Japan is one of Kazakhstan’s key trade and economic partners - MFA
"Japan is among the top 10 countries investing in our country. According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, from 2005 through 2018, the inflow of Japanese investments totaled $5.8 billion. Last year, the total inflow of investments from the Land of the Rising Sun was $403 million. The trade turnover between the countries in 2018 reached $2 billion, including $1.5 billion as exports and $497 million as imports. More than 70 Japan-invested enterprises are operating in Kazakhstan. At present, Kazakhstan-Japan relations have reached a tangible result thanks to close win-win cooperation. The Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Business Council are functioning. The Agreement on the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investments is in effect," the press service informs.
It is noteworthy that with the participation of Japanese investors, a number of projects of chemical industry, mechanical engineering, infrastructure, agriculture, mining and metallurgy have been implemented. Thus, the Japanese company of Mareven Food launched a plant for cooked and convenience foods in Almaty region. The project is worth around $50 million and created nearly 600 jobs. This plant offers a wide range of food products, which, in addition to Kazakhstan's domestic market, will also be supplied to the EAEU countries, as well as China, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia.
Tokyo Rope, the world's top wire rope manufacturer, has built in Almaty a plant producing protection engineering systems. The plant's capacity is more than 17,000 tons of steel products per annum. In Zhambyl region, a plant for advanced processing of liquorice was put into operation with the participation of Japan's Cokey Systems.
NYK Group, a Japanese company which is the world's transportation leader, has built a logistics terminal handling cars in Almaty. Its main activity is terminal handling of cars and transporting them to the dealers. Currently, the investor is finishing the construction of a similar terminal in Nur-Sultan.
There has been mutual interest and prospects for cooperation with Japan in such areas as petrochemicals, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals industry, power, information technology, and innovation.
Presently, the Investment Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, jointly with the Kazakh Embassy in Japan and Kazakh Invest, is considering the implementation of around 20 projects.