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Building
the future together
Sikander Shah
Nursultan Nazarbayev’s penchant to see
the next Kazakh generations live in a country which would not be left in
the wayside of global events by 2030. His government’s achievements have
raised patriotism and united all people of Kazakhstan.
Here is a man who as President of the
new independent nation state of Kazakhstan had to wrestle with
extraordinary crises. On the strategic front his greatest challenge was
that he had inherited ownership of the world’s fourth largest arsenal of
nuclear weapons. Second only to these nuclear dramas were the succession
of economic crises. He led Kazakhstan from Communism towards
privatisation and free markets. In these turbulent years the discovery
of huge oil and gas riches in the Caspian gave a massive boost to the
economy.
According to President Nazarbayev, 2011
is especially valuable for Kazakhstan in view of the approaching 20th
anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence.
“We have conquered significant tops
along this way, which led dependent people to independent days of
present time,” Nazarbayev says.
“The Summit OSCE, recently held in
Astana, convened the heads of the 56 state and government and is an
outstanding evidence of this.
“And even before this major and glorious
achievement, we have reached many goals.
“We have become one of the three states
in the world, which convened its compatriots, “scattered as millet” in
different times of history.
“In these years, more than 800,000
compatriots came back from foreign states and the number of population
increased by one and a half million.
“We have built a beautiful and
prosperous Astana in the wide steppe of Sary-Arka. We have established
the capital, which became the symbol of our dynamic development, on the
banks of Yessil River .
“Only the nation which lives in harmony
and understanding will reach the fruitful future.
Until 2014, Nazarbayev government plans
to implement 294 investment projects worth 8.1 trillion KZT. 161,000 new
permanent jobs will be created and 207,000 new jobs will be available
for the period of construction.
The main outcome of the first year of
the first industrial five-year plan is the commencement of serious
structural changes in the economic growth thanks to the real economy
sector.
In his address to his people, Nazarbayev
reiterated the purpose of the Strategic Plan for the next decade.
By 2020, Kazakhstan intends to achieve
the following indices:
Overall GDP growth will be no less than
30 percent.
Growth in processing industries will
exceed or reach the level of extractive industries.
The National Fund assets will comprise
no less than 30 percent of the GDP.
Domestic and foreign investments in
non-raw materials economy sectors will increase by at least 30 percent.
The share of small and medium-sized
businesses in the GDP will comprise 40 percent.
The population will grow to 18 million
people.
The share of qualified specialists will
make 40 percent.
The unemployment rate will stay under 5
percent.
Labour productivity in agriculture by
2014 will increase twofold, by 2020 fourfold.
An unprecedented project to develop beef
husbandry will be implemented in the agricultural sector.
Already in 2016, meat exports will
comprise 60,000 tons, which is equivalent to exports of four million
tons of grain.
For this purpose, the state will
allocate 130 billion KZT as credits.
This will allow creating more than
20,000 jobs in the countryside, and will provide a source of income for
more than one hundred thousand villagers.
This will allow increasing the number of
breeding stock and breeder cattle of all kinds.
All this will stimulate the growth of
production in related industries: agricultural engineering, chemical and
food industries, feed production, and equipment repairs.
The government, the Akims [governors] of
all regions have been tasked to deal with this most important part of
rural industrialisation.
Competitiveness of economy should be
based on efficient technologies, which ensure reduction of energy
consumption.
In order to develop non-raw materials
sectors, he charged the government with developing and adopting the
Comprehensive Plan for Energy Efficiency.
Industrialisation forms a new paradigm
for regional policy.
The government together with the Akims
has been ordered to develop and approve a Programme for Development of
Regions.
According to Nazarbayev, if we want to
live better and richer, we must implement this work.
“I am a supporter of the principle: a
strong business means a strong state.
For the first time, we adopted the Law
‘On State Control and Supervision’.”
The uniform principles and procedures
for monitoring by all state agencies are now established.
This is done in order to further reduce
the administrative pressure on businesses.
Within the framework of reform of the
law-enforcement system 16 laws were adopted.
Legal mechanisms for protection of
property were introduced; humanisation of criminal legislation on
crimes, which do not pose a grave threat to society, was carried out;
the scope of non-confinement punishments, as well as preventive measures
alternative to arrest, was expanded.
Due to this, only this year about two
thousand people convicted for crimes of small and medium gravity would
be released from prison.
The staff of the law enforcement system
was reduced 15 percent.
Their structure was optimised.
The functions unusual for
law-enforcement agencies were transferred to the private sector.
Significant changes are taking place in
the judicial system.
An uncompromising fight against
corruption is under way.
Currently, according to international
experts, the anticorruption legislation in Kazakhstan is recognised as
one of the most effective.
In total, for the last two years more
than 40 officials at the national level, more than 250 officials at
regional and city levels, including 39 Akims and their deputies, were
charged with criminal offence.
