Entering WTO will not halt state support to Kazakhstan producers

Kazakhstan’s escalation into WTO will not mean a reduction in the state support to the local producers, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Minister of Agriculture Assylzhan Mamytbekov as saying in the Central Communications Center. “There are different opinions about (Kazakhstan's) accession into the entering WTO. We believe that competition will increase but there will be many benefits after the entry as well. Our export potential is huge and it has to be developed. Another thing is that import with increase and competition between our producers will be growing. Considering that, certain documents were amended and the program for development of the agricultural complex until 2020 was adopted. We considered possible scenarios of our WTO negotiations outcomes when developing this program. We are sure that entrance into the WTO will not cause any reduction of the state support measures. The WTO itself does not require halting of the subsidies,” Mamytbekov said. However, Kazakhstan will still have to stop subsiding export of agricultural goods in future, he continued. “But this will be an indicator that our agricultural policies are correct. We should produce enough to meet the domestic demand of our country plus make supplies to our traditional (grain) export markets: Central Asia, part of the Caucasus and some supplies China,” the Minister added. By Baubek Konyrov