National news in brief

Kazakhstan will simplify the conditions and reduce the terms of rehabilitation and bankruptcy procedures for enterprises and companies. The government and Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs are obliged to promote the interests of domestic exporters. “The government should adopt the draft bankruptcy law using the best practices of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. It is necessary to coordinate work in terms of protecting the common market of the Eurasian Economic Union from dumping, counterfeit goods and unfair competition,” said Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

The youth forum will be held in Shymkent in September, reported Kazinform. The participants will address youth employment and trends. “We will organise several discussion platforms and develop the programme… Youth unemployment decreased from 92,800 to 81,900 people from 2016 to 2018. Over the past 15 years, the youth unemployment rate has been reduced by 11.1 percent. We plan to increase the amount of funding for employment initiatives… It is expected to increase monthly-calculated indicators of one-time support for youth employment from 70 to 100,” said May 23 Chairman of the Committee on Youth and Family Affairs Madiyar Kozhakhmet.

Russian company APH ECO-Culture intends to invest $1 billion in agriculture projects in Kazakhstan, reported Ortcom.kz. The company will build greenhouses in the Almaty and Turkestan Regions. “We signed an agreement with Kazakh Invest to build a greenhouse with an area of 500 hectares in the Turkestan region. This will create 10,000 jobs and improve the socio-economic atmosphere in the region. We plan to grow 200,000 tonnes of products and export to Russia as we usually import 800,000 tonnes of low-quality products. The region can boast about excellent climatic conditions,” said President of APH ECO-Culture company Alexander Rudakov.

This year, the Atyrau Region will implement three investment projects worth 7.9 billion tenge (US$20 million) as part of the state support for business programme, according to the regional press service. The projects will create 144 jobs. “A plastic waste processing plant and a broiler farm are being built. We also plan to produce anti-corrosion protective coatings for steel by hot-dip galvanising. Twenty-three projects worth more than 35 billion tenge (US$92 million) have already been implemented and 1,200 jobs created last year,” said Head of the Business Management and Industrial-Innovative Development Department of the regional administration Gulfairuz Maratkyzy.

Kazakhstan will introduce models of reflectors that meet the European road safety standards, the press service of KazAvtoZhol company reported May 24. The signal posts with the KazAvtoZhol logo and light signalling devices (reflectors), which are charged by sunlight and illuminate the roads at night will be installed for the first time in the Zhambyl Region. They will be located at the Almaty-Tashkent-Termez section of the New Bypass of Taraz road and at the New Kuyuk Pass road and near Nurlykent village. “The road signs not only illuminate the centreline of the road, but also contribute to increasing the attention of drivers to the traffic situation. These measures will help drivers to navigate more easily and lead to a decrease in the risk of accidents. The company plans to install road signs along international corridors and highways,” reads the release.

The Ministry of Agriculture will provide subsidies for dairy and beef cattle breeding to develop the agricultural resource base. The subsidies are transferred in advance payments without down payments. Approximately 916 family farms received loans and import the breeding stock of cattle as part of the state programme for the agriculture development for 2017-2021. “Last year, 9,115 entrepreneurs received financing worth 53 billion tenge (US$130 million). Some 89,800 heads of cattle, 152,000 heads of small cattle and 19,000 heads of horses were imported,” Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov said May 24 during a parliamentary meeting.


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