Over 600 large foreign companies participated in Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable
Astana, October 19, 2022 - The annual investment event Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable (KGIR-2022) brought together the CEOs of large foreign companies who came to Kazakhstan to create new industries and services. The Government of Kazakhstan has made great efforts with these companies both in the period of pandemic, as well as taking into account the current geopolitical situation.
The panel sessions addressed key trends in the development of the global economy, as well as the opportunities for expanding cooperation with foreign partners and attracting investment to Kazakhstan.
Adjusting to the new logistics reality in the current economy, investment in agro-industrial complex to ensure food security and new sources of growth were the issues cited as important.
“Kazakhstan ranks 6th in the globe in terms of arable areas, where more than 80% of the land (220 million hectares) is used for production, and in this direction our country is interested in the international experience and projects in the agriculture. As for the prospects for cooperation development in the logistics, our country is the largest transit hub in Central Asia. Kazakhstan has direct market access to over a billion consumers, including the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, Central Asia and China. Our country has opportunities to become a gateway to the largest markets, offering the possibility of multimodal logistics,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Almas Aidarov, addressing the participants of the Roundtable.
“We are confident that Kazakhstan will soon reach high levels in providing food for the entire Central Asian region,” said Ignacio Dusmet Mingot, Director General of Ingeser Ingenieria Arquitectura Y Consultoria, at one of the panel discussions of KGIR-2022.
At the panel session on logistics, the CEO of S Sistem Lojistik Hizmetleri A.Ş. Hussein Barlin, stated that they intended to open company offices in Uralsk, Almaty and Aktau. Andrew DeLeone, President, Africa, Middle East & Central Asia (AMECA) region at Alstom said that for more than 10 years of cooperation with Kazakhstan, the company has invested over €125 million in the country's economy, and intends to increase investment in the future.
The Investment Forum resulted in signing the agreements for a total of $1.5 billion. Implementation of projects is planned in the sectors, such as metallurgy, petrochemistry, gas processing, transport, logistics, production of building materials and agricultural machinery, infrastructure construction and pharmaceuticals.
At the same time, 5 out of 25 projects will be implemented in Aktobe region - a trans-logistics hub, a nuclear center for cancer treatment, a pipe cleaning plant and a metal and bitumen production plant will be built in the region.
Increasing the investment attractiveness of the country remains one of the major tasks of the Government. Kazakhstan is an investment magnet among the Central Asian states in terms of foreign investment inflow. Already now our country attracts 70% of all investments in the region. To further improve the investment ecosystem, the Government has adopted a new Investment Policy Concept until 2026.