More than 3.2 million people in Kazakhstan are employed in the small and medium-sized business sector, which is approximately 37 percent of the country’s employed population, Kazakh Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Roman Sklyar said at the May 4 opening ceremony of Ulttyq Onim, a national exhibition of domestic producers. First President Nursultan Nazarbayev set as a national goal increasing the share of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to 35 percent of Kazakhstan’s gross domestic product by 2030 and to 50 percent of GDP by 2050. At the end of 2018, the share of SMEs in the country’s GDP was more than 28 percent and valued at 26.5 trillion tenge (US$69.52 million). Sklyar added that through the Business Road Map 2020 state programme, the Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund supported 22,400 businesses with loans of 495 billion tenge (US$1.3 million) in 2018.
Kazakhstan will build hospitals through public-private partnerships (PPPs), an approach commonly used in Turkey, Kazakh Minister of Healthcare Yelzhan Birtanov told a recent government meeting. The ministry’s analysis of the PPP approach found that it resulted in hospitals that are built quickly, at good quality, with equipment that meets modern requirements and that hospital processes are able to be performed without interruption. Birtanov noted that Turkey’s 2010 to 2023 PPP programme for hospitals includes the construction of 32 large hospitals with a capacity of more than 44,000 beds and receives significant financial and advisory support from international financial institutions.
New private schools with a capacity of at least 40,000 students will be built by the end of 2021, Kazakh Minister of Education and Science Kulyash Shamshidinova told a recent government meeting. She also put forward mechanisms for the construction of schools in the country, including funding through the state budget, through public-private partnerships or, for private schools, through per capita financing. The three mechanisms should function in parallel to effectively address the shortage of places for students at schools, the minister noted.
Information technology company DAR has launched the DAR Lab competition for IT startups. Participants may submit commercial projects in logistics, financial technology, insurance, retail, e-commerce, pharmacology or social projects in improving the rural and urban environment, health, ecology or nature conservation. The competition is open to IT students and start-ups from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan looking to launch their projects. The most promising IT projects may receive an investment of up to 4 million tenge (US$10,493) for commercial projects and up to 10 million tenge (US$26,233) for social projects and join the DAR Lab Asia Accelerator. To participate, apply at www.darlab.asia/contests before May 29.
New support mechanisms for renewable energy sources will be presented by the Kazakh Ministry of Energy at Solar Fest Qazaqstan in Borovoe July 4 and 5, Inform.kz reports, citing Kazakhstan Association of Solar Energy Chair Kaliya Khisamidinova. The outcome of discussions at Solar Fest Qazaqstan will be a document addressed to the Kazakh government on behalf of the country’s renewable energy industry, presenting its vision for the development of renewable energy in the short and long term.
Kazakhstan Aselsan Engineering will export optoelectronic devices to Turkey, reports the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Defence and Aerospace Industry. The company will also cooperate with Turkish companies in modernising avionics for helicopters in Kazakhstan. These agreements were reached at the 14th International Defence Industry Fair in Istanbul, which has been organised by the Turkish Armed Forces Foundation since 1993. Kazakhstan’s military-industrial complex was presented in a single national exposition this year.
