PM to foreign investors: Kazakhstan a country for your business
In his opening remarks Prime Minister Sagintayev emphasized that improvement of the investment climate, open dialogue with investors and advancement of the infrastructure to attract investments is a strategic priority for the Government, and one of the most important conditions for the success of the modernization taking place in the country.
He reminded that last year, President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced the Third wave of modernization of Kazakhstan aimed at ensuring qualitative economic growth and determining the model of industrial and technological modernization in conditions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
"At the end of 2017, economic growth was 4%. At the same time, the contribution of non-energy sectors provided almost 2/3 of growth. This means that the Kazakh economy is increasingly beginning to rely on non-energy sectors. Kazakhstan was ranked 36th in 2017 according to the international ranking Doing Business. Positions improved in 6 indicators. We took first place on protections for minority investors. The gross inflow of foreign direct investment for 2017 amounted to 20.8 billion USD. A quarter of this volume went to the manufacturing industry. This was 5.2 billion USD, which was 27% higher than in 2016. In total, about 50% of all foreign investments were directed into non-commodity sectors. Positive dynamics is maintained this year too. In just 5 months of 2018, agreements were reached to implement 69 new projects with major investors, including 10 TNCs from China, Turkey, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the EU and other countries," the Premier sais of the first fruits of modernization.
Combined, in 2018 54 projects will be completed together with China for a total of 3.9 billion USD. A total of 63 projects worth 6.8 billion USD will also be launched, he added.
Foreign investors were invited to join the projects developed by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna on deep gas processing and production of polyethylene and polypropylene in the petrochemical industry. One of the partners in those is the Austrian concern BOREALIS.
The Prime Minister pointed out that those are the largest investment projects that confirm the favorable investment climate in the country and the high reputation of Kazakhstan as a reliable business partner.
Sagintayev vowed the Kazakh Government will strengthen the coherence of national legislation with international economic and trade rules. Increase transparency, improve the protection of property rights, ensure the rule of law and encourage competition and limit monopoly based on the OECD standards. It was noted that Kazakhstan already has the status of an associated member of the OECD Investment Committee, which confirms that our country's investment climate is in line with the Organization's standards.
He also highlighted what the Government has done to attract foreign investors recently. First of all, it carried out a decisive reform on deregulation, and drastically reduced administrative pressure on business. Secondly, new tax and customs regimes corresponding to the best international standards are in force. Thirdly, the new Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use, based on the principle of "first-come-first-served", has begun. Fourthly, the procedures for planning projects in the sphere of public-private partnership are simplified. Fifthly, The migration and labor legislation has been improved. The procedure for attracting foreign labor has been simplified.
"We are confident that the improvement of the investment legislation will help investors to rediscover the economy of Kazakhstan. The Government proposes to invest in industries with great operational potential. And this is where we are ready for the full-scale use of the PPP mechanism, especially for capital-intensive projects," the Prime Minister noted.
"First of all, this is a machinery building - the most important sector providing a transition to new technological paradigm," he told the participants of the roundtable. "The Government has launched the accelerated modernization of machinery-building to a high-tech level for qualitative servicing of such sectors as the agro-industrial complex, metallurgical, energy and transport; therefore, we invite investors to participate in this work. We have a huge interest in investing in metallurgy and MMC, especially in the development of MMC and non-ferrous metallurgy, copper, zinc, gold, rare and rare-earth metals, including lithium, vanadium, and tungsten and phosphate raw materials. Investments in geological exploration, new technologies for the enrichment and processing of raw materials are important. The government is also interested in investing in the chemical and petrochemical industries. We propose to invest in the establishment of industries on raw hydrocarbons deep conversion and production of competitive value added products. Special economic zones in regions of Zhambyl - "KhimParkTaraz", and Atyrau - "National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark" - are here at your service."
"I note the great potential for investments in the agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan, particularly in food industry," Sagintayev stressed. "The government counts on the inflow of investments into the relatively new sectors of our economy that are rapidly developing and enjoy support at the level of sectoral and state programs.Such promising sectors include ICT, tourism, finance, e-commerce, development of IT services, Big Data, venture business, additive technologies, artificial intelligence.Also a number of new sub-sectors in traditional spheres, for example, fintech, cleantech, etc., which will systematically lead to the diversification of the country's economy, are of interest.By creating a modern favorable regulatory framework for investors, the Government is working to gradually reduce the state's share in the economy."
"It is of fundamental importance that Astana International Financial Center, which was launched earlier this year, will become the main stock exchange for the anticipated transactions. The day after tomorrow, on July 5, an international presentation of the AIFC will take place. I take this opportunity to invite you to participate in this presentation to learn more about the opportunities provided by the Financial Centre," the Premier extended an invitation to the launching ceremony of the AIFC.
Wrapping up his remarks Prime Minister Sagintayev said the Kazakh Government is ready for an open dialogue on the whole range of issues and suggests not just investing, but building a new Kazakhstan, implementing the dream of prosperity in the broadest sense of the word - the prosperity of the country and its citizens, business and every investor.