At the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev reported on the current state and future prospects of Kazakhstan’s digital transformation.

As part of the implementation of the President’s instructions to transition to a fully digital country, work is being carried out across six key areas: infrastructure development, cybersecurity, support for the IT industry, GovTech, the digital economy, and the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies.

The head of the ministry reported that in the current and coming years, more than 3,000 villages will be provided with high-speed internet via fiber-optic lines. This will make it possible to cover 99% of the country’s population.

• “Last-mile” project: fiber-optic connections are planned to be brought directly to 400,000 households, improving connectivity for 2.5 million people.
• 5G networks: the technology is already available in 20 cities. The task has been set to expand coverage to 75% of the territory of these megacities.
• Transport corridors: over the next two years, mobile communications will cover 40,000 km of national and regional roads.
• Satellite internet: in addition to the three current operators, the entry of two foreign companies is expected. Internet access will appear on Kazakhstan Temir Zholy trains and on Air Astana aircraft.

Zhaslan Madiyev emphasized that akimats must promptly allocate land plots and ensure access to power grids. Regions have also been granted authority to monitor the quality of communications and impose fines on operators.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted Kazakhstan’s strategic role in the transit of internet traffic between Europe and Asia.

1. By the end of the current year, construction of a fiber-optic cable along the bottom of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan is planned to be completed.
2. On the basis of a domestic facility, the production of 5–6 Earth remote sensing satellites is planned.
3. For the first time in the country’s history, exports of high-tech services in the space sector amounting to USD 75 million are expected.

In the field of cybersecurity, Zhaslan Madiyev focused on strengthening the responsibility of heads of government bodies. Audit results revealed that government institutions often violate information security requirements. The minister reminded that first heads bear personal responsibility for leaks of citizens’ personal data and called for stricter oversight in this area.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the IT market is demonstrating rapid growth:

• Industry revenues: expected to reach 2 trillion tenge for the past year.
• Service exports: Kazakhstan intends to reach USD 1 billion by the end of 2025, fulfilling the President’s instruction ahead of schedule.
• Astana Hub: the number of participants has reached 2,000 companies, a quarter of which are foreign. Startups have attracted more than USD 900 million in investment.
• Venture capital: a fund of funds with a target capital of USD 1 billion has been created to support late-stage startups.

In accordance with the Presidential Decree, from this year the development of government information systems outside the QazTech platform is prohibited.

• A technical audit of all systems is underway to migrate them to the unified platform.
• eGov: 91% of services are available online. An AI assistant for citizens has been introduced.
• Social Wallet: the service will be scaled to cover 10 government support measures.
• Digital offices: Public Service Centers (CSCs) are being transformed into modern digital self-service spaces (Apple Store format).

Zhaslan Madiyev also reported on the implementation of the “AI Movement” initiative, under which nearly 1 million people have been trained.

• Two powerful supercomputers have been launched to serve the needs of science and business.
• The multi-agent platform AlemGPT has been developed.
• An International AI Center, alem.ai, has been established, and by Presidential instruction a concept for a specialized AI university is being developed.
• Legislative framework: the Law on Artificial Intelligence has been signed, and the Digital Code has been submitted to the Head of State for consideration.

The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that 2026 has been declared by the President as the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence. In the near future, the Government will approve a corresponding plan of large-scale international events, including the GITEX Central Asia forum.

#Digitalization #Government session

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