14:05, 20 января 2024, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Meerimai ALYBEKOVA
Kazakhstan has decided to change the time zone. Tengrinews.kz reports, citing the Ministry of Trade and Integration.
The relevant changes have been made to the government decree «On the procedure for calculating time in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan».
According to the changes, a single time zone is introduced throughout the country from 00.00 on March 1. Thus, UTC+5 will be applied to the entire territory of Kazakhstan.
Clocks will be turned back in Astana, Almaty, Shymkent and 12 other regions of the republic. The akimats of Astana, Almaty and Shymkent cities, as well as Akmola, Almaty, Zhambyl, Karaganda, Kostanai, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, Turkistan, East Kazakhstan, Abai, Zhetysu, and Ulytau regions have to turn the clock 1 hour back in the night of February 29 to March 1 at 00.00.
As of today, there are two time zones in Kazakhstan UTC+5 and UTC+6. Most of the country’s territory, except for the western regions, is in the UTC+6 zone. According to scientists, the UTC+6 time zone does not correspond to the natural solar time, which negatively affects biological rhythms and human health.
Switch to a single time zone will eliminate time barriers between residents of different regions of the country, improve coordination of transport and other communications, favorably influence doing of business, as well as the interaction of government agencies and emergency services.