Bakhyt Sultanov: About a working trip to Moscow

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At the end of last week, a regular meeting of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission was held in Moscow. With colleagues "on the shop floor" - authorized deputy heads of government of the Eurasian "five", we considered almost fifty issues, among which a number was initiated by Kazakhstan.

For example, we have agreed to increase the quota for duty-free import of sugar and raw sugar from third countries to 350 thousand tons. So far, we have agreed to reset the rates until the end of August. If Russian exports do not open, we will once again raise the issue of increasing volumes and extending the validity of the quota.

We have also achieved the inclusion in the list of goods imported into the territory of Kazakhstan at zero duty and subject to placement under a special customs procedure of Bombardier-400 aircraft, which are equipped with the fleet of our airline "Qazaq Air". Now these aircraft can be exported from the territory of the EAEU (and imported back) for maintenance without paying customs duties and taxes.

On our initiative, a number of important decisions in the field of technical regulation were adopted for the economy of Kazakhstan.

Firstly, on the proposal of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a model regulation on the Working Group on the Development and amendment of technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union will be approved. They will provide for mandatory equal representation of businesses of all countries in the document development processes. That is, Kazakhstani business will receive a guaranteed right to participate in the development of standards of the entire Union.

Second. We have achieved that in the new Procedure for developing and amending the technical regulations of the EAEU, the norms providing for the early inclusion in each technical regulation of the Union of amendments on the mandatory photo and video recording of product tests and the use of only accredited laboratories "sat down". If now amendments take more than a year (approval, approval, etc.), then under the accelerated scheme – up to 5 months.

An important decision for the EAEU is the approval of the Order of interaction between the countries and the EEC when imposing restrictions on trade. Member States will be obliged not only to warn each other and the EEC 10 days before the entry into force of restrictive measures, but also to consult on the feasibility of their introduction in principle. This will make cross-border trade processes predictable. And, I hope, it will exclude situations when our state agencies learn from exporters who have stood at the border that a neighboring country has imposed some restrictions.

Now about the good in numbers.

Statistics of foreign trade, including with the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, for the first two months of the year showed excellent dynamics in exports.

Deliveries of our goods to the EAEU countries increased by more than a quarter: up to $ 1.2 billion. In general, in January-February 2022, Kazakhstan's exports increased by 71.4% from $7.1 billion to $12.1 billion by January-February 2021. This is not only due to an increase in prices for our main raw materials, but also an increase in the volume of supplies of non-primary exports. Last year, in the first two months, our business delivered $2.4 billion worth of processed goods to foreign markets, and this year it has already delivered $3.5 billion.

I am convinced that the growth in foreign trade volumes at the beginning of the year is the result, among other things, of the measures to support exporters provided last year. The trade and economic missions that we conducted in 2022 became a tool for establishing business contacts between business circles of different countries. And they transformed into a practical plane - contracts. We get a good effect from export acceleration and strengthening of e-commerce and assistance in bringing enterprises to marketplaces.

We will continue to actively support our manufacturers to promote them to foreign markets. The indicator for us was determined by the Head of State: to increase the volume of Kazakhstan's non-resource exports (that is, exports of goods and services) to $41 billion by 2025.