Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Nur-Sultan’s embassies donate baskets of national products as sponsors present gifts to Dec. 1 Christmas Charity Bazaar

Nur-Sultan’s embassies donate baskets of national products as sponsors present gifts to Dec. 1 Christmas Charity Bazaar

The Ambassadors Spouses Astana (ASA) association presented baskets of products and goods donated by embassies and sponsors for the 12th Christmas Charity Bazaar at the Basket Day event in Nur-Sultan Nov. 25.
Fifty-three embassies have donated baskets for the bazaar, which will be held Dec. 1 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Radisson Hotel Astana, which has served as the general sponsor of the event for 12 straight years now. The money from Charity Bazaar sales will go toward the charity fund.

“Today’s event is an opportunity for all the ambassadors and their wives to deliver their baskets going to the raffle. Every basket contains food products of the country that they represent. It is just an occasion for us to give a little extra to the raffle,” Patricia Gifford, wife of the British ambassador to Kazakhstan, said.

Visitors to the bazaar can sample the national food of 53 countries at once. Participating embassies can introduce visitors to their culture through their national products.

“This makes it unique – that you can get, for example, original Swiss cheese from Switzerland,” said ASA President Luzia Sebesta Schmid, wife of the Swiss ambassador.

The highlight of the bazaar is its Grand Raffle. Tickets that sell for 1,000 tenge ($2.60) can earn a lucky few prizes like a Lada Granta car, a ferry cruise, trips to Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Riga and Sharja, as well as to one of the three destinations to choose from those serviced by Air Astana, a spa visit and other treats. Eighty-seven companies and organisations are sponsoring prizes at this year’s bazaar. The list of sponsors also includes The Astana Times and The ATOM Project.

The number of participants in the raffle grows every year. For the 12th Charity Bazaar, the ASA printed 10,000 tickets, Gifford said, noting that she’s seen a lot of interest in the event. “We seemed to have a good response,” she said.

In 2018, the bazaar raised nearly 38 million tenge (US$97,692). The association used the money raised there to complete 50 projects helping small settlements, villages, towns and other regional cities tackle a range of challenges, including building rehabilitation centres for children, buying equipment for schools and helping low-income families.

“Every year the sum gets bigger. [People] learn more and more about the bazaar,” said spouse of the Spanish ambassador Janna Bugaeva.

“The whole reason we do this is to support charity in Kazakhstan. I think it is absolutely fantastic because none of the money goes to us, even though we work very hard. Every penny goes to the charities. Some of the charities are in Karaganda, mostly in Nur-Sultan. There is one in Almaty. I am not sure this year, because it changes every year. It’s all very worthwhile,” said Gifford.

The ASA also wants to reduce the use of plastic during the event. Many embassies, for example, decorated their baskets in non-plastic wrapping. The British embassy will provide 3,000 cotton bags for shoppers at the bazaar.

Raffle tickets will be sold Nov. 27-29 in the lobby of the Radisson Hotel Astana from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m, as well as during the day of the Charity Bazaar.

For updates, follow the Charity Bazaar’s Instagram pages @charitybazaar2019 and @bazaar.astana.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×