18 March 2025, 14:55
Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva reported on the work on the development of the creative industry in the country at the Government session. She noted that since 2021 the President in his Addresses to the people of Kazakhstan has repeatedly noted the importance of increasing the share of this sector in the economy of the country.
The republic has a special project office, adopted a concept for the development of the industry, work has been done on the institutional formation of the industry and stimulating business in this area.
"To date, the creative industry of Kazakhstan is represented by 12 directions, including 43 classifiers of economic activity. The number of registered subjects of creative industry in Kazakhstan is more than 45.5 thousand, the share of gross added value in the country's GDP is 1%. More than 50% of all subjects are located in Almaty and Astana, 70% of subjects are IE," Aida Balayeva said.
It is noted that a total of 143.6 thousand people are employed in the creative sectors of Kazakhstan. The most labour-intensive sectors are IT, architecture and fashion, cultural and leisure institutions, libraries and museums, as well as handicrafts.
As part of the implementation of a set of support measures for creative entrepreneurs, they have been included in the special retail tax regime since February 2024. During the year of its operation, the number of creative industries entities increased by 15 per cent and the number of employees by 15 per cent.
In addition, at the end of the year, according to the world ranking Global Innovation Index-2024, Kazakhstan rose from 93rd to 65th place in the Creative Goods and Services indicator and from 60th to 31st place in the National Film Production indicator.
"Thus, we can see how favourably the tax breaks have impacted the creative industries. Given the favourable tax regime for Astana Hub residents and the relatedness of IT and creative industries in general, there is no doubt about the great potential of this industry. Taking into account the current discussion of the new draft Tax Code, we would ask to consider a number of incentive tax measures for the creative industry. They may concern both the preservation of a special tax regime retail tax and the establishment of preferential rates for value added tax and corporate income tax," Aida Balayeva said.
The Minister added that earlier this year the Head of State adopted a law aimed at supporting the creative industry. Legislative novelties are concentrated in three main directions: institutional, infrastructure development, measures to support priority industries. The law envisages amendments on the issues of support and development of creative industries, in particular, expanding the competences of the authorised and local executive bodies, defining by the Government of the legal entity that provides assistance to the development of creative industries, as well as fixing the competence of the authorised body to develop and approve the rules of state support and stimulation of the creative industry.
The second package of amendments has also been developed and is currently in the Majilis. In addition, the Head of State signed the Budget Code, which provides funding for the development of the creative industry in the form of deductions of 3% of sold lottery tickets of the national lottery operator.
It is noted that in his 2021 Address, the Head of State instructed to create a specialised institute to support the creative industry. Thus, according to the law, the Creative Industry Development Fund will become a legal entity providing assistance to the development of creative industries. The Fund will be established in the form of a corporate fund with the participation of leading creative and educational organisations of Kazakhstan and will operate in 4 main areas:
One of the main activities of the fund will be the development of venture capital investment in the creative industries. In this regard, a venture division will be created on the basis of IFCA, with the involvement of a pool of management companies that will contribute to the effective placement of funds on the basis of urgency and return.
The next legislative novelty is to give local executive bodies the competence to develop the creative industry. This norm is aimed at the creation and development of creative hubs in the regions of the country. To date, 12 creative hubs have already been opened in the country. In Akmola, Almaty region, Zhambyl region, West Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kostanay region, Pavlodar region and Zhetisu region this work has not been completed yet.
"It is the hubs that should become the main infrastructure in the regions for the development of the creative industry. They will be at the head of the regional ecosystem in terms of attracting and working with talent, involving centres of additional education for schoolchildren, secondary and higher educational institutions, as well as private hubs and creative platforms. Once the entire creative ecosystem is finalised, the regional hubs will actually become subdivisions of the Local Creative Industry Development Fund. They will provide the same package of services for creators, work according to the same methodology, use the Fund's resources and the capabilities of other hubs. That is, the principle of full ‘extraterritoriality’ will be realised ," Aida Balaeva explained.
Another novelty, according to the Minister, is the assignment of competence to develop and approve the rules of state support and stimulation of the creative industry. The Ministry will develop financial and non-financial support measures for the industry, as well as determine priorities. The Creative Industry Development Fund, regional creative hubs, and local executive bodies will be the operators in the implementation of these measures. As the world practice shows, it is inefficient to work on the whole list of creative industry activities. It is necessary to choose point priorities, where the measures of state support will be directed.
Taking into account the planned work, the following indicators will be achieved by 2029:
The Minister stressed that in order to achieve these indicators, Akimats in the regions need to create qualitatively new conditions for the development of creative industries. Since not all objects of this industry are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry, local executive bodies should pay special attention to strengthening support measures. In particular, there is a significant shortage of cinemas, specialised premises and infrastructure necessary for the full functioning and development of creative companies.
"Investors should pay attention to the significant and promising potential of the creative industry and invest in projects based on the principles of public-private partnership. Particular attention should be paid to the construction of large concert halls, creative hubs, cinemas and other facilities that can become centres of attraction for creative people and audiences, stimulating the development of the entire industry. The Ministry is ready to provide full assistance in this matter," Aida Balayeva added.
