You're reading: Kazakhstan to set up information and communications ministry

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ordered the creation of the information and communications ministry.

“These [information policy] functions are now fulfilled by a non-relevant ministry. No one in the government coordinates this industry, no one controls the funds that the state provides for information work. Therefore, I order the creation of an authorized body, the information and communications ministry, to meet the current information challenges and effective implementation of the Five Reforms,” the president said at a meeting in Astana on Thursday.

Nazarbayev proposed to give the agency the following tasks: monitoring the information space of all property forms, including Internet sites and social networking sites, for the purpose of prompt detection and reaction to the most acute problems; studying public opinion on the most vital issues, analyzing and predicting people’s information requests and expectations; the development of the state information policy; coordination and control over the information activities and work of all state bodies.

Additionally, the tasks of the new ministry will include planning and analyzing the effectiveness of the state information contract and the funding allocated by the state; drawing investment and innovations for the development of the domestic media as a modern segment of the economy; increasing the quality of domestic information products for ensuring information security, both in the electronic and print space; building an effective crisis communication model; ensuring challenges for interacting with the population, including NGOs.

It has also been ordered to provide the new body with the necessary resources, to provide funding and give it special powers for achieving all tasks.

In August 2014, the president issued a decree forming a compact government which, among other things, comprised the Investment and Development Ministry, which was given the functions of the State Communications and Information Agency.