ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 23. Large-scale work is being carried out in Kazakhstan to increase trade turnover and improve customs administration, Trend reports.
In this regard, a number of meetings were held between the heads of the customs services of Kazakhstan and China, and agreements were reached on mutual cooperation and exchange of experience.
According to the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, at the initiative of Kazakhstan's side, agreements were reached to increase the capacity and operating hours of vehicle checkpoints on the border with China.
Thus, the largest vehicle checkpoint, "Nur Zholy," is switching to a 24-hour operating schedule, and the remaining vehicle checkpoints are switching to a daily 12-hour work schedule.
In addition, an electronic queue was introduced on the Qoldau platform. Thanks to this, when leaving Kazakhstan, the border crossing time has been reduced, and the issuance of foreign Chinese permit forms has been automated.
Due to the measures taken, revenues from customs payments and taxes for 10 months of the current year amounted to 3.3 trillion tenge (about $7.2 billion), including VAT on imports from third countries, which increased by 36 percent and amounted to 1.5 trillion tenge (about $3.27 billion), which is 100 billion tenge (about $218 million) more than in all of 2022.
Along with this, the State Revenue Committee is carrying out a complete modernization and technical retrofitting of 10 checkpoints on the border with China, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, as well as the Main Dispatch Department in the city of Astana. Modernization provides for the complete automation of all business processes as well as an increase in the number of entry and exit lanes, which will increase capacity by six times.
Work is also being carried out to improve the information systems of state revenue authorities and digitize all customs operations. The completion of work is planned for 2024.
On the border with the EAEU countries, to increase capacity, it is planned to reconstruct checkpoints within the framework of the Concept for the Development of Transport and Logistics Potential.