Fast track for domestic companies to become certified and accredited suppliers for transnational and large Kazakhstani corporations engaged in the oil and gas, metallurgical and mining industries.  The tasks, results, and prospects of the project for the development of suppliers in Kazakhstan were discussed at a special online conference, which took place on February 2, 2021.

Representatives of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the World Bank, “Kazakhstan Center for Industry and Export“ QazIndustry” JSC, Euroconsultants, transnational corporations and industry experts took part in extensive discussions.  The conference was held within the framework of the project "Small and medium-sized enterprises competitiveness" implemented by the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the support of the World Bank.

 Explore new territories, enter completely unexplored sales markets, while contributing to the development of the country's economy in a pandemic.  All this is one of the main tasks of the implementation of the supplier development program in Kazakhstan.  Tatiana Segal, Team Leader of the World Bank Small and Medium Enterprise Competitiveness Project, shared her opinion during the online conference.

“I believe that this specific program for the development of suppliers is the most tangible for achieving the main goal of our project, namely, to help small and medium-sized enterprises in Kazakhstan become as competitive as possible.  If we can help SMEs get accreditation, which, in turn, will help these small and medium-sized enterprises not only within Kazakhstan, but also enter the international arena”, T. Segal noted.

 According to her, not taking into account the situation related to quarantine restrictions and a number of restrictive measures, there is still significant progress in the implementation of the program.

“We have already been shown that all stages of the program have been completed and that the most important stage was supposed to happen during the pandemic.  This shows a high resistance and the ability to survive in a variety of conditions and not entirely favorable.  It speaks only of how high the resilience and viability of small and medium-sized enterprises is”, T. Segal emphasized.

Ruslan Ibraimov, Director of the Center for Industrial Cooperation and Regional Development of “Kazakhstan Center for Industry and Export“ QazIndustry” JSC, spoke about the future of the supplier development project.

 “Now we work only with the oil and gas and mining and metallurgical complex, in the future the supplier development service can cover other sectors and the database provides an opportunity to expand it and it can contain all important information that may be of interest to potential buyers.  The project continues, now we actively support small and medium-sized enterprises in their accreditation process and also continue to work with them on certification issues,” R. Ibragimov said.

According to him, among the main objectives of the project are the creation of a supplier service and the provision of technical financial support to SMEs in Kazakhstan, as well as ensuring supply opportunities for multinational corporations.  The project started in July 2019 and was divided into 4 stages.  According to experts, passing all stages of the program will allow enterprises to enter international supply chains.  The project aims to improve the efficiency of SMEs, establish direct links with multinational companies, and establish standards and prerequisites for further cooperation.

 As part of the online meeting, the speakers also shared their experience and knowledge of how to better integrate into international supply chains, manage risks in a post-pandemic world and which industries will stimulate the further development of the economy of Kazakhstan.

You can view the recording of the conference at the following link