OECD Investment Committee

Extended confidential meeting of the OECD Investment Committee

Kazakhstan's Progress Report on Implementing the Declaration.

On November 4-5, 2021, an extended confidential meeting of the Investment Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (hereinafter – OECD) was held under the chairmanship of Manfred Schekulin, the Chairman of the OECD Investment Committee. The meeting was attended by representatives of the OECD member countries, as well as the BRICS countries (a group of five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

About 70 participants joined the meeting of the OECD Investment Committee: senior representatives of government agencies and variou.organizations.

On the Kazakhstan side, the meeting was attended by representatives of Ministries of National Economy and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Embassy of Kazakhstan in France and the Kazakhstan office of the National Contact Point (Economic Research Institute JSC), chaired by Alibek Kuantyrov, the Vice Minister of National Economy.

The meeting was held via videoconference and included two sessions:

1.    Bulgaria's accession to the Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises (hereinafter - the Declaration);

2.    Kazakhstan's Progress Report on Implementing the Declaration (see the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises, 1976).

The Moderator of the meeting was Manfred Schekulin, the Director Analysis and Strategy of Trade and Competition Policy of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, Chairman of the OECD Investment Committee.

In opening the second session on Kazakhstan, Manfred Schekulin noted that the Republic of Kazakhstan has been an associate member of the OECD Investment Committee since 2017, and the country is now to demonstrate the progress made on the National Contact Point (hereinafter - NCP).

In his report, Alibek Kuantyrov, the Vice Minister of National Economy, presented the progress achieved by the Kazakh side in the period June 2020 to October 2021 in five areas within the framework of the activities of the National Contact Point in Kazakhstan:

1. NCP legal framework.

2. NC.organization and operation, including the NC.organizational structure and budget.

3. NCP activity coverage and dissemination of OECD Guidelines.

4. Creation and maintenance of an information resource;

5. Complaint consideration and consulting.

According to him, a legal framework has been set up that allows the contact point to be properl.organised. The NCP is headed by the Chairman - the Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The NCP's collegial body is divided into the main and expert composition.

The main  permanent collegial composition of up to 5 (five) people. The expert — specialists involved, depending on the violation of the OECD Guidelines.

The functions of the NCP Secretariat are performed by Economic Research Institute JSC. The Secretariat is currently staffed by the Head of Secretariat and three qualified staff members.

The NCP Secretariat functions on a daily basis. To promote the OECD Guidelines, an NCP's Action Plan has been approved.

During the specified period, the following was implemented:

— 4 webinars for business in the context of the key industries to explain the OECD Guidelines and the activities of the NCP in Kazakhstan;

— 4 webinars for government agencies and intereste.organizations;

— 2 – for leading trade unions and their associations, as well as representatives of NGOs;

— for representatives of academia and universities – 2.

— Published information materials on the NCP and the Guidelines in the leading media outlets of the country, and on official websites of government agencies, local executive authorities, Atameken NCE and NGOs of Kazakhstan.

— Developed information booklet, produced video in the state, Russian and English;

— functioning NCP's Call Center and chatbot (Telegram-based).

For the NCP instrument awareness and promotion, a trilingual NCP information resource has been launched to ensure its accessibility and transparency. In addition, the NCP Secretariat can also receive requests through the E-Otinish system within the framework of the Electronic Government of Kazakhstan.

Alibek Kuantyrov also spoke about the work on developing partnerships with variou.organizations.

"This year, a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation has been signed with the leading association, which includes 16 republica.organizations, trade unions and employers, branch trade unions and othe.organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan", he added

At the end of the meeting, Manfred Schekulin, the Chairman of the OECD Investment Committee, noted that Kazakhstan has made substantial efforts and significant steps to enhance the functioning of the NCP during this period. Explanatory activities have been particularly highly appreciated.

Overall, the OECD Investment Committee gave a positive assessment of Kazakhstan's OECD Progress Report.