Investment opportunities of Kazakhstan presented in Zurich

ZURICH, May 28, 2019 - With the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kazakhstan-Switzerland Investment Round Table was held by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Swiss Confederation and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Switzerland. The event was attended by a delegation led by the Chairman of the Committee for Investment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Bakyt Batyrshaev, consisting of representatives of the Administration of Shymkent City, "Kazakh Invest" National company, "Astana" International Financial Center (AIFC), "Passenger Transportation" JSC and the Union of Farmers of Kazakhstan. The Swiss side was represented by more than 40 companies in the areas of banking and financial services, consulting, pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering, chemical industry, construction, ICT, transport and logistics.

Participants of the meeting were informed about the investment opportunities of Kazakhstan in various sectors, the new approaches of Kazakhstan's Government in attracting foreign investment. Kazakhstan's mining, chemical, petrochemical, food and other industries as well as opportunities for its emerging transit potential have attracted keen interest from Swiss companies. AIFC's activities drew a special attention of financial and banking companies.

Around 40 Swiss companies operate in Kazakhstan, including Glencore, Philipp Morris, ABB, Rieter, Schindler, Bühler, Leica, Nestlé, Roche, Novartis, Syngenta, as well as the office and dealers of Ammann Group.

The total volume of Swiss investments to Kazakhstan from 2005 to 2018 equals 23.2 billion USD. The volume of direct investments attracted in 2018 was 2.5 billion USD, and the volume of mutual trade in 2018 reached 3 billion USD.

Switzerland is the sixth largest trade partner of Kazakhstan after the EU, the Russia, Italy, China, the Netherlands and France.

During the round table Swiss companies operating in Kazakhstan shared their positive feedback with participants of the event.

Within its working visit the Kazakh delegation held meetings with representatives of Swissport International Ltd., Burkhard Kompression and Stadler Rail CIS companies for discussing investment cooperation opportunities.