What does membership at the WTO give to us, and how ready are the Kazakhstani businessmen to the new situation on the market?

As it was noted by the director of the Chamber of entrepreneurs of Astana Ghani Tasmaganbetov, the WTO gives the country a powerful impetus to the development in almost all sectors of the economy.

"The mechanism of integration with WTO requires increase in the rate of production for the simultaneous presence at the domestic and foreign markets. Each of these areas contains a number of fundamental factors that determine the stability of the balance of trade. This is the level of competitiveness, value for money for products and services, the cost of production and commercial approaches to sale, logistics, availability of partner contacts, points of sale, etc. All these presupposes the appropriate adjustments in accordance with WTO standards, but not in the prejudice of our entrepreneurs whose vulnerability to external market is obvious", - says G.Tasmaganbetov.

However, he believes that "with such integration we should take into account a whole range of different factors, ranging from the technical regulations and ending with customs barriers".

In this connection, a transitional period was introduced, during which the Government will carry out systematic work on the introduction of new requirements for all sectors of the economy to meet WTO standards. For example, in the framework of the negotiations it was agreed that there will be introduced transitional periods, allowing to prepare a package of alternative measures to support Kazakhstan's business. "You have to understand that all of our business community isn’t ready for such a tight competition and can’t form a sufficiently attractive background for entering foreign markets. For this purpose it was decided to establish a springboard in the form of a form of transitional periods for a successful entry to the international trade market and economic platform and optimization of conditions for its promotion", - said the head of the Metropolitan Chamber.

According to him, Kazakhstan manufacturers can develop new business approaches to selling their products abroad, to identify potentially profitable areas, to improve the industrial chain and the pricing mechanism, etc.

"The whole range of measures aims to create favorable conditions for the successful accession to the global market. To maintain a steady pace of this process, there were developed measures of state support of domestic producers, which are designed to stimulate practically the entire industrial complex of Kazakhstan. For example, state support for agriculture in the transition period will be about 8.5% of the gross value of agricultural products each year. With further growth of gross indicator, the state subsidies will increase", - said Gani Tasmaganbetov.

According to him, every branch of production requires a substantial reform of the infrastructure in order to continue to sustain the fierce competition, which is usual for the world economy. "In general, the WTO talks have given us a chance to make active use of customer resources of foreign markets. Now a great burden of responsibility is put on domestic business, preparing for the transition to "free floating" - an autonomous activity in the international commodity competition ", - said the head of RCE.

In the context of the transformation of the configuration of markets, accession to the WTO, in particular, implies a sharp increase in both external and internal competition. This is due to the powerful institutional factors such as the influx of foreign goods from outside to the domestic markets of Kazakhstan, which are now full of domestic goods.

"In establishing a constant flow of goods from abroad, our producers, which at the moment compete with foreign products, have to make room and to give a big niche in all market segments. This would be the case if the manufacturers of Kazakhstan will not be able to adjust to the current economic realities, to create a more competitive, high-quality and inexpensive product that can successfully compete with international brands. As soon as our market will be receiving the first batch of foreign-made goods, and the consumer will see the difference in the levels of quality and price with domestic and foreign production, the demand on goods offered by our producers will inevitably decline and their shift to the periphery", - commented Tasmaganbetov.

However, he noted that in spite of such harsh conditions, our business community in the light of government programs of support for business will have more than enough leverage to its progressive development and creation of competitive products.

"It should be noted that due to the WTO, huge investments will inflow in our economy due to the opening of the Kazakh market for foreign manufacturers. WTO will enhance the inflow of tax revenues to the treasury, to ensure the stability of which will be created all conditions. However, the influx of foreign companies in our country is inevitable, as they will open their offices in our country. This means creating new jobs, at which, except for the foreigners will work our citizens. It is important to ensure harmonious social adaptation and integration of foreign experts into a multinational social environment of Kazakhstan, to create a comfortable working environment. This will prevent many potential conflicts on ethnic and religious grounds", - summed up the director of the Metropolitan Chamber of Entrepreneurs.