Minister of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Marat Karabaev and Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič took part in the grand opening of the XIII International Mining and Metallurgical Congress Astana Mining & Metallurgy, El.kz reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The head of the Ministry noted that at present this industry occupies 8.7% of the country's GDP.
- The Mining and Metallurgical Congress has rightfully become the main industry platform for the interaction of the state, business and science in the development of the mining and metallurgical sector - the economic driver of the development of our country.
The Head of State instructed to process all raw materials produced by Kazakhstani enterprises in the country. As part of the execution of this order, the Ministry of Industry and Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan developed and adopted the Law "On Industrial Policy", which includes the competence of our department to develop and approve the rules for providing domestic raw materials to manufacturing enterprises on a voluntary basis," Marat Karabayev shared.
Today, MMC companies provide jobs for more than 166 thousand people, and this is almost a third of the number of industrial workers.
However, global climate trends continue to take shape in foreign markets, increasing the requirements for reducing the carbon footprint. Most of the world's companies in the mining and metallurgical sector intend to reduce emissions by a third by 2030. Thus, in December 2020, at the Climate Ambition Summit, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced Kazakhstan's intention to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, reaffirming Kazakhstan's obligations under the Paris Agreement.
"In this regard, in February of this year, the Strategy for Achieving Carbon Neutrality of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2060 was approved," the head of the department said.
Also, the minister noted that one of the significant directions on the way to carbon neutrality is the production of "green" energy. As you know, almost 70% of electricity in Kazakhstan is generated by coal-fired power plants.
To achieve the goal of generating clean energy, a Memorandum of Strategic Partnership was signed last year between Kazakhstan and the European Union in the field of sustainable raw materials, batteries and green hydrogen value chains.