The government supports the current single time zone in Kazakhstan. This was stated by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov.
The Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliev spoke about the advantages of the country's transition to the UTC+5 time zone. He says that this is the optimal solution.
"UTC+6 was introduced in Kazakhstan in 1930-1931 by using daylight saving time, despite the fact that most of the territory is in the fifth time zone. In general, during the Soviet period, the natural time zone was changed eight times in Kazakhstan by order in the interests of the command-planned economy. As a result, in Kazakhstan we lived in time zones that did not correspond to the natural cycle. Thus, UTC+5 is not a new zone or an experiment for our country, but is in fact a return to historically justified time," Shakkaliyev said during a government meeting.
The head of the Cabinet noted that the minister had provided all the exhaustive arguments in favor of the current time zone. At the same time, he instructed the ministries of trade and information to conduct a more understandable information and explanatory campaign.
"The government supports this decision. It is no coincidence that we switched to a single time zone. The logic is that the fifth time zone geographically covers most of the country's territory. I instruct the ministries of trade and information to conduct a more understandable information and explanatory campaign," Bektenov concluded.
Let us recall that on the night of March 1, 2024, Kazakhstan switched to a single time zone UTC+5. This decision caused indignation among citizens, who filed a petition to cancel the transition, but the Ministry of Trade rejected it.
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