President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, H.E. Chairman of the Assembly Afrim Gashi, and H.E. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mucunski.
President Siljanovska-Davkova warmly recalling her visit to Astana in 2025 conveyed her best wishes to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. She highly appreciated the President’s vision for the further development of Kazakhstan and positively assessed the progress of political reforms.
During the meeting, Ambassador Burshakov presented President Siljanovska-Davkova with a congratulatory letter from President Tokayev on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Speaker of the Assembly Afrim Gashi expressed support for strengthening close ties with Kazakhstan’s Kuryltai. Ambassador Burshakov briefed him in detail on the activities of new unicameral Parliament.
Foreign Minister Timcho Mucunski thanked Ambassador Burshakov for his significant contribution to bilateral relations and presented him with a Certificate of Appreciation. The Minister expressed hope for the further deepening of cooperation between the two countries.
The interlocutors congratulated Ambassador Burshakov on his election as a member of the Kuryltai of Kazakhstan.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova on the national holiday of the Republic of North Macedonia – Independence Day.
The telegram noted the progressive development of bilateral relations based on the bonds of friendship and mutual understanding.
The President of Kazakhstan wished Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova success in her responsible work, and well–being and prosperity to the people of North Macedonia.
Ohrid, 4 August 2026 – The Ambassador of Kazakhstan to North Macedonia, Satybaldy Burshakov, paid an official visit to the city of Ohrid.
During a meeting with the Mayor of the city, Kiril Pecakov, opportunities for the development of cooperation were discussed, with a particular emphasis on cultural exchange and the promotion of tourism.
Ambassador Burshakov introduced to the head of the region the newly appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Ohrid, Gjorgje Vojnovikj, and formally presented him with the Consular Patent.
Furthermore, Ambassador Burshakov briefed the Mayor on the key political and socio-economic developments of Kazakhstan, as well as on the prospects for expanding Kazakh-Macedonian cooperation.
Mayor Pecakov informed the Ambassador about the activities of the municipality, its history, the economic potential of the region, and the 66th traditional «Ohrid Summer Festival» taking place July-August this year. He extended an invitation to the artists and cultural groups from Kazakhstan to actively participate in the festival's programs.
The parties noted that the opening of the Honorary Consulate of Kazakhstan in Ohrid would provide an additional impetus to the development of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the expansion of economic and cultural ties.
Mayor Pecakov welcomed the recent mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee members to Ohrid with the participation of a representative of Kazakhstan, expressing gratitude to the UNESCO Committee for its constructive engagement on issues related to the preservation and protection of cultural heritage sites and the environment of the Ohrid region.
At the end of the meeting, the Ambassador expressed his gratitude to the Mayor for his warm hospitality and presented him with a commemorative book entitled «National Customs and Traditions of the Kazakhs».
For reference: Ohrid is a picturesque resort city in the southwest of North Macedonia (approximately 50,000 inhabitants), situated on the north-eastern shore of Lake Ohrid – the deepest lake in Europe – which is one of the country's major tourist destinations.
Ohrid has been known since the 7th century, and its multi-ethnic population includes Macedonians, Albanians, Turks, Vlachs, Serbs, and Bosniaks.
Owing to its numerous churches and monasteries, the city is renowned as the Balkan and European Jerusalem. The Ohrid region is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The annual cultural event «Ohrid SummerFestival» is a well-known and prominent event of the entire Balkan region. Ohrid combines the features of a historic city and a popular summer resort.
Ohrid international airport is operational, with main flights currently operating from Istanbul, Vienna, Warsaw, Milan, Amsterdam, Zurich, Basel, Bratislava, and Dortmund.
The 5th Comic Con Astana will be held in Astana on August 6-9. It will bring together fans of film, TV series, comics, video games, anime, and contemporary pop culture from around the world.
In 2026, Comic Con Astana, like last year, will be held across two venues. The festival's main stage and headliner events will be held at Barys Arena.
Simultaneously, the Alau Ice Palace will be transformed into a large-scale exhibition space, featuring themed zones, company and partner booths, gaming spaces, presentations, interactive activities, and numerous entertainment options for guests.
Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, known for his role as Jaime Lannister in the cult series Game of Thrones, has been announced as the first headliner for Comic Con Astana 2026. The actor's filmography also includes such well-known projects as "Black Hawk Down," "Kingdom of Heaven," "Oblivion," "Gods of Egypt," "Mama," "Shot into the Void," as well as the series "The Last Thing He Told Me" and "The King and the Conqueror."
Another star appearing at Comic Con Astana will be Iñaki Godoy. He is considered one of the most exciting young actors of his generation after the release of the series "One Piece," which became one of Netflix's most successful premieres. His character, the cheerful pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy, quickly won the hearts of millions of viewers worldwide. In addition to "One Piece," the actor is also known for his roles in the series "Imperfect," "Who Killed Sara?", and others.
