Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chairs AIFC Management Council meeting
Images | Akorda
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev chaired a meeting of the Management Council of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), Kazinform News Agency cites Akorda.
Prior to the event, the Head of State got acquainted with the activities the AIFC actors, that have made a significant contribution to the promotion of the Center’s ecosystem. The heads of Freedom Finance Global, Astana office of the China Construction Bank Corporation, Fix Price Group, Grata International and Binance Kazakhstan Technologies presented the results of their work, including innovative projects as well as plans for future development.
Opening the meeting, the Kazakh President noted the rapid changes in the global capital market, formation of new international trade and economic ties as well as expansion of integration processes between countries and redistribution of financial flows.
According to Tokayev, the ongoing challenges and changes open new opportunities for Kazakhstan. In this regard, the Kazakh leader highlighted the key role of the AIFC in ensuring further sustainable and gradual development of the country.
In a relatively short period of its operation, the AIFC has achieved significant results, as conditions have been created to attract investments, that are unmatched at the regional level. Investors are offered favorable tax, visa and labor regimes. The principles of individual and comprehensive support for each investor are in place. A fair and impartial judicial system has been established. Thanks to new digital solutions, now every Kazakhstani can take part in an IPO, said the Kazakh President.
Head of State Tokayev also pointed out that the AIFC is facing a task to strengthen its status as a successful regional financial hub, highlighting a number of current issues.
In particular, the President stressed the importance of further attracting investments in the economy and the need to improve the investment ecosystem of the country.
The Center has already established close cooperation with the partners from the US, Europe, GB as well as a number of Asian and Middle East countries. Work is ongoing to promote investment projects with major companies of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, helping to significantly expand the investment potential of the AIFC and the Kazakh economy. However, it’s necessary to enhance the Center’s interaction with the government and national institutions as well as to continue to improve its regulatory framework, stressed Tokayev.
The Head of State noted that one of the key indicators of a developed stock market is liquidity, that is, primarily, provided by institutional investors. Tokayev went on to add that presently the citizens are offered to transfer up to 50% of their pension savings to private investment managers. To this end, the Kazakh President suggested considering the possibility of providing access of foreign investment management companies to pension assets and financial instruments of the AIFC.
In this context, the President recommended the National Bank together with the government, the Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market and the AIFC to look at the possibility of tightening the criteria for companies’ localization in the Center.
According to the Head of State, another priority task is to gradually increase the securities share and volume threshold in the local stock market in case of simultaneous placement in foreign markets. Tokayev stressed the importance of stimulating Kazakhstani private companies to go public, thus confirming their transparency and efficiency.
President Tokayev also pointed out steady observance of the set game rules as the next priority.
The AIFC’s tax regime, guaranteed by the Constitutional Law, is a key element of the Center’s development strategy. It plays a key role in increasing Kazakhstan’s attractiveness for global investors. It’s our unchanged position, that we will never compromise, he said.
The Kazakh leader noted that the development of carbon market in Kazakhstan is one of the priorities of the state policy. According to him, the EU countries is preparing to introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism Regulation, which could become a serious barrier to Kazakhstani exports to Europe.
In addition, the Kazakh President stressed the importance of creating efficient financial mechanisms for emergency response. According to him, different state insurance funds should become an instrument to fight consequences of natural disasters. In this regard, the Head of State instructed the government jointly with the Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market and the AIFC to explore in detail the issue of establishing such a fund under the jurisdiction of the Center.
Concluding the meeting, the Head of State approved the AIFC Annual Report 2023.
During the meeting, reports were made by AIFC Governor Renat Bekturov, Solidcore Resources plc CEO Vitaly Nesis, Amicorp Fund Services COO Robin Hoekjan, AIFC Court Chief Justice Ian Burnett, Chair of the Board of Directors of the AIFC Financial Services Authority Chair Angela Knight, and AIX Board of Directors Chair Timothy Bennett.
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President Tokayev instructs to better education system, ensure safety of children
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President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev received Minister of Enlightenment Gani Beissembayev, Kazinform News Agency cites the Akorda press service.
Head of State Tokayev was briefed about the measures aimed at developing preschool, secondary, technical and vocational education in the country.
As the President was informed, last year 154 new schools for 137,000 places, helping eliminate 29 three-shift and 12 emergency schools, were commissioned. In the new academic year, 221 education facilities for 365,000 places are set to be commissioned. The level of equipment of schools with subject rooms has been doubled, the internet quality has been improved.
According to Beissembayev, the educational work remains a priority area, as the ‘Birtutas tarbiye’ program based on the national values ‘Adal adam - Adal enbek - Adal tabys (Fair person - Fair labor - Fair income) was introduced.
