As part of the working visit of Vice President of the Republic of Turkey Fuat Oktay, a Kazakh-Turkish business forum was held in the capital of Kazakhstan.

The forum was attended by over 250 representatives of business, government agencies and the quasi-public sector of the two countries. The event is aimed at creating a platform for strengthening business ties between the business circles of Kazakhstan and Turkey, as well as for discussing the prospects for cooperation between the two states in the field of trade and investment.

Turkey is one of the most priority trade, economic and investment partners of Kazakhstan. At the end of last year, the trade turnover between the countries increased by 33% and exceeded $4.1 billion. Over the past 15 years, Turkey has invested more than $3.5 billion in the economy of our country.

Speaking at the forum, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted that today there is a significant increase in the interest of Turkish investors to Kazakhstan.

“Despite the pandemic, Kazakhstan has been attracting record volumes of investments from Turkey for the third year. Over 9 months of last year, the gross inflow of foreign direct investment from Turkey almost doubled and amounted to $535 million. This is a sign of great confidence in Kazakhstan and evidence that our country pays special attention to improving the investment climate,” Smailov said.

About 3,700 companies with Turkish capital are operating in Kazakhstan. In general, 58 major projects worth about $2 billion have been jointly implemented. Projects have been successfully launched in such industries as the mining and smelting complex, infrastructure, the food industry and pharmaceuticals. There are 27 projects worth about $2.5 billion at the implementation stage, and 55 promising projects worth more than $1 billion are also being jointly developed.

According to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan was able to overcome the economic consequences associated with COVID-19. For example, following the results of last year, the growth of industry amounted to 3.8%, including 5.5% in the manufacturing industry.

“The key growth factor was high investment activity in non-commodity sectors. Investments in this sector grew by 9.5%. The gross inflow of foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan for 9 months of 2021 increased by 50% to $18.8 billion,” Smailov said.

Government is continuously working to increase the level of investment attractiveness of the country. A draft of a new Concept of Investment Policy of Kazakhstan has been developed with a focus on increasing the investment attractiveness of Kazakhstan in the context of strengthening ESG requirements, global energy and technological transition.

Innovations include measures to optimize and simplify tax regimes, subsidies and other incentives for investors in priority sectors of the economy.

Smailov invited Turkish companies to expand the scale and depth of investment ties, as well as to actively participate in the implementation of new joint investment projects.

“Metallurgy and mining is a key sector of our economy, in which about 20% of industry and national exports are concentrated. There is also a dynamic growth in the volume of exports of engineering products, as well as a consistent decrease in the volume of imports,” Smailov emphasized.

The head of the Cabinet drew the attention of Turkish businessmen to the implementation of projects in the agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan.

“The total area of ​​agricultural land in Kazakhstan is more than 200 million hectares and pastures — almost 180 million hectares. Kazakhstan is recognized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as one of the 5 most promising agricultural producers in the world and an important player in ensuring global and regional food security in the coming years. The potential for mutually beneficial cooperation in the agricultural sector is really huge,” the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan said.

Kazakhstan is also interested in the participation of Turkish companies with a high level of experience to implement projects in the energy sector.

As a result of the forum, 10 commercial documents were signed. As part of the implementation of the agreements, investors intend to build transport and logistics centers with air cargo in the West Kazakhstan region and Aktobe regions, a pharmaceutical plant in Almaty, an enterprise for the production of medical devices, masks and respirators, a plant for the production of stainless steel products, metal steel structures, trade an entertainment center in the capital, etc. The total investment in these projects will be about half a billion US dollars.