AIFC hosts round table discussions in New Delhi and Mumbai

NEW DELHI. KAZINFORM On April 15, 2019, the Astana International Finance Center (AIFC), Kazakhstan's premier financial hub, and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India's top think-tank convened a roundtable with the aim to provide a platform where experts from business and academia can discuss and engage in key economic issues, the press service of the Kazakh Embassy in New Delhi says.

Gautam Chikermane, Vice-President, ORF, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India Bulat Sarsenbayev Nursultan Serikbay, Deputy head, Business Development Group AIFC, Sultan Akimbekov, Director of Institute of Asian Studies, ORF fellows and representatives of Indian academic circles discussed the following questions: What are the global trends impacting economic development in the region? Where are the most promising opportunities for investments in the region? What challenges need to be overcome to realise the region's economic potential? Is there enough funding for large infrastructure projects, and what could be the new sources? What opportunities in the region are of the greatest interest to investors from India?

Senior managers of AIFC presented the AIFC and opportunities it offers to business and investors from India during the another roundtable discussion held on April 16 at ORF in Mumbai.

Kazakhstan, with its vastness of resources and strategic considerations, launched the AIFC in 2018 to be a financial hub for the whole region. An initiative of the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the AIFC features a modern stock exchange - AIX - whose shareholders include NASDAQ, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Silk Road Fund and Goldman Sachs. The Centre's main areas of activity include capital market development, asset management, private wealth management, Islamic finance, new financial technologies.

The principles of English law are introduced in the post-Soviet space for the first time, and the official language of the financial center is English.

The AIFC established a regulatory regime that follows international standards (IOSCO, Basel, IAIS, FATF, etc.) to ensure fairness, transparency and efficiency of the financial market, protect the interests of investors and customers of financial services, and minimize systemic risk.

The International Arbitration Center (IAC) provides an independent, cost-effective and operational alternative to litigation, acting in accordance with the best international standards for resolving civil and commercial disputes in the AIFC.

A large-scale privatization program in Kazakhstan opens up great opportunities for global investors.

The Astana International Exchange will become the main platform for the privatization of national companies in the framework of the implementation of the Comprehensive Privatization Plan for 2016-2020.

More than 150 companies from 18 countries are already represented in AIFC.