Drafts of six education-related bills prepared

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has completed the preparation of drafts of various six bills related to education including the Federal Education Bill.

The long-awaited Education Bill has landed in the Ministry of Finance for advices after its draft amendment, it has been said.

Other bills of which drafts have been prepared include the umbrella bill related to higher education, technical education bill, integrated health sciences academy bill and the bill related to national qualification framework.

Collection of suggestions and feedback for the bills is underway and they are expected to be tabled in the federal parliament soon, said the Ministry’s spokesperson Dipak Sharma.

Meanwhile, the Education and Health Committee under the House of Representatives earlier directed presentation of the Federal Education Bill in the parliament soon.

How Kazakhstan controls the movement of goods

As you know, since March of this year, certain countries have imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation, including bans on the supply of certain types of goods to the Russian Federation, Delovoy Kazakhstan reports.

When detecting the supply of such goods through other countries (circumvention of sanctions), secondary sanctions may be applied against such countries.

Considering the close trade and economic relations with the Russian Federation, as one of our main trading partners, it is unacceptable not to take into account the risks that have arisen.

In order to promptly respond and prevent damage to the economy of Kazakhstan, the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan constantly monitors the import and export of goods included in the sanctions lists.

When exporting these goods from the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Russian Federation, a mechanism has been implemented for the certification of an electronic invoice by the state revenue authorities, which allows determining the country of origin of the goods.

This control mechanism is also applied within the framework of the Protocol on Certain Issues of Import and Circulation of Goods in the Customs Territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (Burabai Protocol) in order to prevent the export of goods from the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for which the rates of customs duties are lower than those established in the EAEU UCT, or the so-called «withdrawal goods».

Thus, the trade turnover with the Russian Federation in January-May did not show significant deviations relative to the same period last year.

At the same time, there is an increase in exports for certain commodity items, such as natural uranium, solid-rolled steel wheels and diesel fuel, i.e. for Kazakhstan-made goods that are traditional for export, including to Russia.

Thus, despite the growth of exports to the Russian Federation of certain groups of goods, the facts of re-export through the Republic of Kazakhstan of goods included in the sanctions list are not observed.

Israel shoots down Hezbollah drones heading for gas rig

Authorities in Israel say they have shot down three Hezbollah drones heading towards one of its gas rigs in a disputed area of the Mediterranean, BBC reported.

Military officials say the drones were launched from Lebanon and were shot down by a combination of fighter jets and ship-mounted missiles. 

Hezbollah confirmed it had launched the drones in a short statement.

Tensions have mounted between Israel and Lebanon over ownership of the Karish gas field.

US energy envoy Amos Hochstein is mediating between the two countries to settle the longstanding dispute. Israel says the field lies within its UN-recognised exclusive economic zone, but Lebanon has also laid claim to parts of it, according to BBC.

Hezbollah said it had targeted the rig as part of a reconnaissance flight. 

"The mission was accomplished and the message was received," the statement said.

Last week, the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened to use force to prevent Israel from operating the rig.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said the Islamist group was "preventing the state of Lebanon from reaching an agreement regarding maritime borders, which are critical to the economy and prosperity of the Lebanese nation".

Hezbollah's reported attack comes amid political instability in Israel. On Thursday lawmakers voted to dissolve parliament and call the fifth election in four years, BBC reported.

The vote, which comes after the collapse of former Prime Minster Naftali Bennett's multi-party coalition, offers Benjamin Netanyahu, the right-wing opposition leader, a chance to return to power. 

National Assembly endorses three bills related to budget

The National Assembly today passed three separate bills related to the budget for the next fiscal year, amidst the boycott of the main opposition party, the CPN-UML.

The Upper House of the Federal Parliament passed the Finance Bill, 2079 BS, the Bill to Mobilize National Loans, 2079 BS and the Loans and Guarantee (Twenty-fifth Amendment) Bill, 2079 BS.

A meeting of the National Assembly passed by a majority a proposal presented by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma seeking the Upper House pass the budget-related three bills that have been received by the National Assembly with the message from the House of Representatives.

These bills which have been passed by the Upper House have been sent to the House of Representatives, the Lower House, along with the message.

The Lower House will have to endorse the bills.

The CPN (UML) lawmakers boycotted the meeting blaming that the tax rates in the budget were manipulated in collusion with an unauthorized person a day before presenting budget in the parliament.

The UML lawmakers exited from the assembly hall saying they were not taking part in the discussions on the topics related to the Finance Bill.