Tokayev was informed about the betterment of the quality of secondary education, with each textbook being converted to a digital format and each student, representing Kazakhstan in Olympiads, ending up with a medal. Last year, Kazakhstani students claimed a total of 58 gold medals in Olympiads.
The Head of State was presented with the projects aimed at transforming the system of technical and vocational education as well as promoting inclusive and specialized education.
In conclusion, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev set a number of tasks before the minister on bettering the system of education and ensuring the safety of children.
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Kazakh PM Bektenov: Major businesses need to exercise their social responsibility
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Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov held a meeting of the Council of Domestic Entrepreneurs with the participation of Atameken Chamber of Entrepreneurs and representatives of large businesses, primeminister.kz reports.
The main purpose was to discuss current issues of entrepreneurship development and consider measures for further cooperation in the implementation of tasks set by the President in his Address to the people of Kazakhstan "Fair Kazakhstan: law and order, economic growth, social optimism".
Olzhas Bektenov noted that the state is working hard to improve the investment climate, unlock the country's industrial potential, solve infrastructure problems and develop the real sector of the economy. In turn, big business plays an important role in the technological and innovative development of the country, creates opportunities for the development of small and medium-sized businesses.
Representatives of the energy, manufacturing, oil and gas sectors, mining and metallurgical complex, agro-industrial complex, transport and financial sector, healthcare, IT, tourism made proposals during the discussion. The issues of support for domestic manufacturers were raised with a focus on new projects in such priority areas as deep processing of metals, oil and gas chemistry, and others.
Special attention was paid to the development of in-country value. The Government together with Atameken is developing a new methodology for determining the share of kazsoderzhdeniye in goods, works and services. Olzhas Bektenov emphasised that the new mechanism will be fairer and will give a serious impetus to the development of domestic enterprises. The relevant structures have been instructed to speed up the ongoing work.
The issues of expanding the use of artificial intelligence systems and the development of digital technologies were considered. The importance of developing tourism, housing and utilities, green finance aimed at implementing environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and low-carbon projects was emphasised.
During the discussion, attention was paid to the issue of providing the country with a stable energy supply. Business representatives expressed their support for the Head of State's initiative to develop nuclear energy and noted that in conditions of energy capacity shortage, a new source of constant energy is needed for further development of industry and commissioning of new facilities. Thus, in case of a positive decision on the construction of a nuclear power plant at the referendum on 6 October this year, the country will be able to cover the energy needs of current and prospective industries, create new jobs, etc.
Summarising the results of the meeting, Prime Minister noted that in order to achieve the tasks set by the President it is necessary to actively involve business in the development of the real sector of the economy.
The Head of State is actively pursuing comprehensive modernisation of Kazakhstan. It is important that economic growth directly affects the quality of life of our citizens. At the same time, big business should show social responsibility. As you know, the President has declared next year the Year of Working Professions. We already have successful examples when big businessmen take patronage over colleges and create a proper base for training specialists. This model also allows enterprises to train their future personnel. Within the framework of the Year of Working Professions it is necessary to intensify such practice," Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.
The need to develop entrepreneurship in rural areas and provide year-round employment of rural residents was noted.
Head of the Government instructed the relevant ministries to study the proposals voiced by business. In particular, to consider the possibility of introducing a reduced tax rate on income on loans for green projects, improving incentives for farmers to develop domestic seed production, reducing the purchase of imported goods and services in case of availability of domestic analogues.
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80,000 students to be educated under government target order with requests from enterprises
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In the Address of the Head of State to the people of Kazakhstan, 2025 was declared the Year of Working Professions. In this regard, the transformation of the system of vocational education has begun in the republic. Minister of Education Gani Beisembayev at the Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov announced key measures to reform colleges and develop teaching potential, primeminister.kz reports.
The first is profiling. For its implementation, an analysis of the economic structure of the regions has been carried out. According to its results, together with state bodies 4 macro-regions and their directions of development were defined. Thus, in the southern regions of Kazakhstan, where more than a third of the country's labour force is concentrated, simple industries are being localised and infrastructure development will continue. In the central and eastern regions, further industrialisation is planned to ensure inter-sectoral and inter-regional transfer of personnel. In the north, the agricultural sector will be intensified, and in the west, new industries will be created around large companies. In the central and eastern regions, further industrialisation is planned to ensure interregional transfer of personnel. In the northern regions, the agricultural sector will be intensively developed, while in the West, new industries will be created around large companies.
Taking into account these directions, the profiling of colleges has been started in order to focus the regions more on training personnel with technical and vocational education. 195 colleges, most of which are localised in Kyzylorda and Karaganda regions and in the city of Astana, have been re-profiled to suit the economic structures of the regions. In the past academic year, licences for 624 specialities and 780 qualifications were revoked.
