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NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — Alpego, the largest producer of agricultural machinery in Europe, is considering the possibility of establishing production in Kazakhstan. Investors expressed their intentions during a visit to Kazakhstan’s Kostanay region, Kazakh Invest national investment promotion company reported.
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NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it held a meeting this week with large Japanese corporations that are interested in implementing joint investment projects with Kazakh partners.
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DUSHANBE (TCA) — Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko have signed an agreement on strategic cooperation between Tajikistan and Belarus.
The document was signed on June 28 in Minsk, where Rahmon arrived with an official visit.
Belarus and Tajikistan will step up efforts to implement a cooperation roadmap, Lukashenko said during his talks with Rahmon earlier in the day, BelTA news agency reported.
“We will take measures to intensify a roadmap of our relations, discuss closer cooperation between Tajikistan, Belarus and third countries, especially Afghanistan. You suggested that we engage Afghanistan in this cooperation,” the Belarusian leader said.
The Belarusian president also expressed concern over a decrease in the volume of his country’s trade with Tajikistan. “The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the governments should rectify trade between the two countries. We also need to step up efforts to promote joint products on the markets of third countries,” Lukashenko said.
In 2018 Belarus-Tajikistan trade totaled $37.4 million, down by nearly 13%. Belarus’ export made up $33.4 million, import stood at $4 million. Since the beginning of 2019, the bilateral trade has been experiencing a downturn. In January-April the bilateral trade shrank to $12.1 million, which was 83.2% as of the same period a year before.
Belarus’ main exports to Tajikistan included tractors, automobiles, sugar, chipboards, carpets, refrigerators, and tires. Belarus imported from Tajikistan fruits, nuts, dried fruits, cotton fiber, cotton yarn, and textile apparel.
An enterprise assembling Belarus’ MTZ tractors operates in Hisor, Tajikistan. Work is in progress to set up a joint Tajik-Belarusian dairy enterprise in Dushanbe.
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ALMATY, Kazakhstan (TCA) — A pilot project introducing GPS devices for livestock movement tracking was launched with support of Kazakh Invest national investment promotion company in Almaty region. The project value is $700 thousand. Its developers — the South Korean company Lives’Talk and Samsung Electronics — installed 15 antennas in Kegen district of Almaty region to operate the devices, Kazakh Invest reported on June 27.
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NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — At a briefing on June 27, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister–Minister of Finance Alikhan Smailov told about the planned measures to implement the Presidential Decree “On Measures to Reduce the Debt Burden of Citizens of Kazakhstan,” the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The president of Kazakhstan receives numerous appeals from citizens to help with the payment of consumer unsecured loans.
“There was a situation when the most socially vulnerable citizens, and these are large families, families with disabled children, families who lost their sole breadwinner, recipients of targeted social assistance, orphans for various reasons, fell into a difficult situation and could not meet their credit commitments [to banks],” said Smailov.
This problem affects the vital interests of about 500 thousand people. Therefore, the president made a decision to provide unprecedented social support — yesterday he signed a corresponding Decree, said Smailov. The purpose of the Decree is to help Kazakhstanis who find themselves in a difficult life situation provide an opportunity to improve the financial situation of their families.
The Decree instructs the Government and the National Bank to take the following measures as a one-time action. As a direct targeted financial assistance for each borrower from the above-mentioned category of citizens, the state will repay the main debt and accrued remuneration in the total amount of up to 300 thousand tenge in second-tier banks and microfinance organizations. Moreover, their total debt should not exceed 3 million tenge as of June 1, 2019.
For all citizens who have unsecured consumer loans in banks and microfinance organizations, accrued fines and penalties will be written off as of July 1, 2019. This write-off will be carried out, first of all, at the expense of second-tier banks and microfinance organizations.
A ban is also imposed on the accrual of penalties, commissions and other payments related to the issuance and servicing of loans for all unsecured consumer loans of individuals with overdue over 90 days.
“The president’s position is that the situation with consumer loans should not be repeated,” Smailov said.
The National Bank will take the necessary regulatory measures and strengthen the responsibility of financial organizations for taking excessive risks. A ban will be introduced on granting loans to citizens with incomes below the subsistence minimum in order to avoid further deterioration of their financial situation.
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BISHKEK (TCA) — On June 27, Kyrgyzstan welcomed the first tourists from Uzbekistan to Issyk-Kul Lake on an inaugural flight from Tashkent to Tamchy. During the 2019 summer holiday season this international charter flight is expected to bring nearly 3,000 tourists. The flight marketing is provided thanks to assistance from the U.S. Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of its efforts to strengthen tourism and create jobs in Central Asia, the US Embassy in Bishkek reported.
