President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev spoke at the opening of the first session of the Parliament of the VII convocation

The Head of State congratulated the participants of the session on the completion of the parliamentary elections, wished success to the deputies of the Mazhilis of the new convocation and thanked the people's deputies of the previous convocation for their fruitful work.

— In five years, 410 laws were passed within the walls of the Parliament. Deputies, using their right of legislative initiative, prepared about 60 bills. This is more than in the past five convocations. New deputies, while maintaining the intensive pace of work of their colleagues from the previous convocation, should work even more fruitfully — " Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.

The President noted that the beginning of the activity of the updated composition of the Mazhilis coincided with two events of symbolic significance for the country. Our country has entered the Year of the 30th anniversary of Independence, and modern Kazakh parliamentarism is approaching its quarter-century milestone. The Head of State is convinced that the deputies who received the mandate of trust in this historical period will be able to meet the hopes of the people and will faithfully serve the Motherland.

-In the Year of the 30th anniversary of Independence, comprehensive reforms will be carried out. We must focus our efforts on building an effective State and a just society. The main priority is to improve the quality of life and improve the well-being of citizens. The people are waiting for full-fledged returns and concrete results from socio-economic programs, " he said.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pointed out the importance of implementing consistent changes to achieve the set goals and outlined a number of priorities. First of all, according to the President, it is necessary to make every effort to develop the rule of law and strengthen citizens ' trust in the authorities.

— The essence of reforms in this area is a reasonable decentralization of the system, modernization of the state apparatus, optimization of the quasi-public sector and digitalization of all processes. Thus, the state apparatus will be as compact, open and efficient as possible, and the decision — making process will be flexible and transparent. Socio-economic development is impossible without proper protection of citizens 'rights," Kassym-Jomart Tokayev believes.

As a second priority, the Head of State called effective social policy, which is a key tool for building a strong and inclusive society in an environment where the world is moving towards a "knowledge economy".

— Recently, we have made progress in reforming the education sector. At the same time, a number of accumulated problems will have to be solved. An important task is to reduce the gap in the quality of education between different social groups and regions. At this stage of development, a new policy is required to retrain and continuously improve the skills of employees. For this purpose, a special national project will be developed and implemented, " the President said.

The Head of State also highlighted the importance of modernizing the national healthcare system. In a pandemic situation, the urgency of this problem has become obvious. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pointed out the need to reset the social security policy. The State's priority should remain to support the most vulnerable citizens. Another key element of the social infrastructure is the national pension system, which should be fair, sustainable, and meet the interests of people.

Ensuring the well-being of the population, according to the Head of State, is impossible without the progressive growth of the national economy, which is another priority for the coming period. The Government has been instructed to continue countercyclical macroeconomic policies aimed at supporting economic activity. An important task is to create favorable conditions for doing business.

- Given the dynamic transformation of the labor market, it is necessary to stimulate the flow of labor from low-productive to more productive sectors of the economy. As I said earlier, the industry of our country should be flexible and adaptive to current changes, " Kassym — Jomart Tokayev said.

Balanced development of the country in terms of territory and space is also among the key tasks for the coming period. At the same time, special attention should be paid to the development of industries that connect all regions through a single economic space.

- Priority will be given to improving the infrastructure linking regions, cities, districts and villages. In accordance with the new standards, more than 3,500 villages will be upgraded. The roads to each reference village and all republican highways will be reconstructed and repaired 100 percent — " the Head of State said.

As it was noted in the speech, in order to further improve local self-government, it is important to simplify budget procedures and increase the independence of local representative and executive bodies.

One of the main directions of reforms in Kazakhstan is political modernization. The President said that this year there will be elections in some rural districts.

— We intend to strengthen the system of local self-government from the very bottom. This is a very important question. Therefore, after the upcoming elections of rural akims, it will be possible to proceed to the elections of district akims. However, we should not limit ourselves to this, " Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is convinced.

The President believes that the last election campaign, despite the quarantine restrictions, was dynamic and rich. According to him, in order to pass to the Majilis and Maslikhats, some parties did not have enough. In this regard, the Head of State expressed the opinion that the participation of these parties in the work of the Parliament could increase the effectiveness of legislative activity.

— We must reduce the threshold for political parties to enter the Majilis from seven to five percent. The time has come to make such a decision, as such a rule will encourage legally registered parties to participate in the next elections. It will also contribute to the development of political competition in the country. This initiative will expand the representation, will allow to take into account the opinion of the widest possible segments of the population in the development of state policy, - the Head of State believes.

In the speech, the urgency of increasing the activity of representatives of civil society, improving youth policy and supporting charitable activities was noted. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also added that one of the main goals remains the comprehensive protection of human rights. At the same time, special attention, in his opinion, should be paid to ensuring maximum freedom of choice of citizens.

- In world practice, the right of a person to legitimately express his disagreement with the elections or vote against all candidates is enshrined. In fact, it should be normal for us to have an alternative opinion and vote against it. Therefore, the column "against all" should be entered in the ballots of all levels. This initiative will create conditions for the protection of citizens ' electoral rights. After all, the official demonstration of the lack of choice is also a choice, " the Head of State said.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed that the proposed initiatives are only part of the long-term socio-economic and political reforms that are now on the agenda. In his opinion, deputies need to take an active part in this work and establish constructive interaction with the Government.

— My principled position is that all pressing issues in society should be discussed first of all in the Parliament. Representatives of the public and experts should take an active part in the preparation of draft laws. One of the main requirements is to establish effective feedback on controversial issues that may cause dissatisfaction of citizens. The Parliament faces two important tasks-the adoption of high-quality laws and the solution of current problems of society — " the President of Kazakhstan stressed.

Summing up, the Head of State noted that the Parliament is the epicenter of activities aimed at protecting the interests of the country. He called on the deputies to show the highest responsibility when making decisions and always remember that the people are waiting for positive changes.