-12° / -19°C WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017 No 3 (117) www.astanatimes.com Kazakh Leader Outlines Five President Unveils Priorities of Country’s Third Plans of Constitutional Stage of Modernisation Reforms Kazakhstan is fully capable, in will be conducted in two key ar- By Aigerim Seisembayeva Nazarbayev’s words, of produc- By Aigerim Seisembayeva eas. First, a significant part of the ing organic foods. The “Made in president’s functions on regulat- ASTANA – Kazakh President Kazakhstan” brand must become ASTANA – Kazakh President ing social and economic processes Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 2017 ad- a high standard in this sphere. Nursultan Nazarbayev gave a spe- will be transferred to the govern- dress to the nation, published Jan. At the same time, he set the goal cial televised address Jan. 25 to ment and other executive bodies. 31, focuses on what he termed a for Kazakhstan of becoming the the nation on the redistribution of Secondly, the relations between new, third stage of the country’s “bread basket” of Eurasia in terms powers among governmental bod- different branches will need to be modernisation. It consists of five of grain production. ies which would involve, among balanced at a constitutional level. top priorities that are to ensure The President also outlined lo- other steps, amending the coun- Nazarbayev proposed to strengthen economic growth above the world gistics and construction as parts try’s Constitution. the role of the parliament in terms average and bring the nation clos- of the first priority, highlighting A special working group had of its influence on the government. er to its goal of joining the top 30 the need to ensure free transit of been created by the President’s “It is important to strengthen the most-developed countries. goods, establish and modernise decree in December 2016, which role of Parliament in the formation Kazakhstan passed its 25-year transport corridors and transfer carried out a thorough work on the of Government, to enhance the re- development phase with honour, innovation technologies into con- issue of redistributing powers. sponsibility of the Cabinet before said the head of state. He evoked struction and producing building “The upcoming reform is based the deputies. The winning party the beginning of the country’s ten- materials. The Nurly Zher pro- on the principles of our develop- in the parliamentary election will ure on the United Nations Secu- gramme will provide housing for ment and the principles of modern have a decisive influence on the rity Council, the upcoming EXPO 1.5 million families in the coming development in general. The quin- formation of the Government. On 2017 international specialised second was implementing Strategy scientific and innovative potential 15 years. tessence is that the President del- this basis, it will be logical, if the exhibition and Universiade 2017 2030 and creating a new capital – on the basis of Nazarbayev Uni- Modernising the economy will egates some powers to the Parlia- government will abdicate author- in Almaty among the nation’s Astana. versity and Alatau IT City near lead to releasing the labour force ment and the Government. Vertical ity to the newly elected Mazhilis, achievements and successes. “This modernisation is not a Almaty. from traditional industries. In this separation of power was necessary not the President, as it was before,” “In 2014-2016 alone, 1.7 trillion plan to combat current global chal- In addition to creating new in- regard, the President instructed the to us in the course of overcoming Nazarbayev highlighted. tenge (US$5.2 billion) was addi- lenges, but a reliable bridge to the dustries, impetus is to be given to government to create conditions the enormous difficulties of state The reforms also include sim- tionally allocated to support the future, to meet the objectives of developing traditional ones. This for a controlled flow of workers formation,” Nazarbayev stated in plifying the procedure of passing economy. This provided opportu- Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy. It will implies increasing productivity in into other sectors. his address. a vote of no- confidence in minis- nities for economic growth, busi- be carried out on the basis of the areas like automation, robotics, According to him, the reform is ters from the parliament chambers. ness support and creation of over 100 Concrete Steps Plan of the Na- artificial intelligence and big data aimed at improving the efficiency This will strengthen the control of of the public administration sys- 200,000 new jobs. This resulted in tion,” said the President. exchange. The government was Improving and the legislature over the executive a 1-percent GDP growth in 2016. tem. The essence of the proposed The address further outlines the instructed to develop a package of power. This is particularly important in expanding the business reform is a serious redistribution five priorities for Kazakhstan’s measures for the technological re- Nazarbayev proposed to transfer the current difficult