Kelimbetov said that the government has strengthened its partnership with the business community by beginning to transfer state-owned non-specialized assets to the private sector. He declared that the government will check the profitability of state enterprises by carrying out a state inventory and selling up to 50% of its non-specialized assets to small and medium enterprises by the end of the year. Later, it will sell off all non-specialized assets.

Special groups founded by order of Daniyal Akhmetov, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, would analyze 4,371 state enterprises at the local and national level. They will be directed to analyze the expediency of selling them to the private sector or retaining them under state ownership. A special government holding company will be formed, which will develop a unified strategy for the management of state-owned companies. "There will be many disputes, as state-owned companies vigorously fight for their affiliated companies. This work is conducted under strong political pressure, but I think we will be able to report the first results by the end of the year," Kalimbetov said.

A "Human Resources Management in Oil and Gas Companies" conference was held here on the 24 th and 25 th March. 240 participants from 103 companies shared their experiences on employment issues in the sector. The shortage of skilled workers was noted, especially in the Kazakh government company Kazmunaygas, where the current workforce of 36,000 is not enough to cover future needs for the development of offshore Caspian fields.

"Together with the general economic and oil sector development in our country we face an upturn in industrial activity. With all this, our company is really beginning to feel a ‘hunger’ for highly qualified specialists. Analysis shows that many specialists are over 40 years old, and if today we do not… prepare new young staff and train existing employees we will become uncompetitive in the nearest future," said Uzakbay Karabalin, president of Kazmunaygas.

Karabalin was forced to admit that Kazmunaygas is not competitive with foreign companies as regards salaries and benefits. In accordance with Kazakh legislation, Kazmunaygas has the right to a 50% stake in all contracts for offshore development in the Caspian. Karabalin stressed that Kazakh specialists will participate in these projects and must have the same knowledge as their foreign colleagues. He gave his assurance that the company will do its best to provide its employees with market level remuneration. Now the average salary in Kazmunaygas equals the average in the oil and gas sector, which is 98,000 tenge ($760) a month. Top-end salaries in the industry are about $810 a month.

Baktykozha Izmukhambetov, Vice Minister of Energy and Mineral Recourses, said that although the country does not feel any significant lack of specialists now, it will need some 25,000 people for the Caspian shelf development alone. In a move to alleviate the problem, Kazmunaygas now funds the education of 1,500 people in Kazakhstan and abroad. The government is also supporting the development of a skilled workforce by allocating 671 state grants and 1,030 loans for education in Kazakh universities during 2005.