A new national company may be created in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture Erbol Karashukeev has come up with an idea to establish a new veterinary medicine distributor. This company may work exactly like SK Pharmacy, a national distributor of medicines in Kazakhstan, the official noted.

«We plan to establish a single distributor of veterinary medicine and diagnostic products that would be operated similar to SK Pharmacy. When I say “single distributor» I mean a company that fully belongs to the government and operates under the strict domestic and international standards of quality control. This company must be responsible for direct purchases of veterinary medicine from leading local and foreign companies while considering an opportunity to launch a joint venture to produce such products inside the country,” he said.

The main criteria this new company must meet is at least ten years’ experience in the veterinary medicine supply business and membership in the International Epizootic Bureau.

According to Karashukeev, once the new company is created, it will be able to sign a long-term contract with local producers and facilitate direct contact with leading international companies in order to obtain new technologies and raise the investment attractiveness of the country.

The minister believes that the move may help in improving the safety and quality control of veterinary medicine and diagnostic products and would simplify registration procedures. Moreover, once this single distributor is operated, any risk of corruption within the Ministry of Agriculture during biddings will be gone.

As the official noted, in 2021 the ministry bought 136 million doses of veterinary medicine from 13 local and seven international producers. In terms of diagnostic products, the country bought 16.9 million such products; 100 items from local producers and 11 items from foreign suppliers.