Kazakhstan's President supports transition to single time zone, urges not to politicise the issuePresident of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev supported the government's decision to introduce a single time zone in the country, calling for an end to the discussion and not to politicise this issue."As for the discussion about the transition to a single time zone. The government and parliament have discussed this issue. Special studies were carried out which did not confirm the critical concerns of the public. I agree with the government and the majority of MPs, as well as with experts: in our large country with a relatively small population, there should be a single time zone, which will simplify state administration, help optimise logistics and many business processes," Tokayev said at a meeting of the National Kurultai on Friday."I think the discussion should end here, and we should not politicise this issue," he added.A single 5th time zone (UTC+5) was introduced in Kazakhstan on March 1, 2024. The cities of Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Akmola, Almaty, Zhambyl, Karaganda, Kostanay, Pavlodar, the regions of North Kazakhstan, Turkestan, East Kazakhstan and the regions of Abay, Zhetysu, Ulytau moved back local time by one hour.Previously, Kazakhstan used two time zones, UTC+5 and UTC+6. Most of the country (except the western regions) was in the UTC+6 zone. After the transition to a single time zone, Kazakhstanis launched a petition on the E-Petition.kz portal demanding a return to the previous time zones. The petition gathered the required 50,000 votes and was submitted to the Ministry of Trade for consideration. However, the ministry's working group refused to accept the citizens' petition. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX