Speech by the Head of State K. Tokaev at the second meeting of the National Council of Public Confidence
Nur Sultan, Palace of Independence
December 20, 2019
We overcome the fear of an alternative point of view. The authorities do not believe that disagreement is a destructive, socially dangerous phenomenon.
Thus, my formula “different opinions - one nation” found its direct embodiment in the National Council of Public Confidence.
This is not just a slogan or idea, but a real action.
At the first meeting, a wide range of issues was put on the agenda of the National Council.
All suggestions and initiatives were taken. Appropriate mechanisms and procedures have been launched. Work continues.
Already, there are very important issues on which we have come to a common opinion.
Based on consolidated decisions, the first reform package has been prepared. It will be presented today at the second meeting of the National Council.
For each initiative expressed by the members of the NSOD, the executors were identified from among the responsible structures with clear deadlines.
At the same time, during the discussion, a considerable number of new proposals were received from members of the National Council, on which there were serious discussions at the level of my Administration and Government.
I believe that only through such discussions can we come to an optimally positive result.
It is important to stop the possible lobbying of anyone's interests.
Our paramount task is the development of systemic, long-term, effective measures on current economic and political issues of the country.
At the same time, in practice it is extremely difficult to determine irrationally used lands. Therefore, in such a sensitive issue as the right to land use, we could not make hasty decisions.
At the same time, in the field of state control over the use of agricultural land, there is an urgent need for the introduction of modern control methods based on the latest technologies.
The general public, including members of the National Commission, noted the need to switch to space monitoring to identify and seize unused and irrationally used lands.
In October, I signed the Law on regulation of the agro-industrial complex, which provides for remote sensing of land.
A solid legislative framework is the first step. Now it is necessary to study the possibility of using satellite images as a basis for terminating the land use agreement with minimizing the contact of inspectors and inspectors.
At my request, the Ministry of Agriculture developed an order.
At the same time, this work is carried out taking into account all risks, in particular, the novelty of the technology, the lack of information about the quality of land, the relevance of databases, and so on.
The Ministry of Agriculture, together with the Ministry of Digital Development, should complete all preparatory work and conduct a pilot project for space monitoring of the land in a number of areas by May 1, 2020.
In addition, we must take other measures to strengthen control over the rational use of land. I believe that it is necessary to increase the basic tax rates for unused land from 10 to 20 times.
It is also required to reduce the period of non-use of agricultural land for forced withdrawal from the current two years to one year.
The next question is the issue of accountability and openness of state structures.
And, above all, the rationality and transparency of budget expenditures.
The supreme body of financial supervision - the Accounts Committee on a systematic basis carries out a large and significant work to identify financial irregularities, inefficient use of budget funds.
However, so far the results of his work have not been made public.
Therefore, I decided that starting in January next year, the Accounts Committee will begin publishing the main results of its audit activities for audited state bodies and organizations.
Further. It should ensure increased efficiency and further optimization of the quasi-public sector.
I supported the idea of introducing civil society representatives on the boards of directors of socially significant enterprises of the quasi-public sector.
Based on the discussion with the members of the Council, the Government prepared a decision regarding the participation of social activists in this work.
They relate to the list of enterprises, the status of public figures, the selection procedure for candidates and so on.
The government will have to carry out all the necessary selection procedures and submit candidates for approval by March 1, 2020.
In addition, in addition to my assignment, within the framework of the Address to reduce the number of enterprises in the quasi-public sector, as well as their often inflated states, work is needed to reduce the economic involvement of existing state enterprises in competitive markets.
This should be implemented through a reduction in the authorized statutory activities of state enterprises.
The government is already proposing to reduce more than 100 types of activities of state enterprises, this is about 30% of the current list.
However, I believe that it is necessary to continue work in this direction, that is, to reduce the list more significantly, especially in large cities, where the competitive environment is most developed. The government should make proposals on this issue by April 1, 2020.
Further. In my programmatic speeches, as well as during regional trips, I spoke about the inadmissibility of discrimination of our citizens by foreign employers. You also raised this question.
Therefore, on my instructions, a check was carried out last month for compliance with labor and migration laws at enterprises attracting foreign labor.
During this time, 95 companies were inspected, 930 facts of violations were revealed.
Among them, a significant proportion were violations regarding the performance by foreign employees of work that does not correspond to the issued permit, and the discrepancy between the education received and the position held.
Based on the analysis of the situation, inspections of the competent authorities and taking into account the proposals of the Council members, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population prepared a number of changes.
Firstly, the quota for attracting foreign labor for 2020 will be significantly reduced. The reduction will be about 40% - from 49 thousand in 2019 to 29 thousand in 2020.
Secondly, all enterprises with a staff of more than 250 people, attracting more than 30 foreign workers, will be covered by regular inspections.
Now the Ministry of Labor will be able to quickly respond to any violations, including imbalances in wages, social conditions, and so on, without allowing problems to accumulate from year to year.
