#StrongerTogether: ERG Backs the Head of State’s Initiatives and Will Continue to Honour All Its Commitments

The 60,000-strong workforce and leadership of Eurasian Resources Group support the initiatives of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to strengthen corporate social responsibility. The company welcomes the creation of the "Kazakhstan Halkyna" public fund and stands ready to make regular contributions in support of the people of Kazakhstan.

"Since it began operating, ERG has taken on significant social obligations to its employees, the regions and the country. And we support President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's policy of strengthening the social responsibility of big business towards the people of Kazakhstan," said ERG Chairman of the Board of Directors Alexander Mashkevich. "Despite the difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we have continued to embed the principles of sustainable development in our operations. In his address, the Head of State stressed the importance of continuing this work amid tightening ESG requirements. The Group is taking active steps in this direction. Last year the company already established an Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Committee. A portfolio of production-greening projects worth around 800 billion tenge has been formed."

Throughout its 27 years of operation, ERG's enterprises have made a substantial contribution to Kazakhstan's socio-economic development.

Over 27 years, the amount of Eurasian Resources Group's social investment in the regions, including ERG's memoranda with regional akimats, has exceeded $1 billion.

Projects implemented with the company's support include the construction of a children's music school in Ekibastuz, 16 sports and children's playgrounds and mini football pitches, support for universities, colleges, schools and kindergartens in its home cities, free tutoring courses for 1,000 schoolchildren from low-income families, the renovation of facades and roofs of apartment buildings in Aktobe, the terminal building of Kostanay International Airport, equipping the city's emergency medical services station in Aktobe, creating a situation centre in Pavlodar, restoring historical sites as part of the "Kultobe Settlement" project in Turkestan, the construction of the Astana Opera theatre, the Botanical Garden, and hundreds of other projects.

In 2021, a new programme, "ERG for Schools — ERG Mektepke," was launched to develop secondary education in its home regions and to popularise engineering, technical specialisations and digital technology. 280 schools already take part in the project.

In addition, since 2017 ERG's educational project "Student Entrepreneurship Ecosystem" has given young people and lecturers the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship. Over five years, more than 5,000 students from Kazakh universities have completed entrepreneurship training. Dozens of business ideas have been implemented and jobs created. In 2019, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with project participants in Kostanay.

Free sports sections serve more than 2,500 children in Khromtau, Rudny, Kachar, Oktyabrsky, Aksu and Aktobe using the Group's own sports facilities.

In 2021 alone, the total amount ERG allocated to charity exceeded 26.3 billion tenge.

ERG recognises that today it is impossible to be a successful company on the global market without meeting ESG criteria. A portfolio of production-greening projects worth 800 billion tenge through 2030 has been formed. The goal is to cut particulate emissions by 56% by 2031 and discharges into water bodies by 30% by 2026.

According to EY research,* since 2015 ERG has on average accounted for 1.8% of Kazakhstan's GDP annually. In 2020, the Group's total contribution to Kazakhstan's GDP amounted to 1.27 trillion tenge, comparable to the value added by four sectors of the economy combined. Preliminary estimates suggest this level of contribution to GDP was maintained in 2021.

Through its operations, the Group supports business development in all regions where it operates. In 2019–2020 alone, businesses supported by ERG produced output worth 4.56 trillion tenge.

In addition to its own 60,000-strong workforce at its Kazakh enterprises, the Group sustains and supports 146,500 jobs.

Since 1 January 2022, wages for production personnel at the Group's Kazakh enterprises have been raised by 20–35%. ERG will allocate an additional 70 billion tenge for this purpose. More details here.

By the end of 2021, ERG paid 377 billion tenge in taxes — 65% more than in 2020, when ERG's tax contribution amounted to 228 billion tenge.

*Studies of ERG's overall contribution to Kazakhstan's socio-economic development in 2015–2018 and 2019–2020

Source: erg.kz