ASTANA (TCA) — A total of 22 commercial documents worth $7 billion were signed at the fourth meeting of the Kazakhstan-China Business Council (KCBC) held in Astana on June 8.
The event was organised by Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Kazyna national wealth fund, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and CITIC Group Corporation. About 500 representatives of state bodies, and the largest companies and financial institutions of Kazakhstan and China participated, Samruk-Kazyna reported.
The KCBC participants discussed opportunities for the implementation of joint projects during three panel sessions: “Joint Investment Projects between Kazakhstan and China”; “Processing and Export in Agriculture: Creating New opportunities”; and “Cooperation Between Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”. Business representatives from Kazakhstan and China also held bilateral meetings in a B2B format.
“The Kazakhstan-China Business Council has been set significant challenges by the heads of state of the two countries. Since its foundation, the KCBC has proved its efficiency and established itself as an interactive business platform,” said Umirzak Shukeyev, CEO of Samruk-Kazyna JSC. “Currently, Kazakhstan and China are collaborating on 51 projects worth a combined USD 28 billion, of which 14 are being implemented by Samruk-Kazyna portfolio companies. The majority of our collaborative projects are within the oil and gas, chemical, energy, mining and metallurgy, agricultural and machine-building sectors.”
Following the KCBC meeting, Samruk-Kazyna portfolio companies signed six commercial and framework projects with a combined value of USD 4.5 billion on the joint implementation of investment projects. In total, 22 agreements worth approximately USD 7 billion were signed for collaborative projects in the energy, chemicals and metals industries.
United Chemical Company LLP (a Samruk-Kazyna portfolio company) and China Development Bank Corporation (CDBC) signed an agreement on the implementation of investment projects for the production of methanol and ammonia in the National Industrial Petrochemical Technopark Special Economic Zone (SEZ), in the Atyrau region, as well as the production of caustic soda in the Chemical Park Taraz SEZ, in the Zhambyl region. This project is being implemented as part of the development of Kazakhstan’s first agrochemical cluster.
Samruk-Energy JSC and Hydrochina Corporation signed memorandums on the implementation of wind farm construction projects in the Almaty region with a capacity of 60 MW (including a potential expansion in capacity to 300 MW) and the construction of small hydropower plants. Samruk-Energy also agreed a memorandum with China Datang Corporation to expand the wind park in Ereimentau from 45 MW to 300 MW.
In addition, Samruk-Kazyna and the CDBC signed a framework collaboration agreement, along with Kazakh Invest and HUBEI KELISON LLP.
The Chinese business community is a strategic investor in Samruk-Kazyna portfolio companies. The Export-Import Bank of China provides loans for the construction of an aromatic hydrocarbons production complex and a deep oil refining complex at the Atyrau refinery, while the CDBC is funding the construction of gas and chemical complex (polypropylene production). The Fund and the CDBC are implementing a number of major projects in the chemicals industry worth over USD 2 billion in total.
During the Kazakhstan-China Business Council meeting, Kazakhstan’s Baiterek Holding and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Almaty JSC signed a $300 million cooperation agreement.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Almaty is a part of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the four largest state banks of the PRC.
The agreement will allow Baiterek Holding to provide domestic enterprises with funding at affordable rates for realization of investment projects in the area of industrial development, information technology, small and medium enterprise development, increase of export potential, and transfer and implementation of innovations, the Holding said.
