The digitalisation of the legal sphere was discussed at a Kazakh-French forum

In recent years, technology has developed at an incredible pace. In the future, the wealth and development of any country will depend not on the amount of minerals, but on the degree of mastering modern technology, shaping the process of working with it. In this regard, the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - President Nursultan Nazarbayev in his address « Third Modernization of Kazakhstan: Global Competitiveness» outlined 4 areas of implementation of the program «Digital Kazakhstan». The first is to increase the transit potential of the country by providing rural areas with broadband Internet access. The second is the introduction of digital technologies in transport and logistics, healthcare, education, agriculture and e-commerce. The third is improving the quality of government agencies, and the fourth is training IT specialists. Among these areas, the introduction of digital technologies in the work of state bodies is currently developing rapidly.

Strategic Development Plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2025 provides for the digitalization of law enforcement agencies and courts. Criminal, civil and administrative cases will be gradually transferred to electronic format. In order to protect the rights of citizens and to ensure prompt access to justice, the Digital Kazakhstan programme is gradually transferring criminal cases into a new format.

It is no coincidence that the issue of «Law in the Digital Age» was on the agenda of the IV Kazakhstan-French Forum held at the Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute of Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University. Today, digital development in France and Kazakhstan is changing organisational and economic models of society. The use of large data arrays processed by complex algorithms using computers, whose computing power is constantly growing, is sometimes seen as the third industrial revolution. This will of course lead to a revision of legal categories and will affect all areas of private and public law in our two countries.

The forum was moderated by Deputy Executive Director of the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, Doctor of Law, Professor Igor Rogov and attaché of the Embassy of France in Kazakhstan Gilles Mametz.

Chairman of the Constitutional Council, Professor Kairat Mami talked about good work being done in Kazakhstan to digitise the legal sphere. Ambassador of France to Kazakhstan Didier Canese, member of the Constitutional Council of the French Republic Claire Basi-Mallory, Deputy Director of the National School of Magistrates (ENM) representing interests of French citizens living abroad, Senator Christophe-André Frass, Head of the French Anti-Corruption Agency Charles Duchenne, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Notaries Antoine Desjoy shared their experience in digitization of the legal sphere in France.

Yerlan Turgumbayev, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Abdirov, Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and heads of several domestic government agencies exchanged views on the digitalization process in our country and the challenges encountered in this work.

After the plenary session, graduates of the Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute were awarded diplomas from Kazakhstan and France. The forum was continued in separate sections.