Dear Alikhan Mukhamedovich,
Dear Zhandos Nurlanovich,
Dear Council members,

Let me extend my warm greetings to all the participants of the Public Council of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Astana Civil Service Hub. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation for inviting UNDP to participate in the work of this esteemed Council.

Allow me to also congratulate you, Zhandos Nurlanovich, on the adoption of the National Development Plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2029. The adoption of this important medium-term document coincides with the global timeline of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the results of which Kazakhstan, along with other countries, will assess by 2030.

The National Plan has outlined the country's medium-term development priorities and clearly identified the SDGs as one of the key benchmarks for the future course.
For accelerated long-term development, it is undoubtedly necessary to achieve "quick wins." These can be secured through systemic changes by implementing productive tools such as the SDGs.

Therefore, the qualitative and systematic integration of the SDGs into the public and budget planning system will only contribute to the productive realization of key national priorities, ensuring long-term balanced regional development.
A mature public planning system and socially oriented budgeting have given Kazakhstan a good starting point and foundation for achieving the SDGs.

Despite this, the implementation of the SDGs has revealed a number of systemic issues that require attention from both the Government of Kazakhstan and the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms.

It should be noted that, to date, the algorithm for integrating the SDGs into strategic and program documents has not been defined. This puts government agencies in a difficult position, particularly when it comes to integrating the SDGs into sectoral documents and regional development plans.
The Ministry of National Economy has yet to approve rules for the integration of the SDGs at the local level. The absence of SDG integration at the local level is equivalent to insufficient consideration of the population's needs when formulating socio-economic development goals.

In this regard, it is necessary to develop clear approaches to integrating the SDGs into the public planning system and to approve methodological guidelines for SDG localization.

As of today, the target values for national SDG indicators have not been determined. This complicates the process of breaking down the SDG goals at the local level. Without forecasted values for national SDG indicators up to 2030, it is impossible to determine trends and progress in achieving the SDGs at both national and regional levels. In this case, the SDGs serve as markers, indicating the feasibility of the country's long-term priorities.
Therefore, one of UNDP’s key recommendations is to develop and approve forecast values for national SDG indicators up to 2030.

Another important approach is to improve the budgeting system by incorporating the SDGs. This will not only promote more efficient use of budgetary resources but also reduce the gap and inconsistency between strategic and budget planning.
Our analysis has revealed that, in practice, budget programs are aligned with a wide array of strategic objectives; however, the indicators for these programs primarily focus on processes or intermediate results, with limited connection to actual program outcomes and even less alignment with overarching strategic goals. Therefore, it is crucial to consider enhancing the institutional framework, developing clear guiding principles, and optimizing processes for more effective application. This approach will improve coherence and transparency in both budgeting and planning, ultimately ensuring the achievement of agreed-upon target indicators and strategic priorities.

In addition, the national SDG monitoring system must include more disaggregated indicators. This will allow for the more precise identification of development bottlenecks in various areas and will help assess the impact of decisions on different population groups, including vulnerable ones. The monitoring system for indicators should lead to the collection of well-disaggregated data and indicators based on various population characteristics, linked to the context of local development (income level, gender, age, disability, location, employment status, education level, etc.). According to recommendations from the UN Statistical Division, 148 out of 231 global SDG indicators should be disaggregated at least by income level, gender, and location. In this regard, the role of the Bureau of National Statistics is crucial in providing methodological support and facilitating the integration of SDG indicators into the national monitoring system to strengthen competencies at both central and local levels.

It is essential to ensure the inclusion of the most comprehensive indicators in public planning documents, aligned with the SDGs, and developed with consideration of local needs and challenges.

To date, the work on implementing and achieving the SDGs requires greater involvement of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms, which is responsible for formulating state policy in strategic planning and forecasting. The participation of only one body, the Bureau of National Statistics, in the SDG process is insufficient. Because such strategic tasks as the integration of national SDG indicators into the first-level documents of the public planning system and determining forecast values for national SDG indicators up to 2030 fall beyond the responsibility and functions of the Bureau.

Currently, UNDP, in collaboration with the University of Denver, is conducting a study to forecast possible development scenarios up to 2030 and 2050. The work focuses on identifying the most effective reforms, the implementation of which will lead to quick wins and the sustainable achievement of the country’s priorities. To ensure the accuracy and reliability of the results, international and national experts in macroeconomic modeling are involved in the study.

For the full validation of the forecast scenarios, variables, reform packages, and other data used, validation is also needed with the government body responsible for strategic forecasting. In this regard, Zhandos Nurlanovich, we propose organizing a series of consultative meetings with ASPIR to adjust and validate the forecast scenarios.

Dear Council Members,

The implementation of the SDGs in Kazakhstan, from the very beginning up to the present day, has been supported by the United Nations Development Programme, which has the mandate of the main SDG integrator. With our support, the national SDG architecture was created and established in Kazakhstan. UNDP continues to provide technical and expert support to the SDG Coordination Council under the Government of Kazakhstan and, since last year, has been actively supporting the work of the Parliamentary Commission on monitoring SDG goals and targets under the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Today, Parliament and the Government place great importance on the SDGs because they provide a more comprehensive and systemic assessment of key issues and offer more rational and effective solutions.

We look forward to fruitful cooperation with ASPIR on the above-mentioned issues, the resolution of which can lead to quick wins and the sustainable development of the country.

Thank you for your attention!