ASTANA (TCA) — The Ministry of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan is now working on more than 200 projects involving small and medium investors, Minister of Investment and Development Aset Isekeshev said at an investment roundtable on June 3, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
“We continue working with new investors. We are actively processing more than 25 projects with major national companies, as well as more than 200 projects involving small and medium investors that are also very important for us,” Isekeshev said.
According to the minister, in recent years more than 30 transnational companies have come to Kazakhstan.
“One of our priorities is reinvestment, working with existing investors. Nine multinational companies plan to re-invest [in Kazakhstan] this year,” the minister said.
He also stressed that the key issue for the ministry is the systemic improvement of the country’s investment climate in accordance with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards.
“In 2012 we conducted the first OECD review. We were given 12 recommendations how to improve the investment climate. We have adopted the Law on public-private partnership that expands the use of this mechanism, revised intellectual property protection standards, the rules for attraction of foreign labor. Now we are doing the second review with the OECD, and we hope to finish it this year. The goal is to join the investment committee of the OECD in 2017,” Isekeshev said.
The minister also recalled that since 2005, Kazakhstan has attracted direct investments worth more than $200 billion. In recent years, priority has been given to the manufacturing industry. “Over the past six years, the manufacturing industry has attracted more than $20 billion,” he said.
