The Congress was attended by representatives of the country’s judiciary, MPs corps, heads of governmental institutions, as well as representatives of the legal community, international organizations, media and NGOs.
In his speech, the President noted that during the years of independence, special attention had been paid to the formation of a modern judicial system and adequate fundamental reforms carried out in Kazakhstan.
- The ultimate goal of judicial reform is independent and incorruptible judiciary, where the main thing is honesty and professionalism of judges, justice and access to justice, Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
The President of Kazakhstan emphasized that the adopted Nation’s Plan "100 Specific Steps" covers the whole range of law enforcement and the courts.
- The key point of that reform is the judiciary, without modernization of which all our other measures cannot work, the Head of State said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev highlighted the initiated modernization of the judicial system as part of the Nation's Plan.
- A multi-tier judicial system has been eliminated, proceedings in investment disputes based on IT-technologies have been introduced, and audio and video recording of court proceedings has been widely implemented. We are creating "Astana" International Financial Centre with the English law to be made use of, as well as the standards of leading financial centers will be applied. The range of using a trial jury is to be expanded with the most tightened requirements for judges, the President of Kazakhstan said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev also drew attention to the consistent strengthening of a private bailiff institution.
At the same time, the President of Kazakhstan underscored that there is still a lot of work to improve the judicial system, designating the basic perspective directions of justice development.
- There are basic goals for the courts in Kazakhstan under current conditions. The first one is the rule of law; the court plays the leading role in solving that problem. The second one is strengthening of the accountability of judges that does not mean encroachment on their independence. The third one is forming the dignified judiciary establishment. The fourth is ensuring the unity of handling legal matter practices. And the fifth is the question of education in law. Owing to the legal literacy of citizens one can scale back the number of judicial disputes by times, Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
In addition, the Head of the State noted as the important event adopting the new Code of Ethics of Judges by the Congress.
