Supported by the United Nations Development Programme interagency coordination body for safe chemicals management will be established in Kazakhstan. Coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, this body will be a dialogue platform for discussion of current issues in the field of chemical safety, the first of which will be to discuss the implementation of the EAEU Technical Regulations 041-2017 on safety of chemical products.

The establishment of an interagency body for safe chemicals management was driven by the need to improve coordination, effective cooperation and information exchange among stakeholders. This will make it possible to overcome agency constrains and eliminate management duplication. A well-organized mechanism of interagency coordination can help increase transparency and cooperation between ministries, clarify competencies of various institutions, and promote an integrated approach to chemicals management that addresses all stages of the chemical life cycle.

The decision to establish a coordination body in the field of safe chemicals management was made at a recent round table on effective intersectoral coordination jointly organized by the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and UNDP.

“Lack of sufficient awareness of the forthcoming process of implementation of the EAEU Technical Regulation 041-2017 on safety of chemical products among representatives of industry and business in the future may create additional difficulties in supply, procurement and use of chemicals. Since these processes are regulated by many government agencies at the same time, today the issue of creating an interagency body in the field of safety of chemicals management is very relevant,” - noted Gulnar Ilmaliyeva, Head of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry Department of Industrial Development and Industrial Safety Committee MIID RK.

In the course of the event, the experience of the Russian Federation in chemicals coordination and management was introduced to the participants; the problems of chemicals management in the Republic of Kazakhstan arising from the lack of effective coordination among government agencies were discussed, including the discussion of the stages of implementation of EAEU Technical Regulation 041-2017 on the safety of chemical products.

The participants of this meeting were representatives of the Ministry of healthcare of the RK, Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the RK, Ministry of Agriculture of the RK, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RK and Public Fund «The Center “Cooperation for Sustainable Development”.