Thirdly, the Rules for establishing quotas for foreign labor and the Rules for issuing permits will be revised. The reduction of foreign personnel in the 4th category (working specialties) will be envisaged, as well as the requirements for local content in personnel will be tightened.
In this regard, the Government needs to take further measures to ensure labor activity by foreign citizens in strict accordance with applicable law.
In order to implement my election platform as a pilot in the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty, the project of "budget for public participation" was launched.
Taking into account the high social significance of this initiative, a similar practice from 2020 will be introduced in 55 administrative units.
In particular, in all areas of cities of republican significance and the capital, as well as in 35 cities of regional significance.
In terms of ensuring greater involvement of citizens in the consideration of central government budgets, the Ministry of Finance, together with members of the National Council, created a Working Group to develop proposals for changing the format of the Citizens Budget project.
Citizens of the country have the right to receive reliable information on the distribution of budget funds.
A similar principle of transparency should affect all types of financial transactions conducted on the territory of the state. We should objectively understand the full picture of external sources of financing and borrowing.
It is also required to stop speculating about the excessive debt of our country to external creditors.
In this regard, before April 1, 2020, the ministries of the national economy, finance and the National Bank should develop the Unified Register of External Debt in the form of a digitized database.
In this regard, the Government, together with the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, will create an open, integrated database of business entities.
As a result, each entrepreneur will be able to check his counterparty.
Filling the database and classification of enterprises should be based on information from tax, customs, law enforcement agencies.
It will display tax arrears, the presence of administrative offenses, and so on.
In the event that the businessman conducted a check of the counterparty on this base, and he did not find himself in the so-called “red zone”, a transaction with this counterparty cannot be subject to criminal prosecution before taxes and fines are assessed.
If, according to the database, the counterparty is in the “red zone” and the businessman still decided to deal with him, he must understand all the consequences of such a decision.
This is the principle of due diligence.
These initiatives should be clearly reflected in the Tax Code and other legislative acts.
The next step should be the transfer of payment for large transactions exclusively in the non-cash observable format.
Today, with the development of banking technology, a respectable citizen or business needs a small amount of cash.
At the same time, the share of the shadow economy in the real estate and vehicle markets is about 3 trillion tenge. It is necessary to restore order.
The government and the National Bank should prepare a package of legislative amendments to ensure the introduction of cashless payments in the initial sale of housing and vehicles.
Of course, it is necessary to foresee in it the features of our territorial development, especially in rural areas.
Another topical agenda for the company remains the quality of the digital services provided.
Despite the fact that we created special databases and purchased expensive information systems, we still need paper documents in the first place.
I will give only one example. Every third citizen of the country drives a vehicle, and all drivers carry with them an identity card, a driver’s license, a technical passport, a waybill, and various other documents.
For the fact that a person forgot documents at home, we punish. Only on such facts about 11 thousand people were punished for 11 months.
The government is obliged to deal with this problem in the near future, if necessary, amend the legislative acts.
As regards the block of social reforms, the issue of introducing targeted social assistance to large families remains relevant.
The Government has a clear task to provide transparent and fair targeted assistance, especially to needy children, including from large families.
The state should help only those who need it.
In this regard, the proposal of the public and Council members to not take into account family income when paying in a new format for social assistance to large families was taken into account.
Indeed, the rule on accounting for individual incomes is difficult to administer, entails negative social consequences (divorces, fictitious dismissals, slaughter of cattle, etc.) and is often subject to corruption.
A proposal was also supported regarding the provision of children from socially vulnerable segments of the population with a guaranteed social assistance package.
The government has done a great job, developed new approaches. An appropriate bill has been prepared.
Thus, large families will receive state support regardless of income, but solely on the basis of the number of children in the family.
It is proposed to establish a new state allowance for large families in differentiated sizes, multiple to MCI, from 42.5 to 74 thousand tenge.
In addition, children from low-income families will receive a guaranteed social package.
Preschool children will be provided with food packages and other basic necessities.
Students will receive free hot meals in schools, daily free travel to and from school, and school uniforms and school supplies.
All this is at the expense of the state.
I would also like to speak on the issue of switching to the Latin alphabet. Moreover, this issue was raised at a meeting of the National Council.
Haste in this matter should not be allowed. It is required to carefully, carefully, comprehensively analyze and work out all aspects of the introduction of the new alphabet.
The proposed three versions of the Latin alphabet turned out to be imperfect. Therefore, we need a truly scientific approach to this problem, which cannot be simplified.
We are not talking about simply translating the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet, we need a reform of the Kazakh language, its modernization.
We are waiting for the authoritative opinion of our scientists. Once again I declare that we are reforming the Kazakh language.
In such a crucial issue for the nation, campaigning, lightness are unacceptable
Along with the most important issues of improving the quality of life of Kazakhstanis and strengthening social policy, we are taking a serious step in the field of reforming the current political system.
Some experts expressed the view that this issue, they say, will go by the wayside.
