China News Service, Astana, February 26 (Xinhua) According to a news release from the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan on the 26th local time, according to the relevant decisions of the Kazakh government, the country's current East Asian policy will be changed from March 1, 2024. The fifth time zone (UTC+5) and the eastern sixth time zone (UTC+6) are unified into the eastern fifth time zone (UTC+5).
According to sources, by then, the three municipalities of Astana, Almaty, and Shymkent, as well as 12 states in central and eastern Kazakhstan, will move their clocks forward one hour at 0:00 on March 1.
After the adjustment, the entire territory of Kazakhstan adopts the Eastern Time Zone (UTC+5), which is 3 hours behind Beijing time.
The Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan invites compatriots in Kazakhstan and Chinese citizens who are about to come to Kazakhstan to pay attention to the time zone and time adjustments, especially the operating times of flights, railways, and cross-border highway passenger buses.
Kazakhstan is located in the middle of Eurasia and is the largest landlocked country in the world.
In February 2023, Kazakhstan established a working group on time calculation issues to conduct research on the establishment of a single time zone.
The panel said the transition to a single time zone was the right choice.
The expert group said that the unification of time zones will not only benefit residents' health, but also help eliminate communication barriers between residents in different regions of the country, improve transportation and communications, and have a positive impact on business development and services.
According to recent news from Kazakh media, in order to improve the transition to UTC+5 time zone, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry has notified multiple international organizations of the time zone change plan.
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