Mangistau, Kyzylorda and East Kazakhstan regions to be used as examples for other regions development
The EU provided advice and technical support to these pilot regions, allocating EUR 6.3 million. And particular attention was paid to the villages in these regions.
"The experience gained will be distributed in all regions of Kazakhstan", said the Deputy head of the regional department of analysis, evaluation and interregional cooperation Zhaiyk Sharabasov.
Since the beginning of 2013, 50 investment projects and business plans in tourism, innovation and agriculture worth over 30 billion tenge have been prepared in the three regions. Employees of regional administrations received training in the UK, Ireland and Germany.
"The project was implemented on the lowest level of government in our country. And it is at this level where an independent budget within the fiscal decentralization policy, which was just recently announced by the Head of state in his Address will be implemented", he said.
EU representative in Kazakhstan Zoltan Salai noted that European countries, which have invested in regional development, have a more adaptive to the world changes economy. At the same time regional development took 30 years in Europe. He expressed confidence that in Kazakhstan it will take less than that.
"In total, the European Union has invested EUR 13.5 million into regional development in Kazakhstan, including other projects with a regional content. The EU is proud that it supported such a project. Kazakhstan and Central Asia have become very important for the EU. Kazakhstan is a trading and investment partner. We are pleased to see that Kazakhstan invests in regional development", concluded Salai.