President sets development priorities for Kazakhstan's manufacturing industry

In his annual State-of-the-Nation Address, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev highlighted the achievements of the country's manufacturing sector and outlined key objectives for its future development.

According to him, over the past five years, Kazakhstan has achieved tangible results. The gross added value in the manufacturing sector has doubled to almost KZT 17 trillion, and the sector's share of GDP has reached 12.4%. Last year alone, 163 new production facilities were launched, creating 12,500 permanent jobs.

“For instance, large machine-building and metallurgical plants were launched in the Almaty, Kostanay, Karaganda, and Atyrau regions. And this year, the largest multi-brand automobile plant in Kazakhstan opened in Almaty,” the President emphasized.

However, Tokayev noted that what has been accomplished is not enough.

“It is necessary to ramp up the pace of economic diversification. The priority is to produce advanced-processing goods that are competitive in both domestic and international markets. The work in this area is now unsystematic. Typically, support measures are often implemented through various institutions with uncoordinated approaches and conditions, which creates confusion for entrepreneurs. It is required to streamline these approaches and ensure coordinated work.”

The President also stressed the importance of the mining and metallurgical complex, which accounts for 8% of the economy.

“But the industry has great growth potential, especially in the production of high-value-added goods. Given global trends, rare earth metals and other critical materials are acquiring special significance. In this area, Kazakhstan has all the capabilities to firmly integrate into global production and trade chains,” he emphasized.

According to the President, in the next three years, the country must launch at least three high-tech production enterprises and implement several flagship projects for the deep conversion of raw hydrocarbons.

“It is necessary to ensure the timely launch of the large gas chemical complex in Atyrau and the advanced processing plant for liquefied gas in Pavlodar. We need to fundamentally change our approach to using associated and liquefied petroleum gas, which should become a full-fledged economic resource,” Tokayev said.

He added that addressing the gas deficit is essential for the timely implementation of projects and the digital transformation of the economy.

"To solve this problem, a mechanism to ensure guaranteed and long-term gas supplies has to be developed. And to launch all planned projects and carry out the digital transformation of the economy on time, a sufficient supply of electric power is needed," the President concluded.

Today, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is delivering the State-of-the-Nation Address.