At the Astana festival, Iñaki Godoy is expected to perform on the main stage, answer fan questions, and participate in autograph and photo sessions. In addition to international film stars, Comic Con Astana 2026 will feature popular bloggers, content creators, and representatives of the global cosplay industry.
Special guests at the festival include:
- Kamui Cosplay, a world-renowned creative duo from Germany, recognized as one of the leaders in the global cosplay industry and specializing in creating highly detailed costumes;
- SuperCrastan (Danya Kraster), one of the most famous Russian-speaking YouTube bloggers, an inventor and science popularizer, and the creator of large-scale DIY projects and unusual engineering experiments;
- Jane Kravitz, a popular YouTube channel dedicated to mysterious stories, investigations, and documentary video essays;
- Karrambaby, a popular Russian vlogger with a multi-million audience on Instagram and YouTube, where she publishes content about fashion, travel, and everyday life;
- Dobryak is one of the most famous animators on Russian-language YouTube, the creator of viral animated videos with millions of views;
- Dalbek is a popular Kazakhstani blogger and creator of entertainment content, known for his reviews of films, cartoons, and animation.
A traditional feature of Comic Con Astana is the international cosplay competition, which annually brings together the best participants from around the world. This year, the prize fund will be 20 million tenge, making it one of the largest cosplay tournaments in the region.
Over the years, Comic Con Astana has established itself as the largest festival of contemporary pop culture in Central Asia.
Over the years, its headliners have included Mads Mikkelsen, Andy Serkis, Pilou Asbæk, Scott Adkins, Esai Morales, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Percy Hines White, and Alexander Kuznetsov.
Dear friends!
As part of the Skopje Summer Festival, we are pleased to invite you to attend the concert "Melodies of the Great Steppe", featuring the Ayala choreographic group and the Tarlan folk ensemble from Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
Date: July 17, 2026
Time: 8:30 PM
Venue: Francophonie Park, Skopje
We express our sincere gratitude to the Akimat (Municipality) of Karaganda for its support in promoting Kazakh national art in Europe.
Astana, June 1, 2026 – The International Center for Interfaith and Interreligious Dialogue (ICIID) hosted an international online conference titled “The Role of Religious Leaders in Achieving Sustainable Peace and Development.” During the event, the Center presented two concept documents to its international partners: the “Ethical Code for the Use of Artificial Intelligence” and “The Role of Religions in Combating Climate Change.”
The conference brought together representatives of religious organizations, academic institutions, expert communities, and international organizations from Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom, Russia, Argentina, Thailand, North Macedonia, and India. Discussions focused on implementing the 2025 Astana Peace Declaration and the Development Concept of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for 2023–2033.
Opening the conference, Maksat Ramankulov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Religious Affairs under the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, highlighted the importance of state-confessional partnerships. He noted that the Kazakhstani model demonstrates how civil peace demands joint efforts from both secular institutions and religious communities.
Gulsana Kozhabay, Chair of the Center's Board, emphasized that while faith-based diplomacy does not resolve every conflict, it helps preserve dialogue during periods of acute tension. Referring to the VIII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, held in Astana in September 2025, she noted that Jewish and Muslim representatives remained at the same table and continued their engagement despite heightened sensitivities regarding developments in the Middle East.
She also stressed the need to transition faith-based diplomacy into practical action. These priorities include establishing ethical frameworks for artificial intelligence and mounting a collective response to climate change — two issues addressed by the Center’s current initiatives.
Marwan Sarwar Gill, President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Argentina, spoke about the universal understanding of peace in the Islamic tradition. Citing the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, he emphasized that human dignity must not depend on race, nationality, or origin. Imam Gill rejected the notion of selective peace, arguing that a holistic approach provides a crucial foundation for global security.
Yulia Shapoval, Acting Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Gumilyov Eurasian National University, highlighted the rise of digital radicalization. She noted that religious and expert communities must keep pace with emerging challenges in the information age, arguing that educational and peace-oriented content must become more visible to counter destructive narratives in the digital space.
Ivan Ivanov, Chairman of the Board of the International Center “Alliance of Civilizations,” underscored the importance of critical thinking in preventing ethnic and religious violence. In his view, education should go beyond transmitting cultural identity; it should cultivate conscience, empathy, and responsibility. Philosophy and ethics, he argued, deserve a more prominent place in educational curricula.
Dr. Matthias Bodi of the University of Oxford's Faculty of Theology and Religion observed that deep faith and open dialogue are not in conflict. Intellectual honesty and respectful interfaith engagement, he stated, help build a culture in which disagreement does not turn into hostility.
Several speakers, including Rostislav Novgorodov, Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kazakhstan; Tokzhan Kozhakhmetova, representative of the Baha’i Community of Kazakhstan; and Rudraksha Sakrikar, Rector of Somaiya Vidyavihar University, emphasized the special role of youth. They stressed that youth should be regarded not only as beneficiaries of education but also as active contributors to positive social change, mutual trust, and intercultural cooperation.