conditions,” of power and democratisation of modernisation. equipment of basic industries until sphere the approval of state programmes the address reads. One of Kazakhstan’s strategic the political system as a whole, he to the government, so that it will The world today is witnessing 2025. said. Attention was also attached to goals is to ensure small- and me- bear full responsibility for those. the fourth industrial revolution. “Under the new conditions the The government might as well ac- The economy’s export promotion. The address in- dium-sized businesses account The digitalisation of the economy, President’s priority areas will be quire the right to form and to abol- dicates exporters are to be provid- for at least 50 percent of the GDP Nazarbayev noted, will make en- accelerated technological strategic functions, and the role of ish central executive bodies that ed with support based on the ‘one by 2050. In order to achieve this tire industries disappear and create a supreme arbiter in the relations are not included in it. The project stop shop’ principle. The President goal, the government must sup- fundamentally new ones. modernisation port mass entrepreneurship by between governmental branches. on constitutional reform will be “Great changes are taking place Within this priority, Nazarbayev instructed forming a governmental The head of state will also focus presented for public discussion is aiming to create new indus- council with business representa- providing micro-loans of up to before our very eyes – it is both a 16 million tenge (US$48,800), on foreign policy, national security during Jan. 26 – Feb. 26, 2017. challenge and a historic opportuni- tries based on digital technolo- tives to discuss export policy and and defence,” Nazarbayev said. The following is an informal gies, such as 3D printing, mobile also ordered the government and reducing all types of business ty for the nation. Today, I put forth costs, optimising public services The role of the government and translation of the full text of the the task of ensuring the implemen- banking, e-commerce and digital akims (governors and mayors) to the parliament will be significantly televised address of President Naz- services. The President instruct- develop a unified export strategy and deregulating the business tation of the third modernisation sphere. The President also initi- expanded. The transformation, ac- arbayev of Jan. 25, 2017. ed the government to develop a in cooperation with businesspeo- of Kazakhstan. It is necessary to ated introducing a doing busi- cording to the Kazakh President, Continued on Page A2 “Digital Kazakhstan” programme ple by Sept. 1. create a new model of economic ness rating across Kazakhstan, and establish an international IT Nazarbayev emphasised metal- growth that will provide the coun- an analogue of the World Bank’s startup technological park, based lurgical and petroleum industries try’s global competitiveness,” he Doing Business report, with a on some of the premises to be left are to remain strategic areas while said. special prize awarded to pioneer The first stage of modernisa- vacant after EXPO 2017 which seeking new markets and activat- regions annually on Industriali- tion was forming an entirely new will attract entrepreneurs and in- ing geological exploration works. sation Day. Trilateral Working Group state based on the principles of a vestors from around the world. The agrarian sector is to become market economy in the 1990s. The This also includes developing the new driver of the economy. Continued on Page A4 on Syrian Ceasefire Kazakhstan Ranks 48 in Bloomberg Innovation Index Holds First Technical sation for Economic Cooperation ents in force. The country ranked sufficient data available on the By Lyazzat Shatayeva and Development and the United 42nd in MVA, measuring the man- number of high-tech public com- Nations Educational, Scientific ufacturing output as a share of the panies, which falls under the ASTANA – Kazakhstan rose two Meeting in Astana and Cultural Organisation. country’s economy. high-tech density category, even positions to 48th in Bloomberg’s The study assesses the countries’ Productivity expressed in gross though the country is seeing a 2017 Innovation Index, marking performance in seven categories: national income (GNI) and gross rise in its engineering, aerospace, the second year in a row the country Research and Development, Manu- domestic product (GDP) per per- defence and renewable energy in- has been among the world’s top 50 facturing Value-added, Productiv- son aged 15 and older earned the dustries. innovative economies. ity, High-tech Density, Tertiary Ef- country 34th place in the ranking. South Korea leads the rating for To compile the ranking, ficiency, Researcher Concentration Kazakhstan’s spending, as a per- the third consecutive year. The Bloomberg evaluated more than and Patent Activity. centage of GDP, on research and world’s most innovative country is 200 countries, of which 78 had Kazakhstan owed most of its rise development placed the country followed by Sweden and Germany.