Meetings kicked off in Astana on 3 Kazakhstan-OECD projects co-financed by the EU
Two new projects on regional competitiveness and regulations will also pre-launch their operations. All of these projects are co-financed by the European Union, the press service of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan said.
The Agri-business Working Group was chaired by Deputy Minister Tolibayev on 29 November. It addressed the implementation of actions to improve access to finance for agri-business and launch work on three new agri-business policy areas: Extension programmes, Producers' Organisations and Special Economic Zones/Infrastructures.
The Human Capital for ICT Working Group will be chaired by Deputy Minister Sarsenov on 30 November. It will discuss progress on the rollout of a Business Linkage Programme. Participants will also discuss the launch of other policy initiatives to enhance human capital in the IT sector, including vocational education and training and initiatives for innovation and entrepreneurship, with a special focus on the views of local companies.
The Investment Policy and Promotion Working Group, chaired by First Deputy Minister Rau, will meet on 1 December. This working group will review progress on attracting modern international retailers to the country and will hear in advance some of the conclusions and recommendations of the OECD Investment Policy Review of Kazakhstan. Participants will also discuss the choice of new priority sectors for investment promotion in 2012.
The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, OECD and the EU have agreed to extend their collaboration to two further projects, "Regulations for Competitiveness" and "Regional Competitiveness". The "Regional Competitiveness" project, will be operationally pre-launched on 29 November, in a meeting chaired by Mr. Kussainov, Vice Minister of Economic Development and Trade. The project is aimed at designing and launching an FDI approach to regional SME development. It will bring together representatives from central and local government and the private sector.
The "Regulations for Competitiveness" project will also be pre-launched under the chairmanship of Mr. Kussainov on November30. The project will focus on enhancing Kazakhstan's sector competitiveness through better regulations and institutions. The operational pre-launch meeting will gather representatives from ministries, the private sector and the Agency for Civil Service Affairs.
The three projects are implemented under the authority of the Government of Kazakhstan with the support of the OECD, and are co-financed by the European Union. European Union is contributing 9 Million euros to finance these projects.
