Astana and Almaty will become "pilots" for its implementation.

A conversation about the results of the activities with the representatives of the Asian Development Bank and the Spanish wholesale market "Mercasa".

Within the framework of the organization of work on the formation of the system of wholesale distribution centers (WDC) in the period from 1 to 7 of September 2017 employees of the National Chamber of Kazakhstan "Atameken" held a number of meetings with representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Spanish network of wholesale agricultural markets "Mercasa". From the Kazakh side experts of JSC "NUKH" KazAgro", Ministry of Agriculture of the RK and Akimat of Astana participated in the discussion of the issue. ADB was represented by the Director of the Bank's permanent representative office in Kazakhstan Giovanni Kapanelli, Director of the Department of Environment and Agriculture in Central and Western Asia ADB Akmal Siddiq and a project coordinator in Kazakhstan, from Mercasa -  a consultant on international projects Antonio Sartorius Saens, who specifically visited RK for the study of food markets. For reference: Mercasa – is a wholesale food market in Spain. Established by a special law in 1966. The shareholders are the Ministry of Finance (SEPI), with a 51% stake and the Ministry of Agriculture (FEGA) - 49%.

Mercasa performs the functions of the state to improve market transparency, promote healthy competition and control the safety of food products. It includes 23 food enterprises across the country. The total area of ​​the Mercasa group's network is 7 million square meters. The annual sales volume is estimated at 5.1 million tons, with a turnover of 15 billion dollars. Within two days, foreign specialists visited the Kenmart hypermarket, warehouse complexes of the transport and logistics center of LLP “Continental Logistics”, the Sharyn and Alay markets, and the trading house "Big Shanghai". Also, meetings were held with the heads of these sites, during which the first answers were received to the questions of interest regarding the system for the purchase of fruits and vegetables, their storage, packaging, and the mechanisms for their further distribution.

In general, based on the results of the study of these trade markets, experts confirmed the need to transform the existing commodity distribution system in Kazakhstan and a clear division of the wholesale and retail link in the food chain. In their opinion, today the urgency of the issue of the formation in the Republic of Kazakhstan of a modern and transparent system of marketing of food products is extremely high. First of all, it is necessary to launch pilot projects of WDC in large cities - Astana and Almaty. At the same time, the existing trade channels do not correspond to civilized trade norms, which leads to uncontrolled rise in the cost of food products and low requirements for their safety. The Asian Development Bank, for its part, confirmed the possibility of providing a loan for the construction of wholesale distribution centers in the country. According to preliminary data, from 500 thousand to 1 million US dollars. In addition to financing, ADB is ready to provide full technical assistance on the basis of available expertise and international practice to develop the Country Concept and develop a feasibility study for the development and construction of WDC in Kazakhstan, focusing on the main points of growth of the agricultural sector in the city. Astana, Almaty, South Kazakhstan Region, WKR, Almaty Region, etc. The parties came to a common opinion about the need to clearly define the value of WDC, as there are no analogues to it in Kazakhstan at present.

It is also worth noting the need to amend some legislative acts on the implementation of WDC, the development of the Action Plan for a 3-year period and a further perspective, taking into account the subsequent expansion, which corresponds to the world practice, which provides for the implementation of such projects on a long-term basis (30-40 years). In addition, according to experts, at the initial stage, the support of the state of construction of DC is a necessary condition, the experience of the company "Mercasa" shows.

Thus, with the implementation of the right strategy and approaches with the introduction of information technologies and PPP tools, the Government will be able to achieve two main goals, including ensuring food security and stabilizing prices on a year-round basis. This condition is achievable through the introduction of appropriate norms in the legislation and the construction of appropriate infrastructure that provides free access to large and small farms, which will significantly reduce costs and will favorably influence the formation of the price of the goods and its year-round stability.

Along with this, it should be noted that ADB is currently developing a concept and feasibility study for the construction of WDC in Uzbekistan in three cities: Tashkent, Samarkand and Fergana, with the involvement of specialists from Mercasa. This work is planned to be held from September 2017 to May 2018. After the conceptual directions are completed and approved, the parties will start implementing the Strategy in accordance with international standards and certification standards for the development of the export-oriented agricultural sector. Taking into account the practice of providing technical assistance and the current need for urgent mobilization of the necessary funds, ADB proposes to prepare a draft terms of reference for the development of the conceptual document of WDC. The Bank, for its part, has confirmed its readiness to mobilize domestic resources from the moment of receiving an application from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan and to consider this issue as soon as possible.