OREANDA-NEWS. May 14, 2008. “Kazakhstan announced plans to simplify by next year its customs regulations… Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev told a government meeting Kazakhstan would change its legislation this year with a view to introduce simplified trading procedures from January 2009, reported the press-centre of World Bank.

The World Bank ranked Central Asia's biggest economy and oil producer at the bottom of the 178 countries it surveyed in its 2008 "Doing Business" report in terms of time and money required to arrange standard import and export deals.
 
According to the World Bank, exporting a standardised cargo of goods currently requires 12 documents, takes 89 days and costs \\$2,730 to arrange, while an import procedure involves 14 documents, costs \\$2,780 and takes 76 days.Under the changes, the number of documents required in both operations will be cut substantially, Zhamishev said.”
 
In  related news the Central Asia News (Russia) reports, “President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rakhmon, arrives on an official visit in Kazakhstan today. His negotiations with Nursultan Nazarbayev are expected to be centered around bilateral cooperation and culminate in the signing of several agreements. The two presidents are to discuss the joint use of water and energy resources in the region and the creation of the proposed Kazakh initiative to establish a Central Asian alliance.
 
Trade and economic cooperation between the two Central Asian countries is centered around mining, non-ferrous metallurgy, engineering, agricultural-industrial businesses, energy production, light industry, transport, and communications. … Eight countries adopted a joint transport strategy worth over \\$18 billion at a meeting in Dushanbe last November. The strategy will focus on the regional development and reconstruction of highways, railroads, and airfields. The project was adopted at the sixth conference of ministers from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Asian Bank of Development, World Bank, and other international organizations.”