Crucial to reform legislation in business - Member of Coordination Council under Kazakh Government Y. Kozhasbay.

 

The Council unites three most authoritative public organizations like the Commerce and Industry Chamber, the Entrepreneurs Forum of Kazakhstan and Atameken Union. «Such structure of the Coordination Council allows us to hear consolidated opinion of business. Today the Government is ready to cooperate with business and to solve our problems. The Coordination Council consists of 12 representatives of business and 12 officials. The first group includes three representatives of each above-mentioned organization, one representative of the Kazakhstan Financiers Association Serik Akhanov, CEO of KazEnergy JSC Timur Kulibayev and renowned economist Oraz Dzhandosov.

The rules of the Coordination Council and seven committees were created. Co-head of the working group on economy O. Dzhandosov says: «Noteworthy to say that for ensuring equal dialogue between the authorities and business there must be two chairpersons. I think this is quite a timely and necessary group for humanization of the civil and criminal codes and whole legislation. Senator Berik Imashev co-chairs the working group».

The committees are working at present on selection of the experts which will have to re-consider the legislation in each sphere and make a decision on them. This is one of the most important directions of the Council's activity. "The most important thing is that the issue concerning specialists' salary has been solved. Their work will be paid by three abovementioned organizations and KazEnergy association. We see that Business Road Map-2020 Program is a very good tool for maintaining entrepreneurship. We should develop a system not for business support but for creation of favorable climate for self-regulation and self-development of business sector. This will be possible if all systemic issues are solved and appropriate conditions are provided. Uniting businessmen and government officials is crucial today. This work can give positive result», Y. Kozhasbay considers.

The Head of the Commerce and Industry Chamber expressed also his opinion on other issues concerning business, in particular, on subsidizing the loans. «Around KZT 30 mln are allocated annually for subsidizing the loans. Special attention is given to the enterprises which deal with production. Trade is excluded from this list. But to our mind it is not correct. As it is known, 70% of business is involved in trade, and it must also be developed. We have to pay attention to the fact that in some cities the shopping centers have turned into the city-forming units and about 4000 people are employed there. It is not just trade; this is also commercial real estate leasing. And in some way this business represents an infrastructure project», he considers.

Secondly, as is known, the Government will fund 5% of credits at 12% per annum. It will be one of the instruments of successful realization of the country's five-year program of forced industrial-innovative development. The Council offers its own versions of its financing based on foreign experience. It is clear that diversification and industrialization of economy is the problem of the republic's independence. We should study the experience of Saudi Arabia, Israel, where the same issues are solved.

«For example, a businessman decides to build a plant. It is clear that profitability stage is not high and pay-off period is long. In such situation the Government should act not like a usurer, but like a stockholder of the future enterprise. If the project costs USD 100 mln, the government allots 50% of this sum on a repayable basis. 25% is invested by the businessman himsleh while 25%- he takes in a bank. In such case the load on business is not high. The Government will get its money through indirect benefit - jobs, taxes and investments. Unfortunately, this model has not been fully developed in our country yet», the member of the Council said.

In his opinion, small and medium businesses of the country are ready to join the country's industrial sectors. But for this the banks should cheapen their funding. «If the Government is interested in development of industry, it should not act as a usurer. In any case we are not talking about free money; investments should be returned on repayable basis. Such a large-scale project as industrialization of the country can not be implemented without direct participation of the Government», Y. Kozhasbay stressed.

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