DEMONOPOLIZATION OF THE CIVIL AVIATION MARKET TO BE CARRIED OUT IN KAZAKHSTAN

Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov held a meeting of the Commission for the Demonopolization of the Economy of Kazakhstan, where proposals were considered for reforming commodity markets, as well as civil aviation and public transport markets. This was reported on the official website of the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Commission considered the proposals of the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition to reform key commodity markets. In particular, in order to increase the number of participants and generally improve the situation on the oil and oil products market, it was proposed to provide for the possibility of buying refinery oil directly from subsoil users, introduce exchange trading in oil, and increase the volume of trading in oil products.

In terms of reforming the commercial gas market, the issues of introducing exchange trading and adopting rules for access to commercial gas for subsoil users were considered, which will provide supply organizations with direct and competitive access to gas.

Alikhan Smailov instructed the Ministry of Energy and interested government agencies to further analyze these approaches, taking into account the impact on the country’s economy.

Also at the meeting, measures were considered to demonopolize the markets for civil aviation services, public transport and the financial market. In general, the head of government supported proposals to increase the share of exchange trading in jet fuel from 10% to 20%, increase the duration of the Open Skies regime at airports from 3 to 5 years, introduce a system for transferring customer current accounts between banks within the country and standards for open banking software interfaces (Open Banking and Open API).

In addition, proposals for the demonopolization of the markets for electricity, rail freight and passenger transportation were discussed at the meeting.

UKRAINE AND THE EU SIGNED “TRANSPORT VISA FREE”

In Lyon, France, on Wednesday, Ukraine and the European Union signed the Agreement on Freight Transport by Road, also known as “free transport”. It is reported by “European Truth” with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.

The agreement eliminates the need for Ukrainian carriers to obtain appropriate permits for bilateral and transit transportation to the EU states and avoids stopping the export of Ukrainian products through automobile checkpoints.

The Agreement also provides for measures to simplify the recognition of driver’s documents. Now Ukraine and the EU exempt the holders of a driver’s license issued by one of the parties from the requirement to have an international driver’s license.

The term of the agreement is one year with the possibility of prolongation, and temporarily it begins to operate from today. The Agreement will come into effect on a permanent basis upon completion of all ratification procedures.

As recalled by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, since the signing of the Free Trade Area Agreement between Ukraine and the EU in 2016, trade with the EU countries has almost doubled, and the number of cargo transportation by road has increased by 42%.

At the same time, the number of permits for international transportation to individual EU countries not only did not increase, but even decreased. Every year this led to large losses for both Ukrainian carriers and the country’s economy as a whole.