More than 600 Large Foreign Companies Attended Kazakhstan Round Table on Global Investments

Astana, October 19, 2022 - The annual investment event Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable (KGIR-2022) brought together on its site in Astana the heads of large foreign companies who came to Kazakhstan to create new industries and services and the Government of Kazakhstan carried out significant work both during the pandemic and this year, considering the current geopolitical situation. During the panel sessions, the key trends in the development of the global economy were discussed, as well as opportunities for expanding cooperation with foreign partners and attracting investment to Kazakhstan. Among the important topics were an adaptation to the new logistical reality in the current economic situation, investment in the agro-industrial complex to ensure food security, and new sources of growth.

«Kazakhstan ranks 6th in the world in terms of agricultural area, where more than 80% of the land (220 million hectares) is used for production, and in this direction our country is very interested in international experience and projects in the field of agriculture. As for the prospects for developing cooperation in the field of 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 every opportunity to become a gateway to the largest markets, offering the possibility of multimodal logistics», said Almas Aidarov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, speaking to the participants of the round table.

«We are confident that Kazakhstan will soon reach high levels of food supply for the entire Central Asian region», said Ignacio Ducmet Mingot, General Director of Ingeser Ingenieria Arquitectura Y Consultoria, at one of the panel discussions of KGIR-2022.

At the panel session on logistics, Hussein Barlin, Chairman of the Board of S Sistem Lojistik, announced his intention to open company offices in Uralsk, Almaty, and Aktau. Andrew DeLeone, Alstom's President for Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia (AMECA) said that for more than 10 years of cooperation with Kazakhstan, Alstom has invested more than 125 million euros in the country's economy, and intends to increase investments in the future. As a result of the investment forum, agreements were signed for a total of $1.5 billion.

Implementation of projects is planned in such industries 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 which is a trans-logistical hub, a nuclear center for the treatment of cancer, a pipe cleaning plant and a plant of metal and bitumen production will be built in the region.

Increasing the investment attractiveness of the country remains one of the main tasks of the Government. Kazakhstan is an investment magnet among the states of Central Asia in terms of foreign investment inflow. We are already attracting 70% of all investments to the region. To improve the investment ecosystem further, the Government has adopted a new Investment Policy Concept until 2026.