ASTANA (TCA) — On July 4, Kazakhstan Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev took part in the international forum Astana Finance Days. At the plenary session, the issues of development of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), regulation of financial technologies and protection of investments were discussed, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reports.
Opening the panel session, Prime Minister Sagintayev said that tomorrow, July 5, there will be a special event — the official presentation of the Astana International Financial Center, the largest national megaproject for all years of independence, destined to become a breakthrough in the financial markets of the future.
The AIFC is being established as a financial hub of new generation. It will not only fulfill traditional functions of the world financial centers, but also provide services in the most promising development directions of global finance.
“The Government of Kazakhstan invites all to become participants of the AIFC! Kazakhstan confirms its global openness and readiness for dialogue with you,” Sagintayev concluded his address to the forum participants.
President of the Islamic Development Bank Bandar M. H. Hajjar said: “I am glad that Kazakhstan is the leader of Islamic financing. The country has every opportunity to position itself as a regional hub. As Islamic financials grow, I expect that Islamic finance in Kazakhstan will grow. We can contribute with the help of the sukuk tool. We support the policy of Kazakhstan. Total financing for Kazakhstan is more than $2.4 billion. Financing is concentrated in the agriculture, transport and finance sector.”
Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group Sandra Ngozi Okoro Hopkins stressed that “the opening of the AIFC is a breakthrough event and the financial center is definitely waiting for success” and congratulated the Government of Kazakhstan on the creation of a regional hub.
The results of the panel session were summed up by the AIFC Governor Kairat Kelimbetov.
“In mid-2015 the President of Kazakhstan announced the initiative for the establishment of the AIFC. Of course, this is a very ambitious initiative,” Kelimbetov said. “A remarkable program was adopted, which is called ‘100 Concrete Steps to Implement the Five Institutional Reforms,’ among these reforms the rule of law and economic diversification are directly related to the AIFC. The Government has been working very hard all these years to implement these reforms. It is very important that there should be intelligent regulation in relation to new technologies. We want to become such a center of attraction in the AIFC. Which region do we target? We have three big rings. This is Central Asia in a broad sense. We would like to serve the regions of Transcaucasia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Mongolia. The very important direction is the Eurasian Economic Union. Here we have clear agreements with the leaders of the countries. And, of course, the third direction is the initiative to revive the Silk Road. There is very much interest from the Chinese financial institutions. We started our work by establishing a strategic partnership with global financial centers. We work very closely with Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, and Hong Kong.”
