Kazakh businesses should sign new contract with state - Tokayev

ASTANA. Sept 13 (Interfax) - The Kazakh state and businesses should sign a new agreement based on good faith performance of contractual obligations, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said.

"The business community, in terms of its personal quality, is a constant. Local governors, ministers and prime ministers come and go, and even [our] president is new, but entrepreneurs, especially those representing big business, are the same [as before]. This shows the stability of the business climate in our country, the consistency of state policy and support for entrepreneurs. But now there is talk of the state concluding a new public agreement with businesses," Tokayev said at a meeting with Kazakh business leaders on Tuesday.

"This agreement can be summed up as follows. The state would create the most favorable environment possible for business development and ensure the full protection of private property. Businesses, in turn, would conscientiously perform their contractual obligations - by paying tax, investing in the economy, [and] creating jobs and comfortable working conditions for their employees," Tokayev said.

"Any agreement, as you know, is built on mutual trust," he said.