Criminal cases were filed against a
minister of environment protection and a minister of healthcare, a
chairman of the statistics agency, vice ministers of the ministry for
emergency situations and the ministry of defence, the chairmen of the
“Kazakhstan Temir Zholy”, “KazMunayGaz” and “Kazatomprom” companies,
resulting in convictions.
In three years, Kazakhstan’s rating in
the global anticorruption index has improved by 45 points.
According to this index, Kazakhstan is
at the top positions throughout the CIS.
In the World Bank report, in 2010
Kazakhstan was recognised as the leader of reforms in the interests of
businesses.
In the global ranking of countries with
the most favourable business climate, Kazakhstan takes the 59th place
among 183 countries of the world.
In general, the facts of unreasonable
interference of state bodies in the activity of economic entities were
minimised.
Last year, the Customs Union of
Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus was launched.
According to the results of the 10
months of 2010, the volume of trade with Russia and Belarus increased by
38 percent.
Exports of Kazakhstan’s goods to the
Customs Union countries increased 52.4 percent. At that, contribution
from customs duties to our budget increased by 25 percent.
All these facts objectively show that
the Customs Union is a very pragmatic and concrete project, which solves
the economic problems of our countries.
Social modernisation – a new social
policy
The Nazarbayev government has clearly
defined plans for industrialisation and technological development of
economy.
The main objective of the programmes is
to improve people’s wellbeing.
Therefore, special attention is being
paid to achieve social modernisation.
In this regard, three major state
programmes have been adopted: development of education, health and
languages.
By May 1, Nazarbayev instructed the
government, together with Akims, to develop and adopt principally new
programmes on:
· new employment strategies;
· modernisation of housing and public
utilities;
· providing the population with quality
drinking water.
These programmes are aimed at solving
everyday problems of millions of ordinary people of the country.
The main aspects of the new social
policy are:
Education
Nazarbayev wants the government must
continue to modernise education.
As of today, the computerisation of
schools is totally completed.
They are equipped with multimedia
classrooms, interactive equipment.
The introduction of a 12-year secondary
education model is under way.
Lifelong learning should be the motto
for all the people of Kazakhstan .
Healthcare
All these years has done everything
necessary to improve the health of the people of Kazakhstan.
Healthcare financing has increased from
1.9 percent of the GDP in 2002 to 3.2 percent in 2010.
Today, for the first time, the most
complex medical surgeries are done across the country.
A total of 150 tele-medical centres
connected with the leading international hospitals were established.
As a result of the work done, a 25
percent growth in birth rate, an 11 percent decrease in death rate, and
the speeding of the population growth by 1.7 times have been achieved.
By 2013, the Unified National Healthcare
System will be fully introduced.
We must seriously deal with preventive
medicine and improve the quality of primary medical care.
According to international assessment,
about five percent of the population with the basic types of diseases
use about 70 percent of all health services.
Under well-organised prevention
activity, the diseases may be prevented at early stages.
Therefore, Kazakhstan government has
been asked to implement a set of national health surveillance programmes
of targeted groups of population.
Languages
Peace and harmony in the multilingual
and multi-faith Kazakh society is Nazarbayev government’s common
achievement.
The task is to make sure that by 2017
the number of people in Kazakhstan who have mastered the state language
reaches at least 80 percent. And by 2020 no less than 95 percent.
In ten years, 100 percent of high school
graduates will speak the state Kazakh language.
Nazarbayev has always said that
knowledge of three languages (Kazakh, Russian and English) is an
obligatory condition of one’s wellbeing.
Therefore, Nazarbayev believes that by
2020 a share of Kazakh population speaking English should be no less
than 20 percent.
New Employment Strategy
For two years, within the framework of
the anti-crisis “Road Map” programme, Nazarbayev government has ensured
employment of the population, reduced the level of unemployment and
improved infrastructure in cities and villages.
These programmes have received broad
support and gratitude of the people of Kazakhstan.
Nazarbayev assigned the government,
together with the Akims of regions, and cities of Astana and Almaty,
until May 1, 2011, to develop a brand new programme on employment of the population.
Modernisation of Housing and Public
Utilities
The best indicator of quality of life of
citizens is the comfort level of housing.
Over the past 10 years, the housing fund
expanded by 30 million square meters.
This means that more than one million of
Kazakh citizens now live in new apartments.
Quality drinking water
The issue of providing quality drinking
water to people in Kazakhstan is the most important task of improving
people’s health.
Work on ensuring quality drinking water
started 8 years ago, and there are positive results.
Nazarbayev instructed the government to
develop effective incentives for maximum involvement of private capital
in the hydro-economic sector.
In 2020, access to central water supply
in urban areas should reach 100 percent. In the countryside, it should
increase twofold, to 80 percent.
Increase of Revenues - a New Quality of
Life
This year we will increase the amount of
pensions, scholarships, salaries of public sector employees by 30
percent.
For two years in a row, Nazarbayev’s
government has been increasing them by 25 percent.
As it was planned in a People’s platform
of the “Nur Otan” party, by 2012 the average size of pensions, salaries
in the budgetary organisations and scholarships will increase twofold
compared to 2008. |