Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintaiyev received two newest deputies following the presidential decrees Aug. 29. Yerbolat Dossayev and Askar Zhumagaliyev were presented as two new deputy prime ministers during the Aug. 29 governmental meeting.
Dossayev, born in 1970, worked as a deputy chairperson at Bank Turan Alem and later at ATF Bank in the 1990s. He was subsequently appointed as the advisor to the Kazakh prime minister, then held the posts of vice minister at the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Trade and Ministry of Finance.
He later headed the Kazakh Agency for Regulation of Natural Monopolies, Protection of Competition and Support of Small Business and has served as the minister at the Ministries of Finance, Healthcare,Economic Development and Trade. In 2014, he was appointed Minister of National Economy and two years later was elected chairperson of the board of Baiterek National Managing Holding.
Sagintayev noted Dossayev will strengthen the “economic block, in particular, coordination of the ongoing portfolio of projects for the modernisation of key economic sectors.”
Zhumagaliyev, born in 1972, was appointed to the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 2001.
He had held posts as chairperson of the Agency for Informatisation and Communication and president of Kazakhtelecom. He was later appointed Minister of Communications and Information, Transport and Communications and chair of the Agency for Communications and Information. Since 2015, he has been chairman of the board of the Kazatomprom national atomic company.
Zhumagaliyev will supervise the ongoing work of digitising the economy, as the draft of the Digital Kazakhstan state programme is currently on the agenda, noted the report from primeminister.kz.
Sagintayev indicated the head of state has set specific tasks for the current government.
“In particular, [those instructions were given] within the framework of the Aug.18 meeting on the socio-economic development of regions and implementation of state programmes, as well as a meeting on the activities of the National Commission for Modernisation, which took place on Aug. 25,” he said.
With the two recent appointments, Sagintayev now has four deputies. The other two are Askar Mamin as First Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the real economic sector, and Askar Myrzakhmetov as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture.
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has explained the appointment of new deputies of the Kazakh Prime Minister, Kazinform reports.
"The world situation is still troubled. The dialogue between the powers is accompanied by the sanctions policy that cannot but affect Kazakhstan. The regional conflicts are not subsiding. The destructive ideologies continue extending influence. At the same time, the total digitalization, which bears both new opportunities and risks, is gaining pace. All this means that it is not every hour but every minute that counts for the modernization time. It is a must for Kazakhstan to be in time in all these respects. Based on this, the Government's position was enhanced by the appointment of two new Deputy Prime Ministers," Nursultan Nazarbayev said in the joint session of the Kazakh Parliament chambers.
According to the Head of State, Askar Zhumagaliyev was appointed because of the fact that the country is launching a large-scale state program "Digital Kazakhstan".
"Digital Kazakhstan, we shall move on to, is of great importance. It is what all countries are engaged in. It is the future development, workforce productivity, new technologies. And, a specific person should deal with it and report to us on behalf of the Government every day. To this position, I appointed Askar Zhumagaliyev, who holds a degree in IT and has come out to be a good manager in the positions I appointed him. He will be in charge of this area. He must have representatives in every ministry. First of all, digitalization is needed in the national companies, in manufacturing, and industry. We discussed it with him, he is ready to undertake this," the President said.
In addition, the Head of State explained why he returned to the Government Yerbolat Dossayev, who had resigned as the national economy minister last May.
"I entrust the strengthening of the macroeconomic part of the economy to Yerbolat Dossayev. There were cases. At that time, as a true man, gentleman, it was him who decided to step down from office. But it was not his fault. His experience, education, his practical work hold out the hope that as a manager, economist, financier, he will keep control over the work in terms of the economy, finance, macroeconomy of the country, as well as the social sector that consumes half of our budget. I believe it is justified. I am sure we are capable of achieving the goals set ahead of us," the President said.
Reported by the Astana Times, Kazinform.
