ASTANA — Since the beginning of the session, the lower house of Kazakhstan’s Parliament, Mazhilis, has considered 106 draft laws. Of these, 37 have been adopted, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed 19.
Yerlan Koshanov. Photo credit: Mazhilis.
Yerlan Koshanov, chairman of the Mazhilis, discussed the most important of them at the last plenary session, reported the Kazinform on Dec. 25.
According to him, constitutional norms aimed at establishing social justice came into full effect this year. The Mazhilis adopted norms expanding access to foreign education. Now, winners of international Olympiads and scientific competitions will have the opportunity to get the Bolashak International Scholarship.
The Mazhilis also adopted laws aimed at improving the health of Kazakhstan’s society, including one aimed at decreasing gambling addiction among the population.
According to Koshanov, the international community expressed appreciation to Kazakhstan for enacting legislation to protect victims of domestic violence. The United Nations called the adopted law “a significant advancement in eradicating gender-based violence.”
In this session, the Mazhilis continued to lay the legislative foundation for the new economic policy, adopting a new Budget Code.
Koshanov noted that all this would contribute to more efficient resource management at the local level in the future.
“Just today, we adopted another important law on the special status of Turkistan. Turkistan occupies a special place in the history of both Kazakhstan and the entire Turkic world. With the adoption of this law, we are increasing the independence of local self-government. This status will allow us to solve local problems more effectively, attract investments and contribute to additional economic growth of the region. All this will play a significant role in strengthening Kazakhstan’s national identity and cultural heritage,” concluded Koshanov.
