Kazinform is a Kazakh international news agency and one of the largest media outlets in Kazakhstan. It is based in Astana. The news agency mainly focuses on national and Eurasian news.
History
Kazinform was established on 13 August 1920 as the Orenburg-Turgai department of the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) under the All-Union Central Executive Committee.[1] In 1925 the agency was renamed KazROST, until it was again renamed KazTAG in 1937. Following Kazakhstan’s independence, in 1992 KazTAG was transformed from the Information Agency under the Council of Ministers into the Kazakh State Information Agency, retaining its previous name. President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued an order for the agency to be renamed in 1997 as KazAAG. In 2002 it was named Kazinform by the Kazakh government. In 2008 the news agency belonged to the holding company Arna-Media.[2] On 5 May 2010, the government dissolved Arna Media, transferring Kazinform and other companies to the Ministry of Communications and Information. In 2012, the Ministry of Communications and Information was disbanded. In 2013, the agency was reorganized as the Limited Liability Partnership “International Information Agency Kazinform”. On 27 August 2019, Government Decree No. 631 merged Kazcontent JSC into the agency, reorganizing it as Kazinform International Agency JSC.