The XIV Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Kazakhstan and Russia was held in Chelyabinsk on 9^th of November

Chelyabinsk hosts the XIV Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Kazakhstan and Russia on the topic "Human Capital Development". The forum includes a meeting of the Russian-Kazakh business council and panel sessions, where experts discuss the legislative provision of issues of interaction between the two countries. Also, the topics of cooperation in the development of the digital economy for building a single digital space of the Eurasian Economic Union are being raised.

Within the frames of the forum, Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE RK "Atameken" Eldar Zhumagaziev presented the work of the National Chamber in the direction of human capital development.

 "Analyzing the situation on the labor market, we see the following main problems, which certainly are relevant for Russia. This is an imbalance in the labor market, both quantitative and qualitative, the market marks the problem of graduated unemployment. Employers tirelessly declare the discrepancy between the training programs and their real needs. That is, most of the knowledge provided by the education system is non-functional. All this leads to the fact that each stage of development of a specialist does not provide sufficient added value", - Eldar Zhumagaziev believes.

Annually 354 thousand graduates finish school, at least 21 thousand citizens after completing secondary education do not enter either college or university. Not having any professional competencies, most often, they receive a minimum wage.

"In matters of school education, such elements as a system of professional diagnosis and orientation are important. In order to improve the efficiency of the education system, we believe it is necessary to transfer business to the trust management of schools, as well as outsourcing certain functions of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan", - said Deputy Chairman of the Board of Atameken.

World practice shows that the contingent of schoolchildren can be conditionally divided into the following groups: 15% of future entrepreneurs and managers, 6% of future representatives of science and art, 79% of potential employees.

"In our opinion, it is extremely important for school education to be approached from the point of view of rational use of human capital, starting from the middle level, it is necessary to diagnose children and prompt in what direction to develop and what competencies need to be increased. Thus, in the learning process the child will have a personal development plan, and he will make a conscious choice of a profession", - the speaker believes.

"Atameken" considers the High School system for grades 10 and 11 with different focuses is an important tool for the deep development of schoolchildren's potential. For example, physical and mathematical, biochemical, economic, humanitarian and linguistic bias.

"An important element is the development of entrepreneurial skills, starting with the school. With a view to early disclosure of entrepreneurial talent, we initiated the inclusion in the school curriculum of the subject "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Business". This initiative was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In all general education schools, the subject will be available in September 2018", - said Eldar Zhumagaziev.

He also noted that work is underway to write a textbook and teaching and methodological complex on this subject. Until the end of the year, the draft textbook is planned to be tested in pilot general schools. More than 50 expert practitioners and entrepreneurs are involved in writing the textbook.

He also mentioned training within the dual form of college students.

"It should be noted that in the development of dual training until now, attention has been paid only to colleges. This paradigm needs to be changed, and the focus should shift towards the employer", - Eldar Zhumagaziev explained.

Since 1^st of July 2017, the Program for the Development of Productive Employment and Mass Entrepreneurship for 2017-2021 has been amended, which provided for the possibility of participating in short-term training of training centers for employers through entering the Register at Atameken. The Register included 77 training centers, 63 at enterprises, contracts for 3 104 people were concluded, and 465 people completed it. Eldar Zhumagaziev also spoke about the work on the Bastau Business project.

"The Bastau Business Project is the second direction of the Program for the Development of Productive Employment and Mass Entrepreneurship. It is an adapted training course for entrepreneurship for a period of 30 days. From 2017 to 2021, the project will train 135,000 unemployed and self-employed, of whom at least 27,000 should open a business", - said Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE RK "Atameken".

In 2016 the development of the transport and logistics potential of the Eurasian space was discussed in Astana.

At the event, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev supported the initiative of the Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky to hold the next forum in the regional center of the South Urals. Chelyabinsk already hosted the forum in 2005. The Forum for Interregional Cooperation of Russia and Kazakhstan is held annually since 2003, alternately in each of the countries. Traditionally, it is held in the border cities of the two states. The forum is traditionally attended by heads of state, heads of regions and akimats, business representatives.