Kazakhstan's economics minister Kairat Kelimbetov announced plans on Tuesday to reduce red tape for businesses to boost entrepreneurial activity and economic growth.
The volume of licenses and permits required to run a business in the former Soviet republic will be cut by 30 percent, Kelimbetov said .
"Transaction costs and barriers to doing business will be significantly reduced," Kelimbetov told a government meeting in Astana. "This will lead to a growth in business activity and a targeted economic growth of 7 percent."
Kelimbetov said a bill would be submitted to parliament in the fourth quarter of 2011.
State control over the Kazakh economy, the largest in Central Asia, will also be reduced, Kelimbetov said.
Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was re-elected by a landslide for a fourth term last month, launched a series of "people's IPOs" in March to offer ordinary citizens shares in the country's biggest state firms.
"Our citizens will be able to become co-owners of the largest companies in Kazakhstan," Nazarbayev said in a statement on his website.
Kazakhstan's main opposition parties dismissed the move as a "political game" designed to boost Nazarbayev's popularity.
ASTANA, May 10 (RIA Novosti)