But we have shown the will to achieve concrete results in this extremely sensitive area.
The first package of political initiatives was strengthened by the state.
Thus, no one should have doubts about the need for political modernization, which I spoke about in the Message.
Moreover, the reforms should, of course, contribute to the stable development of our country, and not lead to shocks.
We must strengthen the creative basis of the political process so that pluralism becomes an important element in enhancing economic well-being and human capital.
Therefore, it is very important to find the most reasonable way, the so-called "golden mean", which will ensure the progressive development of our state. This, after all, is the demand of the whole people.
Based on this, the first package of political initiatives has been worked out. It consists of the following measures.
First, we should begin to introduce the notification principle of the organization of meetings, which is in accordance with our Constitution.
Rallies are permissible if they do not violate the law, do not violate public order and do not interfere with the peace of citizens.
This is my principled position.
You know her, we will consolidate it legislatively.
The time has come to instill in the public consciousness a culture of rallies. It is time for both society and the state to adequately relate to the public expression of position. This is inevitable, and it is better to come to it independently, consciously, and not forcedly.
But one must understand that rallies are not only a right, but also a responsibility.
In my Address in September, I already spoke about the need to improve the legislation on rallies.
Today at a meeting of the National Council, I want to say that in the framework of the implementation of the Plan for the implementation of the Presidential Address, a draft Law on peaceful assembly has been developed.
It will clearly define all forms of peaceful assembly, establish the competence of maslikhats to determine specialized places, as well as concepts such as the status of the organizer, participant and observer, their rights and obligations.
It is not just about changes to the current law, but about a conceptually new law that regulates the organization and conduct of all forms of peaceful assembly.
The government should submit a draft law to Parliament.
For all these initiatives, the Government, together with the Presidential Administration, will have to prepare and submit relevant proposals and bills to the Parliament.
It is also time to address issues that have been actively raised by our human rights defenders.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is instructed to begin the process of acceding to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
We also managed to reach a reasonable compromise under article 174 of the Criminal Code.
It is proposed to humanize this article - to make changes to the existing edition, to present it more correctly.
For example, abandon the wording “excitement” and use the more accurate legal concept of “incitement” instead.
Such a wording will make it possible to clearly fix a more equitable application of this article and will remove the main issues on it.
In addition, a special bill was prepared aimed at mitigating financial restrictions on persons who have served criminal sentences under this article and have a positive opinion from law enforcement agencies.
In particular, there are provisions to exclude these persons from the list restricting the rights to dispose of finances and property.
In addition, it is proposed to allow them to receive a minimum monthly wage per family member and to allow opening and maintaining bank accounts.
Another important issue that has been debated for a long time and causes heated debate in society is article 130 of the Criminal Code on defamation.
At the first meeting of the National Council, this issue was also raised. It was proposed to decriminalize this article.
However, it turned out that there are serious counterarguments.
Some social activists, even human rights defenders, advocate the preservation of this norm in the Criminal Code, since it is a matter of protecting human rights and preserving their honor and dignity.
In turn, a number of state bodies suggest amending only the first part of Article 130.
I note that only on the issue of amending Article 130 of the Criminal Code, several working discussions were organized with the participation of members of the National Council and representatives of state bodies. The last one was held just before our meeting.
Using the discussion of this norm as an example, we can see how difficult it is often to find a single solution. After all, it is necessary to take into account all the points - legal, humanitarian, ethical and international standards.
Based on the analysis of all the positions and nuances of this issue, I decided to decriminalize article 130 of the Criminal Code and transfer it to the Administrative Code.
At the same time, a high measure of responsibility must be maintained in order to guarantee the rights of other citizens and protect them from slanderous fabrications and attacks.
Dear participants of the meeting!
Democracy is a huge responsibility of both authorities and citizens.
Democracy should serve development and creation, and not disunity and collapse.
There is a request for further political transformations in society, we know that.
In our work, we will proceed from the highest goals of development. Populism simply should not have a place.
Ұltiқ қoғamdyқ senim kңңesі halyқ aldyndaғy zhauapkershіlіktі sezіnіp, үmіtіn aқtauy tiis.
Reformalar tech reform үшін жасалмайтынын түсінуіміз керек.
Біз тың бастамаларды жан-жақты ойластырып, нақты әтижеге қол жеткізуіміз ққет. Bұl - өte māyzdy.
Reformalardsң bastas of māsaty - damu baғytymyzdan ayutқymay, oғan youң serpіn take.
Kazakhstan patriotism is a manifestation of a community of interests, a common destiny, a willingness to work, to create for the prosperity of our Motherland.
The Kazakhstanis are called upon to carry out a historical mission - to show by their own example how to overcome any obstacles through a constructive dialogue between the authorities and the people.
We must formulate an agenda in the interests of the absolute majority of citizens.
We are strong in our unity.
At the same time, unity is based on a diversity of opinions. The famous UN thesis "Unity in Diversity." This concept is very relevant in relation to our country.