Yesterday, on February 5th, members of the Kazakhstan Chamber of Mines convened an online meeting with Mr. Ilyas Ospanov, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to discuss recent legislative changes. Mr. Ospanov delivered an honest and detailed presentation. A brief summary of the presentation is provided below and attached to this news. Chamber members expressed concerns about potential impacts on investment due to the proposed changes and agreed to continue discussions, sharing best practices from the industry in Canada, Australia, and the UK.

The industrial policy aims to facilitate sustainable development in the manufacturing industry by transitioning away from a raw material-centric model and emphasizing the production of competitive, high-tech, and export-oriented products. Priority is placed on the development of metallurgy and metal processing. Current legislation includes provisions for voluntary agreements on providing raw materials to manufacturing enterprises at special competitive pricing, particularly focusing on aluminum, copper, and lead to enhance domestic industry competitiveness.

During the presentation, several misconceptions about the proposed mechanism were addressed. Mr. Ospanov stressed the transparency and automation of the proposed mechanism, with rules agreed upon by both the business community and government agencies. The licensing procedure is intended to stimulate economic diversification by promoting the establishment of new enterprises and the release of value-added products.

Regarding in-country value development, anticipated obligations include approving and implementing programs to foster this development. Failure to fulfill obligations may result in fines, though ongoing discussions with the business community are ongoing.

The procedure for licensing the export of domestic raw materials outlines specific conditions, with license recipients being domestic producers of goods included in the List of Commodities. Exceptions are made for new production and producers of small volumes of goods. Counter obligations of domestic producers include increasing the redistribution of domestic raw materials and refraining from selling these materials to third parties.

Overall, the presentation underscored a mechanism for supplying domestic raw materials to manufacturing enterprises, emphasizing transparency, economic diversification, and in-country value development.