Sec of State: 32% of loan recipients in Kazakhstan are women
Members of the National Commission for Women’s Affairs and Family-Demographic Policy, deputies of the Parliament, chiefs of governmental structures, national companies, foreign ambassadors, representatives of international organizations, NGOs, Kazakh and foreign experts, mass media participated in the forum.
Taking the floor, the Secretary of State spoke of the importance of the President’s latest State-of-the-Nation Address “The Third Modernization of Kazakhstan: Global Competitiveness”. According to her, the President points out the importance of boosting women’s activity in implementation of the second priority of the Address – all-round improvement and expansion of business environment.
“A lot depends on women leading small and medium enterprises. The participation of female leaders in public processes will positively affect the quality of management procedures and will increase competitiveness. Women should be actively involved in creation of innovative startups deemed to be one of the main drivers of science-intensive economy,” said Abdykalikova.
According to her, 44% of all the functioning SMEs in Kazakhstan are led by women (more than 570,000 entities). They ensure 31% of all the job positions in Kazakhstan’s SMEs sector. Development of women’s business in the country is carried out under the governmental programmes, the agreements between the Kazakh Government and international institutions (EBRD, UNDP, World Bank, UN Women) and others. KazAgro Holding also provides support to businesswomen in rural areas. 32% recipients of loans are women to date. The adoption of effective measures enabled Kazakhstan to improve its WEF Women’s Economic Opportunities indicator and rank the 31st.
In her words, more than 4mln families are living in Kazakhstan today. The government conducts system-wide work on creation of required conditions to support the families. The Head of State decreed to approve the 2030 RoK Concept of Family and Gender Policy. The aim of the Concept is to increase gender equality, responsibility, parity and productivity in fulfillment of household, economic, moral and other important functions by the families.
Upon completion of the event, the Secretary of State defined the priorities of further development of SMEs with the participation of women, broadening their opportunities in corporate sector in order to fulfill the objectives outlined in the Presidential Address.
