WEEKLY REVIEW: Kazakhstan increases the share of local content in goods, works and services
On Monday (October 7), Vice Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Kazakhstan Nurlan Sauranbayev announced that in the first half of 2013 there was a 12.2% increase in the share of local content in goods, works and services compared with the same period in 2011. According to him, every year Kazakh producers receive state contracts totaling 30 billion U.S. dollars that is used for the development of local content.
On Tuesday (October 8) at the session of the Government, Kazakh Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov talked about the problems of domestic agricultural producers that arise due to commodities of the Russian and Belarusian agrarians flooding Kazakhstani market. For instance, the Russian and Belarusian agricultural products have specific advantages in comparison with Kazakhstani goods that are connected with weather conditions and high level of state support in the neighboring countries. To solve these problems, the Ministers suggested decreasing value-added tax for agricultural producers. Also, according to Minister Mamytbekov, it is crucial to protect domestic market from hidden dumping.
After the discussions, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov charged to improve the draft plan of actions aimed at competitive growth of the processing industry in Kazakhstan.
The same day Mr. Akhmetov attended the opening ceremony of the VIII Eurasian Energy Forum KAZENERGY in Astana. On behalf of the Government of Kazakhstan he stressed the importance of the forum KAZENERGY. "The energy sector is the backbone of our economy. Over a short period of time, oil production in Kazakhstan grew more than threefold to 80 million tons per year, and gas production increased more than 5 times to more than 40 billion cubic meters," Akhmetov said.
Premier Akhmetov was also received by President Nazarbayev in the Akorda presidential residence on Tuesday, where he reported on the socioeconomic development of the country over the past nine months and current harvesting campaign.
On Wednesday (October 9), the Prime Minister met with President of Bashkortostan Rustem Khamitov to discuss a wide array of topics, including interregional cooperation and interaction between business circles of Kazakhstan and Bashkortostan.
On Thursday (October 10), First Vice Ministry of Industry and New Technologies Albert Rau told the opening ceremony of the First International Motor Transport Exhibition "Astana International Auto Salon-2013" that over the last three years Kazakhstani machine industry had significantly improved. The volumes of production, according to Mr. Rau, double every year.
On Friday (October 11), Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev participated in the enlarged session of the Kazakh Government, where a wide spectrum of issues were discussed. In his report Prime Minister Akhmetov noted that this year the Government works in the conditions of instability of the global economy, connected with economic recession in the European Union, possible fiscal cliff in the U.S. and slowdown in the growth rates of Chinese and Russian economies. These things, in his words, affect economic situation in Kazakhstan. The head of the Government also briefed on the implementation of the Business Road Map-2020 State Program and introduction of the national health care system in the country.
Following results of the Friday session, the President criticized and gave specific instructions to some of the ministries and agencies.