A WAY ABROAD WITH LITTLE STOPS

Kazpravda Newspaper dated October, 29, 2005

Aset Kalymov

Yesterday the first International Exhibition Forum Keden-2005 was finished in Almaty, which was visited by the representatives of embassies, international organizations, participants of foreign-economic activity, i.e. everyone, who directly concerns with the activity of Kazakhstan Customs.

Opening the exhibition, Berdibek Saparbaev, the chairman of the Customs Control Committee of the Ministry of Finance of RK, noted that lately the material and technical basis of the Customs system was replenished due to the support of the leaders of the Republic:

— Today we propose to make the customs control more transparent and efficient. Within the implementation of the plan, customs registration points, equipped with advanced systems, were created.

The main section of the exhibition was dedicated to enhancing of the customs control of Kazakhstan . Exponents and the visitors of the forum had the possibility to become acquanted in detail with technical devices, applied by the customers nowadays. Particularly, the operation of the Automatic Delivery Control System and container scanning was demonstrated.

Presented stands showed the stages of the modification and development of the customs system, including its normative-law basis enhancing.

As exponents estimated, the latest information and communication technologies take significant place in the work of the fiscal agency. In two-day period, the visitors of the exhibition became acquainted with the applied seal systems, energy supply control system and also they was shown the stages of the customs document registration process. Customs officers told of the services, provided by Aktau sea port, simplified procedures of Zhetysu customs post, operating at Almaty International Airport . Moreover, stands contained visual information of the methods and technique of dog training for the search of drugs, and also of the places, such as cars and railroad transport, where drugs are hidden.

On the models of the control points, located on the borders, it was seen how the control functions, basing on the principle “one stop”, are fulfilled. According to B.Saparbaev's words, this leads to the decrease of bureaucratic barriers for the businessmen, and hence to the high speed of customs procedures. The head of the Customs Committee stressed that the further development of the external economic links and increase of turnover depend directly on the development of the customs service.

Yesterday within the Exhibition Forum Keden-2005, international seminar “Monitoring methods of transit ways of Central Asia ” was held. Representatives of the Customs Control Committee of RK, international organizations and administration of business associations of Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan and Tajikistan took part in this seminar.

According to the words of Timur Nazkhanov, Director of Almaty Business Association, the aim of the seminar was to simplify procedures of goods transportation through borders and eliminate barriers, existing between the states, which are members of the Congress of Business Associations of Central Asia and Russia , established last year. Similar consulting meetings were already held in Bishkek, Dushanbe and Tashkent , where questions concerning interaction with Customs agencies of these states were discussed. As the result, memorandum of cooperation was signed.

Monitoring methods of transit ways of Central Asia of Universal Bank, approved in Eastern Europe , was demonstrated to the participants of the exhibition. Their research is planned to be held in all the states of Central Asia , in order to give the general recommendation.

As Michel Zharnovetskiy, the senior coordinator of the regional programs of Universal Bank, noted some aspects of the methods were used in Kyrgyzstan , their main purpose is to reduce time spent for customs clearing and delivery to the destination.