Kazakhstan Global Investment Forum 2020

The third Kazakhstan Global Investment Forum 2020 was held in virtual mode in London this week.

This unique investment platform wa.organized by the international publication New Statesman Media Group, SWF "Samruk-Kazyna" JSC, NC Kazakh Invest JSC, as well as the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the UK.

The event was attended by over 600 people from around the world, including representatives of companies from manufacturing, agricultural, chemical, mining and financial sectors, as well as companies from metallurgy, logistics, green and digital technologies fields.

Forum was dedicated to Kazakhstan's vast and emerging business and investment opportunities.
 
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi, Chairman of the Board of "Samruk-Kazyna" JSC Akhmetzhan Yessimov, Adviser to the President of Kazakhstan on economic development and strategy sir Suma Chakrabarti, Trade envoy of the Prime Minister of Great Britain to Kazakhstan Baroness Emma Nicholson, Lord mayor of the City of London William Russell and others were main speakers at the opening of the forum.

In his speech, Tleuberdi stressed that the Great Britain has been and continues to be one of the main foreign investors and trade partners of Kazakhstan in Western Europe since the very first days of Kazakhstan's independence. He also noted that Kazakhstan remains the largest economy in the region with a favorable geographical location, high-quality infrastructure, large transit potential and global connectivity.

"To date, we have created a favorable business climate by offering a simplified tax regime and package of investment benefits. Stability of tax legislation is guaranteed for companies implementing projects in priority sectors of the economy. However, we want and we are going to do more. Kazakhstan strives to make fundamental changes to improve investment climate in accordance with the best standards and practices of the OECD countries", added M. Tleuberdi.

Chakrabarti emphasized that Kazakhstan has transformed into a politically stable country with dynamically developing economy over the 29 years of its independence:

"Today, Kazakhstan has already entered the list of the 50 most competitive economic powers. Kazakhstan is also on the 25th place among 190 countries in the World Bank's "Doing Business 2020" ranking, being between Ireland and Iceland", he added, noting that the country is not going to stop there and intends to achieve the goals reflected in "Kazakhstan-2050" strategy".

Baroness E. Nicholson mentioned a number of active Kazakh-British investment projects in the fields of health, education, green technologies and agriculture, adding that the Export Credits Guarantee Agency (UK Export Finance, UKEF) now has a country reserve for Kazakhstan in the amount of 4.5 billion British pounds which can be used to finance Kazakhstan projects.

Currently, British companies intend to invest in a project on desalination plant construction in Mangistau and development of a large vanadium deposit in Kyzylorda region.

Reference: Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom in 2019 Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom in 2019 exceeded 2.5 billion British pounds, including the turnover of goods and services. Currently, more than 860 legal entities, branches and representative offices with British capital are registered in Kazakhstan, more than 500 of which are commercially active. An important mechanism for bilateral cooperation is the Kazakh – British Intergovernmental Commission on Trade-Economic, Scientific-Technical and Cultural Cooperation which next meeting in virtual mode is scheduled for November 19 this year.