The head of state praised the level of interaction of the national Chamber «Atameken» and the Government

On 29 October, Kazakhstan hosted the VII Congress of the National Chamber of entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan «Atameken» online. It was attended By head of state Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev, Prime Minister Askar Mamin, Chairman of the Presidium of NCE RK «Atameken» Timur Kulibayev, Chairman of the Board of NCE RK «Atameken» Ablay Myrzakhmetov, members of regional councils of chambers of entrepreneurs and industry associations, as well as entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan.

From the East Kazakhstan region, the Congress was attended by the head of the region Daniyal Akhmetov and 13 members of the Regional Council of the Chamber of entrepreneurs of East Kazakhstan region, Chairman of the women's business Council of the chamber of entrepreneurs of East Kazakhstan region.
«Over the past five years, the share of small and medium-sized businesses in the country's economy has increased from 24% to 32%. The number of people employed in the business sector increased by 21% from 2.8 million to 3.4 million. Today, about 40 % of employees work in small and medium-sized businesses. The national Chamber, which unites the state and business, has made a great contribution to this. On my instructions, the principle of «presumption of business integrity»is enshrined in law to protect the rights of entrepreneurs. This allows us to interpret all controversial issues and ambiguities in favor of entrepreneurs. I hope that these legislative changes will be supported by the relevant judicial practice. Since January 1 of this year, my decree has imposed a moratorium on inspections of small and micro-businesses for a period of three years. As a result, the number of inspections of such entities has been reduced by 8 times», - President of Kazakhstan Kashsym-Zhomart Tokaev said.
Kashsym-Zhomart Tokaev noted the coordinated work of the Government and NCE «Atameken», which has a positive impact on the business climate in the country.
Chairman of the Presidium of the NCE RK «Atameken» Timur Kulibayev voiced the main problems that Kazakh entrepreneurs had to face during the pandemic.
«I would like to thank the Head of state for his personal participation and the Prime Minister for the government's involvement and close partnership in protecting the interests of business. The current year 2020 was marked by the impact of the pandemic. According to surveys conducted by the national Chamber, the pandemic affected 1 million entrepreneurs in the country. The most affected areas were transport and trade, where the reduction in turnover was 10-17 percent. About 1.6 million employees were placed on leave without pay. A comprehensive package of support measures supported by the Head of state helped to mitigate the consequences. More than 15 thousand entrepreneurs have received a deferral on the loans. The support package was the Government's quick response to the situation. Atameken daily monitored the situation with state agencies from the moment of transition to the state of emergency until today», - said the head of Atameken Timur Kulibayev.
Recall that Atameken from the first days on a regular basis conducted surveys of entrepreneurs to identify the situation in the regions, industries and sectors. All the data collected during the surveys were passed to the Government and formed the basis for measures to support entrepreneurs in the country.
In addition to anti-crisis measures, the head of «Atameken» also announced the long-term tasks set by the national Chamber today, including participation in the implementation of regulation «from scratch», which will affect more than 860 thousand business entities, or 65% of the total number of active entrepreneurs. The national Chamber also has a proposal to develop a new Tax code, the key task of which is to formalize employment and reduce the shadow economy. Separately, the issue of business lending and support for entrepreneurs in the regions was raised.
«In order to fulfill the Head of state's mandate to launch the Government for business, we continue to work on creating a digital business ecosystem where entrepreneurs can receive a range of services in an online format, send requests and receive feedback», - Timur Kulibayev said.
At the end of the meeting, an additional agreement was signed to the current agreement on cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and NCE RK «Atameken» on the integration of information systems of state bodies and the national Chamber.
The Chamber of entrepreneurs of East Kazakhstan region will have to solve the tasks set by the President to support entrepreneurship with the active involvement of the Regional Council and its industry committees.
Director of «Astana-Business» LLP, Chairman of the agribusiness Committee under the regional Council of the East Kazakhstan region Farid Abitayev shared his impressions about the Congress:
«Today, the Congress discussed topical issues that relate to all areas of business in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In particular, we represent the agricultural sector - we have heard many answers to our pressing questions. In addition, we learned that our questions will be further discussed separately with the participation of Government representatives. I think that the voice of business in the face of Atameken will be even more clearly voiced in the Government. Due to this, we will be able to resolve many of our issues in a working manner, without bringing any conflict situations ... Today, we heard from The President that in the case of even some controversial judicial issues, the presumption of innocence will definitely apply to business, and the judicial authorities should interpret all doubts in favor of business. In other words, the state is now turning its face to business, and this is also a great achievement of the Atameken national Chamber.