After four years of depression (2013–2016), our country this year came out of recession and again went into a stage of stagnation. If we take serious measures that need to be worked out and basically adopted this year, then as early as 2018–2019, our country can resume socio-economic growth.

The European Union (EU) and Kazakhstan have established close economic and trade relations much thanks to EU Strategy for Central Asia and Kazakh state program Path to Europe. Bilateral trade have been growing steadily since 2002. Today EU is Kazakhstan’s first trade partner with annual turnover of ,1 billion representing a half of the country total trade in 2016 and the largest investor, ahead of Russia and China. EU imports from Kazakhstan are dominated by energy (minerals, fuels) products. The main EU exports to Kazakhstan include machinery and transport equipment, other manufactured goods and chemicals. In 2015 Kazakhstan has joined WTO with the EU consistently supporting Kazakhstan’s accession. Over the past two decades, Kazakhstan and EU have developed a strong and mutually beneficial energy cooperation. Major EU-based energy companies have significant investments in the Kazakh oil and gas industry. Currently, around 70% of Kazakhstan oil exports go to Europe, corresponding to 6.5% of the EU total oil imports. The 2017-address by the President Nursultan Nazarbayev comprise an industrial strategy aimed at modernizing Kazakhstan’s economy by diversifying it away from overdependence on extractive industries, targeting R&D and joining the top 30 most developed countries by 2050. Therefore Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in 2015 offers new opportunities for Kazakhstan and EU and could be interesting for partners in the Eurasian Economic Union.

BRICS countries today are the most intensively developing countries of the world economy, since they have a rich resource base, scientific and labor potential. According to leading economists it is economic growth of Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Republic of South Africa that will ensure the future economic growth of the world economy. At the same time, the BRICS countries are the largest agricultural producers, accounting one third of the world agricultural production. About half of the world’s pork volume and about one third of poultry and beef are produced at their territory. At the same time, there are certain trends of specialization of each country in the world agricultural market. All of above enumerates stipulate relevance to study of current state and development prospects of agriculture in the BRICS countries. The methodological basis of the study, results of which are presented in the article, are statistical methods for analyzing the level of development of agriculture and cross-country comparisons. They make it possible to obtain a quantitative assessment of the place of each country in the world market of agricultural product.

The present makes more and more new demands for knowledge and abilities, not allowing to stop in professional growth and improvement, demanding to be ready for solving complex and large-scale tasks. In July 2016 the Federal Law “On Appraisal Activities in the Russian Federation” was amended providing for introduction from July 2017 of a qualification exam for appraisers, whose qualifications and experience affect both private and public interests. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development in the nearest future will approve the procedure for passing such an exam. Introduction of the exam and procedure for its implementation are being actively discussed in the assessment environment. Nikolay Podguzov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, told about peculiarities of the compulsory examination for appraisers.

In the nine months of 2016, the Rosreestr commission received more than 29,000 applications for reviewing results of the cadastral value specification in relation to 59.9 thousand real estate objects (87% of them are land plots). Decision to review the cadastral value was taken in respect of 46.9% of the applicants. And the cumulative value of the real estate objects’ cadastral value after disputing in commissions decreased by 28.5%, or by 595 billion rubles. Head of the Department for Real Estate Objects Valuation of the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) Andrei Petrovich Berestyansky comments on the reasons of the rapid growth in the number of applications for contesting the cadastral value, as well as on the new contestation mechanisms.

Since January 2017, the cadastral valuation contestation is regulated both by new legislation and by the current provisions on the procedure for the cadastral value contesting. The property owners faced a dilemma: to pay and begin to dispute the cadastral valuation or to pay and forget about the tax until next year, when it will grow again. Or maybe sell the property at all? Due to high percentage of errors in determining the cadastral value, today there are a lot of precedents for cadastral value contesting in the courts. General Director of the Berkshire Advisory Group, expert of the Working Body on Methodological Support and Expertise under the Valuation Council of the Russian Ministry for Economic Development, as well as the Working Body for Protection of Rights and Legal Interests of Appraisers and the SROA (self-regulatory organization of appraisers) under Valuation Council of the Ministry for Economic Development of Russia Irina Vishnevskaya in her interview with the “ES” correspondent Larisa Polkovnikova helped to understand the bulk of news on the process that affects the interests of each property owner and told about the practice and peculiarities of the Cadastral value contestation.

The investor and the developer can decide to participate in the complex residential development project only if the assessment of the investment value of such land plot shows its high economic attractiveness. As a methodological basis for calculating the investment value of a land plot for integrated residential development, it is proposed to use a revenue approach, and within it — the method of the proposed use of a land plot. The article suggests a technique for modeling the investment value of land plots for integrated residential development, which includes 12 stages. To implement this methodology at the level of corporate management of investors, developers and developers, and for the purposes of state municipal land management, an appropriate application algorithm has been proposed.

The issues related to contesting results of the state cadastral valuation and the impact of this process on taxation were discussed with the managing partner of the “Invest Project” Consulting group Sergey Mikhailovich Sheshkov.

The article examines the processes taking place in Russian appraisal business at present, taking into account general economic background of development: this is actual introduction of the state monopoly on cadastral valuation of real estate objects owned by individuals, the cancellation of the mandatory examination of the SRO evaluation reports, the introduction for all appraisers of the mandatory qualification examination. Against this background, the strategies of a successful evaluating company are analyzed. It is concluded that the competitive advantage is the ability of the company to develop new markets, to conduct evaluation in growing or emerging new sectors of the economy, which requires highly qualified specialists and high quality of work. Consequently, the most strategic companies in the industry under consideration will be large enterprises with a developed branch network and wide coverage of fields of activity, companies which adhere highest standards of quality.

The article presents a promising model of standardization of valuation activities in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, examines the main elements of the conceptual apparatus, the tasks and principles of standardization of appraisal activity, the model of organization of the standardization and international cooperation process, types of standards and issues of control and supervision of the application of evaluation standards in practice.