Sergei Melnik, Head of the Department of Philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences, proposed organizing an international roundtable in 2027 to mark the twentieth anniversary of the landmark document “A Common Word Between Us and You.” The initiative aims to further strengthen Christian-Muslim dialogue and deepen trust between religious traditions.
Concluding the conference, participants agreed on the importance of moving beyond interfaith dialogue toward practical cooperation, identifying sustainable peace, ethical governance of new technologies, climate responsibility, education, and the prevention of radicalization as key areas.
As part of the OpenAI delegation’s visit to Kazakhstan, a meeting was held with Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Zhaslan Madiyev.
The parties discussed the development of cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence, the implementation of joint educational initiatives, the deployment of ChatGPT Edu tools, as well as future areas of partnership aimed at strengthening practical AI skills among students, educators, and professionals.
During the meeting, OpenAI representatives also presented analytical insights on ChatGPT usage in Kazakhstan.
The country has joined the group of nations demonstrating a high level of artificial intelligence adoption and significantly outperforms other Central Asian countries. For comparison, Kyrgyzstan ranks 52nd and Uzbekistan 58th in the global ranking of consumer ChatGPT use per capita. These results confirm that Kazakh society is highly prepared for the practical use of advanced AI technologies.
«Our systematic initiatives for the development of artificial intelligence are built upon society’s readiness to embrace these technologies.The findings of study demonstrate not only a strong strong interest in emerging technologies, but also the growing adoption of practical Ai skills among the population. Citizens are already actively integrating ChatGPT into their daily lives for learning, work-related tasks, information retrieval, and content creation. This high level of adoption provides a solid foundation for the further integration of AI into education, business, and public administration, while also strengthening Kazakhstan’s position as one of the region’s technological leaders.», said Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development.
AI Adoption Trends in Kazakhstan
According to Valerie Focke, International Education Lead at OpenAI: «Kazakhstan is already among the countries actively embracing artificial intelligence. ChatGPT adoption is high by international standards, young people are leading the way in AI usage, and engagement with the technology is remarkably balanced across genders. The next step is helping people unlock even greater value from artificial intelligence. That is why we are partnering with Kazakhstan on educational initiatives that combine responsible AI tools with educator training, local implementation, and impact assessment, ensuring that access to technology translates into meaningful opportunities for students, teachers, and future professionals».
Analytics of AI tools usage in Kazakhstan for Consumer ChatGPT Use:
Key Use Cases: Kazakhstani users most frequently rely on ChatGPT for practical guidance and how-to instructions (32.8%), writing and editing texts (25%), and information search (18%).
Task-Oriented Usage:More than 42% of messages are formulated as questions or requests for information. Around 32% are aimed at completing specific tasks, while 26% relate to self-expression and creative purposes.
Integration into Professional Workflows: AI is increasingly becoming a professional tool. As of March 2026, 23% of messages from users in Kazakhstan were related to work activities. In this context, AI is most commonly used for text related tasks and technical assistance.
Demographic Overview:Young people remain the primary drivers of AI adoption. Users aged 18–24 account for 36.2% of all messages, while those aged 25–34 generate 35.8%. Together, users between 18 and 34 years old are responsible for 72% of all requests. Younger users tend to use AI more frequently for text and multimedia-related tasks, whereas the 25–34 age group relies on it more often for technical support.
Gender Balance: The distribution between users with names traditionally associated with men and women was nearly equal, accounting for 50.3% and 49.7% respectively.
OpenAI’s visit to Kazakhstan comes as part of the country’s national initiative to advance the integration of artificial intelligence into education. Through this program, 165,000 educators across Kazakhstan are being granted access to ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT specifically designed for educational institutions.
The initiative is being implemented in partnership with Bilim Group, the program’s technology integration partner. Bilim Group is overseeing the integration of OpenAI’s technologies into the national education system and contributing to the development of methodological frameworks for the effective use of AI in schools, colleges, and universities nationwide.
The visit was organized by Bilim UpSkill, an initiative within the Bilim Group ecosystem.
Skopje, May 10, 2026 – Ambassador of Kazakhstan to North Macedonia, Satybaldy Burshakov, took part in a diplomatic tennis tournament held on the occasion of Europe Day and the Day of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the Republic of North Macedonia. The tournament, titled «Business Meets Diplomacy», was organized under the auspices of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, H.E. Timcho Mucunski.
The event was attended by the Ambassadors of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of the Embassies of the United States, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Highlighting the symbolism of the tournament, the diplomatic tennis event, which brought together representatives of the diplomatic corps and the business community, served as an effective platform for informal communication and the strengthening of professional ties.
The participation of a Kazakh diplomat in the tournament, who won the honorary second place, underscored the commitment to active involvement in the social and sports life of the diplomatic community in North Macedonia, thereby contributing to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle.