At a Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, the state and prospects of the digital transformation of the trade sector were reviewed.

“The Head of State has set the task of digital transformation of all sectors of the economy. As we can see, in the field of trade, systematic work is underway. Within the framework of full traceability and identification of goods, the National Goods Catalog is being implemented. This is the basis for the classification of goods at all stages: from production or import to wholesale and retail sales,” Olzhas Bektenov emphasized.

The Prime Minister noted that, in fulfillment of the President’s instructions, systematic work is being carried out in the field of trade. Integration of the “Astana-1” and “Electronic Invoices” information systems has been ensured. At the same time, the existing system of digital traceability of goods still covers limited categories of products and relies on fragmented directories and data formats. In this regard, the Ministries of Finance and Trade, together with other government agencies, need to intensify work on the implementation of the National Goods Catalog in all sectors. Kazakhstani businesses are called to actively join this work. Separate attention was paid to the issues of further modernization of the technical regulation system.

“Entrepreneurs note the lack of transparency in certification procedures and the duplication of paper documents. These issues should be resolved by the E-KTRM technical regulation system, aimed at modernizing the mechanism of certification, accreditation, and standardization. In this regard, the Ministries of Trade, Finance, and Digitalization need to ensure full integration of E-KTRM with the information systems of sectoral government agencies by the end of the current year. Businesses have many questions regarding the expansion of labeling to many groups of goods. The Digital Labeling of Goods project is intended to protect the domestic market from counterfeit and substandard products, and to increase the competitiveness of domestic producers. I believe that the Ministry of Trade has not carried out sufficient work to inform entrepreneurs about the importance of labeling and its positive effects. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the information and awareness campaign and continue to expand the list of goods subject to labeling,” Olzhas Bektenov emphasized.

The importance of initiatives to launch an agromarketplace and a traceability system was noted, which will contribute to a significant increase in economic activity in rural settlements. The Ministry of Trade has been instructed to ensure the coordination of the work of sectoral government agencies and akimats. The Ministry of Agriculture must, by the end of the year, develop mechanisms to stimulate the work of agricultural producers through the agromarketplace. In the framework of foreign trade activities, it is necessary to help businesses in the automation of import processes, transaction transparency, and certification. The Ministry of Trade, together with “Kazpost,” must launch a pilot project of a B2B electronic trading platform by the end of the year. The Prime Minister emphasized that all these issues require flexible interdepartmental interaction and continuous open dialogue with business.

Following the consideration of the issue of digital transformation of the trade sector, Olzhas Bektenov gave a number of instructions to the relevant ministries:

The Ministries of Trade and Finance, together with interested government agencies, must complete by October 1 of the current year the distribution of product groups in the system of the unified classifier of goods, works, and services.

To ensure high-quality integration of departmental information systems with the National Goods Catalog, it is necessary to carry out an analysis and update the regulatory legal acts. The Ministry of Finance, together with interested government agencies, has been instructed to carry out the corresponding work.

In order to strengthen control over trade markups on socially significant food products, the Ministry of Trade must ensure the launch of a pilot project of digital food vouchers in Kokshetau and Pavlodar by October 1 of the current year.

#Olzhas Bektenov #Digitalization #Government session #President's instruction #Trade

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