Jan. 28 at the press conference in the press center of the Government, Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Arystan Kabikenov reported on the work being done to increase exports as part of the fulfilment of the instructions given by the Head of State in the Address “Growing Welfare of Kazakh Citizens: Increase in Income and Quality of Life."

The share of exports in the manufacturing industry over the past five years increased by 9%. According to the ministry, over the 11 months of 2018, total exports grew by 26.4% compared to the same period in 2017. Non-commodity exports amounted to $14.3 billion.

Kabikenov notes that in the framework of export promotion various financial and non-financial measures of state support are provided. According to the results of 2018, within the framework of the provision of financial support measures through the JSC Kazakh Export, 50 exporters were supported, of which 27 companies used this support for the first time. The amount of supported export contracts amounted to 419.7 billion tenge.

In 2018, within the framework of service support for exporters, more than 50 events were held abroad. The participation of Kazakh exporters at international exhibitions and trade missions contributed to the conclusion of more than 100 export contracts worth about $0.5 billion.

Over the past year, in the framework of the provision of non-financial support measures, 368 export-oriented enterprises were certified by Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs.

Today Kazakhstan exports about 800 goods to 119 countries. At the same time, the export basket of Kazakhstan annually replenishes on average by 5-8 product groups. In particular, new groups of export goods in 2017 included automobiles, solar panels, gas boilers, cartridges, rails, and POS terminals.

“In 2018, we began to export industrial honey to the UAE market; for the first time, Kazakhstan’s ice cream was delivered to the PRC markets. Within the framework of the trade and economic mission organized in the PRC with the support of our ministry, for the first time, supplies of Kazakhstani meat to the Chinese markets were made, with a long-term contract concluded for five years,” says Kabikenov.

Along with this, the first Kazakhstani trading house was opened in Xi'an in 2018, where Kazakhstani products will be presented in 2019, which will also be promoted in the electronic trading networks of the PRC.

Kabikenov noted the potential for increasing the export of Kazakhstani products to nearby countries, such as the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, China, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Iran. The main potential goods are products of the machine-building industry, food, dairy, as well as building materials.

Thus, in the framework of the President’s Address, in order to prevent the loss of traditional export markets, as well as to expand the geography of supplies and product lines for the next three years, 500 billion tenge was allocated.

The expected growth in export earnings until 2021 is 725 billion tenge.

In order to introduce new measures of service support in 2019, it is planned to open trade missions in the countries of Central Asia, China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. The purpose of these representative offices is to manually escort Kazakhstan exporters abroad.

At the same time, in order to facilitate access to foreign markets, it is planned to translate foreign technical regulations and requirements into the state and Russian languages. To simplify obtaining state support to exporters, the export.gov.kz portal has been updated, where every entrepreneur will be able to receive services related to the promotion of exports, as well as submit an application for participation in trade and economic missions. In addition, the portal is planned to integrate with leading marketplaces, dispatchers of logistics services, electronic customs declaration system.

To simplify access to the markets of China, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, it is planned to invite inspection commissions from these countries to visit the enterprises of Kazakhstan exporters. In addition, the ministry plans to invite foreign retailers (Metro (China, Russia, Middle East), Migros (Turkey), Auchan (EU, RF), Wumart (China), Vanguard (China), Yonghui (China) to meet with domestic commodity producers.

“We have certain plans. About 8-10 Kazakh products appear annually in foreign markets. If these are not new products, then we are reaching an industrial scale. We are planning to expand the export geography this year. In general, the dynamics are positive. Work is underway. High expectations for achieving the objectives and increasing exports by 1.5 times by 2022,” Kabikenov concluded.

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