NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — During his official visit to the United States on July 1-2, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Beibut Atamkulov met with members of the US-Kazakhstan Business Association and held meetings with the CEOs of major American companies and corporations, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reported.
The foreign minister informed American business community about recent events that took place in Kazakhstan. “Our country held presidential elections. We have ensured a peaceful transfer of power fully in line with the Constitution. This provided economic partners and investors with guarantees of maintaining stability and successful development of Kazakhstan,” Atamkulov said.
He said that Kazakhstan appreciates the interest of American companies and looks forward to expanding long-term presence of American business in the country, adding that Kazakhstan can and should act as a platform for services and products with high added value for further export to international markets.
The minister emphasized that Kazakhstan is interested in large attraction of American experience and capital for implementation of major high-tech projects in processing and manufacturing industries, development of infrastructure, agriculture, communications and IT technologies.
During the meeting with Trevor Gunn, the Vice President of Medtronic, the Kazakh foreign minister drew attention to the priorities of modernizing healthcare, including at the level of primary health care, digitalization and the rapid introduction of innovative and effective methods of diagnosis and treatment of diseases. He emphasized positive cooperation with this company in the field of equipment supplies and personnel training. Considering that Medtronic is one of the largest companies in this field, Kazakhstan’s interest in accessing the latest medical technologies was confirmed.
As part of the talks with the Senior Vice President of the Citi Group, Rick Johnston, Minister Atamkulov highlighted the Group’s long term support towards Kazakhstan’s integration into the global financial space and attracting international investment. Citi is one of the largest Western investors in the non-primary sector of Kazakhstan’s economy and has established itself as a reliable corporate bank, becoming the main partner for the vast majority of international corporations operating in Kazakhstan.
The ExxonMobil Corporation continues to make a significant contribution to the development of the oil industry in Kazakhstan and continues to be a key player in hydrocarbon production.
Kazakhstan is interested in further developing cooperation with American companies and attracting American investments and advanced technologies in the construction of petrochemical enterprises. “We highly appreciate the successful work of the company on projects for the development of Tengiz and Kashagan fields. These projects are important to the country. Kazakhstan is interested in the implementation of full-scale development of Kashagan and increasing oil production,” the foreign minister said.
The agricultural sector was also named as having significant prospects for Kazakh-US cooperation.
The US remains one of the largest investors in the economy of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.
During 2018, more than 30 joint economic events were held between Kazakhstan and the United States. Among them, the visit of the US Certified Trade Mission led by US Secretary of Commerce Wilboro Ross to Astana in October 2018 and the Investment Conference in Kazakhstan at the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York last fall.
