каз/рус

Last year, the Government of Kazakhstan jointly with the World Bank developed the National Investment Strategy for 2018-2022. 

The main objective of this Strategy is to increase the inflow of foreign direct investment. It should be noted that the Strategy focuses not only on attracting new investors, but also on retaining existing investors and promoting reinvestment. 

Also, taking into account economic opportunities, 36 potential countries for investmen attraction were identified, of which 11, including France, are the top priorities.

These countries are donors of investments and new technologies around the world. To work with each of these priority countries, an individual approach and a concrete action plan will be developed jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

In his speech, the Minister stressed that the Head of State gave the task to join the list of the world's 30 most developed countries. To achieve this goal, favorable conditions for attracting investments are being created in Kazakhstan.

Speaking about concrete work, Zh. Kassymbek focused attention on key systemic events held in our country. So, the national company for investments Kazakh Invest successfully operates with a network of foreign representatives and regional branches. Kazakh Invest acts as a "single negotiator" on behalf of the Government with target TNCs and large companies.

For investors, special preferences are offered, such as exemption from customs duties, tax incentives, tax holidays, full-time grants, etc. 

In Kazakhstan, there are 11 special economic zones and 22 industrial zones with different sectoral focus. Participants of the SEZ are also provided with a package of benefits and services on the principle of "one window." For the participants of industrial zones, the state provides all necessary infrastructure. 

Currently, Kazakhstan is carrying out a large-scale campaign to privatize large state-owned enterprises. For sale, about 800 assets were offered. These are shares of companies in mining and metallurgy, oil and gas, energy, transport and communications, infrastructure and others. 

On the principles of public-private partnership projects are implemented in the sphere of housing and communal services, public health, construction of roads and railways. 

As Zhenis Kassymbek noted, Kazakhstan, as well as France, pays special attention to the agrarian sector. The State program for the development of AIC for 2017-2021 is being implemented. In accordance with the President's Address "Third Modernization of Kazakhstan: Global Competitiveness," the brand "Made in Kazakhstan" should become the standard of environmentally friendly products, and the agrarian sector — the new driver of the economy. 

In addition, in Kazakhstan, taking into account the recommendations of the OECD, a new Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use has been developed, which will come into force in July 2018. One of the main issues that will be resolved with the adoption of the Code is the application of the "first come — first receive" principle. In this regard, Zh. Kassymbek advised the French companies to hasten to take part in new opportunities in the field of subsoil use. 

"Moreover, we are ready to work further with investors to implement projects in the field of exploration for copper, gold, lead, zinc and other metals, and are ready to offer free fields for cooperation," the minister said.

Zh. Kassymbek informed those present that in June of this year it is planned to hold an auction on granting the subsoil use right in compliance with the Law "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use." A total of 69 subsoil plots were prepared, 5 of them are for extraction and 64 — for exploration. 

The Minister also spoke about the advantageous geographical position of Kazakhstan, which is located in the heart of Eurasia, between Europe and China. More than 500 million people live in the territory within a radius of 2 thousand km from Kazakhstan. In addition, Kazakhstan's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union opens the common market of the Union with over 180 million consumers. 

It is very important that a consistent work is underway to form a new architecture for the Eurasian transcontinental corridors. The main task in the transport sector is to bring annual revenues from transit ro $5 billion by 2020. In general, the transit of goods through Kazakhstan in 2017 amounted to almost 17 million tons. 

Every year there is a two-fold increase in container shipments between China and Europe via Kazakhstan, which confirms the importance of this route. 

Taking into account the transit potential of Kazakhstan, the Cooperation Plan on the interface of the New Economic Policy Nurly Zhol and the initiatives of the "Economic Belt of the Silk Road" were signed in 2015, the integration of the transport and logistics infrastructure of Kazakhstan and China is actively continuing.

According to the Minister, today joint infrastructure projects, such as the Kazakh-Chinese terminal in the sea port of Lianyungang and the dry port in the SEZ Khorgos, are regional hubs and ensure a steady growth of export-import and transit traffic from China to Europe through Kazakhstan on all types of transport. 

At the same time, Zh. Kassymbek drew attention to the fact that today the international transit corridor "Western Europe — Western China" is being developed, 2787 km of which passes through the territory of Kazakhstan, which will significantly reduce the time of cargo transportation.

"More than 70% of investments in Central Asia fall on Kazakhstan's share, which indicates the significant attractiveness of our country for foreign investors. We are ready to continue working in the same spirit," Zh. Kassymbek summed up, inviting French partners to invest boldly in the growing economy of Kazakhstan. 

For reference: Within the framework of the forum on April 26, 2018 between the MID RK and the NCE of France a memorandum of understanding and expansion of fruitful cooperation was signed. 

The Memorandum will become an important mechanism for increasing the competitiveness of business in Kazakhstan and France, will create the basis for developing close commercial ties and increasing the volume of bilateral investments and technology transfer. 

Within the framework of the document, it is planned to exchange information on issues of providing state support for investment projects and international trade, including information on potential business partners (companies of Kazakhstan and France), analytical reviews, marketing research results, as well as information on state regulatory measures. 

The parties also agreed to cooperate on priority areas of economic policy of the two countries. The priority sectors of the economy have been preliminarily identified, the mutual effort of both countries will be directed to their the development. The priority sectors include: production of food, pharmaceuticals, paper and paper products, computers, electronic and optical products, vehicles, as well as activities in health, education, metallurgy, agriculture, innovation and IT, tourism, manufacturing products of chemical industry, machine building, production of construction materials, oil, gas and others.