The delegation of the Kostanay region, headed by the Deputy Akim of the region Myrzaliyev M.I., paid a working visit to the city of Chelyabinsk, the Russian Federation. This trip took place on the eve of the annual, XV Forum of Interregional Cooperation of Kazakhstan and Russia, scheduled for November 9 of this year in Petropavlovsk. First of all, the delegation met with the administration of the Chelyabinsk region, where the parties discussed issues of further expanding of foreign economic cooperation between the two regions. In particular, issues of mutual increase in commodity turnover, strengthening of industrial cooperation, exchange of experience in the field of education and health care, cultural exchange and tourism were discussed. A separate issue for discussion was the holding of days of the Chelyabinsk region in the city of Kostanay in the first quarter of 2019, within the framework of which social and cultural exchange events would be organized, and the organization of meetings between business captains of the two regions. To this end, the parties agreed to start working out all organizational issues right now. 

In the near future, a working group will be created and an appropriate work plan will be approved. It should be noted that earlier in 2017, an agreement on trade, economic and cultural cooperation was signed between the regions. Holding the Culture Days of the Chelyabinsk Region is its practical implementation. In the direction of the mutual tourism development, an info-tour on winter tourist routes will be organized for bloggers and representatives of tourist organizations in the Chelyabinsk and Kostanay regions. The Russian side informed about the readiness to allocate funds necessary for this tour already this month. In the summer period, the regions agreed on cooperation in the development of children's and youth tourism with the development of special 3-day tourist routes in the future. Special attention will be paid to ensuring security and informative content of programs. 

In addition, cooperation will be developed in the direction of medical and hunting-trophy tourism. The latter type of tourism in both areas has a high potential due to the presence of a variety of animals. In the sphere of attracting investments and industrial cooperation, the parties agreed to exchange information on investment potential and opportunities for the implementation of joint projects on a regular basis. At the end of the meeting, the Russian side informed about the preparations for holding a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS B in Chelyabinsk in 2020 and invited Kostanay region to also take part in the first Forum of Regions’ heads within the framework of the SCO on December 4-6. It bears reminding that this decision was announced at the SCO summit in Qingdao, China on June 9-10 this year and it is intended to promote the development of interregional cooperation of the SCO member states. In addition to meetings with Government members and business leaders of the Chelyabinsk region, at the invitation of the Rector of the Chelyabinsk State University (ChelSU) Tsiring D.A., Deputy Akim of the region Myrzaliev M.I. held a master class on project management for graduate students. 

M. Myrzaliyev spoke about the implementation of the project management system in the Republic of Kazakhstan and practical experience of its implementation in the Kostanay region on the example of real projects. Thus, the projects implemented in the framework of the basic industrialization direction, development of SMEs, information and communication technologies, etc. were presented. In detail, Deputy Akim of the Kostanai region focused on the implementation of the State Program “Digital Kazakhstan”. He told about projects on digitization of agriculture: digitization of fields, precision farming, creation of smart dairy and meat farms and poultry farms, digitization of social spheres: education and healthcare, implementation of SmartCity technologies in the city of Kostanay. Deputy Akim of the region M. Myrzaliyev in his turn offered the University to establish cooperation in the framework of the State Program "Digital Kazakhstan" implementation.