ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan and Turkey signed 24 agreements on investment, trade and economic cooperation at an investment forum in Ankara on September 12.
The projects with Turkish capital are aimed first of all at development of the non-resource sector of the Kazakh economy, providing more than 3,000 new jobs.
“Today Turkey is on the second place in terms of the number of companies with foreign capital in Kazakhstan. Growing number of Turkish companies in our country is one of the basic factors contributing to exchange of capital, best practices and technologies between our countries,” said First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin, who opened the investment forum.
Kazakhstan and Turkish companies have signed 24 commercial documents for a total amount of around US $1.7 billion. The documents are aimed at implementation of different investment projects. For instance, in Kazakhstan’s Zhambyl region it is planned to build a factory for production of soda ash (Na2CO3), which is used in metallurgical, chemical and glass making industries, with a total cost of 270 million US dollars and with creation of 350 jobs.
According to an agreement reached between Kazakh Invest National Company for Investment Support and Promotion and Eksen Group, the Turkish investor plans to build a new financial, social and business center – Downtown Almaty – in Almaty city at a cost of 300 million US dollars. Downtown Almaty will accommodate business centers, premium class apartments and JW Marriot hotel, Kazakh Invest said.
Administration of Kazakhstan’s Turkestan region and DAL Holding signed the Agreement on construction of a greenhouse facility at a cost of $200 million with creation of 700 jobs.
“We can speak of strengthening of expansion trend of large Turkish holdings on the market of Kazakhstan. Whereas traditional industries to where Turkish investors came in the past were hotel business and production of construction materials at the level of small and medium business, today major Turkish companies open such new industries as mining and metallurgy, agriculture, agricultural chemistry, metallurgy, treatment industry and much more,” said Saparbek Tuyakbayev, chairman of Kazakh Invest National Company Board of Directors.
The Turkish side emphasized that Turkish investors are interested in expansion of their production in Kazakhstan due to the country’s political stability, a favorable investment climate, and access to markets of the Eurasian Economic union, Central Asia, and West China.
