Expo-2017: Mission Possible?

Ak Orda held a consultation on preparations for the international specialized exhibition ‘Expo 2017.’ Expectedly, the main newsmaker was President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been regularly meeting top officials at public events and has ‘hit ministries and departments where it hurt’ in recent days.

Summing up the President’s theses which were voiced over the past three days, we could say there were two ideas. It is necessary to solve the problem of foreign investors as soon as possible; Expo-2017 should be considered as an important instrument for promoting the investment attractiveness of Kazakhstan. Moreover, he stressed the personal responsibility of ministers. It seems that the President is ready to carry out staff changes in the economic bloc of the government.

The whole of the President's speech on Expo-2017 can be expressed in one key quotation: “All constructional works have to be ended by autumn 2016. Despite the current economic situation, we are allocating all the necessary resources for the preparation of the event. We also attentively follow the experience of holding the exhibition in Milan. Therefore, today there are no unclear moments in the organization of the Expo.”

The conclusions are obvious. Nobody will refuse to hold the exhibition; the resources allocated to hold it will be cut, but this problem can be solved through attracting investments. And this is a topic for serious consideration by the organizational committee of the Expo.

The declared statistics of investment attraction are disappointing. Direct contacts with 39 mineral developers led to only two memorandums on cooperation and one sponsorship contract. It is not enough and catastrophically insufficient.

Ahmetzhan Yesimov, the chairman of the board of Astana Expo 2017, understands this as well. Speaking after the President, he paid special attention to optimization of expenditures on the apparatus of the World Exhibition. For example, within the framework of the company’s structural changes, the number of deputy chairpersons of the board and executive directors was cut by half. This enabled more than 150 million tenges to be saved.

Yesimov also pointed out that due to a reconsideration of certain architectural and constructional projects, the sum of expenditure would decrease by 78 billion tenges. However, it is a typical situation for Kazakhstan and Russia when declared plans of a correction of budget resources do not overcome the path from speeches at consultations with the presidents’ participation to the moment of implementation.

Moreover, after Nursultan Nazarbayev’s speech, none of participants of the meeting practically supported the question about the attraction of additional investments into Expo-2017. The task was taken into account, but mechanisms of its fulfillment remained unclear.

It seems that the President still has another ‘magic cure’ for officials. He mentioned it at the enlarged session of the government on Wednesday, addressing Prime Minister Karim Massimov: “Let’s work, Karim Kazhimkanovich. If your qualifications are not sufficient, I am ready to appoint other people. Please propose!” These words shouldn’t be considered as a targeted criticism of the premier. It is more a reminder to other officials that there will be no untouchables in the situation. It touches on Yesimov’s team as well, even though not long ago it arrived at an absolutely clear space, organizationally and financially.

At the moment, 53 countries and 11 organizations have confirmed their participation in Expo-2017. Speaking about the main facility of Expo-2017 – the Sphere – Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested two names at the session – Alem Shar and Nur Alem, pointing out that the issue could be settled in a working manner.