ASTANA –Secretary of State of Kazakhstan Gulshara Abdykalikovaand Antonio Somme, head of the Eurasian Competitiveness Programme of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), met Feb. 27 to discuss increasing the involvement of women in the Kazakh economy.
“A special issue of the meeting was the initiative of the OECD aimed at improving the competitiveness of Kazakhstan by increasing assistance to the full participation of women in economic activities. The secretary of state expressed deep interest in the goals of the programme that meet the overall objectives of promoting women’s entrepreneurship and, in particular, the involvement of women in the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects within the new economic policy of the head of state Nurly Zhol,”stated a report issued after the meeting by the presidential administration.
Kazakhstan, in cooperation with the European Union (EU), is the first country in the region to lead the Central Asian Initiative of the OECD Eurasian Competitiveness Programme.
The two officials also discussed increasing cooperation to investigate and eliminate barriers to gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship, as well as ways to reach international standards on gender issues. They also discussed cooperation in general ineducation, health, employment and social integration.
“The desire of Kazakhstan to actively cooperate with the OECD is based on the need to implement our strategic objectives to achieve the level and standards of the member states of the OECD. Kazakhstan intends to leverage the experience of member states of the OECD, to apply modern approaches to using innovation and know-how, as well as the strong expertise of the OECD analysis of its economic policy,”Abdykalykova said.
The secretary of state also emphasised the high level of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the OECD, which was confirmedby the signing of the Country Programme of Cooperation with the OECD for 2015-2016 on Jan. 22 in Davos. Kazakhstan became the first country to sign the Country Programme, which marks Kazakhstan’s growing cooperation with the organization as it seeks eventual entry into the OECD.
