German investors launching new projects in Kazakhstan
The capital of Kazakhstan hosted Kazakhstan-German Business Forum with the participation of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Roman Sklyar. The keynote idea of the event, attended by about 250 delegates, was about the development of Kazakhstan-German economic cooperation in high technologies, green economy and logistics.
Opening the plenary session, Roman Sklyar stressed that Germany is one of the most important partners of Kazakhstan and highly appreciated the level of trade and economic cooperation, as well as the prospects of bilateral relations. In his speech, he stressed that the strategic initiatives of the country's leadership since its independence have been aimed at qualitative diversification of the economy, technological modernization of basic industries and the development of human capital. According to the First Deputy Prime Minister, Kazakhstan with such factors as diversified energy sources, logistics and significant natural resources, has a significant potential for the production and subsequent export of green energy.
The speaker called on German investors to cooperate and stressed that Kazakhstan is interested in attracting German investments in digital technologies in order to modernize existing enterprises, as well as create new high-tech industries.
The volume of direct investments of German companies in the economy of Kazakhstan since 2005 amounted to about $5.5 billion with most of them directed to the processing industry. There are more than 600 enterprises with the participation of German capital in Kazakhstan, including: LindeAG, HeidelbergCement, BASF, Knauf, Siemens, Wilo, Metro Cash and Carry, CLAAS and others.
It should be reminded that, a Special Government Task Force is functioning under the chairmanship of the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan to develop investment cooperation with Germany.
Moreover, there are such effective dialogue platforms as the Berlin Eurasian Club and the Kazakhstan-German Business Council to develop bilateral relations.
In his speech, Manfred Grundke, Member of the Board of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy and Speaker of the Country Team for Central Asia, emphasized that German-Kazakhstan economic relations reached a high level at its thirtieth year: “Kazakhstan is, of course, Germany's most important trading partner in Central Asia. Thanks to their technological solutions and know-how, German companies increase productivity in all sectors of the economy. Together, we can and will achieve much more. For us, Kazakhstan is much more than a supplier of raw materials. We are convinced that Kazakhstan can derive the greatest sustainable benefit from diversified development.” Manfred Grundke also noted that agriculture, logistics, digitalization, as well as industrial production are just some of the sectors that can advance Kazakhstan to a new economic level. Processes aimed at creating such a breakthrough are already underway. The Government of Kazakhstan aims to ensure a sustainable inflow of innovation and capital through the creation of a favorable investment climate and state investor support programs.
Michael Harms, the Executive Director of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, noted the huge potential of Kazakhstan in the renewable energy, which can be of help to the German economy in its transition to a green economy, in the process of decarbonization and digitalization.
Meirzhan Yusupov, the CEO of NC KAZAKH INVEST JSC, briefed the forum participants on Kazakhstan’s investment opportunities, noting that the portfolio of Kazakhstan-German investment cooperation consists of 46 projects totaling more than $28.4 billion. To date, 28 projects have already been implemented for total amount of $1.1 billion.
The speakers of the panel session were Florian Penner - Executive Director for Business Development and Sales of Linde GmbH, Markus Glasser - Senior Vice President for EMEA, EOS GmbH, and Dastan Abdulgafarov - Vice Chair of the Executive Board for Strategy, Investments and Business Development of NC KazMunayGas JSC, and Vice President of SAP CE Natalya Panina.
As part of the event, 11 bilateral documents were signed for a total amount of over $200 million in the sectors, such as mechanical engineering, industrial automation, petrochemistry, logistics, healthcare and information technology. Among the new projects being developed with German investors in Kazakhstan are launching a Digital Skills Lab with Siemens, building a plant for the assembly of metal-working machinery with EMAG, producing forged gear rims with R.S. Engineering, building a gypsum stone processing plant with Knauf, building an intermodal terminal in Almaty region with Rhenus Logistics and constructing three hemodialysis clinics in Turkestan, Kyzylorda and Atyrau regions.
Kazakhstan-German Business Forum was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Germany, NC KAZAKH INVEST JSC, as well as the Eastern Committee of the German Economy and the Representative Office of the German Economy in Central Asia.