Kazakhstan offers investment opportunities in PPPs, agriculture sectors
In a meeting with Qatar Chamber officials in Doha on Sunday, Kazakh Invest national company chairman Saparbek Tuyakbayev said Kazakhstan is investing heavily in various projects in the agriculture, chemicals and petrochemicals, mining and metallurgy, real estate and tourism, logistics and infrastructure sectors, and in public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Tuyakbayev, along with Kazakhstan ambassador Askar Shokybayev, led the trade delegation, which met with Qatar Chamber first vice chairman Mohamed bin Towar al-Kuwari, board member Mohamed al-Obaildy, and other officials.
In a speech, the ambassador noted that cargo and freight services are among the challenges that the Kazakhstan government should address to increase trade volume with Qatar.
"We know that Qatar is a well-respected player in the global arena, hence our horizons are open for collaboration between our countries because the head of our country has announced many times the necessity of attracting investments into Kazakhstan, and Qatar, of course, possesses great opportunity to invest in our country," Shokybayev said.
He added: "At the same time, Qatar is a main and a very large importer of a wide range of goods that is why this fact is, I think, very interesting for Kazakhstani business because our government also put the task to increase the volume of trade and collaboration with new markets, and in this situation the Qatari market is a very good market for our goods.
"That is why this visit, the programme, of which, will be realised and very successful, and we hope that we could find good partners; in the future we will be able to speak about great enhancement of our relationships."
Al-Kuwari stressed that the chamber "highly welcomes" the move to enhance cooperation of Qatar and Kazakhstan's private sectors, adding that this was in line with the memorandum of understanding both countries' chambers signed at the ‘Made in Qatar' expo last year.
"The MoU aims to strengthen cooperation ties between the Qatari and Kazakhstani private sector and increase mutual visits among both countries' businessmen in view of establishing joint ventures and projects, as well as exchanging expertise and global best practices," al-Kuwari said.
Al-Kuwari also noted that the economic blockade imposed on Qatar in June last year had "presented a brilliant opportunity" for businessmen to intensify investments in the industrial sector, especially in the food and pharmaceutical sectors, "which witnessed a great growth during the past two years."
He said the economic, legislative, and legal reforms initiated by the government have motivated the Qatari private sector to establish new projects that contribute to achieving self-sufficiency in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.