Central Asia on Global Investment Map
The issues of attracting investments and improving the business climate of the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus were discussed as part of the online event on “Enhancing joint promotion of Central Asia region”, organized by the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) and the Azerbaijan agency AzPromo.
The online meeting was also attended by the leadership of WAIPA and the management of investment attraction agencies from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The meeting discussed various strategies to attract investment in the context of the economic crisis, as well as the joint promotion of the investment attractiveness of the region on the international arena.
WAIPA President Fahad Al Gergawi noted that during the current economic crisis, linked with recession and increasing competition for investment flows, the role of investment attraction agencies will only strengthen. In this regard, it makes sense for the countries of the region to consider the possibility of enhancing investment attraction strategies, with the critical role of close international cooperation and promotion of the region as an investment destination.
During the presentation “Central Asia on Global Investment Map”, the Chair of the Management Board of NC KAZAKH INVEST JSC Baurzhan Sartbayev stressed that “Central Asia and the South Caucasus is an ancient region with a unique history and culture, attracting more and more attention of the global investment community. It is noteworthy that large foreign investors consider our region as a whole entity in terms of transit potential, market size, infrastructure development, human capital and security. Improving the investment climate will have a multiplier effect on the development of the entire region. And this is more than 100 million people. In this regard, the unified positioning of our region on the global investment map is of great importance, given the strategic position in the center of Eurasia, rich natural and human resources.”
In turn, the Regional Director of WAIPA in Central Asia and the Head of AZPROMO Yusif Abdullayev spoke about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global economic processes and on certain regions of the world, as well as the trends in the investment attraction policy in the near future. The speaker highlighted that the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus need to form new approaches and develop new strategies for attracting investments, taking into account new realities.
During the negotiations, the parties noted the importance of promoting not only national, but also regional investment attractiveness and agreed to further strengthen the work to promote the region as a whole.
For reference: The World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) was established in 1995 in Geneva (Switzerland). The headquarters of the organization now uniting more than 100 members is located in Istanbul (Turkey). The major goals of WAIPA are to develop cooperation between investment promotion agencies, assisting member organizations in advising their governments on investment attraction, technical assistance and training, enhancing and spreading out investment databases, as well as their effective use.