The developer of the draft State Program of Industrial-Innovative Development of Kazakhstan for 2020-2025 (SPIID 3.0) QazIndustry JSC presented the plan of development and promotion of exports.

In trade and industrial policy, the developers of the program emphasized the development of export-oriented industrialization. According to Roza Bulinbaeva, Deputy Head of the Export Promotion Directorate of QazIndustry JSC, exporters do not know where to address their questions and how to get the necessary information in one place.

 “There are several instances in Kazakhstan that are engaged in the development of export policy. We suggest revising the existing scheme of interaction between government agencies involved in export promotion," Bulinbayeva said.

QazIndustry proposes to make the Council on Export under the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the Council) the main body in export promotion, which will be responsible for the elaboration of strategic directions of export development, and establish the Interdepartmental Commissions (IDCs).

"We see the main task of the Interdepartmental Commission in the audit of sectoral programs for compliance with the objectives of the National Export Strategy (NES). Since, in practice, exporters face the problem of a lack of appropriate promotion infrastructure. For example, butchers have been opened to markets, but high tariffs have become a barrier. Flour millers can export the products, but there are problems with wagons. Commissions will address systemic business issues. Specialized working committees will be set up under the commissions, which will work out proposals to solve export policy problems and keep constant contact with the relevant ministries," Rosa Bulinbayeva explained.

Thus, a single operator for export development and promotion will provide comprehensive support for exports. The main emphasis in the program is planned to be on the decentralization of the system. The developer believes that it is necessary to involve local executive bodies (LEBs) in the process of export promotion. As the Deputy Chairman of the Board of QazIndustry JSC Murat Bekmagambetov noted, as of today, the LEBs do not actively participate in the implementation of the Roadmaps, the Regional Export Councils (RECs) were ineffective.

"Only a few regions are working effectively. Probably, only in Petropavlovsk, the Council raised the real problems. Otherwise, the work of the RECs is limited to lectures by visiting specialists from development institutions. Local structures do not raise the problems of the region, there are no departments that would monitor the problems of exporters daily. In this regard, we propose to create a "single window", a kind of front office, which will work with exporters," he said.

Nurlybek Mukanov, Director of the Trade Department of the National Chamber of Commerce of the Atameken NCE RK, proposed to consider the experience of the National Chamber on work in the project office format.  

"Taking into account that a single operator will be in the center, it is possible to transfer the functions of receiving documents to regional representative offices of the Atameken NCE RK. Now we see problems in working with KazakhExport. When an entrepreneur from Aktau is forced to come to Astana, to deliver documents within two days, and after returning he had to wait a week to get a response, the need to finalize the package of documents. Instead, we can organize an initial gathering in the regions, saving the entrepreneur's time," he said.

In turn, Yuliya Yakupbayeva, Advisor to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Atameken Scientific and Production Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan, emphasized the need to create an electronic catalogue of export goods and exporters, and finalize the scheme of state support for exports.

"Before we write how to promote export policy, we need to determine what goods we will export. We need a register of goods, for example, in Russia, a register of goods is formed by business associations. For example, the Association of Light Industry nominates 3-4 designers who participate in foreign exhibitions and gradually fill in the register with new business projects, which creates internal competition. Also, the Baiterek Holding and export promotion centers abroad are not enough for the implementation of the presented system of state support for exports. I propose to finalize the schemes of state support for exports in the form of the current and planned scheme," Yuliya Yakupbayeva emphasized.

The developers also presented measures to stimulate exporters. The SPIID 3.0 will provide for operators to support the entrepreneur from pre-export training to the point of sale in the foreign market. This measure will help to increase the number of exporters and increase the number of regular deliveries to foreign markets. To increase the competences of exporters it was proposed to create a profile center and revise the image-brand "Made in Kazakhstan".

"The brand is oriented to the domestic market. We propose to revise the philosophy, make a flexible product line and rely on the philosophy: organic, the most natural products. Such an umbrella company will be a leader in the field of organic and natural products. Such an umbrella brand will be of interest to small producers that are not represented in the international market," Murat Bekmagambetov said.

In the course of the meeting, the experts discuss the issues of trade, industrial and integration policies of the EAEU and WTO were discussed. Unfortunately, the integration policy is perceived as something autonomous, Ruslan Sultanov, President of the Association of PharmMed Industry of Kazakhstan, said in his speech.

"The approach is fundamentally wrong. The integration policy allows us to create new markets for our producers. We propose to develop in several directions. First of all, it is the development of the cooperation of industrial complexes. The second is to analyze industries in order to develop an optimal level of customs and tariff protection, including negotiations on free trade zones with third countries; carry out a balanced subsidiary policy, taking into account the existing limitations and opportunities in the EAEU; build a system to identify facts of unfair competition in relation to domestic goods in the Union market, and most importantly, to respond quickly and eliminate violations," Ruslan Sultanov said.

Rustam Shuntukov, an expert of the Department of Analysts of the Department of Legal Analysis of the Republican Association of Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises, noted that it is necessary to return to the consideration of the expediency of strengthening measures to develop local content around large enterprises and free economic zones.

In response, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of QazIndustry JSC Turar Zholmagambetov reminded that there are already several FEZs and IZs around large enterprises across the country.

"Today, there are already FEZs and IZs around large integrator enterprises producing raw materials and semi-finished products to create an SME belt with the production of final products. However, due to a number of systemic problems, consumer enterprises are not currently developing around large enterprises. For example, a large raw material producer supplies the Russian market with metals at a lower price than the domestic market. Price discrimination occurs. On the other hand, the same big company produces such products, which were only relevant at the end of the 70s, i.e. the quality of domestic products lags far behind the current demand. To begin with, it is necessary to raise the largest enterprise itself to the required level," he said.

In addition, the Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of QazIndustry JSC suggested paying attention to the EEC proposals on the introduction of restrictive measures for suppliers of goods and services of third countries.

"We often agree with EEC initiatives to impose anti-dumping duties on third-country goods. In a number of cases, such decisions have already had a negative impact on several sectors of the economy - the rising cost of raw materials and components for metal processing, construction, oil and gas, consumer, etc. Therefore, when making decisions it is necessary to take into account not only the interests of production but also our domestic consumers," Turar Zholmagambetov said.

Summing up, Yuliya Yakupbayeva noted that the need to repeatedly focus on the system of development and promotion of exports, consider separately the issues of export acceleration and the creation of training centers for exports.

Remind that the third stage of industrialization will be focused on further increasing the export-oriented competitive manufacturing industry. Where the main emphasis is placed on 4 groups of enterprises: "New Industrial Players", "Strong Rear", "Growth Drivers" and "Centres of Gravity". Accordingly, each group will be subject to individual incentive measures according to the list of priority goods.

On August 16, Atameken will host a meeting to discuss the development of digital and industrial infrastructure. Industry 4.0