The Minister also spoke about the measures taken to digitalise the field of culture and art. Today, the Ministry of Culture and Information is implementing digital projects in the field of culture, archives and libraries, cinema, as well as accounting data of non-governmental organisations. The following information systems are in operation at the Ministry:
The e-Archive system is aimed at automating the processes of departmental and state archives and will be put into commercial operation in 2021. The project is aimed at ensuring the preservation of archival documents in digital format, automation of state services in the field of archives, as well as expanding access to archival materials for scientific research and all interested citizens of our country. More than 1.5 thousand state institutions have been connected to e-Archive. Integration with 20 information systems of state agencies has been carried out. In addition, the system provides such state services as: apostilisation of archive certificates and issuance of archive certificates. By the end of 2024, more than 672.3 thousand public services were provided within the system. In January this year, more than 2 million documents of 15 central state bodies were transferred from the Unified System of Electronic Document Management of State Bodies to the e-Archive information system. Further development of the system is planned for this year. Thus, as part of the modification plan, the system functionality will be expanded, access to documents in various formats will be increased, and attribute search will be introduced.
The e-Library system is aimed at preserving and popularising the national cultural printed heritage, increasing its accessibility and efficiency of use, as well as introducing an automated library and information system. The project will increase the level of readability of the population of the country, the quality of library services, as well as facilitate access to library resources. To date, the system of the Kazakhstan National Electronic Library (KazNEL) has more than 80 thousand electronic copies of books. In 2024, the attendance of this portal was over 400 thousand users.
Further, on the basis of KazNEB it is planned to develop and scale up the Unified Automated Library System (UABIS). EABIS is a centralised digital platform designed to automate the processes of library collection management, cataloguing, reader service and information exchange between libraries of the country. For example, the system will introduce ‘electronic library card’, which will allow not only to use the resources of libraries in Kazakhstan in electronic format, but also provide access to paper literature through a unified library network, regardless of the location of the reader. At the moment the EABIS system is being piloted on the basis of the National Library, further it will be scaled to libraries of all levels.
The Database of Non-Governmental Organisations system is also in operation. It is aimed at ensuring transparency of NGOs' activities, streamlining the placement of the state social order, awarding grants and prizes, as well as an inventory of active NGOs in Kazakhstan. In addition, the project will simplify the application and reporting procedures for financial resources received, as well as search for partners both among NGOs for joint activities and donors to finance project activities. Since December 2024, as a result of joint work with ICRIAP, the NGO Database system has moved to an updated digital platform esep.govtec.kz. Since 1 January this year, the receipt of reports from Kazakhstani NGOs has been carried out on this updated platform.
This year, in order to further develop the system is planned integration with state databases of individuals and legal entities, with the systems of the State Revenue Committee, the judiciary ‘Tөrelik’ and others.
"In fulfilment of the Head of State's instruction given at the second meeting of the National Kurultai, the Ministry has developed a unified film monitoring system. The e-Cinema system is designed to increase the transparency of the film industry, as well as to ensure an even distribution of box office receipts in the country. The e-Cinema data comes from cinemas from the ticketing system in real time. The system makes it possible to receive data on collections and the number of viewers at a particular session and in the region where the film is shown, to monitor ticket loading, and to analyse film screenings and collections, including by genre, language, and country of production," Aida Balayeva said.
At the moment, e-Cinema is in pilot operation. Sixty-eight cinemas out of 103 are connected to the system. According to the department, the issue of testing the system for compliance with information security requirements for further introduction into commercial operation is currently being worked out. The system will be the first step in the digitalisation of the creative industries.
In addition, the ministry is implementing digital initiatives using artificial intelligence: The first of them are Digital voice-over of content in the state language with the help of AI and Sign Language Translation in the state language for hearing-impaired and deaf citizens. These projects will simplify the translation and dubbing of video content into the state language, speed up the process of translation and adaptation of films and TV series, and generally increase inclusiveness in this area.
The second initiative is Digitisation of Kazakhstan's historical and cultural heritage. At the moment, the information and educational platform Qazaq Culture is functioning under the auspices of the Ministry. The platform works in 8 languages. Qazaq Culture tells about cultural values of our country not only for Kazakhstani but also for foreign audience. As part of the work on scaling Qazaq Culture a separate module with digitised objects of historical and cultural heritage of our country, valuable exhibits and rare relics will be launched. The main task is to visit our country's museums, theatres and exhibitions without leaving home, and to get acquainted with the golden fund of Kazakhstan's television.
The third initiative is the National Digital Knowledge Base with elements of artificial intelligence. The national knowledge base is aimed at creating an integrated platform. It will be a search engine that will allow to combine educational, scientific and cultural data. The initiative is planned to be realised by integrating the e-Library and e-Archive projects and, if necessary, with other systems of state bodies.
#Digitalization #Government session #Ministry of Culture"As part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the Ministry is working to perpetuate the memory of our compatriots who performed unparalleled feats of arms and labour. The information portal ‘Batyrlarga tagzym’, which contains information on more than 100,000 participants in the Great Patriotic War, is functioning. An updated version of the Batyrlarga tagzym portal will be launched specially for 9 May. In order to accumulate all information stored in the archival funds of Kazakhstan, this portal will be united with the system e-Archive. Thus, through the portal every Kazakhstani will have access to unique archival data of that period," Aida Balayeva informed.
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