At the II Forum of domestic producers "Uly Dala Eli" the deputy chairman of NCE talked about three aspects of business development: domestic sales, export markets and public procurement system

At the beginning of his speech Nurzhan Altaev gave account of the last year's forum work. Thus, according to him, the National Chamber has done a lot of work on verification of an CT-KZ certificate. Based on the results of inspections of NCE out of 200 appeals, 23 certificates were revoked, 49 were voluntarily canceled, 33 certificates have expired. At present, the procedure of issuance of CT-KZ certificates is being worked on, as well as transition to an electronic format that will simplify the receipt of certificates and make it an open and transparent mechanism.

In addition, as it was noted by the representative of "Atameken", the question of implementation of an industrial certificate is at the final stage of elaboration. Currently, by the recommendation the Ministry of National Economy and the Ministry of Justice are working on introduction of amendments to the regulations, governing the definition and consolidation of the function for the issuance and cancellation of an industrial certificate after NCE RK. "I think that since 2017 the industrial certificate work in full force", - he said.

With regard to procurement, Altaev said that NCE signed cooperation agreements with eight major subsidiaries of "Samruk-Kazyna", accounting for 92% of all procurements of the group of the Fund. "During the period from August 2014 to November 2016 in the framework of cooperation of NCE and the Fund were signed 1541 long-term contracts in the amount of 500 billion tenge. In total there are 4919 existing long-term contracts -  in the amount of KZT 8.2 trillion (24% are goods, 54% are works, 22% are services), of which 2058 contracts are with domestic producers, worth 1.2 trillion tenge", - he said.

"Today we see that the tendencies of the protectionism and inclusiveness in the economy began to dominate in the world. Victory of Trump is an example; electoral program was based on the slogan of protection of local production through direct support measures. In the increasingly competitive conditions at the markets and, in general, in conditions of instability in the global economy, the reasonable protectionism is inevitable. We also need to talk about it and to do it", - said Altaev.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE cited the data of the World Trade Organization, according to which the WTO members (G20 countries) only during one last year adopted 154 new trade restrictive measures - it is 22 measures  per month. "In these circumstances, given the fact that our production sector is very weak, in our view, a real strategy of systematic actions, in order to support and to stimulate domestic production, is required. And here sales markets and correct stimulation play the key role. In my speech I would like to focus on three aspects: the domestic marketing, international markets and public procurement ", - he said.

"Thanks to SPFIID, new productions appeared in Kazakhstan. There appeared goods, which we can be proud of, and which can compete with foreign producers. But, unfortunately, we see now that all the attention was given to production. While, we need arteries, which will help to sell these products both on the domestic market and for export. A month ago, we have raised this issue with the Prime Minister and said that the country needs a new branch of trade development program", - said Altaev.

Speaking about the entry of Kazakh products to the foreign markets, the representative of NCE noted that now the necessity to develop the system of foreign policy of Kazakhstan aimed at supporting local producers and export promotion. "We have a lot of problems. In particular, no significant results were obtained from economic integration. Business was not able to adapt effectively to the conditions of the EAEU. Business does not know what to do in the conditions of WTO. It would seem that there are opportunities, but business is passive. One of the causes of the problem of passive business - is inefficient instruments of trade policy, the lack of a clear strategy and tactics. We must ensure the implementation of innovations, to expand opportunities for access of Kazakh products to the foreign markets, to strengthen our position on the accessible markets, and to create conditions for the development of new markets. We have the potential for this", - he said.

 Altaev said that Kazakhstan can ramp up production in several areas: oil and fodder crops, eggs, meat and dairy products, vegetable oil, confectionery, beverages and other food products. "Our export potential is vast, especially when compared to our modest current positions. Annual food imports in China is more than 115 billion US dollars. For example, just last year we exported to China - 3 million tons of wheat and 11 million tons of barley in the amount of 4 billion USD; 500 thousand tons of chilled and frozen beef in the amount of 2.3 billion USD. Kazakhstani production in this huge amount is not more than 0.1%", - he stated.

According to the chairman NCE, a priority for the development of sales markets is export of agricultural and food products on the markets of China, Iran, the Gulf States. "The National Chamber has done a lot of work to promote the export of agricultural and food products to China. It has launched the initiative "Export to China!", a subsidiary of NCE “Atameken” – the Chamber of Commerce of Kazakhstan is the working body and coordinator of the implementation of this initiative". These initiatives will be launched for other priority countries. In addition, we are starting to work on the creation of an online trading platform with China", - he said.

In order to increase the export potential and competitiveness of domestic producers, NCE "Atameken" considers it necessary to cultivate the enterprises to the level of the exporters and to include additional measures, including financial support in the Roadmaps for the development of industries, which are developed under SPFIID.

Altaev also noted that in Kazakhstan, there are various state institutions - KAZNEX INVEST, KazExportGarant, KazAgro, MID, MA, Akimats – which duplicate the functions of each other in matters of exports. "There is no uniform export policy. It should be coordinated, there should be some state body and within its structure a unit that will be responsible for export. In this regard, we ask you, Zhenis Makhmudovich, to support us in this initiative to develop a unified export strategy", - he said to the Minister for Investment and Development of Kazakhstan Zhenis Kasymbek.

Turning to the issue of public procurement, Deputy Chairman of "Atameken" sounded interesting figures. "Now the public procurement market is about 9.5 trillion tenge. Of these, 2.4 trillion tenge related to public procurement, 3.4 trillion tenge - to procurement of quasi-public sector and another 3.7 trillion tenge - is subsoil users. And here it is necessary to resolve the issue of local content. Everything is not so smooth, as it seems. Thus, on the paper the share of local content is 80%, but in reality not even 50% ", - he said.

For example, Altaev said, according to the statistics, the proportion of local content in public procurement of SKR in 2016 (9 months) was 81.6%. However, by the results of the analysis carried out by the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of South Kazakhstan region, this figure only for commodity positions does not exceed 33%. "And it's a common problem. Thus, according to the Association of the furniture industry, during construction of educational facilities was purchased furniture of foreign origin, however, according to reports it is 100% of local content", - he added.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE also announced a number of proposals of the Chamber. "MID initiated the development of the Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use, which stipulates the abolition of procurement regulation. We believe that the uncontrolled procurement of subsoil users may entail a number of negative consequences. We ask for the deletion of this point", - he said.

"We consider it necessary in the current year to conduct an audit of all procurement and to develop a clear and understandable mechanism for determining the share of local content. The experience of advanced countries offer further deepen and strengthen the form of guaranteed state orders through the conclusion of a long-term contract with business for 3-5 years, in exchange for certain obligations", - concluded Altaev.