Government Tuesday: What measures will be taken to implement President’s Address to the people of Kazakhstan

Measures to implement the Address of the Head of State “Constructive Public Dialogue – the Basis of Stability and Prosperity of Kazakhstan” and the progress of harvesting were considered Sep. 3, 2019, at a Government session. Following the session, a press conference was held where Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov answered the questions of journalists. On the sidelines of the Government, the media representatives received answers to their questions regarding the directions voiced by the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in the Address to the people of Kazakhstan.

First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Finance Alikhan Smailov, deputy prime ministers Zhenis Kassymbek and Berdybek Saparbayev reported on measures to implement the Address of the Head of State “Constructive Public Dialogue – the Basis of Stability and Prosperity for Kazakhstan.”

Askar Mamin instructed to take measures to fully ensure funding for the implementation of the Address of the Head of State.

“I draw the attention of all the first leaders - you are personally responsible for fulfilling the instructions of the President. I emphasize that for each order strict control over the quality and terms of their execution should be established. We must ensure coordinated work to effectively solve the tasks,” said Askar Mamin.

The Head of Government instructed to develop a draft National Plan for the implementation of the tasks set in the Address of the Head of State by Sep. 7. On September 10, the project is planned to be submitted for approval by the President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

On the second issue, reports were made by Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov, Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev, Akims of Akmola Region Yermek Marzhikpayev, Kostanay Region Archimed Mukhambetov, North Kazakhstan Region Kumar Aksakalov, Zhambyl Region Askar Myrzakhmetov and Turkistan Region Umirzak Shukeyev.

As of Sep. 1, 2019, harvesting is underway in all regions of the republic. For timely harvesting, 395 thousand tons of diesel fuel are needed. Askar Mamin instructed to take all measures for high-quality and timely harvesting, primarily, providing fuel and lubricants for agricultural producers.

“It is important not only to have time to harvest, but also to perform work with minimal losses. In general, the course of the harvesting campaign is not bad. The Government has taken all the necessary decisions on financial and logistical support for harvesting,” said Askar Mamin.

The Head of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan instructed to provide grain receiving enterprises with timely reception of grain for storage, as well as processing and drying of wet grain.

On the sidelines, the Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Roman Sklyar spoke about the formation of airfare prices. According to him, ticket prices are formed on the basis of the airport airfare, the cost of jet fuel, the cost of the aircraft itself, its leased product.

“We need to put things in order, first of all, in the so-called price regulation for peak dates, when airlines, using dynamic pricing, significantly overestimate prices on weekends and holidays. We are carrying out this work with airlines, and I think that we will regulate this issue. It is obvious that international practice shows that it is necessary to plan your trip in advance, then the price will be much lower,” Sklyar said.

The minister also added that the issue of regulating the cost of jet fuel will be resolved in the near future.

“The Ministry of Energy provides 100% production of jet fuel for transit. Now we do not buy it abroad. Our plants produce it in sufficient quantities. The issue of cost regulation will be resolved in the near future. Our large companies buy aviation fuel directly from traders without intermediaries. Transit aircraft purchase jet fuel from the airport. Here is the number of intermediaries and margins together with the Ministry of National Economy, the Committee for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies, we will actively deal with this issue,” said Sklyar.

Chairman of the Board of JSC National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna Akhmetzhan Yessimov against the backdrop of criticism of the Head of State voiced in the Message to the people of Kazakhstan told how public procurement is carried out.

“Yesterday there was criticism of the quasi-public sector, questions about public procurement that in 2018 the volume of public procurement amounted to 4.4 trillion tenge, of which 3.3 trillion tenge, or 75%, were carried out from one source. We have done a lot of work on this issue, for example, this indicator is two times lower. We have increased open tenders by 2.6 times, we save 5 times as much with an open tender than from a single source. As part of the holding itself, purchases were carried out on 4.5 thousand items. Now we have reduced 15 times, now there are 300 in total. Thanks to this, 600 billion tenge were allocated to the private sector. 16 thousand objects of the private sector received orders. The fund itself saved about 30 billion tenge on this,” said Yessimov.

According to him, the work carried out had an effect, 121 billion tenge were saved last year. And this year it is expected to save 150 billion tenge.

At a press conference, answering a question from Channel 31 correspondent about the price of bread, Minister of Agriculture Saparkhan Omarov assured that prices remained stable.

“At the beginning of the year I talked about curbing the price of bread. The food corporation sells cheapened grain from 100 to 150 thousand tons of grain to bakeries. We sold 100 thousand tons of grain. Since then, bread prices have been stable,” Omarov said.

The journalist of the Kazakhstan TV channel was interested in the issue of grain collection and its cost. S. Omarov said that this year it is planned to collect 19 million tons of grain. Depending on the quality, the cost of grain will be from 62 to 70 thousand tenge per ton. This season, Food Contract Corporation JSC plans to purchase up to 1 million tons of grain.

Asked by the correspondent of the Kazinform news agency about grain drying, the Minister of Agriculture informed that in September of the current year there will be more rainy days and if this situation arises, the agency is ready to allocate additional fuel and lubricants.

“It all depends on the weather forecast. The year before last, an additional volume of fuel and lubricants was allocated for drying grain. If this situation repeats this year, then we are ready for this,” Omarov said.

The journalist of the newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda addressed her question regarding the sales markets of Kazakh grain to the chairman of the board of JSC NC Food Contract Corporation Rinat Akberdin.

According to him, this year the main export flow will be directed to traditional markets - these are the countries of Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran. About 7.5 million tons were delivered last year - this is 68% of total exports. Deliveries to Turkey, Georgia, Italy, Spain are also growing.

“Annually, the volumes of deliveries of Kazakhstan grain and flour to China are increasing. If in 2016, the volume of exports to China amounted to about 300 thousand tons, in 2018 - 600 thousand tons. At the same time, an agreement has already been reached on wheat supply in 2020,” Akberdin said.

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