The first anniversary conference of the National Contact Center of Kazakhstan was held in Astana

On November 21, 2022, the First Anniversary Conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the functioning of the NCC in Kazakhstan was held in Astana at the Economic Research Institute (ERI) JSC.

The purpose of the conference is to promote the OECD Guidelines, promote the dissemination of the OECD standards of responsible business conduct, and develop recommendations for the further development of the NCC.

At the official part of the event, the Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan – Chairman of the Kazakhstan NCC Alibek Kuantyrov, Head of the OECD-Eurasia division William Thompson and Chairman of the ERI Board Ruslan Sultanov delivered a welcoming speech marking the opening of the conference. https://economy.kz/ru/Novosti_instituta/id=5481

The first panel session was devoted to discussing Kazakhstan's obligations under the OECD on responsible business conduct in the areas of human rights, labor and industrial relations, consumer interests and environmental protection.

According to these areas, the most frequent applications are received by the NCC of all countries, in connection with which the Kazakh NCC pays close attention to these areas and promotes the dissemination of OECD standards.

During the first panel session, Director of the Modern Society Research Institute LLP Meiram Kazhyken outlined the importance of a strong civil society for the development of Kazakhstan, and the fact that the NCC is the main conductor of the principles of corporate governance:

"According to the principles of corporate governance, the production council is a way to involve employees in making production decisions.  In this regard, the NCC, as a unique body, should implement the principles of OECD corporate governance in Kazakhstan."

President of the Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan Banu Nurgaziyeva noted the main task of civil servants on civil society issues:

"These issues should first of all be included in the professional development plan of civil servants of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Kazakhstan. In this regard, a memorandum was signed this year with the Kazakhstan office of the NCC to disseminate the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Companies."

Deputy Chairman of the Investment Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Larisa Dzhumagalieva:

"The Roadmap for the development of the NCC contains good plans to promote and popularize the activities of this mechanism. Taking into account the opinion of civil society, as well as the interests of social strata of the population, I think we need high-quality FDI investment attraction."

The discussion was also attended by the Director and Chairman of the Public Association "Consumer Protection Society "Adilet" Yerkin Tompiev, President of the Direct Sales Association Anastasia Kalashnikova, General Director of the Kazakhstan Association of Regional Environmental Initiatives "ECOJER" Rustem Kabzhanov.

During the second session of the conference, the participants discussed the importance of the NCC mechanism as an alternative way to resolve disputes. Interesting and relevant reports were presented here in the field of modern problems of responsible business conduct in various fields, ranging from human rights, workers' rights and occupational safety, also affecting issues of access to information, taxation and environmental protection.

The speaker of the discussion, professional mediator, mediator trainer, Deputy Director of the International Center for Mediation and Law "Consent" Ruzanna Esentemirova, noted the readiness to hold joint explanatory seminars among trade unions on compliance with OECD standards:

"For the further development of the NCC, we need to think about how to introduce mediators into the NCC system. Our task is to train NCC employees with the competence of mediators."

In turn, Tatiana Zinovich noted that at the moment a large program is being implemented with the support of the Embassy of Japan on the UN guidelines on business promotion and human rights in Kazakhstan:

"At the same time, the business community is poorly informed about basic documents such as the UN Guidelines on Business and Human Rights, including the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. It is these documents that provide a systematic approach to the promotion of human rights in business. Therefore, business entities should implement and extend these principles to responsible supply chain management."

All participants of the conference expressed interest in further cooperation with the Kazakhstan office of the NCC to popularize this mechanism and implement the OECD Guidelines.

The conference participants expressed their gratitude for the important and useful event, the professional work of the organizers. They noted the speakers' presentations, which aroused great interest due to their scientific novelty and practical significance. Regular holding of such thematic conferences is of great importance for the development of the NCC in Kazakhstan.

For reference: 

The NCC of Kazakhstan is a collegial advisory body that makes decisions on complaints about violations of the provisions of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.