Glorious, 95-year long path of Kazinform
One of the leading information agencies on the post-Soviet space - KAZINFORM - marks today its 95th anniversary.
Our Agency was established on August 13, 1920 as Orenburg-Turgay department of the Russian Telegraph Agency (Rosta) under the All-Union Central Executive Committee. In 1921 the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the Kirgiz (Kazakh) ASSR was adopted following which Rosta Orenburg-Turgay was transformed into KirROSTA. Later the Agency was renamed into KazROSTA, and then KazTASS. Since 1937 it functioned as KazTAG as part of the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS). The history of Kazinform is inextricably connected with the history of Kazakhstan, since both in Soviet period and after gaining independence KazTAG served as the main source of political news for all domestic media. It also played a leading role in coverage of the country's economic projects. Besides, KazTAG was imposed an important duty to translate the most important political documents and speeches of the country's leadership, thus contributing significantly to the development of the Kazakh language and raising political awareness of the Kazakh society. In July 1991, upon the adoption of the Declaration of Kazakhstan's State Sovereignty, President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the Resolution on transferring the news agency of the Council of Ministers to the Kazakh State News Agency KazTAG being accountable only to the Government of the republic. In 1997 Kazakh News Agency (KazAAG) was established on the ground of KazTAG. Later, in November 2002 the Agency was transformed into the Kazakh Information Agency National Company. In January 2014 it was renamed into Kazinform International News Agency LLP.
Since the first days of independence the Agency has been offering the most reliable and full information on the activities of governmental structures, amendments inserted to the legislation, appointments and reshuffles at the highest levels of power. It publishes the presidential decrees and governmental resolutions, thus providing consistent information support to the reforms conducted in Kazakhstan. The latest news from every corner of the republic and abroad can be found on Kazinform's newslines. The journalists of Kazinform are actively involved in all world-level forums held in Kazakhstan ensuring their full and detailed coverage which, in turn, contributes to the popularization of Kazakhstan in the world and maintaining its positive image at the international arena. Alongside, our correspondents cover the official trips of the President and other high-level authorities of the republic abroad. Kazinform is the first to post their speeches on its website and inform the world community of Kazakhstan's initiatives. For instance, on April 13, 2010 Kazinform posted the President's speech delivered at the First session of the Global Nuclear Safety Summit held in Washington, USA. "Kazakhstan that has fully experienced the horror of the nuclear tests and closed the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site and voluntarily renounced the fourth in the world nuclear arsenal is a confident supporter of the global process of non-proliferation and reduction of nuclear weapons in close cooperation with the IAEA," he said addressing the participants of the Summit. Being the President of the first country in the world which renounced the nuclear weapon and closed the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site the Head of State made some vitally important propositions during the event. In particular, N.Nazarbayev told about Kazakhstan's readiness to deploy the International Nuclear Fuel Bank in its territory to contribute to the development of the world's nuclear energy. Today we can see successful implementation of this idea which raises the international authority of our country and promotes technological growth of our economy. Along with this, the President proposed to adopt international legal standards for nuclear-weapon-free areas including negative security assurances for participating countries and to adopt The Treaty on Fissile Material Cutoff and enact the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
We all remember the OSCE Summit in Astana in 2010, which became one of the biggest political events of the time. Diplomats of Kazakhstan and Nursultan Nazarbayev personally made a lot of efforts for Kazakhstan being elected as a presiding country in the OSCE and for Astana being chosen as a venue for the OSCE Summit. The speech of Secretary of State of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev in the headquarters of the OSCE in September of 2007 played its part in the process. He noted in his speech that Kazakhstan was ready to co-finance the projects of the OSCE that are important for the Central Asian region. It was the statement that demonstrated the entire world the political maturity and economic independence of Kazakhstan. "We are determined to make the OSCE stronger as a bridge between the West and the East in its dialogue of civilizations, which we support," K. Saudabayev said.
One of the most important achievements in the foreign policy of Kazakhstan was signing of the agreement on strategic partnership with France. On June 11, 2008, Kazinform informed the world about this fact as well as about the fact that Nursultan Nazarbayev was awarded the Order of Legion d'Honneur. France is one of the most powerful states in the international arena and is one of the key partners of Kazakhstan in Europe. Signing of the agreement allowed Kazakhstan to significantly expand and deepen cooperation with France.
Despite the fact the there are many Internet news resources working in the country, Kazinform remains one of the leaders in the information sphere, mostly thanks to its great experience accumulated over these long years. Kazinform has the largest correspondent network in Kazakhstan among all information agencies. Correspondents of Kazinform work in Astana, Almaty, Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, Baikonyr, Karaganda, Kokshetau, Kostanay, Kyzylorda, Pavlodar, Petropavlovsk, Taraz, Taldykorgan, Uralsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shymkent. Besides, there are correspondents working in Russia, the UAE, China, Uzbekistan, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan. It allows the agency to provide information about the events taking place globally and in Kazakhstan as quick as possible.
www.nkkazinform.kz website was first launched on January 22, 2002. Presently, Kazinform is among the leaders of 527 Internet news resources registered in the territory of the CIS. Kazinform is among the top ten news portals of Kazakhstan and about 45 thousand people from 229 world countries visit our website daily. More than 80 thousand people are subscribed to the accounts and news channels of the agency on the social networks.
Kazinform is a member of five international associations of information agencies: OANA - the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies; ANIA - the Association of National News Agencies of the CIS; TKA - the Association of News Agencies of Turkic speaking countries; ACSNA - the Association of Caspian Sea News Agencies. Besides, Kazinform is a partner of 12 international information agencies, such as ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, Kabar, BelTA, etc. More than a hundred information agencies refer to the materials published on the website of Kazinform.
Kazinform has English, Russian, Chinese and Kazakh versions. Moreover, Kazinform has such a service that provides for publishing news in the Kazakh language using Latin and Arabic transcription. Thus, thanks to Kazinform, the Kazakhs living in China, Turkey and other countries who do not know the Cyrillic alphabet can read the relevant news about Kazakhstan. In this regard, Kazinform creates a common information field for all the Kazakhs of the world regardless of their place of living. Kazinform is also a source of information for many diplomatic missions, foreign companies, banks and big corporations working in Kazakhstan. Thanks to universal popularity of the English language, Kazinform expands the borders.
The photo site of Kazinform provides an opportunity of purchasing pictures. Since the beginning of the year Kazinform publishes video materials about the most interesting events taking place in the country and beyond its borders.
The work of Kazinform is assessed by the Government of the country. Many Kazakhstani and foreign mass media continue to use the materials of Kazinform in their work because of the trustworthiness of Kazinform. On its 95 th anniversary Kazinform looks forward, works in accordance with international standards and continues to expand its audience around the globe.