The meeting of the Board of the CICA Business Council chaired by the Chairman of the Board of the Business Council Raimbek Batalov, who is also the Chairman of the Presidium of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs (NCE) of Kazakhstan Atameken, was held on 15 April. The Board meeting was attended by Deputy Chairmen of the Board representing the Russian Federation, Thailand, and Turkey.
The meeting participants approved the programmes of the Fifth Plenary Session of the CICA Business Council and the Seventh CICA Business Forum, which will be held in cooperation with the Astana International Financial Centre on 27 June on the sidelines of the International Conference Astana Finance Days.
The upcoming events are expected to focus on the digitalization of business processes and development of small and medium enterprises. One of the panels of the Business Forum will be dedicated to food security.
It is expected that the CICA Business Council and Business Forum will bring together subject-matter experts digitizing business processes in tourism, transport corridors, energy, agriculture, and urban management. Moreover, it is planned to engage subject-matter experts from a number of international organizations.
Chairman of the Board of the CICA Business Council Raimbek Batalov noted in his statement that the Atameken NCE is seeking additional mechanisms to support micro, small and medium businesses. These efforts will be consistently expanded across the CICA area uniting 27 Member States.
CICA Executive Director Ambassador Kairat Sarybay presented an overview of CICA activities. He highlighted the need to ensure the quality of the CICA Business Council’s session and CICA Business Forum, taking into account the decisions of the recent meeting of the CICA Senior Officials Committee on the gradual transformation of CICA into an international organization, as well as the need for the practical impact of its activities.
Ambassador Kairat Sarybay also emphasized that 13 of the 39 confidence building measures planned to be implemented at CICA in 2022 relate to the economic dimension. In particular, CICA plans to hold workshops on e-commerce, microfinance in SMEs, effective industrial waste management, agriculture, as well as the Financial Summit.
