By Judith Ugwumadu | 23 January 2014

Kazakhstan has signed an agreement with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation, which will see the economic think-tank support the implementation of fiscal and social reforms in the country.

Prime minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov and OECD secretary general Angel Gurría, signed the two-year memorandum of understanding in Davos. 

It means the central Asian country will work with the OECD on reforms to improve its public sector administration and governance, with specific action taken to improve the taxation and fiscal policy regime, as well as education, health and employment.

The deal has been reached under the OECD’s new Country Programme scheme, which is intended to allow countries to access advice from the OECD and use its standards to strengthen institutions and build capacity for policy reforms. Similar deals have already been agreed with Peru, Morocco and Thailand.

Gurría said Kazakhstan was a leading economy in central Asia, meaning that the ‘positive spill-over’ from the country programme would also benefit reform plans in other countries in the region.

The country was committed to basing its reform programme on good international policy practices, the think-tank added.

Massimov said the use of OECD best practices in the country’s policies would help strengthen its role in the global economy.