The second direction is the formation of 100 technological leaders. To this end, the Ministry has developed a draft system of evaluation of technical and vocational education organisations. The assessment system is based on the rating assessments used in international practice and OECD countries. The main criteria will be the implementation of international industry training standards and the share of students certified according to them. The assessment of achievements is carried out annually and allows TVET organisations to independently build individual development trajectories. The assessment system allows to evaluate all parameters of activity in technical and vocational education organisations.
The application of this assessment system will allow to distribute TVET organisations into 4 leagues. The colleges classified in the first and second leagues will form the first 100 technological leaders. They will become reference resource centres for other colleges. Today 6 colleges of the country are implementing such standards and their graduates are certified in the relevant specialities," the speaker noted.
For example, in Atyrau, APEC PetroTechnic College has introduced an international standard of education in the oil and gas industry, in Taldykorgan Higher Polytechnic College in the construction industry. Certified graduates of this college are in great demand both in our country and abroad. This year by the end of the year it is planned to carry out similar accreditation in 5 colleges. By 2030, 30 colleges in the country will undergo international sectoral accreditation, which will make it possible to train specialists according to world standards. This will ensure continuity of TVET educational programmes with universities.
The third area will be capacity building of educators. In this regard, the international internship of teachers in the best colleges of OECD countries will be expanded; the use of the so-called ‘lateral entry’ or involvement of the best specialists of the industry in the activities of TVET through the organisation of short-term courses will continue; it is planned to introduce internships for teachers at enterprises and attract specialists from industry; in addition, work is now underway to develop the institute of mentoring," the Minister of Education reported.
The fourth direction is certification of graduates. Mandatory certification, which is carried out by authorised bodies, takes place in specialties classified as regulated professions. Independent certification is done for unregulated professions. Now, as part of the transformation, it is proposed to create a system of independent certification for all types of professions. In this case, not only the knowledge and skills of the graduate will be assessed, but also the educational organisations themselves.
Cooperation with business will continue, colleges will become an industrial platform where industry leaders will unite. The mechanism of transferring colleges into trust management to large and medium-sized businesses with the obligation to develop infrastructure, preserve and invest in the profile and contingent of the educational organisation will be reviewed.
The experience of ALLUR in Kostanay region, which provides patronage to the local automobile college, can be considered as an effective mechanism of transfer into trust management. Its distinctive features from the current mechanism: improvement of the educational process; strengthening of material and technical base; permanent access to practice bases equipped with innovative production technologies; expansion of employment opportunities for graduates; the object remains in state ownership.
As a result of the transfer to trust management, colleges will be equipped with modern equipment. 80 thousand students will be trained under the targeted state order with requests from enterprises.
The transformation of the technical and vocational education system requires the formation of effective management. In this regard, training of the management corps will be continued, they will be trained on the example of the best international practices and 1 thousand leaders. Internationalisation will be started, in the framework of which transfer of management system will be carried out, as well as higher education institutions, KPI for technical and vocational education organisations will be established depending on the league and resource potential.
Development of strategic partnership with foreign colleges will be done by attracting investments and introducing new technologies of training and corporate governance. Strategic partnership with foreign colleges will be developed through attracting investments and introducing new technologies of training and corporate governance. I am sure that we will carry out this work in close co-operation with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as branches of 23 leading world universities are already actively working in our country. Partnership with universities will also be strengthened. For example, in the Northern macro-region, Kokshetau University named after Sh. Ualikhanov became a strategic partner of the leading colleges of the region, and the University of Pennsylvania became a foreign partner," Gani Beisembayev emphasised.
As a result, the country's colleges will develop international co-operation by expanding the academic mobility of students and teachers.
The fifth direction is to reset the financial model of TVET. The sources of financing of TVET should be diversified. They should be: the state placing state orders, employers with target orders for personnel training, as well as TVET's own revenues from the production of goods and services.
As for the per capita standard, it should consist of the current basic part and a new incentive payment. At the same time, incentive payments will be provided when the established values of the MTP are achieved. When it is implemented at TPEs belonging to the first league, the norms of per capita financing can be increased from 891 thousand tenge to 1.3 million tenge per student, depending on the group of specialities.
The volume of additional need to increase the amount of per capita funding norms for colleges as a whole for 2025-2027 will amount to 178.3 billion tenge. Of this, 53.7 billion tenge is needed for 2025. At present, the draft of the new methodology of the per capita funding norm is being worked out together with the Ministry of Finance, following the results of which it will be submitted for consideration of the Republican Budget Commission," the Minister summarised.
As a result of measures to develop the system of technical and vocational education in the country will be created 100 colleges-leaders; the coverage of young people in technical and vocational education will increase by 1.5 times; in the training of professional specialists will develop a system of international recognition of qualifications; colleges will become centres for training creative leaders and flexible, qualified specialists for the labour market.
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